Mobile Wireless Market Performance in Canada : Lessons from the EU and the US

In this study, we examine the comparative performance of mobile wireless markets in Canada, the US and the EU. We find that Canada's wireless market is generally performing on par with the US, while the EU has fallen behind both Canada and the US in recent years. As in the US, Canadian wireless customers use their connections much more intensively (both in terms of voice and data) than those in the EU, resulting in lower unit prices. The difference in usage, in turn, is at least partially attributable to the more advanced state of wireless networks in North America relative to the EU, i.e., the more rapid and extensive deployment of next generation LTE networks. We also note that the performance of the Canadian market needs to be viewed in the context of the relatively high costs of deploying and operating wireless networks in areas with low population densities. With respect to policies, we find that the relatively poor performance of the EU market is at least partly attributable to policy choices by the EC and national regulators, and that efforts to import EU-style regulation into Canada, such as policies designed to artificially inflate the number of market participants would be counterproductive