This publication gives an overview of the communications industry from 2014 to 2018, and highlights pertinent revenue trends and key industry characteristics. The communications industry encompasses both the broadcasting and telecommunications market sectors. The data presented comes from CRTC sources.

More than ever, Canadian consumers expect to be connected everywhere, all the time, bringing nearly the entire population to subscribe to a mobile service. Wireless telecommunication carriers have capitalized on this accelerating use of data, as they're the bridge connecting users to the critical mobile networks they need. Still, while telecommunication providers were essential for Canadians to remain connected during the pandemic, revenue fell as in-person visits to retail stores plummeted. Wireless carriers have struggled to strengthen revenue since, even as data usage ramps up nationwide following upticks in travel and hybrid work environments. Steep competition between companies and sky-high capital investments in building, upgrading and maintaining 5G infrastructure limit revenue growth. Industry revenue has been declining at a CAGR of 1.7% to an estimated $32.8 billion – including an expected jump of 0.8% in 2024 – when profit is set to total 36.1%. As regulatory agencies look to bolster competition, new competitive dynamics are unfolding in the wireless market. Concerns regarding Rogers' acquisition of Shaw pressured the company to sell off Shaw's wireless business – but don't ease qualms about the historic acquisition's potential anticompetitive impact. On another note, efforts by the CRTC strive to make the wireless market competitive for companies. CTRC's measures are accelerating competition by opening the door for smaller, regional wireless providers, ensuring access to data for MVNO users and preventing provisions restricting access to regional companies. Canada's Competition Bureau is also pressuring the CRTC to introduce more measures – like lowering costs to change providers – to make the industry friendlier to consumers. Ongoing rollouts of 5G networks – and the billions necessary to implement them – will characterize the industry moving forward. Cord-cutting trends, in unison with expansions in the smartphone market, will continue to drive industry growth as consumers view on-the-go internet access as an essential function of mobile phones. The industry's leading telecoms will vie to offer the best balance of price with high-speed 5G networks. Attracting new customers will be more challenging as smartphone saturation peaks – pressuring carriers to offer more competitive data packages to pull new users from rivals. Expanding high-speed mobile access to rural areas will also be a focal point of the industry, with government support helping carriers complete the infrastructure projects. In all, revenue will expand at a CAGR of 2.2% to an estimated $36.7 billion in 2029.

Numerous technological advancements have changed how humans interact, pushing wired telecommunication services to the sidelines of communication. External competition from wireless telecommunication services and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software have lessened the need for local and long-distance telephony services. Many households have reduced expenses over the last several years by cutting landline phone service. Industry revenue has been freefalling at a CAGR of 6.6% to 2024 to reach $4.6 billion, with an expected slump of 3.4% in 2024 alone. Profit has simultaneously slid to 6.6% of revenue in 2024. Although households with high incomes had initially purchased wireless and wireline services, the number of wireless-only households has since grown. According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) 2022 Annual Telecommunications Highlights Report, private sales of landlines account for only 5.3% of the broader telecoms industry, with the vast majority of revenue stemming from mobile phone sales. Companies that offer VoIP have also competed for household telecommunication expenditure, ultimately hurting industry revenue and profit because that service is less expensive. Since internet-based calls do not have long-distance surcharges, revenue from long-distance telephony services has suffered the most. Because of the high sunk costs of existing wired infrastructure, companies are incentivized to keep customers by offering substantial discounts via bundling of telecommunication services to maintain profitability. Companies like Rogers, Bell Canada and Telus have pushed bundled offerings to keep landlines relevant, albeit as secondary components in packages dominated by internet and wireless services. To compensate for telephony losses, wired telecommunications companies will continue integrating systems. For example, by investing in broadband fibre-optic deployment, companies can use centralized infrastructure to provide voice, data and video services. Wired telecommunications providers will focus on keeping their existing customers with promotions and bundling options to limit further losses. As these companies spread their fixed costs across declining subscribers while competing with less-costly substitute services, revenue and profit will continue to shrink. Industry revenue is expected to plummet at a CAGR of 4.7% through the end of 2029 to reach an estimated $3.6 billion.

