Videotron maintains rapid growth in telephony and cable

MONTREAL - Videotron's total customer base broke through the 1.5 million mark in 2005, rising to 1,506,000, compared with 1,452,500 in 2004 and 1,424,000 at the end of 2003. “It was by far the largest increase in the last five years,” rightly crows the press release. “The breakdown indicates a substantial increase in subscriptions to multi-product packages and an ongoing migration from analog to digital TV.” The startling number is the 163,000 telephony customers the company ended 2005 with - and must be jarring for Bell Canada, especially since it has not yet matched the Videotron’s $15.95 a month entry...