Telus came out with new rate plans earlier this week and many including yours truly and the Toronto Star commented that even though these were two year plans, Canadians would likely pay more. But the big slap in the face came from OpenMedia who used the latest OECD report on wireless pricing to make the argument that Canadians pay more than they should for wireless. It seems that Telus was stung by that because this blog post has made an appearance on the Telus blog. Titled “Wireless pricing in Canada – a broader look at the facts”, Telus via Brent Johnston who is their Vice President of Wireless Solutions makes this argument:
In its latest blog OpenMedia selectively pulls out a very few data points from the 2013 OECD report on wireless pricing in member countries including Canada to prove its long-standing – and just plain wrong – storyline about Canada having high wireless pricing.
The blog post then goes about making the argument by using the OECD data that Canadians are not as bad off when it comes to wireless pricing and they also make this statement:
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not arguing that Canada has the cheapest wireless rates in the world – that would be no more factual than the oft-repeated mythology that our prices are the highest.
However, if you step back and look at the facts – all the facts – Canadians clearly pay rates that compare well across the developed world for some of the best wireless technology in the world.
There’s a saying: “There are lies, dammed lies, and statistics.” You can likely slice and dice this OECD report and make an argument based on that if you’re good with numbers. I won’t do that to prove who’s right and who’s wrong because I’m a computer nerd, not a mathematician. But having said that, here’s what I will say. I travel extensively to the US and parts of Western Europe. People I interact with, especially in Europe, are stunned by how much Canadians pay for what we get which isn’t a lot by European standards. They’re shocked that our roaming rates are so high and by the fact that our data charges are high by European standards. They see horror stories such as this one where people get billed huge dollar amounts while on vacation and are floored because that sort of thing would not happen in that part of the world. To me, all of that suggests that there’s something really wrong with what Canadians pay for wireless phone service. It is possible that Canadian wireless rates may not be the highest in the world, but they are sure not affordable. That’s something that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later. New legislation. Foreign competition. It doesn’t matter how it’s fixed. It just needs to be fixed.
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This entry was posted on July 18, 2013 at 11:10 am and is filed under Commentary with tags OECD, OpenMedia, Telus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Telus Goes On The Offensive In Terms Of Wireless Rates That Canadians Pay
Telus came out with new rate plans earlier this week and many including yours truly and the Toronto Star commented that even though these were two year plans, Canadians would likely pay more. But the big slap in the face came from OpenMedia who used the latest OECD report on wireless pricing to make the argument that Canadians pay more than they should for wireless. It seems that Telus was stung by that because this blog post has made an appearance on the Telus blog. Titled “Wireless pricing in Canada – a broader look at the facts”, Telus via Brent Johnston who is their Vice President of Wireless Solutions makes this argument:
In its latest blog OpenMedia selectively pulls out a very few data points from the 2013 OECD report on wireless pricing in member countries including Canada to prove its long-standing – and just plain wrong – storyline about Canada having high wireless pricing.
The blog post then goes about making the argument by using the OECD data that Canadians are not as bad off when it comes to wireless pricing and they also make this statement:
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not arguing that Canada has the cheapest wireless rates in the world – that would be no more factual than the oft-repeated mythology that our prices are the highest.
However, if you step back and look at the facts – all the facts – Canadians clearly pay rates that compare well across the developed world for some of the best wireless technology in the world.
There’s a saying: “There are lies, dammed lies, and statistics.” You can likely slice and dice this OECD report and make an argument based on that if you’re good with numbers. I won’t do that to prove who’s right and who’s wrong because I’m a computer nerd, not a mathematician. But having said that, here’s what I will say. I travel extensively to the US and parts of Western Europe. People I interact with, especially in Europe, are stunned by how much Canadians pay for what we get which isn’t a lot by European standards. They’re shocked that our roaming rates are so high and by the fact that our data charges are high by European standards. They see horror stories such as this one where people get billed huge dollar amounts while on vacation and are floored because that sort of thing would not happen in that part of the world. To me, all of that suggests that there’s something really wrong with what Canadians pay for wireless phone service. It is possible that Canadian wireless rates may not be the highest in the world, but they are sure not affordable. That’s something that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later. New legislation. Foreign competition. It doesn’t matter how it’s fixed. It just needs to be fixed.
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This entry was posted on July 18, 2013 at 11:10 am and is filed under Commentary with tags OECD, OpenMedia, Telus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.