This publication gives an overview of the communications industry from 2013 to 2017, and highlights pertinent revenue trends and key industry characteristics. The communications industry encompasses both the broadcasting and telecommunications market sectors. The data presented comes from CRTC sources.

Canada Telecom Market size was valued at USD 46.41 Billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 55 Billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 2.14% from 2026 to 2032.

Canada Telecom Market Drivers

Increasing Digital Economy and Remote Work Adoption: According to Statistics Canada, the digital economy will contribute for 5.8% of Canada's GDP in 2023, or about CAD 132.6 billion. Remote work usage has skyrocketed, with 32% of Canadian employees aged 15 to 69 working remotely by early 2024, fueling need for dependable telecommunications infrastructure and services.

Rising Mobile Data Consumption: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) predicts that mobile data usage per subscriber climbed by 27% per year, reaching an average of 5.3 GB per month in 2023. This increase in data consumption is driven by video streaming, gaming and social media usage, resulting in ongoing demand for telecom services.

Government Investment in Rural Connectivity: The Universal Broadband Fund has committed CAD 2.75 billion to improve rural internet access by 2026 is driving market growth. The initiative aims to connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2026, creating significant opportunities for telecom providers.

This report, which is tabled under section 20 of the Service Fees Act and section 4.2.8 of the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, contains information about the fees that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had the authority to set in 2019–20.

Government of Canada departments may set fees for services, licences, permits, products, the use of facilities; for other authorizations of rights or privileges; or to recover, in whole or in part, costs incurred in relation to a regulatory scheme.

For reporting purposes, fees must be categorized under the following three fee setting mechanisms:

1. Act, regulation or fees notice : An act of Parliament delegates the fee setting authority to a department, minister or Governor in Council.

2. Contract : Ministers have the authority to enter into contracts, which are usually negotiated between the minister and an individual or organization, and which cover fees and other terms and conditions. In some cases, that authority may also be provided by an act of Parliament.

3. Market-rate or auction or both : The authority to set these fees is pursuant to an act of Parliament or regulation, and the minister, department or Governor in Council has no control over the fee amount.

This report contains information about all fees that are under the CRTC’s authority, including any that are collected by another department.

The information covers fees that are subject to the Service Fees Act.

For fees set by contract, fees set by market-rate, auction or both, the report provides totals only. For fees set by act, regulation or fees notice, it provides totals for fee groupings, as well as detailed information for each fee.

Although the fees that the CRTC charges under the Access to Information Act are subject to the Service Fees Act, they are not included in this report. Information on the CRTC’s access to information fees for 2019–20 can be found in our access to information report, which is posted on the CRTC’s website.

This report, which is tabled under section 20 of the Service Fees Act and section 4.2.8 of the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, contains information about the fees that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had the authority to charge in the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year. This report contains information about all fees that are under the CRTC’s authority, even if some or all of the fees are collected by another department. The information reported includes fees that: fall under the Service Fees Act are exempt from the Service Fees Act. The information covers fees set by: contract market base, auction or both acts, regulation or fees notice. For fees set by the following mechanisms, the report provides totals only: contract market base, auction or both. For fees set by act, regulation or fees notice, the report provides totals for fee groupings, as well as detailed information for each individual fee. Although the fees charged by the CRTC under the Access to Information Act are subject to the Service Fees Act, they are not included in this report. Information on the CRTC’s access to information fees for fiscal year 2018 to 2019 can be found in our access to information report, which is posted on the CRTC’s website.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Commission) annually collects financial and subscription information on Internet services. In addition, information on the availability of broadband Internet services is collected in partnership with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Also, the Commission conducts research into the data requirements of certain Internet-based audio and video applications. This data is mostly broken into three groups: - Incumbent TSPs. Examples of incumbent TSPs include Bell, SaskTel and TELUS. They also include small incumbent TSPs such as Sogetel and Execulink. - Cable-based carriers. Examples of cable-based carriers include Rogers, Shaw, and Videotron. - Other service providers. The “Other service providers” category may be further divided into “other carriers,” such as Xplornet and Allstream Business, and “resellers,” such as Distributel and TekSavvy. This may also be referred to as resellers, utility telcos and other carriers. Utility telcos are providers of telecommunications services whose market entry, or whose corporate group’s market entry, into telecommunications services was preceded by a group-member company’s operations in the electricity, gas, or other utility business. Broadband service availability is calculated using information provided by ISPs. For 2014 to 2016, locations were considered to be serviced if their dissemination block representative point fell within an area of broadband service coverage. As of 2016, ISED pseudohouseholds are used, along with 2016 census demography. Broadband service availability data may not take into account capacity issues or issues regarding line of sight. The information in this section does not take into account upload speeds unless noted. Pseudohouseholds are points representing the population in an area. These points are placed along roadways within each area, and the population of the area, determined by Statistics Canada, is distributed among these points. Additional data regarding addresses and the position of dwellings is used to guide this distribution. The use of pseudohouseholds aims to improve the accuracy of the availability indicators over the use of the assumption that the population within an area is located at the centre of the area. Unless otherwise noted, broadband service availability figures exclude wireless mobile technology and satellite. “Satellite access services” in this section refer to direct-to-home (DTH) satellite, and not to the technology used to connect communities to the Internet (e.g. satellite link transport). With regard to the Commission’s research into data requirements, the CRTC used a test environment that aims to replicate how a typical consumer would utilize online streaming and real-time communications services. The services were accessed by a typical wireline residential broadband service, and a national LTE cellular data network, using mainstream off-the-shelf consumer electronics: Android- and iOS-based tablets and phones, smart TVs, Windows-based laptop and desktop computers, and various set-top streaming devices. A web browser was used to access the streaming services on the PCs, and official applications (apps) were used on the other devices.

Broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) provide subscription television services to Canadians. They distribute conventional television, discretionary and on-demand services. The broadcasting distribution section of this report focuses on three types of BDUs: cable, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and national direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service providers. IPTV refers to services such as Bell Fibe and Telus Optik TV, but excludes Internet-based services such as Netflix, Crave and Club Illico.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (hereafter, the Commission) annually collects financial and subscription information on Internet services. In addition, information on the availability of broadband Internet services is collected in partnership with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Also, the Commission conducts research into the data requirements of certain Internet-based audio and video applications. This report presents financial and subscription information over 5 year period from 2013 to 2017. This data is mostly broken into three groups: Incumbent TSPs. Examples of incumbent TSPs include Bell, SaskTel and TELUS. They also include small incumbent TSPs such as Sogetel and Execulink. Cable-based carriers. Examples of cable-based carriers include Rogers, Shaw, and Videotron. Other service providers. The “ Other service providers” category may be further divided into “ other carriers,” such as Xplornet and Allstream Business, and “ resellers,” such as Distributel and TekSavvy. This may also be referred to as resellers, utility telcos and other carriers. Utility telcos are providers of telecommunications services whose market entry, or whose corporate group’ s market entry, into telecommunications services was preceded by a group-member company’ s operations in the electricity, gas, or other utility business. Broadband service availability is calculated using information provided by ISPs. For 2013 to 2015, locations were considered to be serviced if their dissemination block representative point fell within an area of broadband service coverage. As of 2016, ISED pseudohouseholds are used, along with 2016 census demography. Broadband service availability data may not take into account capacity issues or issues regarding line of sight. The information in this section does not take into account upload speeds unless noted. Pseudohouseholds are points representing the population in an area. These points are placed along roadways within each area, and the population of the area, determined by Statistics Canada, is distributed among these points. Additional data regarding addresses and the position of dwellings is used to guide this distribution. The use of pseudohouseholds aims to improve the accuracy of the availability indicators over the use of the assumption that the population within an area is located at the centre of the area. Unless otherwise noted, broadband service availability figures exclude wireless mobile technology and satellite. “ Satellite access services” in this section refer to direct-to-home (DTH) satellite, and not to the technology used to connect communities to the Internet (e.g. satellite link transport). With regard to the Commission’ s research into data requirements, the CRTC used a test environment that aims to replicate how a typical consumer would utilize online streaming and real-time communications services. The services were accessed by a typical wireline residential broadband service, and a national LTE cellular data network, using mainstream off-the-shelf consumer electronics: Android- and iOS-based tablets and phones, smart TVs, Windows-based laptop and desktop computers, and various set-top streaming devices. A web browser was used to access the streaming services on the PCs, and official applications (apps) were used on the other devices.