Canada's big telecoms are seeing fewer new users than they'd hoped

The Big Three in Canadian telecom are attributing slower subscriber growth to the country's immigration policies.

As reported by Bloomberg, Bell, Rogers and Telus all blamed the business slump on the federal government's recent decision to limit the number of immigrants coming into Canada. Altogether, the trio recorded fewer than 54,000 net new mobile subscribers in the first quarter, which was the lowest amount in four years.

In October, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a roughly 20 percent reduction in the number of permanent residents Canada would allow in 2025 and 2026.

While Canada had welcomed a surge of immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic to address labour shortages, Trudeau acknowledged last year that his government "didn't get the balance quite right." This came amid strains on the housing and health care systems amid the skyrocketing population.

Naturally, then, it makes sense that fewer Canadian newcomers would result in slower subscriber growth. Of course, it should also be mentioned that carriers continue to raise prices, which could very well discourage others from subscribing.

Bolstering the pricing theory, Quebecor — which owns Freedom Mobile and Videotron — reported it gained 54,000 new wireless customers in Q1 2025, nearly half of all new wireless customers during that time. The increase was attributed to Freedom undercutting prices from other providers. While immigration might be a factor, the Q1 subscriber numbers indicate that pricing is a major factor.

It should be noted that our new prime minister, Mark Carney, has promised to continue to pursue limits on immigration. Shortly after winning the election, Carney said one of his priorities is to return immigration to "sustainable levels" by capping temporary workers and international students at five per cent of the total population by 2028, down from 7.3 per cent.