Average wireless bills lower than usual

Quarterly reports from Rogers, Bell Canada and Telus show their average monthly billing per mobile phone user was down in early 2021 compared with last year’s first quarter.

Each of the Big Three got less from roaming fees because fewer customers are travelling during the pandemic.

They also got less from overage fees as more customers switched to wireless plans with unlimited amounts of data each month.

As a result, the average bill per user at Bell slipped 3.4 per cent from last year to $70.34, the Telus average monthly bill fell 4.4 per cent to $68.79 per user and the Rogers average fell 4.6 per cent to $62.13 per user.

Bell’s chief executive told shareholders last week that it had raised some add-on fees for mobile customers in line with the market rates charged by its competitors.