While telecom executives and even government regulators insist that wireless prices in Canada are going down, cellular service (and mobile data in particular) continues to be costly. Consumer affairs watchdog CBC Marketplace recently launched an investigation into why Canadians’ cellphone bills are higher than most of the world.
According to Marketplace‘s report, Canada remains one of the most expensive countries in the world for mobile data regardless of what methodology is used to compare wireless affordability.
A Marketplace investigation into the cost of telecom services in Canada has found that many of the oft-quoted industry explanations for high wireless prices — costly operating margins and a sparse Canadian population, for example — are insufficient to explain lower prices found in other countries and even between some provinces.
Rewheel, an independent telecom research firm that publishes bi-annual reports on wireless pricing across 50 countries, has ranked Canada among the most expensive countries for mobile data for several years.
Per Rewheel’s latest report from May 2021, wireless customers in Canada pay seven times more for every gigabyte than their counterparts in Australia, 25 times more than Ireland and France, and a whopping 1,000 times more than Finland.
Using Rewheel’s cost-per-gigabyte data, Marketplace made the following estimates: scrolling Instagram for five minutes would cost about half a cent in France, but can cost 20 cents in Canada; downloading a 30-minute long YouTube video would cost eight cents in Ireland and $1.03 in Canada; and downloading an entire season of Netflix’s Wednesday cost about $1.62 in Australia but $10.22 in Canada.
Marketplace went on to highlight several reasons why cell phone bills in Canada are as high as they are, including lacklustre competition in the telecom industry. The majority of the country’s wireless market is occupied by the Big Three (Rogers, Bell, and Telus), with help from their flanker brands that often offer a better value proposition.
“Marketplace found that in provinces where there is an additional major regional competitor that wasn’t owned by Rogers, Telus or Bell (or had only recently been acquired), prices offered by the big three were cheaper,” the report noted.
According to the study, the official websites for Rogers, Bell, and Telus all offer relatively cheaper plans in Saskatchewan and Quebec — provinces where local operators Sasktel and Quebecor’s Vidéotron, respectively, compete with lower prices and force the Big Three to slash theirs.
“Canada didn’t used to be one of the most expensive countries when I started measuring about 10 years ago,” said Rewheel managing partner Antonios Drossos. He added that while wireless service has been getting cheaper in Canada, prices are falling much slower than in most other countries.
Furthermore, telecom industry incumbents go out of their way to prevent new players from breaking into the market, said Anthony Lacavera, who founded Wind Mobile in 2008 with hopes of disrupting the status quo with lower prices.
“That was a real threat to Bell, Telus and Rogers and so they went to the wall with the government, lobbying against our entry into the market,” said Lacavera. “I underestimated what a hurricane I was going to be going up against.”
The Big Three, Lacavera claimed, delayed Wind’s entry into the market by over a year, arguing that the company had too much foreign investment. Wind Mobile was ultimately acquired by Shaw Communications and renamed Freedom Mobile.
To make matters worse, Canada’s telecom market is heading towards even more consolidation as Rogers battles opposition from the Competition Bureau and the House of Commons to acquire Shaw, which also runs its own wireless brand, Shaw Mobile.
Canada’s communications pricing problem isn’t limited to mobile wireless, either. According to a federal government-commissioned study from last year, internet prices in Canada are also on the rise, having gone up considerably following the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s failure to implement lower wholesale internet rates in 2019.
Update January 17: A CWTA spokesperson reached out to iPhone in Canada to dispute the Rewheel study.
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In the supposed interest of consumers, government legislates and manages an oligopoly that only serves the interests of the itself and the companies executives. Just like the banking sector.
Canadian wireless providers are a $%^&ing joke.
Last year, in April, I went to Italy.
I walked into Vodafone (one of the cellular service providers), then got a sim card for 10 EUR (= 14 CAD).
I asked about the biggest data plan they had (since we were staying for 2 weeks), and they said for 15 EUR (= 21 CAD), which includes UNLIMITED DATA.
Yes, you read that right, for 35 CAD I got unlimited data plan. Granted, they didn’t have 5G connection yet where I was staying (outside of any major city), but speeds were 100mbps+ anywhere on 4G.
Comparing Canadian cellular providers is like a joke. Everyone I talked to in Italy just burst out laughing at how much Canadians are paying. Not laughing at us, just laughing at the situation we have to face.
I told them, yes, most consumers don’t know any better, and end up paying these $85/mo plans just to get the latest 5G coverage.
I negotiated like hell to get my $30/mo (for 20gb on 5G with Telus) with no contract 2 years ago. $%^& the providers, since they don’t deserve any more $ from me. Just look at Telus’s quartely profits. They increased profits by 50% in the last year. They’re swimming in cash, but claim their network is expensive to operate. What a load of $%^&.
AKA a ‘Cartel’.
Commenters on these boards among others have been saying this for years. We don’t need a television program to tell us what we already know but until there is enough noise made about it, the robelus cartel will have their way as they are the ones buying off unscrupulous politicians.
Anyone else need more evidence of protectionism by an ex lobbyist for Telus becoming the chairman of the CRTC?
Putting Ian Scott in the CRTC is the equivalent to trusting the fox to protect the chickens.