Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

June 10, 2010

Quebec cable and Internet service provider Videotron plans to launch wireless service in the province later this summer, but the Quebecor Media subsidiary didn't provide any specifics for now.

Speaking at the 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto yesterday, Videotron CEO Robert Dépatie shared some insight into the company's imminent wireless service launch in Quebec.

"We are strongly engaged in extensive network testing and are on the verge of launching Quebec's most competitive and complete wireless service. Our new network will be fast and stable, with technology and entertainment capabilities that will go above and beyond what is presently available," said Depatie.

"Our wireless network will soon be at the heart of our strategies and all our many wireless plans, like our service and product plans, and will be focused on the customer and on how will we deliver real value to all our subscribers," added Dépatie.

Last year, Videotron successfully bid and won AWS spectrum licenses for the province of Quebec including Montreal, Toronto and eastern Ontario, paying more than $554 million for the licenses.

The Quebec cable giant now operates as an MVNO with about 85,310 subscribers, but its main business is cable TV and broadband Internet service.

It counts nearly 1.8 million cable TV customers in Quebec and nearly 1.2 million cable modem customers in all of Quebec.

Dépatie said "we see our wireless network as an excellent means to extend the Videotron experience to mobile users, but also to fixed users who are beyond the reach of our fixed broadband services. Our goal is to provide our subscribers with a positive environment that can respond to multiple customer requests and that can create new services."

"A broad selection and full flexibility is what we are offering our customers. They will now have three screens, three different formats, which means three different types of challenges for our systems and processes. Our job is to make sure that it works, to put the customer in full control and for us to provide the flexibility that people expect from a wireless service provider today, added Dépatie.

Overall, Videotron has already signed deals and roaming agreements with Rogers and T-Mobile USA earlier this year, and said that at least three more similar agreements are already in the works in the U.S., without providing any more details.

Two years ago, the Canadian government auctioned off more wireless spectrum to bring greater mobile competition to the country.

Today, Rogers Wireless, Telus and, to a lesser extent, Bell Mobility dominate the marketplace in Canada. Now new entrants include Videotron and Globalive Holdings.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Source: Videotron Ltd.