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CRTC Communications Monitoring Report

2010

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the report

This report provides a window on the broadcasting and telecommunications industries and is intended to foster an open and better-informed public discussion of broadcasting and telecommunications policies and issues.

The report contains disaggregated data on the Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications industries and markets. It provides a means to assess the impacts of market and technological developments on, among other things, the cultural, social, and economic objectives of the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act (the Acts), and the effectiveness of the CRTC’s regulatory frameworks and determinations in achieving those objectives.

Domestic and global competition, as well as consumer demands for greater control over the communications experience, has spurred rapid corporate and technological convergence in the communications landscape in Canada and abroad. The evolving borderless world of communications is a source of innovation and opportunities for carving out a special place for Canadian voices within the broadcasting system. The Commission invites parties to use this report to enrich their participation in the regulatory process.

In this report

This report provides a holistic view of the industries and their markets. It focuses on the performance indicators and trends presented in last year’s report and, where appropriate, introduces additional indicators that address industry developments such as the introduction of higher wireline and wireless access speeds. These developments contribute to the evolution of new media broadcasting, which in turn offers a significant opportunity to further contribute to the broadcasting policy objectives of the Broadcasting Act. Communications companies are crossing what have been traditional boundaries between broadcasting and telecommunications.

1.2 Data collection and outline of the report

Data collection and reduced regulatory reporting

This report is based on the responses from the industries to the Commission’s annual broadcasting returns and telecommunications data collection forms2 (referred to collectively as “CRTC data collection”); data collected from other sources, including Statistics Canada, Industry Canada, companyspecific financial reports, BBM Canada, BBM Nielsen Media Research, and BBM Analytics’ Media Technology Monitor (MTM) reports; and information previously filed with the Commission. All broadcasting data in this report, unless otherwise noted, is for the 12-month period ending August 31 for the years quoted, whereas all telecommunications data, including Internet service, is for the 12-month period ending December 31 for the years quoted.

With respect to residential broadband availability data, the Commission entered into a three-year agreement, which expires in 2012, with Industry Canada to co-operate in the collection of data related to the availability of broadband Internet access service to Canadians. The Commission is also collaborating with the provinces and territories, as well as other government agencies and departments, in identifying communities that do not have access to broadband service. The resulting data will assist Industry Canada in funding projects that make broadband services available to unserved Canadians. These data collection initiatives minimize the reporting burden on the industry, and enhance the quality of the data presented in this report.

The international comparisons and analyses in this report are based on data obtained from reports published by international organizations such as the OECD and reports or data published by national regulatory agencies in other countries.
Specific elements of the monitoring exercise change over time to take into account regulatory or market developments such as new technologies, changes in market structure or in domestic or international regulations and agreements, or the introduction of new or evolving services. These changes serve to ensure that the CRTC monitoring report continues to be a useful tool for all stakeholders, including regulators, customers, and industry players. Certain figures published in previous years' monitoring reports may be restated to be consistent with the data in this report. Other figures may change as a result of service providers resubmitting previous years' data. All revised numbers are identified using a number sign (#).

Outline of Report

This report is divided into a number of sections and appendices. An overview of the Commission’s regulatory frameworks is provided in Section 2. Section 3 presents the key financial statistics of the communications industry. This section also addresses the financial landscape of the broadcasting and telecommunications industries by examining key financial indicators, including revenue, capital expenditures, and other operational data. As well, it provides an overview of the broadcasters and TSPs. The performance of the Canadian broadcasting system is presented in Section 4, encompassing traditional radio, television and broadcasting distribution undertaking results, and non-traditional new media broadcasting results. Section 5 discusses the major telecommunications market segments: local and access, long distance, Internet, data and private line, and wireless. This section also reviews the availability of broadband service. Section 6 presents current regulatory developments in other countries, and compares Canada’s performance in broadcasting and telecommunications to that of those countries.

A description of the data collection methodology and analyses is provided in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 discusses the classification of the TSPs. The status of local forbearance applications in residential and business exchanges is discussed in Appendix 3. Appendix 4 lists the pricing assumptions used in the development of the price comparisons of telecommunications services in Canada to those in other countries. Appendix 5 provides a description of the telecommunications market sectors. Appendix 6 lists all acronyms appearing in the report and Appendix 7 lists the Commission’s decisions, notices, orders, and circulars referenced in the report.

[2] The annual data collection forms are issued jointly by Statistics Canada and the Commission.