StatCan looks to improve the way it tracks wireless plan pricing with new data

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada has changed the way it tracks the price of wireless plans in an effort to capture a more accurate picture of what Canadians are paying when it calculates the inflation rate.

The agency has been using web-collected data on the advertised cost of plans based on a set of profiles designed to reflect how households use their devices.

However, Statistics Canada has now started using actual sales data from participating wireless companies to help build a picture of the changing cost of wireless plans.

Matt Hatfield, executive director of OpenMedia, an advocacy organization that promotes internet affordability and accessibility, says the inclusion of the actual sales data is important because many people may be stuck in a contract or simply not realize they could get a better price by changing their plan.

“What StatCan is trying to do is to reflect not just what prices are available in a new plan advertised today, but also what consumers are paying in the prices they’re actually using, which I think is a positive move,” Hatfield said.

“It will help show what the actual situation is vis-a-vis telecoms and Canadians.”

Wireless pricing has become a political issue in recent years.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said last year that Canadians “pay way too much for telecom services” when he gave final approval for Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of Shaw Communications Inc.

The transaction saw a side-deal in which Shaw’s Freedom Mobile business was sold to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, which many are hoping will be a strong competitor to the larger wireless companies.

The industry has pointed to falling prices for wireless plans in recent years, but critics have argued that despite many of those new plans allowing customers to pay less per gigabyte of data, some require customers to purchase large amounts they may not necessarily need.

“If the (price) data ends up being well supported and widely trusted, I think it might improve the quality of the political discussion around it because people have just been talking past each other,” Hatfield said.

The price for cellular services in August was down 12.8 per cent compared with a year earlier, based on Statistics Canada’s report Tuesday.

However, the agency has said caution should be used when interpreting the year-over-year move for the first 12 months following the change.

“In the first round, the data is going to be very incomparable to past years of data,” Hatfield said.

The cellular services price index is part of the household operations, furnishings and equipment index. It represents 1.22 per cent of the CPI basket based on 2023 expenditures.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

Craig Wong, The Canadian Press