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News release
July 26, 2007
The CRTC releases its 2007 telecom monitoring report
OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released the seventh annual CRTC Telecom Monitoring Report. The report shows that the residential market is experiencing vigorous competition due to the efforts undertaken by cable companies and, to a lesser extent, other providers of local telephone service.
“As we rely more and more on market forces, and only regulate where necessary, the CRTC Telecommunications Monitoring Report is one of the important tools that allows us to assess whether the Canadian Telecommunications Policy objectives are being met,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. “This year's report tells us that competitors are making inroads in local telephone markets. In fact, competition has increased to the extent that it has accelerated the deregulation of certain markets, which will benefit consumers.”
The telecommunications industry continues to demonstrate growth, which is being driven by the adoption of new technologies by Canadians. For instance, Internet and cellular telephone services accounted for 50% of all telecommunications revenues in 2006, a jump from 45% over the previous year.
Highlights
- Total telecommunications revenues increased by 4.5%, going from $34.5 billion in 2005 to $36.1 billion in 2006.
- In 2006, competitors captured 38% of total revenues, an increase of 3% from the previous year. Overall, the revenues of competitors increased by 12% to $13.7 billion, mainly due to the cable companies recording a 17% growth in revenues.
- The cellular telephone market remained the largest and fastest growing sector in the telecommunications industry as revenues grew by 15%, from $11.0 billion in 2005 to $12.7 billion in 2006. Cellular telephone revenues accounted for 35% of the total telecommunications revenues, up from 23% in 2005.
- Canada had a landline and cellular telephone penetration rate of 98.6% in 2006. On its own, cellular telephone penetration reached 66.8% of Canadian households.
- The number of households with high-speed Internet access reached 7.5 million, or 60% of all households, up from 51% in 2005. Among G8 countries, Canada remained in the number one rank with respect to broadband adoption.
- The telecommunications industry's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) went from $12.4 billion in 2005 to $13.1 billion in 2006, representing a 5.3% increase.
- Capital expenditures rose from $5.6 billion in 2005 to $6.9 billion in 2006, an increase of 24%.
- In the residential market, competitors held a 14.2% share of local and access lines in 2006, up from 7.6% in 2005. In the business market, their share of local and access lines grew from 14.3% in 2005 to 15.9% in 2006.
- Internet revenues went from $4.5 billion in 2005 to $5 billion in 2006, an increase of 9.4%. Broadband deployment continued to progress and its availability increased from 92% of Canadian households in 2005 to 93% in 2006.
Background
The CRTC Telecom Monitoring Report provides information on the different sectors of the telecommunications industry: local and access, long distance, Internet and broadband services, data and private line, and cellular. For each sector, the report examines such topics as the services offered, the status of competition and regulatory and market developments.
In 2000, the government requested that the Commission report annually over a five-year period on the status of competition in the Canadian telecommunications industry. Following the publication of the last report in 2005, the CRTC decided to continue its practice of publishing an annual report in order to allow interested parties to stay informed about the state of the Canadian telecommunications industry.
Starting in 2008, the Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report and the CRTC Telecommunications Monitoring Report will be integrated into one annual report.
The CRTC
The CRTC is an independent, public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.
Reference document: CRTC Telecom Monitoring Report [.htm][.pdf]
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Copies of today's documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the documentation centre of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.
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Date Modified: 2007-07-26
