Montreal, February 25, 2004 – Vidéotron Ltée and epost have signed an agreement to make the Vidéotron cable and Internet bills available via the epost service. Starting in Spring 2004, all Vidéotron customers will have the option to receive and pay their monthly statements online through epost, the leading Electronic Document Presentment and Payment (EDPP) service that delivers the mail online for Canada Post.
Subscribers to Vidéotron's basic cable, illico digital and Internet service will now have the choice to centralize their bills online in a single, secure location - their epost box. Vidéotron joins the growing list of Mailers sending more than 100 different documents through the epost service, including the following Québec Mailers: Hydro Québec, Laurentian Bank (VISA and bank statements), and Gaz Métro. The epost list of more than 65 Mailers also includes national companies such as BMO Mosaik MasterCard, Rogers, Canadian Tire, Hbc, and Future Shop.
With the addition of Vidéotron to its Mailer list, epost will offer 75% of the regularly recurring bills to Québec consumers, including Hydro, Gas, Cable, Internet, Retail, and select Financial Institution documents, such as Bank Statements and Credit Cards.
"In order to provide the best services to customers, Vidéotron chose epost because of its significant momentum within our market, and because of the superiority of the features of the epost service," said Yvan Gingras, Executive Vice-President, Finances and Operations, Vidéotron Ltée. "epost is a leading service offering our customers the tools they need to manage their bills and documents centrally and securely online. epost has the further advantage of being universally accessible to Vidéotron customers, and it will allow them to make online payments from any bank or credit union account in Canada. Considering these multiple advantages, we are very proud of this alliance," concluded Mr. Gingras. Trademark of Canada Post Corporation, used under licence.
"Adding Vidéotron to the epost service represents a significant addition to the content offered to Québec consumers," said Mona Malone, Vice President of Marketing, epost. "In 2003, epost experienced a 95% increase in the volume of documents sent via the service - adding Vidéotron to the service will greatly contribute to this pattern of significant continued growth for epost in 2004, resulting in more bills and documents that can be delivered to consumers in Québec."
As part of the agreement, Vidéotron and epost will launch a joint marketing program to encourage all Vidéotron customers who wish to receive and pay their bills online to use the epost service. The marketing program will include a launch promotion with communication to all Vidéotron customers and employees, and information about the epost service will be featured on the Vidéotron website.
Vidéotron Ltée, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Média inc., is an integrated communications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services. Vidéotron Ltée is a leader in new technologies, thanks to illico, its interactive television system and its high-bandwidth network allowing it to offer, among other services, high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital TV services. In Quebec, Vidéotron serves 1,433,000 million cable customers; more than 240,000 also subscribe to interactive TV on its digital service illico. Vidéotron is also the leader in high-speed cable Internet access throughout Quebec, with more than 435,000 Internet customers by cable modem and dial-up modem.
epost is the world's first electronic post office, delivering the mail online for Canada Post. In addition to having 400,000 Canadians registered for their free epost box, over 65 companies are live and available as epost Mailers, delivering more than 100 different documents via the service. For more information, please visit the epost website at www.epost.ca.
