OTTAWA — The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) released today its latest quarterly report on wireless plans, which shows prices for the majority of mid-range data plans across Canada have decreased since tracking began a year ago.
As Cartt.ca readers know, the federal government wants service providers to reduce the cost of wireless plans by 25% over two years (from the beginning of 2020 to early 2022), and has been tracking prices since January 2020.
For plans with 2 GB to 6 GB of data, the latest tracking data shows most of these plans have seen price declines between 9% and 25% compared to benchmark prices collected in early 2020.
ISED has been tracking prices from only flanker brands Fido (Rogers), Koodo (Telus) and Virgin Mobile (Bell). The latest pricing report (available here) covers the period from January to March 2021.
A general trend across the country is that prices for the flankers’ 6 GB data plans have met the 25% reduction target, with prices dropping to $45 for these plans (compared to $60 in January 2020), with the exception of Quebec, where 6GB plans have dropped by only 17%, according to ISED’s report.
It should be noted that Quebec was the one province where prices for 2 GB and 4GB plans were already below the benchmark prices in January 2020. However, its 6 GB data plan pricing seems to be lagging behind the other provinces in terms of reducing prices.
Except for Quebec, none of the other provinces have yet met the 25% reduction target for 2 GB and 4 GB plans.
Unfortunately, there is a gap in ISED’s tracking data for 5 GB data plans because either the flankers don’t offer these plans or didn’t advertise them at the time ISED collected benchmark prices in early 2020.
According to data from the CRTC’s most recent Communication Monitoring Report, looking at the percentage of mobile customers who subscribed to these mid-range plans, for 2019 (the latest data available), 29.4% of subscribers had data plans in the 2 GB to 4.9 GB range, while 29.3% subscribed to plans with 5 GB to 9.9 GB of data. Already by the end of 2019, 27.2% of subscribers had opted for plans with 10 GB of data or more (which is the first year the CRTC collected data for this plan category).
ISED also announced today the publication of the 2020 Price Comparison Study of Telecom Services, an annual report that tracks prices for wireless, home Internet and mobile Internet services, in not only Canada but also the G7 countries and Australia. According to this study, in the low- to mid-level service range, wireless prices in Canada have declined between 19% and 28% compared to 2019.
“Improving affordability, competition and innovation in wireless plans is a priority for our government. I am encouraged to see declining prices on a majority of plans across Canada. There is still more work to be done, and we will continue working with service providers in the coming year to make sure all Canadians have access to more affordable options,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, in a press release.
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