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Residential Telephone Service Survey
While the majority of Canadian households rely on land-line telephone services, a full two-thirds also have cellular telephone service, according to new data from the Residential Telephone Service Survey.
As of December 2006, about 90.5% of households reported having a land-line, while 66.8% reported having at least one cell phone.
About 80% of Alberta households reported using cellular phone service, the highest proportion among the provinces. This contrasted sharply with rates in New Brunswick, where only 57.5% used cell phones and in Quebec, where the proportion was 57.9%.
The proportion of households that relied solely on cell phones remained relatively unchanged from the previous year. About 5.0% of households reported having only a cell phone in December 2006, compared to 4.8% in December 2005.
For the first time, respondents were asked about their use of two additional telecommunication technologies: cable telephone services and "Voice over IP" services.
Cable telephone services are offered by cable television companies and allow subscribers to deliver and receive telephone calls over a cable network. "Voice over IP" or "VoiP" services allow the customer to make and receive calls using the Internet.
As of December 2006, about 10.6% of Canadian households reported using a cable telephone service or a "VoiP" service. About 13.5% used them in Alberta and 13.2% in Quebec, the highest rates among the provinces. Only 4.9% used them in Newfoundland and Labrador, the lowest rate.
Usage rates may reflect availability. Only 3.5% of households in rural areas reported using one or the other of these technologies, compared to 14.1% of households in urban areas with a population of 500,000 or more. Less than 1% of households reported cable telephone or "VoiP" services as their only means of telecommunication.
Almost 10% of Canadians households that reported not having land-line telephone service cited basic local monthly rates and installation charges that were too difficult to afford.
Among those households without a land-line, 78.2% reported having cellular phone service and 31.7% reported using cable telephone or "VoiP" services.
The survey also showed that 1.2% of households did not have any telephone service at all. This rate was unchanged from the previous year.
Note: The Residential Telephone Service Survey, conducted since the fall of 1998, is now carried out for Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream Inc., Northwestel Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications and TELUS Communications Company. It monitors residential phone penetration rates and reasons for non-subscribing to assist the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in making decisions on rate increases and decreases, or subsidies.
| Proportion of households by type of phone service, December 2006 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Land-line | Cell phone | Cable telephone/VoiP | |
| Canada | 90.5 | 66.8 | 10.6 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 95.0 | 61.8 | 4.9 |
| Prince Edward Island | 92.6 | 64.7 | 5.9 |
| Nova Scotia | 93.2 | 63.6 | 10.8 |
| New Brunswick | 94.5 | 57.5 | 5.4 |
| Quebec | 86.4 | 57.9 | 13.2 |
| Ontario | 92.5 | 70.1 | 9.6 |
| Manitoba | 90.7 | 62.4 | 11.5 |
| Saskatchewan | 95.5 | 67.9 | 6.4 |
| Alberta | 88.2 | 80.1 | 13.5 |
| British Columbia | 91.2 | 68.6 | 8.7 |
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4426.
The microdata file Residential Telephone Service Survey (56M0001XCB, $535) is now available. Information in this file is from the December 2006 survey and refers to telephone service penetration rates in all 10 provinces.
For more information on related products and services, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-461-9050; 613-951-3321; fax: 613-951-4527; ssd@statcan.gc.ca), Special Surveys Division.
