Prices for Canadian phone service rose at the fastest rate in more than 30 years amid a debate over whether the wireless industry needs more competition.

The cost of mobile and landline communications climbed 7.6 per cent in August from a year earlier, more than three times general inflation, as the biggest phone companies pulled back on promotions and moved to shorter contract lengths.

According to Statistics Canada, the jump was the biggest since March 1983, the same year Motorola Inc. debuted the first commercially available mobile phone. Last month’s increase helped boost the core inflation rate to 2.1 per cent, the highest since April 2012, the statistics agency reported last week.

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Ottawa has been pushing for more than six years to encourage a fourth mobile phone carrier to compete nationally with Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. The Big Three, which control 90 per cent of subscribers, argue more competition would endanger their multibillion-dollar investments in new cellular towers and fibre-optic cables.

Canadians are using more data and paying more for devices as they upgrade to higher-end smartphones, said Kevin Chu, a Toronto-based analyst at Accountability Research.

On top of that, carriers are raising prices to recoup money spent on subsidizing phones for two-year contracts, Chu said.

In December, new government rules forced carriers to stop offering three-year contracts, which let them spread the costs of expensive smartphones over a longer time.

“The companies have to make their money back,” Chu said.

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