Vancouver will be the fifth market to get Internet digital calling
Derrick Penner
Sun
Shaw Communications Inc. is bringing its phone war with Telus Corp. to Vancouver today with the launch of its Internet-based digital phone service in Western Canada’s biggest local telephone market.
Shaw Communications would not comment officially Tuesday, but the company sent out an advisory that its Shaw Digital Phone service would be launched “with operations officially commencing” today.
It will make Vancouver the fifth market to receive the service following Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Shaw’s first foray into B.C. last October in Victoria.
The service Shaw has launched in other markets is $55-per-month Voice-over-Internet-Protocol telephone service that includes unlimited long distance in North America, voicemail, call forwarding, call waiting, call display, call return and three-way calling.
Shaw’s phone package is more expensive than VoIP services such as Vonage ($40 per month) and Primus ($50), however at its Victoria launch, Shaw president Peter Bissonnette said his company could offer a dedicated phone network and 24-hour technical service.
At the end of October, Shaw boasted that it had signed up 56,000 subscribers for its phone service.
In an interview, technology consultant Eamon Hoey of Hoey Associates said Shaw can expect to see 20,000 — 40,000 customers sign on in the Lower Mainland during the first year, with most coming from the ranks of Shaw’s existing cable television subscribers.
However, Hoey doesn’t believe that will significantly cut into Telus‘ short-term revenue given its strong growth in wireless and high-speed Internet subscriptions.
“My sense is that this is going to be a long battle and there’s lots of opportunity for Telus to co-exist and co-compete in this kind of environment,” Hoey said. “Over the longer term, what we’re seeing is a restructuring of the entire business in telecommunications.”
Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson said the company is “very prepared” for the head-to-head battle in Vancouver, having already dealt with the Edmonton and Calgary launches.
Johannsson said the defection of customers to Shaw “has not gone unnoticed,” and characterized the company as a “solid, well-run competitor.”
However, he said Shaw has so far only created a basic phone network and gone to market with the simple value proposition that VoIP is a cheaper way to make long distance calls.
“A lot of consumers are saying, ‘you know what, long distance is already pretty darn cheap, and when the cost savings aren’t there, they are coming back [to Telus],” Johannsson said.
Johannsson said Telus‘ launch of Telus TV is one of the firm’s responses to the competitive threat. He added that the company will also focus on creating ways to integrate services in a way customers find useful and are willing to pay for rather than giving them additional discrete services.
Johannsson said Telus will launch Telus TV and its own VoIP service in Vancouver later this year. He added Telus‘ VoIP offering is currently undergoing employee tests in Alberta.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
