Mobile phone charges in Canada are falling, but high-speed wireless Internet costs remain steep by international standards, a study commissioned by Industry Canada and the CRTC has found.

The latest annual price comparison from Ottawa-based Wall Communications Inc. says costs for a typical cellular package including voice, text, voicemail, call display, assuming average usage, dropped 13 per cent this year versus 2012, based on data collected through March. Prices for data packages fell about 5 per cent over the period.

The decreases continued a general downward trend in Canadian mobile wireless prices that corresponds with the arrival of new wireless companies after Ottawa’s auction of airwave licenses in 2008. But the study said the current drop is greater than in previous years.

It said the newer entrants, including Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, continue to offer mobile wireless prices “significantly lower” than those of larger incumbents such as Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility. The newer entrants’ average monthly data allowances also exceed those of the more established providers.

After a spike in customer complaints over cell phone prices and contract terms, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in June introduced a wireless code of conduct for service providers, which caps international data roaming charges, among other measures.

Wireline prices for average use increased 8 per cent over 2012, accelerating an upward trend over the past five years, the study found.

The study also said Canada remains in the mid-range in telecom rates compared with surveyed countries, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.

But prices for higher-level broadband Internet services were steeper in Canada than those in all comparison countries except the U.S., the study found.

The study was based on a survey of prices across Canada, with the data collected from a variety of telecom service providers