Mark Evans

How fast can you go? It's become the question in the broadband market as Canadian carriers and cablecos battle it out for subscribers without reverting to - heaven forbid - lower prices. Videotron has raised the ante against Bell in Quebec by increasing the speed of its extreme high-speed service to 10Mbps from 6.5Mbps. This compares with Bell's 5Mbps “Ultra” service. If carriers and cablecos were smart, they would generate more revenue by charging customers for higher speeds - rather than playing around with the idea of charging downstreams fees (a.k.a tollgates) to content and service providers.
Update: Moody's Investors Service expects Canadian cablecos will have 1.2 million local phone subscribers by the end of 2006, or 11% of the $10-billion local market. It suggests, however, that carriers will be in a better position to protect their local business once regulatory changes are implemented later this year.