2017 was a fierce year for wireless in Canada.
At the tail end of the year, most Canadian carriers battled it out for new subscribers by offering a huge discounted monthly rate plan featuring 10GB of data for $60 per month. This was initially started by Shaw’s Freedom Mobile brand and quickly followed by Rogers, Bell, Telus and the carrier’s sub-brand carriers.
While Rogers is still leading with over 10 million wireless subscribers, Bell and Telus followed are gaining ground. According to a report from the Convergence Research Group, approximately 1.06 million Canadian wireless subscribers were added in 2017 and wireless service revenues grew seven percent on strong ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) growth to $23.7 billion.
Looking ahead to the end of 2018, Convergence is forecasting another year of wireless subscriber growth, with new subscribers topping 1.14 million and revenue increasing six percent to $25.2 billion.
While the majority of the wireless subscribers will be with Rogers, Bell and Telus brands, newer wireless carriers such as EastLink, Freedom Mobile and Videotron will hold 8.4 percent of subscribers by the end of 2018, says the report.
Finally, smartphone use is forecasted to continue to increase and is expected to hit 80 percent penetration rate, up from 78 percent in 2017.
Source: Convergence Group
