MONTREAL – Videotron Business Solutions began targeting small businesses this week with a new cable telephony offering.
Business customers who choose to take advantage of available business packages will be able to bundle their telecommunications services and enjoy all the benefits of one-stop shopping at Videotron: one call to customer service, one technician, one bill for all services.
Videotron Business Solutions will roll out its cable telephone service in two phases. In the first phase, the service will be offered to small businesses that need one or two lines and are located in the greater Montreal area including North and South Shore. In phase 2, the service will be extended to businesses that require three to 12 lines.
With cable telephone service, businesses will see substantial savings on their telephone bills. Videotron Business Solutions is offering basic telephone service starting at $29.95 per month, a saving of as much as 29% compared with the competition, says the Quebecor Media owned MSO. Subscribers to Videotron Business Solutions telephone service will also be able to take five optional features – call display, voice mail, call waiting, three-way calling and call forwarding – for $12 per month.
Long-distance calls between subscribers to Videotron’s business telephone service will be free. Long-distance calls between Canada and the U.S. will cost only 5¢ per minute.
Videotron Business Solutions package deals offer businesses service bundles that let them save an additional $120 to $180 per year.
Taking more than one Videotron service entitles business customers to free installation and simplifies their lives by billing their services on a single invoice.
"We have great confidence in this new service. More than 163,000 residential customers have already subscribed to Videotron’s cable telephone service and the satisfaction rate is 97%," said Jean Novak, president of Videotron Business Solutions.
In the future, the technology used by Videotron will support distinctive progressive services such as video phone service and unified messaging, said the company. "Unlike the majority of VOIP digital telephone services, Videotron’s cable telephone service does not require an Internet connection. Videotron’s telephone service uses the Internet Protocol, a data transfer protocol, to transmit voice over its private network, which is managed entirely by Videotron," says the release. "Calls are not routed over the public information highway, as they are in the case of other Internet telephone providers."
