Bell Kills Cheap LD Plan
It took a year but Bell Canada finally came to its sense and decided to kill a 0.5 cent/minute long-distance plan that took the bottom out of the market in Eastern Canada. The cheap LD was seen as a way for Bell to encourage more customers into bundle because you had to have at least two other services to get it. While Bell may have added 319,000 LD clients, the downside was that the already-eroding LD market (revenue, rather than minutes) got even worse. Meanwhile, Bell saw yet another source revenue take a beating. Perhaps the silver lining for Bell was the cheap LD may have kept some people from jumping to VOIP service providers such as Vonage and Primus Canada, which were hoping to use inexpensive LD as a major marketing issue. So who wins from Bell's decision? Bell comes out ahead because it gets to walk away from a program that was strategically questionable despite claims by management the plan achieved its purpose. VOIP SPs will be happy because they can get back on the LD message again. Another happy soul is Rogers CEO Ted Rogers, who can now launch cable telephony next month as a premium product because he doesn't have to worry about Bell's LD voodoo.
Mea culpa: I was remiss in not pointing out that consumers on the $5 a month plan will be able to keep it. The offer is available until July 3.
June 22nd, 2005 at 10:16 am
But Rogers has the same plan with their bundles, so why pay more for VoIP. I get 1000 minutes US and Canada for $5.
June 22nd, 2005 at 10:19 am
Where did you see this? I cannot find this on Bell's site. Rogers also has the $5 1000 minute deal for bundled customers.
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:40 am
One would think that as a mainline technology reporter, you would be able to cover both sides of a story. The fact is, all customers currently subscribed to the $5 plan will be grandfathered; the deal will not be revoked. New customers will be offered a new, different plan.
June 23rd, 2005 at 3:34 pm
The fact is, all customers currently subscribed to the $5 plan will be grandfathered; the deal will not be revoked.
For what it's worth, most readers will have assumed this — the clear message is that you can't subscribe to it any more. Anyone who has a mobile plan knows how this works…