CALGARY – Provincial telco SaskTel will finally face some local phone competition as Shaw Communications has launched its Digital Phone service in Saskatoon while Regina’s cable co-operative Access Communications has made its intentions public for Regina and area.
"For the first time in 98 years, Saskatoon residents have the opportunity to select their local telephone service provider," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a press release. "We are delighted to offer this choice to Saskatoon residents and expand our growing footprint across Western Canada by extending our Digital Phone service to our first major market in Saskatchewan."
Shaw has over 212,000 telephony customers in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba.
For a limited time Shaw Digital Phone is being offered to Saskatoon residents for an introductory rate of $29.95 per month and as low as $40 per month after the introductory period.
About 250 kms to the south, independent cable co-op Access Communications announced today it has applied for its CLEC license from the CRTC – a process that doesn’t take very long.
Access formally filed for regulatory approval with the CRTC on Monday and expects to be in-market with a voice product early in 2007.
“It’s an exciting step for us as we count down to our launch early in the new year," said Access president and CEO Jim Deane. "This has been a long process involving a capital investment of about $50 million over the past five years in rebuilding our infrastructure, installing stand-by power and the network improvements needed to deliver the service. It’s rapidly becoming a reality and we’ll soon be delivering the alternative primary line phone service our customers have been asking for.”
The company expects to spend upwards of $50 million more in the next five years as it rolls out its own Digital Phone and other enhanced services across its regions in the province, such as Yorkton, Melville, Estevan, Weyburn and North Battleford.
The co-operative also expects to add between 50 and 100 new jobs over the next year or two as it expands its network. “This investment confirms our commitment to our customers, in every community we serve,” added Deane.
Both Shaw and Access have faced competitive pressure on the video side from SaskTel and its digital TV service, Max. The company announced this week it has surpassed the 50,000 customer mark on the video side.
Access has teamed up with MTS Allstream to provide the cable company with its network resident IP telephony (NRIPT) solution.
MTS Allstream is the first communication solutions provider in Canada to market a NRIPT service on a national basis and serves other Canadian cable operators as well, such as Mountain Cablevision in Hamilton, Ont. The service includes residential voice services with advanced features such as unified messaging, conferencing, visual call management, as well as flexible and custom web portal support tools.
www.shaw.ca
www.sasktel.com
www.accesscomm.ca
www.mtsallstream.com
