A few weeks before the March 2022 deadline to lower the price of the most popular cell phone plans by 25%, the Trudeau government will announce this Friday that it has reached its goal.
Posted at 8:00 p.m.
Across the country, according to the most recent quarterly report compiled by the reputable firm Wall Communications dated last December and obtained by The Press, all Canadians have benefited from price reductions of 25% since March 2020. For this analysis, only the cellular plans, unlimited calls and texts, offering between 2 and 6 GB of data offered by the three discount subsidiaries of Bell, Telus and Rogers. In March 2020, the benchmark for this Trudeau government commitment made during the 2019 election, the average monthly mobile data consumption in Canada was 3.8 GB.
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“In 2022, it is a simple matter of fairness that all Canadians can connect at a price they can afford,” said Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François in a press release. – Philippe Champagne. Our government has fulfilled its commitment […], but we’re not going to stop because Canadians are still paying too much for their internet and cell phones. »
According to the firms Wall Communications and Nordicity, Canada is one of the three countries where people pay the most for wireless service, and has been for more than a decade. For plans under 4 GB, according to a compilation made by The Press, only the Japanese pay more. For more generous data plans, Canada is in 3and rank behind Japan and Germany.
No longer just in Quebec
The downward price trend in cellular plans was, however, quite palpable in Canada for several years. Overall, according to Statistics Canada, cell phone prices fell by 26.9% between February 2020 and December 2021. However, not all regions of Canada were in the same boat: last September, only Quebecers benefited from drops of 25 % for all discount brand plans between 2 and 6 GB. In the other provinces, only 6 GB plans from Fido (Rogers), Koodo (Telus) and Virgin (Bell) met the Trudeau government’s request.
Everything changed in three months, according to the summary table established by Ottawa: last December, we find in all the provinces prices ranging from $37.50 to $45 for the most popular packages. Ottawa also notes that packages offering more than 10 GB have also fallen between 22 and 26%.
Guidelines and controversies
For the Trudeau government, these decreases are linked to several gestures made to “promote competition which have helped to offer better prices for consumers”, we explain in a press release. The fact of having reserved frequencies for the smallest regional players during the auctions in March 2019 and June 2021, for the 600 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands, would thus have allowed a greater choice for consumers, it is argued. In 2018, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) also capped the roaming charges paid by smaller providers to access large networks. In 2019, the press release recalls, the minister responsible for the file at the time, Navdeep Bains, issued a directive asking the CRTC to encourage competition and investment in its decisions.
Two recent CRTC decisions, however, have sparked controversy, especially among independent providers who have seen them as victories for big business. Last April, the federal agency ordered the major wireless service providers to open their networks, but only to certain regional competitors with local frequency spectrum, such as Videotron, Eastlink and Cogeco.
Last May, especially, the CRTC’s decision to cancel significant reductions in wholesale Internet prices decreed in 2019, those which independent providers must pay to large companies, was strongly criticized. Petitions, an appeal to Cabinet and an appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal have been filed and CRTC Chairman Ian Scott, a former vice chairman of Telus, has been charged with conflict of interest.