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economist sunsuntribune technology saturday sept 17 2005 photo illustrationmike barrett by patrick mangion staff writer when the cellphone became available to canadian con sumers 20 years ago limited serv ice a steep price tag and its unap pealing size conspired to make the device anything but a must- have technology fast forward to the 21st century and the now ubiquitous cellphone has become an all- encompass ing device complete with camera mp3 player and video games when you con sider half of all canadians or some 15 million of us use a cellphone and most will trade it in less than two years after purchas ing it you can see how wide a footprint the little handheld devices have left on our society- with the canada wireless telecommunications associa tion celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first cellphone call earlier this summer con sumers shouldnt expect its pop ularity to wane any time soon association president peter barnes said we expect growth to continue at 12 to 15 per cent over the next few years mr barnes said adding adaptability and afford- ability have fueled cellphone growth of late when cellphones first launched a standard phone the size of a construction brick would cost thousands and calls were 50 cents a minute he said compare that to today where no fewer than five cellphone com panies are battling for cus tomers and consumers are being offered free phones and servicefor pennies per minute volume increased by dropping the price mr barnes said the rampant growth in the indus try has come with the inevitable problems while tech nology has cre ated vast net works for widespread cellular serv ice com bined with pintsized handsets there is an underly ing dissat- isf actio n among canadian cellphone users the latest salvo being lobbied at the wireless industry follows news last week that it will take years rather than months before mobile phone users are able to keep their phone number when switching service providers its the feeling of being held wireless watch today half of canadians are mobile phone customers canadians use more than 17 mil- lion wireless devices daily including phones pagers and satellite phones canadas wireless carriers offer coverage to more than 95 per cent of canadians on average most of us update our cellphone with a newer model every 18 months according to the statistics canada survey of household spending 54 per cent of canadian households had at least one cellphone in 2003 wireless revenues in canada totalled 82 billion in 2003 an increase of nearly 8 per cent from 2002 more than 27 million text mes sages are sent by canadians daily and of all phone connection 41 per cent are now wireless in canada the canada wireless telecommunications association hostage by his service provider that bothers richmond hill resi dent david chan its totally ridiculous it should be an open market mr chan said pointing to asias more advanced marketplace where such concessions are easily made it should be the person who owns the phone number he said canadian cellphone compa nies are trying to protect their business and their customer base but they have it backwards adding to the problem is the disposamity of cellphones ten to 20 years ago consumers were more reluctant to part with their phones today according to the associ ation the average cellphone cus tomer will upgrade to a newer model every 18 months thats made possible by providers offering cus tomers a free or cutrate f phone when signing longterm contracts mr barnes said i think most people i recognize handset prices are heavily subsi dized by the service provider he added the deals which include a free phone are particularly appealing to young people a demo graphic aggressive ly targeted by canadas major industry players bell rogers telus and virgin for 22-year- old student ellen opok signing a twoyear contract seems to have been mistake in hindsight i needed a phone but when you want to change the plan its diffi cult you have to sign on for another two years it should only be six months she said for consumer council of canada executive director michael lio it all adds up to a not so rosy image for the cellphone industry theres a lot of pent upangst and annoyance mr lio said theres no stellar player in the cellphone field he added point ing to exorbitant roaming charges as another common complaint but a com petitive market place should continue to push prices lower for con sumers without compromising improved technol ogy and added fea tures in the future mr barnes said so what is the next technological marvel with camera and video gameequipped cellphones encourag ing our insatiable appetite for all things cellular it would seem cellphone makers have their sights set squarely on tv as the next domain its slowly being intro duced in the marketplace now but mr barnes figures two years from now streaming video and real time tv will be the norm with the return of hock ey the timing couldnt be better he said now that we have 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