Earlier this month, I wrote about “Maintaining incentives to invest,” asking how a change in regulatory framework might impact investment levels by incumbents and the regional carriers. What are the broader economic impacts of Canada’s mobile industry?
Earlier today, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) released a report [pdf, 0.5MB] prepared by Nordicity that examines “The Benefits of the Wireless Telecommunications Industry to the Canadian Economy in 2017”. This is the 10th annual version of the report.
Nordicity found:
- In 2017, Canada’s wireless industry contributed $27.5 billion to the Canadian GDP, an increase of 9.1% from $25.21 billion 2016.
- The major contributor to this overall GDP increase was the $1.22 billion increase in the contribution of wireless network operators to the GDP.
- The wireless sector generated 151,550 full-time equivalents (FTE) jobs in 2017, including direct, indirect and induced effects — an increase of 13,500 FTEs or 9.8% from 2016.
- Canadian facilities-based network operators made capital investments in Canada’s wireless infrastructure totaling $2.92 billion in 2017 — an increase of $0.34 billion or 13.2% from 2016.
Robert Ghiz, President & CEO of CWTA, will be speaking at The 2019 Canadian Telecom Summit, taking place June 3-5 in Toronto. Have you registered yet?