Montréal, March 15, 2012 – Videotron recorded growth for the eighth consecutive year in 2011, solidifying the telecommunications/entertainment industry-leading position it has built through superior customer service and products, services and content designed for Quebecers. Consumers confirmed their strong relationship with the Company on two separate metrics, ranking Videotron the most respected telecommunications provider in Québec for the seventh year in a row and reporting the highest telecom customer satisfaction rate in Canada and the greatest likelihood of recommending their carrier.
I am particularly proud to note that this connection between Videotron and its customers has held up for years, said Robert Dépatie, President & CEO of Videotron. I believe we owe our success to two factors: a clear mission which consists in delivering the best possible customer experience and a team of 6,000 talented employees dedicated to accomplishing that mission.
Internet access: still #1, still the fastest across Québec
Videotron held its leading position as Québec's top high-speed Internet Service Provider with 1,332,500 subscribers for its cable modem services as of December 31, 2011.
Videotron also rolled out wireless Internet service to the Beauce, Lower St. Lawrence, Victoriaville, Drummondville, Montérégie/Eastern Townships, Laurentians/Mont-Laurier, Lac Saint-Jean and North Shore regions in late 2011. Consumers in those areas can now enjoy a better Internet experience on Videotron's advanced 4G wireless network.
Cable TV: new services and more content
As of December 31, 2011, there were 1,861,500 subscribers to Videotron's cable TV service. The uncontested video-on-demand leader, Videotron offers customers not only the best French-language high-definition (HD) catalogue but also the largest in Canada.
Videotron introduced a number of service enhancements in the course of the year. Its selection of HD sports programming was expanded with the addition of TVA Sports, RDS2 and RDS INFO to illico TV's channel line-up and four new sports channels on illico mobile: RDS/RDS2 and TSN/TSN2. Fans of hockey, soccer, mixed martial arts and tennis welcomed the eagerly awaited arrival of Sportsnet ONE.
Several other channels were also added to Videotron's extensive HD line-up, including CASA, Mlle, Bravo, Discovery Channel and SPACE.
Movie buffs, fashionistas, news junkies and budding chefs in Gatineau and environs were not forgotten. Videotron brought them 20 new HD channels: APTN, CBC News Network, CNN, Cinépop, LCN, Mlle, Mpix, MusiquePlus, MusiMax, NBA TV Canada, Oasis, OWN, Planète, RDS2, Speed, Super Écran 2, TFO, TVA Sports, Yoopa and Zeste.
On March 27, 2012, Videotron will announce details of illico TV: The New Generation, a new experience designed by Quebecers for Quebecers. Videotron is building on 50 years of expertise in cable television to propel its customers into a new entertainment universe.
Mobile telephone service: more and more Quebecers talking without end
Videotron's new mobile telephone service, launched in the fall of 2010, continues to gain new users. As of the end of 2011, the number of subscriber connections had more than doubled from the same date of the previous year to a total of 290,600. The service was rolled out to the Beauce, Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean and Outaouais regions. Residents of those regions can now join the Videotron experience by subscribing to two of the Company's services: mobile telephone and mobile Internet.
Videotron has also released a number of new devices over the past few months, including the Galaxy NexusTM from Google, the HTC AmazeTM 4G and its first Windows Phone® 7.5 handset, the HTC RadarTM 4G.
Videotron launched Lib tv, Canada's first mobile channel, in June 2011. It steadily gained popularity, quickly attracting a zany, edgy audience interested in innovative programming and logging more than a million viewings in a few months.
Cable telephone service: still growing
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, Videotron was providing cable telephone service to 1,205,300 Québec households and organizations, a net increase of more than 90,000 from the end of 2010. Therefore, more than 1.2 million subscribers now enjoy free unlimited local and long-distance calls between residential and business customers with mobile or cable telephone services from Videotron.
Continuing investments
Videotron also continued spending on infrastructure and customer service by injecting $3.3 million into its Customer Contact Centre in Gatineau. The investment created 106 new jobs in addition to the 100 permanent jobs created since May 2010 in the region. More than $1 million has been committed to training for new employees and $2.3 million to the new premises. In all, Videotron created more than 540 new jobs across Québec in 2011, bringing its total workforce to 6,000.
Videotron (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, cable telephone and mobile telephone services. Videotron is a leader in new technologies with its interactive Digital TV service and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. As of December 31, 2011, Videotron was serving 1,861,500 cable television customers, including 1,400,800 subscribers to its digital service. Videotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 1,332,500 subscribers to its cable service as of December 31, 2011. As of the same date, Videotron had 290,600 subscriber connections to its mobile telephone service and was providing cable telephone service to 1,205,300 Québec households and organizations. For the seventh consecutive year, Videotron was named Québec's most respected telecommunications company by Les Affaires magazine, based on a Léger Marketing survey.
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