With approximately 84% of the Canadian population now owning a cellphone, landline penetration continues to decline. According to Statistics Canada, 21% of all households are now cellphone-only, compared to 13% in 2010.
For the third straight year, Media Technology Monitors (MTM) has conducted a survey of Canadian cellphone-only households in order to determine how they differ from cellphone/landline households.
The 49-page study, Cellphone Only Households, found portability is the leading reason why households go cellphone-only (cited by 38% of respondents), followed by cost (24%) and the fact they seldom used their landline (24%).
The MTM research also found cellphone-only individuals are more likely to be young (60% are between 18-34), male (59%), students, visible minorities and live in lower-income households (54% of households earn less than $75,000 a year).
Ninety per cent of all cellphone-only households possess a smartphone – a number that drops to 75% among landline owners who also own a cellphone – with nearly half (47%) owning an iPhone.
There are also discrepancies in technology ownership the study attributes to the lower household income. Tablet ownership, for example, drops by nearly 10% between households with a landline (57%) and cellphone-only (49%) households, as does high-definition TV ownership (82% versus 73%) and PVR ownership (58% versus 38%).
It found one-quarter of all cellphone-only households do not have traditional paid TV service (versus 9% of landline/cell owners), and report watching less traditional TV. However, nearly half of cellphone-only households have a Netflix subscription (compared with 37% cellphone/landline households) and nearly half (45%) have watched the streaming video-on-demand service in the past month.
However, when online TV and Netflix are included, cellphone-only individuals report watching virtually the same amount of TV as landline cellphone owners (15.8 hours per week versus 14.8 hours per week).
Cellphone-only households are also more reliant on their device, using it for an average of 10 activities (versus five for landline/cell owners). More than half (55%) have engaged in content creation, while 50% have posted photos and 18% have uploaded video (versus 9% of cellphone/landline users).
Cellphone-only individuals also report spending more time using the internet than landline subscribers with cellphones. Much of this time is spent listening to audio and watching videos online, with cellphone-only individuals spending twice as much time engaged in those activities.
