The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association responds to my recent column on text-messaging, taking issue with the comment that Canadian consumers pay more, but get less.
Wireless Industry Association Responds to Text-Message Column
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So they are justifying Bell and Telus charging for incoming text messages because the Canadian consumer can afford. It’s not about being able to afford it or not, it’s about not having control over when you receive text messages.
Interesting that their response focuses on growth in usage, with no comparison to the services provided in other countries.
We can see that in the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association answer: “And yet, the average revenue per user has remained relatively static.”
For wireless?
It’s totally false: I suggest to read “le Devoir” july 31 : For Rogers since 2003 to 2008 up to 32% For Bell Canada up to 14% and after they come to tell us the average revenue per user remained relatively static if you take only one year may be but on 3 years it’s very different.
“The average revenue per user has remai
Might the industry’s prohibitively expensive data rates have something to do with this…?
Ugh
That subject line should have read:
“The average revenue per user has remained relatively static…”
Extras
They are saying that “average revenue per minute” is one of the lowest in OECD.
We might be getting more minutes in our plans, but our plans are FAKELY priced. They charge you extra for System Access Fee, 911 fee, Caller ID and Voice Mail (compared to every other country). Therefore, our true plans are actually $17.45 higher than their original price.
Hence, “average revenue per minute” might seem fine, but “average revenue per user” is insanely high because of these EXTRAS.
Taken out of context
David Farnes usesd a standard “spin doctor” technique which is to remove the quote from the original context and then refute it on unrelated statistics. Michael Geist’s original statement could much more accurately be quoted as “consumers pay more, but get less (than they do in other developed countries)” since comparing Canada to other countries is the context around which the entire column is written.
Wireless is currently in the spotlight but paying more and getting less is something that Canadians (especially businesses) are doing in all aspects of technology. Internet, wireless, and even traditional PSTN phone service costs are much higher in Canada compared to the US and it’s making Canada less and less competitive.
We CAN’T afford this
Why else would we refrain from using more of these services more often?