Canada's wireless carriers invest more than $1 billion in mobile phone communications infrastructure each year.
The members of CWTA pay licence fees in excess of $150 million each year - more than two-thirds of the total fees collected by Industry Canada from all spectrum users.
Canada's wireless industry employs approximately 25,000 Canadians. Most of these employees are in highly skilled positions, who on average earn 30 per cent more than the average Canadian worker. Thousands more jobs are indirectly supported by Canada's wireless industry.
The demand for highly skilled wireless communications specialists is so great that Canadian post-secondary institutions are creating programs specifically geared to the wireless industry.
The Canadian Market
Wireless phones are the among the fastest growing consumer products in history.
At the end of September 2009, Canadian wireless phone subscribers numbered 22.5 million.
Despite the atypical distribution of Canada's relatively small population across our vast land mass - and perhaps because of it - Canada has been and remains a world leader in communications networks and technology. And for an industry that is just two decades old, Canada's wireless phone industry, in particular, has made remarkable progress. Together, Canada's wireless carriers now offer coverage to more than 99 per cent of Canadians.
75% of Canadian households have access to a wireless phone.
Canadians send 100 million text messages per day.
Each year, Canadians place more than 6 million calls to 9-1-1 or emergency numbers from their mobile phones.
Wireless revenues in Canada totalled $15.9 billion in 2008.
Half of all phone connections in Canada are now wireless.
Information:
Marc Choma, Director of Communications
Tel: (613) 233-4888 ext. 207
E-mail: mchoma@cwta.ca
