Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced that the government has met its commitment to reduce the costs of mid-range mobile packages by 25% three months ahead of schedule. Prices for all tracked mid-range plans have decreased by 25% compared to the benchmark prices observed in early 2020, according to the newly published data for the latest quarter of pricing, covering October to December 2021. The benchmark is based on prices advertised on company websites of the three largest cellcos Rogers, Bell and Telus in early 2020 for three mobile plans offering 2GB, 4GB and 6GB of data respectively (all post-paid, bring your own device [BYOD], unlimited talk and text 4G LTE plans). The statement claimed that these benchmark packages continue to reflect Canadians' average mobile data usage, quoting an average figure of 3.8GB per user per month. The two-year tracking period to reduce prices is due to end in March 2022.
The statement added that mobile prices in general have declined across the board, quoting the Statistics Canada cellular services price index showing a 26.9% decline from February 2020 to December 2021. The government has also observed decreases generally in the range of 22% to 26% for mobile plans with 10GB data volumes and larger, 'which builds on past reductions of 31% for 10GB plans in 2019.'
Thanks to TeleGeography for this industry update.