Montréal, December 2, 2004 – Vidéotron has followed through on plans announced on September 2, 2004 to increase file transfer speeds on its High-Speed Internet and Extreme High-Speed Internet services as of November 2004.
Download speeds have been boosted by 25%, from 4.1 Mbps to 5.1 Mbps, on the High- Speed service, and by more than 30%, from 4.5 Mbps to 6.5 Mbps, on the Extreme High-Speed service.
The upgrade lengthens Vidéotron's lead as Québec's high-speed Internet access provider of choice. Download speeds on its High-Speed service are 70% faster than on the competition's high-speed telephone DSL service (3 Mbps). Between September 2003 and September 2004, the number of subscribers to Vidéotron's cable modem Internet services increased by 69,905. Vidéotron's rates for high-speed Internet access are among the lowest in North America.
Network improvements
By the end of the year, Vidéotron will have invested more than $40 million in 2004 to improve the reliability and performance of its Internet access infrastructure and its twoway HFC (hybrid fibre/coax) broadband network.
Vidéotron ltée (www.videotron.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services. Vidéotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television system and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. Vidéotron serves 1,450,000 cable television customers in Québec; including over 308,000 illico subscribers. Vidéotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed cable Internet access, with 501,000 subscribers to its cable modem and dial-up services.
