Did you know that Canada has one of the fastest cellular networks in the world? It’s just a shame that we can’t take advantage of this!
A recent report by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) announced that Canada is a “global 4G superpower with the fastest wireless networks in the G7”.
“In 2018 our facilities-based carriers continued to move forward on a path of innovation and investment that has delivered the fastest wireless networks in the G7 – almost twice as fast as the U.S. – and is paving the way for the arrival 5G,” said Robert Ghiz, President & CEO of CWTA, in a media release.
These results come from the Oookla Speedtest Global Index – a service which measures connection speeds from around the world. You can test your own connection speed using the service on my website here:
http://support.scotiasystems.com/speed-check
The CTWA report describes how telecoms companies in Canada have invested nearly $50 billion to provide 99% LTE coverage for Canadians and have generated over 138,000 full time jobs which contribute over $25 billion in GDP to the Canadian economy.
All sounds like good news doesn’t it?! That’s until you read the other report from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) which outlines how Canada is one of the lowest data users of most of the OECD countries.
“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.”
(Wikipedia)
Did you know that Canada has one of the fastest cellular networks in the world? It’s just a shame that we can’t take advantage of this!
A recent report by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) announced that Canada is a “global 4G superpower with the fastest wireless networks in the G7”.
“In 2018 our facilities-based carriers continued to move forward on a path of innovation and investment that has delivered the fastest wireless networks in the G7 – almost twice as fast as the U.S. – and is paving the way for the arrival 5G,” said Robert Ghiz, President & CEO of CWTA, in a media release.
These results come from the Oookla Speedtest Global Index – a service which measures connection speeds from around the world. You can test your own connection speed using the service on my website here:
http://support.scotiasystems.com/speed-check
The CTWA report describes how telecoms companies in Canada have invested nearly $50 billion to provide 99% LTE coverage for Canadians and have generated over 138,000 full time jobs which contribute over $25 billion in GDP to the Canadian economy.
All sounds like good news doesn’t it?! That’s until you read the other report from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) which outlines how Canada is one of the lowest data users of most of the OECD countries.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
(Wikipedia)
So how come we don’t use much data if we have one of the fastest networks in the world?
Simple – cost.
The cost of data is so high, and the penalties if you go over your monthly allowance are such a deterrent that most Canadians try and ration the amount of data they use. In 2017 alone, Canadian telecoms companies made over $1 billion in overage fees (the penalty fee you’re charged if you use more than your monthly contract allows).
So why are costs so high? Collusion, lack of competition and lack of regulation. The big three carriers work together to maintain high prices. The lack of competition means they can basically dictate the market price and ensure that it stays high.
Government regulation appears to side with the carriers rather than the population. There’s a term called “Regulatory Capture” which describes this perfectly:
Regulatory capture is a form of government failure which occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. When regulatory capture occurs, the interests of firms or political groups are prioritized over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss for society. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called “captured agencies”.
(Wikipedia)
But Canada is such a large country, with a relatively low population – this must be the cause of the high prices? I thought the same until I read an interesting post comparing Australia to Canada. Consider the following facts:
Land Mass :
Canada – 9,984,670 km2
Australia – 7,741,220 km2
Population :
Canada : 36,657,000
Australia : 24,771,000
Now look at the price per GigaByte of data. In Canada, some people are paying as much as $75 per GB. Compare this to Australia where the cost can be as low as $5. In fact, for $78 in Australia you can get a whopping 90GB per month!
With cellular companies rolling out new 5G technology across their network, they need to fund this somehow, so I don’t see prices dropping anytime soon, unless somehow, we could get some competition. It’d be nice to see one of the US carriers such as T-Mobile expand into Canada, but until government regulation allows this, we don’t have much choice.
Until next time – keep an eye on that monthly data, and make sure you’re not contributing to that $1 billion overage fund!