When the iPhone was announced at MacWorld San Fransisco in January, many Canadian news sources were predicting the iPhone to be introduced in the Great White North not long after the American introduction.  Clueless Rogers’ Customer Service agents were also confirming the iPhone was coming to Canada very soon after the American introduction, however these was information the representatives learned themselves by reading online.

Canada may not get the iPhone for a long time, not because Apple may believe that the Canadian GSM market is too small, but because the costs for data plans are too high in Canada for the iPhone to sell well. In Canada, none of the major wireless carriers currently have an unlimited data plan offered to its customers, however in the past Fido did have unlimited data, before Rogers Wireless bought the company a few years ago.

The only real option for the iPhone to enter the Canadian market is through Rogers Wireless, which is the only major GSM carrier in the nation.  Rogers’ data plans may prohibit Apple from selling the iPhone in Canada. Firstly, in most of Canada voice minute plans are mediocre at best, for a $30 voice plan on Rogers you would get 100 day time minutes, 1000 evening & weekend minutes (starting at 9PM), and unlimited local Mobile to Mobile/Rogers Landline/Fido, long distance is extra. Secondly and finally, Rogers’ data plans are expensive with the highest end data plan being half a Gigabyte costing around $200/month. With the use of wireless data becoming more and more popular, half a Gigabyte is below a minimum needed for many customers.

If Rogers wants to bring the iPhone to Canada, the pricing structure will need to change, even if a special pricing structure needs to be created for iPhone customers alone in regards to data.

Source: Canada.com