TORONTO, July 21 (UPI) -- Canada lags far behind many countries as far as cell phone usage goes, an international study of telecommunications published Monday found.
The market research firm TNS Canadian Facts of Toronto said it polled 16,000 people between the ages of 16 and 60 in 30 countries and determined the global average for using cell phones was 80 percent. The biggest users were in Britain, where 97 percent of people polled used mobile phones. In the United States, the figure was 90 percent.
However, only 69 percent of Canadians used cell phones, the survey said.
"Canadians do not have the same attachment to and reliance on mobile phones as the rest of the world does," said Michael Ennamorato, a senior vice president at TNS. "Making calls from land-line phones in Canada is relatively inexpensive and many Canadians think that the quality of land-line connections is superior to wireless."
Canadians also hang on to their cell phones longer than people in other countries. Along with people in the Netherlands, they tend to keep the devices for at least 3 1/2 years, about a year longer than average globally, the survey indicated.
