Statistics Canada says telephone services saw a price drop in July, but the figures don’t paint a full picture

Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index reveals that Canadians saw a decrease in telephone services in the last year.

The data shows the price dropped by 11.1 percent. According to the Canadian Telecommunications Association, telephone services include wireless and home phone.

The data shows telephone services (consisting of wireless and home phone) were down 11.1% year-over-year, helping combat inflation while the cost of essentials like mortgage interest, rent, and electricity rose dramatically.

Read the report at https://t.co/xjFa6olfMn

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— Canadian Telecommunications Association (@CanadaTelecoms) August 15, 2023

The figure continues a trend that started in May and continued into June.

However, the decline doesn’t mean Canadians have stopped paying for some of the priciest phone plans in the world. A report from HelloSafe showed Canada was the 19th most expensive country in the world for mobile data.

It’s also important to note that while there have been new telecom offers in the past month, not everyone has access to them. For example, Freedom Mobile was one of the many brands that rolled out 5G services in recent weeks, with plans starting at $45/month for 30GB.

While this is arguably a well-priced option compared to competitors, the company’s 5G plans are only available to Canadians in select cities.

But Freedom isn’t the only brand with such barriers standing in the way. Nearly every provider has barriers that stop Canadians from actually achieving lower phone bills, which aren’t included in the overall tally of figures the monthly inflation reports display.

Updated August 15th, 2023, 8:23pm ET: The article has been updated to remove reference to the 2022 telecom services price comparison study from Wall Communications.

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Source: Consumer Price Index, July 2023