The CRTC has released a report on the state of the Canadian telecommunications industry. Here are the highlights:
Total telecom revenues for 2013
The Canadian telecommunications market was a $41.1-billion industry in 2013 with revenues up 2.4 per cent from 2012. Almost half of the industry’s total revenues come from the wireless or cellular services sector, which saw revenues grow 3.4% last year to $20.2-billion. Revenue from wireline voice services - landline telephones and long-distance calling – actually declined 3.5 per cent last year while sales from non-voice wireline services – primarily Internet as well as private network services – grew 5.9 per cent to $11.3-billion.
Landline subscribers are dropping off
Canadians are increasingly cutting off home landline services, with total retail customers dropping 6 per cent year-over-year to 11.24 million in 2013. Even businesses are dropping landlines, with subscriptions at 5.68 million down 1.5 per cent last year.
Internet subscribers and type of service
The number of Internet subscribers went up 2.3 per cent last year to 11.3 million and more Canadians paid for higher-speed services, with 67 per cent of those households subscribing to services with download speeds of 5 Mbps or higher. But rural access to broadband Internet continues to lag excluding satellite coverage, just 84 per cent of rural Canadian households had access to such service last year, which is actually down from 85 per cent in 2012.
Internet residential penetration by speed 2012-2013
SOURCE: CRTC - Communications Monitoring Report
Wireless sector
The wireless industry continues to gain subscribers and grow revenue, with sales up 3.4 per cent to $20.2-billion last year and 28.4 million total customers. LTE or fourth-generation service covered 81 per cent of the population last year, up from 72 per cent in 2012. Canadian wireless companies earn among the highest average revenues per user (ARPU) in the world. In 2013, ARPU for the industry as a whole grew by 0.7 per cent to $59.97.
The Big Three
Canada's Big Three carriers, BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. (and their associated brands, primarily Virgin Mobile, Fido and Koodoo, respectively) continue to control 90 per cent of the market share in terms of subscribers and 92 per cent of the revenues.