Communications Monitoring Report 2018 ISSN: 2290-7866 Cat. No.: BC9-9E-PDF Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials in this publication, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) copyright administrator. To obtain permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials for commercial purposes, apply for Crown Copyright Clearance by contacting: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A ON2 Tel: 819-997-0313 Toll-free: 1-877-249-2782 (in Canada only) https://applications.crtc.gc.ca/contact/eng/library © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 2019. All rights reserved. Aussi disponible en français 2 Communications Monitoring Report 2018 Table of Contents 1. Communications Services in Canadian Households: Subscriptions and Expenditures 2012-2016 ..... 18 i. Quick Facts ............................................................................................................................................................................ 18 ii. What communications services do Canadian households use? ......................................................................... 20 iii. What do Canadian households spend on communications services? .............................................................. 26 iv. Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................................ 36 2. 2017 Communications Services Pricing in Canada ............................................................................................. 46 i. Television distribution services ..................................................................................................................................... 50 ii. Local wireline telephone services ................................................................................................................................. 53 iii. Internet services ................................................................................................................................................................. 56 iv. Mobile services .................................................................................................................................................................... 64 v. Appendix ................................................................................................................................................................................ 74 3. Communications Industry Overview: Telecommunications and Broadcasting ......................................... 78 i. Overview ................................................................................................................................................................................ 78 ii. Revenues ................................................................................................................................................................................ 79 iii. Financial performance ...................................................................................................................................................... 85 iv. Industry characteristics .................................................................................................................................................... 89 v. Consumer voices ................................................................................................................................................................. 91 4. Telecommunications Overview ................................................................................................................................. 94 i The competitive landscape .............................................................................................................................................. 95 ii Telecommunications sectors .......................................................................................................................................... 98 iii Financial performance ................................................................................................................................................... 102 iv Retail revenue growth sources ................................................................................................................................... 105 v Consumer voices .............................................................................................................................................................. 106 vi Sector summaries ............................................................................................................................................................ 108 vii Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................................. 117 5. Retail Fixed Internet Sector and Broadband Availability................................................................................120 i. Residential market .......................................................................................................................................................... 122 ii. Business market ............................................................................................................................................................... 133 iii. Broadband service availability .................................................................................................................................... 138 iv. Broadband applications ................................................................................................................................................. 144 6. Retail Mobile Sector ....................................................................................................................................................152 i. Revenues ............................................................................................................................................................................. 154 3 Communications Monitoring Report 2018 ii. Subscriber data ................................................................................................................................................................. 160 iii. Other performance indicators .................................................................................................................................... 167 iv. Coverage/availability details ....................................................................................................................................... 178 7. Broadcasting Overview ..............................................................................................................................................184 i. Revenues and financial performance ....................................................................................................................... 186 ii. Contributions to Canadian content .......................................................................................................................... 188 iii. Industry characteristics ................................................................................................................................................. 190 iv. Internet-based audio and television services estimated revenues ............................................................... 192 8. Radio Sector ...................................................................................................................................................................196 i. Audience measurement ................................................................................................................................................. 198 ii. Canadian Content Development ............................................................................................................................... 201 iii. Tangible benefits .............................................................................................................................................................. 203 iv. Commercial Radio ........................................................................................................................................................... 204 v. CBC Radio ........................................................................................................................................................................... 209 vi. Non-Commercial Radio ................................................................................................................................................. 210 vii. Internet-Based Audio Services ............................................................................................................................. 213 viii. Availability of radio services and other audio services ................................................................................ 215 ix. Programming of High Standard .................................................................................................................................. 218 x. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................................................