Telecoms sector generates more than $23 billion for Canada’s GDP: report

OTTAWA—Canada’s telecommunications sector directly contributed $27.3 billion to the national GDP in 2025, according to a new report from the accounting firm PwC. Released on Wednesday, the report found the industry also carried an indirect economic impact of $58.7 billion, which includes other sectors that rely on communications technology, bringing the last year’s total contribution to $86 billion — equivalent to four per cent of Canada’s GDP. In comparison, the sector’s combined economic contribution was $77 billion in 2023. “When you think of that footprint more broadly, it really begins to showcase the need for ongoing investment in the sector,” said Bali Minhas, the telecoms markets leader at PwC Canada, at the Connecting Canada summit held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. “As we invest in the telco sector itself…, it continues to cascade into many other sectors.” More specifically, the report found the finance sector ($5.2 billion), utilities ($5.2 billion), professional services ($4.6 billion), and wholesale trade ($3.9 billion) were all reliant on telecommunications, as were the manufacturing, real estate, education and healthcare industries. “This distribution highlights the extent to which telecommunications is embedded across the Canadian economy, supporting activity in nearly every major sector,” reads the report, which was commissioned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association. Meanwhile, the telecoms sector employs approximately 329,000 workers across Canada, and facilitates jobs for an additional 282,000 Canadians in other sectors. The report’s key findings framed the industry’s economic impact as justification for strengthened investment in the industry, which has seen its largest players cut back on capital expenditures in recent years. According to Minhas, declining private sector investment and lower wireless prices induced by pro-competition measures has left the telecom industry’s short-term future unclear. “Any pullback investment for capital… would directly translate into an impact to other industries, as well as the jobs currently being created by the sector itself,” he said. “The sector is definitely at a crossroads, so with all the declining prices, we see downward revenue pressure it has fundamentally impacted the capacity and ability to invest.” Minhas also suggested a strong domestic telecoms sector is critical to supporting national priorities that have been outlined by the federal government, including enhancing cybersecurity, establishing digital sovereignty, updating supply chains from coast-to-coast, and boosting Canada’s lagging productivity rates. “The question ahead of us is really whether the current policy and investment climate is sufficient to attract capital needed to maintain and advance this vital asset,” he said. “Unless we change the way we’re motivating the industry to invest, we’re not going to be able to turn this around.” “That’s going to cause potentially long-term effects that will make our network not be able to deliver on the promise that we’re expecting to grow our digital infrastructure and feed into the growth of our economy.” To ensure the sector’s sustainability, the report advocated for a policy framework that “treats telecommunications investment as a strategic national priority,” without providing specific recommendations. dlegree@thewirereport.ca

Telecoms sector generates more than $23 billion for Canada’s GDP: report

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By Davis Legree
|May 20, 2026

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Telecoms sector generates more than $23 billion for Canada’s GDP: report

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