Claims That Wireless Service Is Too Expensive Don’t Hold Up

[Commentary] The idea that wireless prices are too high flies in the face of increasing Internet adoption and consumption across all demographic groups.

Not only is there an explosion of mobile-device use, but the price of a wireless megabyte of data has fallen by 99 percent since 2007. Americans and Canadians hold, respectively, the second and third slots in the world for Internet consumption per capita, particularly video. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority notes, "Accessing video online is particularly intensive in Canada, thanks to the country's investment in video-enabling broadband technology.... The trend toward mobile continues to strengthen." With its advantages of relatively low capital and maintenance requirements, mobility, shared capacity, and usability with a mobile device, wireless represents the most cost effective way to close the digital divide, including connecting rural areas, people of color, and the elderly. It's not surprising that wireless broadband has exploded in Canada and the U.S. with some 330 million connections.

[Layton is a Ph.D. fellow at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Studies at Aalborg University in Denmark and is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute's Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy.]