2007 North America - Telecoms, Broadband and Mobile Statistics (tables only)

Canada

In 2006, the Canadian mobile and broadband sectors continued to enjoy double-digit revenue growth rates. In contrast, local service and access revenues have remained stagnant whilst long distance revenues continue a downward trend. This has led to further regulatory amendments in 2007 towards a lighter-handed more market-based framework.

During 2006, mobile subscribers increased by approximately 10%, compared with a 17% increase during 2005. By end-2006, although Canada’s wireless carriers offered coverage to more than 98% of the population, only 58% of all Canadians were mobile phone customers. Cellular penetration in Canada thus remains relatively low by OECD standards.

Broadband subscribers reached 7.7 million by end 2006, placing Canada ninth in the world in terms of broadband penetration. Cable still leads DSL in terms of share of the broadband market. The major cable providers are Shaw, Rogers, Vidéotron and Cogeco. Another driver for cable modems is the rapidly increasing growth of VoIP services. Cable VoIP experienced significant subscriber growth in 2006, growing from around 270,000 to nearly 1.1 million subscribers.

The number of digital TV households in Canada stood at approximately 6.5 million at end-2006, up from around 5 million at end-2004. The continued growth indicates that the industry is in firm transition from analogue to digital.

This report provides key statistical data on the major Canadian telecommunications sectors, including fixed-line, mobile, broadband and broadcasting.

All dollar values in the Canadian section refer to Canadian dollars.

USA

This report provides key statistical data for years up to 2006 and, where available, for 2007, covering the major US telecommunications segments including fixed-line, mobile, broadband, Internet, and broadcasting.

Fixed-line revenue continued to decline during 2006, by approximately 3%, whilst mobile revenues grew by around 14%, driven largely by increased SMS and other data revenues and by increased minutes of use.

Broadband continued to experience strong growth, with broadband penetration exceeding 50% of households. With over 60 million broadband subscribers, the USA boasts the world’s largest broadband market. At current DSL growth rates, the number of DSL subscribers is expected to exceed the number of cable subscribers during 2008. Verizon is leading the deployment of FttH networks, with the number of US communities being connected by fibre growing at approximately 100% per annum. The number of homes passed with FttH by early 2007 approached eight million, of which around 1.3 million were connected, a take-up rate of over 15%.

By end 2006, there were approximately 230 million mobile subscribers, up 10% from the previous year, amounting to a 72% penetration rate. The four main national wireless carriers are, in order of size, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile. The fifth major player, Alltel, covers 34 states. Together, the big-3 hold just over 75% of the market, and the big-5 around 92%. A major development in the sector is Sprint Nextel’s planned nationwide WiMAX network, in combination with Clearwire, which will underpin its mobile broadband services.

Digital TV continued to grow with the number of digital cable subscribers increasing by around 14% and satellite subscribers increasing by around 6%. By mid 2006, around 85% of households subscribed to either cable or satellite. The major current development in the digital TV sector involves Verizon and AT&T entering the IPTV market.

Finally, VoIP continues to grow rapidly, reaching approximately 16 million subscribers by end 2006. It is expected to continue to play an increasingly significant role in the US telecommunications market.