Canadian Consumer Communications Product Trends

Yankee: Consumer adoption of and potential interest in communications, computing and entertainment products and services. The survey demonstrates the extent to which advanced services will drive marketplace dynamics in the near future.

• Only 28% of Canadian households are aware of VoIP telephony. For the most part, the only positive perception of VoIP over traditional calling is the price point. Increased adoption requires "must have" features, including good sound quality, 911 service and 100% uptime.

• The most technologically advanced households spend a mean of $247.25 Canadian* per month on telephone, internet and television service. The average Canadian household spends a mean of $209.07 per month when they subscribe to local, long-distance, internet, wireless and subscription television services.

• Home networking is growing quickly as low-cost devices that exploit connectedness begin to proliferate. The number of households with home networks rose from 16% in 2004 to 25% in 2005. Increasingly, the networks are wireless, especially in early adopting technology households.

• Although Canadian households are mindful of technological expenses, 35% of Canadians age 35 and younger say they’d pay between $1 to $10 per month to download ringtones. The willingness is highest among wireless subscribers who use Fido services. Furthermore, 25% of Canadian households own at least one MP3 player—an increase of 8% from 2004.

Increasing digital device penetration and consumption of digital content are trends being watched closely by both telecom companies and cablecos. As the market for access across the spectrum of consumer technologies moves closer to duopoly between the two camps, the smart use of digital content will be an important consideration in consumers' choice of one provider or another. The internet is used increasingly to participate in interactive activities, and in the sharing of user-created content such as photos, blogs and voice conversations, which require a faster service than dialup. In addition, end users leverage the internet to personalize devices not connected to the PC such as MP3 players and gaming consoles. The key question for both telcos and cablecos in this environment is how to evolve from competing as commodity access providers to maximizing revenues from advanced digital content."

2005 Canadian Technologically Advanced Family Survey Publ 20051207