Compared to the big three, Shaw offers more affordable wireless plans, more monthly data, no overage fees and other unique innovative features. Its presence has forced Bell, Rogers and Telus to respond by lowering prices and offering new features. This is how competition is supposed to work.
However, there is still room for improvement. Prices in Canada have fallen more slowly than in other countries, while data caps have not kept pace. This is confirmed by a preponderance of the independent research on Canada’s high wireless prices, shown for instance by the Wall-Nordicity reports commissioned for CRTC and ISED, the U.S. FCC, the OECD, the ITU, Rewheel and the Competition Bureau, amongst others.
With Shaw out of the picture, the trajectory of improvement that we’re currently on will be reversed. Rogers’ pledge, furthermore, to maintain prices for Freedom customers isn’t nearly good enough, even as an opening bid. We know this because Bell made a similar promise when it absorbed MTS in 2017. Today Manitoba’s mobile services, once the envy of the rest of the country, have lost their edge.
We need to be hearing about lower prices, more data and greater adoption of new services. These are all things that are delivered by competition, not consolidation.
For over a decade, adoption levels for mobile wireless services in Canada have languished at the bottom of the ranks amongst OECD countries. This merger promises to keep prices high and will, therefore, only help to cement our position as a laggard.
In addition to lowering prices, regional operators like Shaw have increased data caps. However, mobile data usage in Canada is still only one-half of the OECD average and about one-third of what it is in the U.S. We are about three to five years behind the U.S., and letting Shaw disappear would set us even further back.
Dwayne.