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Canada Telecommunications Report Q4 2010
Business Monitor International, Oct 2010, Pages: 91
Canada Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, telecommunication associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Canada's telecommunications industry.
The key noteworthy developments in Canada’s telecommunications market this quarter were the launches of three new mobile players, the activation of a new 3.5G platform by an existing regional mobile operator and the BCE group’s activities in the pay-TV and broadcasting field. These developments have helped us to improve the focus of our mobile and fixed broadband market forecasts. Otherwise, there has been little to report, with the Canadian market continue to grow at its usual slow and steady pace.
New mobile operators Public Mobile and Mobilicity launched their 3G networks in May 2010, targeting low-cost prepaid users in Canada’s largest cities. Almost immediately, Rogers responded with Chatr, a low-cost product that was pretty much identical to Mobilicity’s offering. The newcomer has threatened Rogers with legal action.
We are unsure whether this spat has any legal standing or whether these kinds of incidents will come to characterise the market in the years ahead as the newcomers struggle to get established, but we do welcome the competitive impetus that seems to be shaking the big three players out of their decade-long complacency. BMI is also hopeful that this will lead to increased usage of 3G/mobile broadband services, and new data from the regulator suggest that there are more active mobile broadband users on the market than we had previously expected.
This has enabled us to be more upbeat about the Canadian 3G market and our revised forecasts predict stronger growth over the next five years. By 2014, there should be 6.7mn 3G subscribers, representing around 22% of the overall mobile market. We have also added the new data on 3G/mobile broadband subscribers to our forecasts for broadband subscriptions in general. This raises our YE09 broadband base to 12.6mn, a figure we expect will rise to 20.1mn by the end of 2014.
We are upbeat about the broadband market as operators such as Rogers continue to win subscribers to their cable-based offerings, led by interest in its pay TV services. TV is increasingly being used to lure customers to the telecoms operators’ broadband services, with MTS, Telus and now Bell Canada launching IPTV-based services in recent months. Bell has gone one further by increasing its ownership of content provider CTVglobemedia, giving it access to new content and services.
Returning to mobile, regional operator SaskTel launched its 3.5G HSPA platform in August 2010, ramping up its 3G reach in provincial Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, cable operator Videotron launched its mobile services in September 2010, initially targeting subscribers in Montreal and Quebec City. It can leverage its substantial cable subscriber base, but may find it difficult expanding beyond its cable footprint. Rival cable operator Shaw Communications still plans to launch its mobile service in 2011 and may therefore find itself left behind in the rush for new subscribers.
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