Telus: Canada Should Be the Most Expensive Wireless Country in the OECD

Telus has responded to my post on the 2013 OECD Communications Outlook, which ranked Canada among the most expensive countries in the OECD for wireless services in virtually every category, with its own post claiming that Canadians should be celebrating our relatively high prices. The post notes the investment that Telus and other companies have made in Canada (Peter Nowak explains the reason behind much of that investment) and argues that:

When you consider our enormous investment, challenging geography, sparse population and outstanding networks Canada really SHOULD be the most expensive country for wireless service in the OECD, but we’re not. That’s a great success story we should be celebrating.

It is a testament to how out-of-touch Canada’s incumbent wireless providers have become that they think Canadians should be celebrating the fact that we are not the single most expensive wireless country in the developed economy world.  Telus says that scratching below the surface of the OECD report will lead people to conclude that Canadians pay about the same as other developed countries. Yet in its own chart, Canada ranks among the more expensive countries within the G7 in every category but one.

Interestingly, days after Telus promoted the OECD report with a press release and quotes from CEO Darren Entwistle claiming that Canadians “pay about the same prices as people in much more densely populated countries”, it now says the OECD methodology is “limited.” The OECD data relies on sample plans from Telus, Bell, and Rogers for its analysis. Telus also adds that pricing alone does not tell the whole story, noting that different prices may reflect different speeds.

To address their concerns about methodology and suggestions that rank do not tell the whole story, below are two of the key baskets from the OECD pricing comparisons that used Telus costs. Moreover, I have eliminated any country that does not match the Telus speed according to the OECD data. In other words, this is the OECD comparison of Telus pricing against providers in other countries offering comparable speeds. First, a 1 GB data plan with speeds of 40 Mbit/s or more:

Rank	Country	Provider	US$ PPP	Speed (Mbit/s)
1	Norway	Netcom	8.51	80.0
2	Slovenia	SI.mobil	11.75	42.0
3	Poland	T-Mobile	11.83	42.0
4	Korea	KT	12.29	40.3
5	Greece	Cosmote	16.13	42.2
6	Canada	Telus Wireless	31.83	42.0
7	Japan	SoftBank	33.20	42.0

Second, a 500 MB data plan for tablets with speeds of at least 7.0 Mbit/s or more:

Rank	Country	Provider	US$ PPP	Speed (Mbit/s)
1	Denmark	Telia	5.65	80.0
2	Ireland	Meteor Mobile	8.15	14.4
3	Poland	PlusGSM	8.28	42.0
4	Norway	Netcom	8.51	80.0
5	Turkey	Avea	8.82	7.2
6	Hungary	Telenor	9.41	7.2
7	Luxembourg	Tango	9.63	7.2
8	Italy	TiM	10.67	14.4
9	France	Bouygues	11.09	42.0
10	Switzerland	Swisscom	11.68	7.2
11	Slovenia	SI.mobil	11.75	42.0
12	Greece	Vodafone	11.86	42.2
13	Germany	E-Plus	11.95	7.2
14	Korea	KT	12.29	40.3
15	Czech Republic	Vodafone	12.72	21.6
16	New Zealand	2degrees	13.16	7.2
17	Spain	Vodafone	14.99	21.6
18	Canada	Telus Wireless	17.70	7.2
19	Japan	SoftBank	33.20	42.0

This is the data provided by the OECD using Telus as representative of Canadian pricing: the 2nd most expensive of 7 countries for 1 GB of wireless data (at speeds Telus customers are likely to receive) and the second most expensive of 19 countries for 500 MB of wireless data for tablets (again at speeds Telus customers are likely to receive). Telus apparently believes the fact that we rank 18th out of 19th countries in this OECD sample is a great success story.  Based on recent comments, it does not appear the government shares that view.

The post Telus: Canada Should Be the Most Expensive Wireless Country in the OECD appeared first on Michael Geist.