72% of Canadians Say Telephone and Cable Industry Needs More Competition: Ipsos

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The latest poll from Ipsos released on Tuesday says 88% of Canadians believe more competition is necessary, as “it’s too easy for big business to take advantage of Canadians.”

The Ipsos poll says 88% of Canadians agree more competition between businesses would allow for more choice and lower prices, while 85% agree increased competition would lead to better quality products and innovation in the country.

One part of the poll focused on specific sectors of the economy and asked if more competition was necessary. According to Ipsos, “a strong majority of Canadians (72%) believe that the telephone and cable industry needs more competition.”

A breakdown of responses by province favouring “needs more competition” when it comes to the telephone and cable industry, is as follows:

  • BC: 74%
  • Alberta: 76%
  • Saskatchewan/Manitoba: 62%
  • Ontario: 76%
  • Quebec: 60%
  • Atlantic: 60%

Traditionally, regional wireless players in the prairie provinces (SaskTel), Quebec (Videotron) and Atlantic Canada (Eastlink) offer more competition against incumbents Rogers, Telus and Bell.

There is no foreign wireless competition in Canada. Back in 2013, when Verizon considered expanding to Canada, incumbents used a media blitz to fight back against the idea, citing “thousands of Canadian jobs” would be lost in the cellphone industry.

The telephone and cable industry saw a stronger response, compared to questions asking about competition for big-box retail (51%), airline (51%), insurance (49%), grocery (40%) and banking sectors.

The Ipsos survey took place from January 14-17, 2022, with a sample size of 1,001 Canadians over the age of 18 years old.

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