Shocker - Canadians are Cell Laggards

Canada lags other developed nations in mobile phone ownership, falling behind a global average of 30 countries, says an international survey being released today.

Only 69 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 60 use a cellphone at this time, compared with 90 per cent in the United States and 97 per cent in Britain.

"Canadians do not have the same attachment to ... mobile phones as the rest of the world does," said Michael Ennamorato, senior vice-president at TNS Canadian Facts, a division of Taylor Nelson Sofres PLC, which conducted the global survey.

Wow, I wonder why that is.

1) Land lines are quality vs. other locations in the world, such as Africa, where land lines are non-existent and cheap vs. other locations such as the UK where you have to pay by the minute for local calling.

2) Cell phone rates here are crazy expensive.

3) Canadians have the third highest number of cell-haters, behind Mexico and Vietnam, likely because of the telecom oligopoly of Rogers, Bell and Telus. See:

But there is one red flag in the survey results that bidders might want to note. Among the nearly one-third of Canadians who do not own mobile phones, most have no intention of purchasing one within the next 12 months. TNS terms this group of consumers "rejectors," and classifies 23 per cent of all Canadians as such. That is one of the largest groups of rejectors in all countries surveyed, and is third behind Vietnam (35 per cent) and Mexico (34 per cent)

The TNS survey suggested Canadians' frugality might stem from the phone operators' habit of locking consumers into three-year plans in return for heavily subsidizing their handsets. Really... you think? Shocker.