Canadian Wireless Facts: Updated

The Canadian Market

• Wireless phones are among the fastest growing consumer products in history.
• At the end of September 2007, Canadian wireless phone subscribers numbered 19.3 million, representing a national wireless penetration rate of more than 60%. Recent CWTA research estimates wireless penetration in major urban centres has exceeded 70%, with some greater metropolitan areas approaching the 80% mark.
• Despite the atypical distribution of Canada’s relatively small population across our vast land mass – and perhaps because of it – Canada has been and remains a world leader in communications networks and technology. And for an industry that is just two decades old, Canada’s wireless phone industry, in particular, has made remarkable progress. Together, Canada’s wireless carriers now offer coverage to more than 98 per cent of Canadians.
• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) consistently ranks Canada in the top 10 out of more than 30 OECD countries for offering the lowest customer pricing for wireless services. In fact, in two of the three main OECD service basket comparisons, Canada’s wireless prices are significantly lower than those in the US.
• Two-thirds of Canadian households have access to a wireless phone.
• Canadians send 31.5 million text messages per day.
• Each year, Canadians place more than 6 million calls to 9-1-1 or emergency numbers from their mobile phones.
• Wireless revenues in Canada totalled $11 billion in 2005.
• 47 per cent of all phone connections in Canada are now
  wireless.