The Unexpected Truth About Internet Use in Canada

This blog post was provided by Stephen Schmidt, VP of Telecom Policy & Regulatory Affairs, and Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel at TELUS.

Staying connected online is more important than ever for Canadians. As digital connectivity is increasingly viewed as an essential service, ensuring affordable access has emerged as a key priority for Canada’s future.

According to the Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index, the overall cost of living in Canada has risen by more than 19.5% since 2019. This inflation has impacted everything from groceries to housing. Yet, in a remarkable juxtaposition, the cost of telecommunications services have been steadily declining over that same period.

Take wireless prices, for example. There are plans designed for every budget. Despite widespread inflation, they have declined 46.7% since 2019. This results in Canadians opting for larger data plans. In fact, there has been a 30% increase of subscribers with a data plan of 50 GB or more since 2020. When you take inflation into account, that’s an even greater decrease of 58.4% since 2019, offering a rare deflationary bright spot in household budgets.

This significant decrease can be attributed to several factors, including increased competition among national and regional service providers, more advanced technology that makes services more efficient, and the evolution of consumer needs and behaviors.

Home internet prices are following a similar trend. TELUS entered Ontario in February 2024, and home internet prices have dropped by 9.2% up to February 2025. 

What’s more, this price reduction in telecom services hasn’t come at the expense of service quality. In fact, the opposite is true – service quality has improved significantly across the industry: Internet speeds have increased by 300%; mobile data usage has nearly tripled; and the cost for a 50GB plan has dropped nearly 68% even as the price of most other goods during that timeframe went up more than 20%. That same CRTC report shows, the Internet price index has fallen 10.0% since 2019 (figure 16). Plus, 89.1% of households now have access to gigabit internet, up from 61.1% in 2019. This expansion ensures faster connectivity, boosts digital experiences, and fuels economic innovation.

These improvements have positioned Canada favorably on the world stage. Canada now ranks as the third most affordable country for high-speed Internet in the G7, despite challenges such as vast geography, low population density and cost factors that are more than double the G7 average. Mobile prices are consistently lower than those in the U.S. and Japan across all market segments, challenging what many people think about Canadian telecommunications prices.

The telecommunications industry’s commitment to improvement is clear: Canada has the second highest rate of telecom investment per subscriber in the G7, investing 38% more than the OECD average, a stark contrast to the overall Canadian economy, which has struggled to keep pace with global competitors. This robust investment has enabled broadband to account for 17% of Canada’s total productivity growth from 2009 to 2019, positioning telecom as the engine of innovation, efficiency and economic competitiveness.

As Canadians deal with rising costs, more affordable internet helps make life a little easier for everyone and helps power other industries to drive economic benefits too.