Repeat the lie often enough and people start to believe it is true. However, a new analysis of open data by the World Bank should again call into question the tired, mistaken claims that “Canadians pay some of the highest rates in the world”, a statement that appeared over the weekend in a CBC News article (that was remarkably endorsed by the CRTC in a rare Saturday morning tweet).
The World Bank analysis looks at mobile service costs in 173 countries measured in US dollars; measured in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP); and, measured as a percentage of income.
Measured as a percentage of income, Canada’s mobile services ranks in the most affordable quintile – among the lowest 20%. The study shows Canadians spend just 0.68% of income to run mobile phones, ahead of the US (0.80%), Japan (0.87%), Belgium (0.88%), Netherlands (0.98%) and France (1.11%).
Measured in US dollars, Canadian monthly mobile prices aren’t even in the top 10 most expensive countries:
- Netherlands
- Ireland
- France
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United States
… - Canada
In terms of PPP, Canada isn’t even in the top 30. The United States ranks 18th; France is 23rd; Japan is 31st; Canada is way down the list at 64th.
The open data analysis, by Tariq Khokhar (Data Scientist & Global Data Editor at The World Bank) points to a recently published World Bank report: Digital Dividends [pdf]. That report contains interesting data and analysis that may be informative for the CRTC’s upcoming review of basic services hearing.
Will this report put to rest the old canard that “Canadians pay some of the highest rates in the world” for wireless services? I doubt it. But, there is now an additional piece of ammunition with which to take aim at propagandists who continue to repeat the lie.
While there are some very fine journalists at the CBC there are still some who cannot resist a misleading tabloid style sound byte or headline. The CBC has known for many years that Canadians spend a much lower percentage of their income on cell phone service than the citizens of most other countries in the world.
In 2008, the CBC posted a chart on their website (CBC News Interactive: The price of staying connected) that showed the average number of hours a person has to work to own a cellphone in various countries around the world. Even that very old and badly outdated chart from 2008 showed Canadians needed to work only 30 hours per year to pay for their cell phones compared to 80 hours in Mexico or almost 200 hours per year in Turkey.
Sadly, the CBC has been so deeply invested in this misinformation for so many years that it is unlikely they will ever acknowledge the truth.
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