Montréal, November 24, 2005 – Less than one year after beginning the roll-out of its new residential telephone service on the South Shore of Montréal, Vidéotron has extended the service to Laval, Québec City and Montréal, and is now phasing it in on the North Shore of Montréal.
North Shore residents who subscribe to the new service will see substantial savings on their phone bill, especially if they are already Vidéotron customers. They will also be able to obtain residential telephone, cable television and Internet services from a single provider and enjoy the advantages of one-stop shopping at Vidéotron: one call to customer service, one technician, one bill for all their services.
Our new cable telephone service has been an instant hit since we introduced it at the beginning of the year, said Robert Dépatie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vidéotron. We are particularly pleased by the high level of customer satisfaction. The message from the marketplace is clear: large numbers of consumers were eagerly awaiting a reliable alternative to conventional telephone service. However, it must be borne in mind that our move into residential telephone service has opened only a small breach in a market still heavily dominated by one player.
Subscribing is as easy as 1-2-3
Subscribing to Vidéotron's new residential telephone service couldn't be easier: customers can keep their existing telephone number, equipment and access to most of the services they are accustomed to, such as call display, voice mail, call waiting, assistance (0, 411, 911, 611), long distance and calling cards.
Free long-distance calls between Vidéotron subscribers
Long-distance calls between subscribers to Vidéotron's telephone service are free -- an exclusive service supported by the infinite power of cable. A subscriber to Vidéotron telephone service on the North Shore can therefore call a Vidéotron telephone subscriber in Québec City (or anywhere else in Québec where Vidéotron cable telephone service is available) toll free.
Reliable network, high-calibre services
Vidéotron's fibre-optic-based network architecture can carry immense quantities of information in different media to residential customers. The broadband network already delivers digital television, high-speed Internet and video on demand over a single coax cable. Now, cable telephone service is being added to the digital services available to Vidéotron customers.
Unlike companies that offer VoIP service over the public Internet network, Vidéotron uses its private network to provide telephone service.
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, Internet access services and residential telephone service. 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. As of September 30, 2005, Vidéotron was serving 1,472,000 cable television customers in Québec; including 425,000 illico subscribers. Vidéotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 607,000 subscribers to its cable modem and dial-up services. In addition, Vidéotron provides residential telephone service to more than 96,000 customers in Montréal, Montréal South Shore, Laval and the Québec City area.
