Almost half of Québec now using voip telephony (9)
A Léger Marketing study reveals an impressive rise of voice Over Ip telephony in Québec in 2007. Figures in 2006 showed that only 16% of subscribers were using voip, but the new study shows that the rate is now 44%, nearly a +200% increase in just one year.
The figure is surprising, as voip technology was only introduced in the province in 2005, and it was then estimated that the technology would take over land-based telephony only in 2010.
If Québec experiences the same growth in 2008, then legacy telecom operators like Bell or Telus have a lot to worry. Companies that offer voip-based telephony services include Videotron, which offers to replace your telephone line via cable, Rogers, plus a myriad of third-party service providers like Kovasys, Groupe Neotech, Aheeva or Savoir-Faire Linux which offer to install Asterisk or another solution so that you’d get an entire phone system through your Internet connection.
These companies, especially Videotron, highlights value-added services like cheaper long-distance calls, and more options, like accessing your voicemail through the web, which would be impossible with a classic telephone land line.
It strikes me that in Québec, some technologies see impressive growth rates, seen nowhere in the world, like voip or broadband Internet, while other technologies like mobile Internet are still waiting to be adopted by most Québecers. Go figure…
Greetings:
The increase popularty of Voip in Quebec means that users want a choice.
Customers don’t want just one service like land line service.
They want to compare services or addons.
Regards Robert
I went with VOIP telephony because it was cheaper than a regular landline.
I wouldn’t go with mobile Internet (yet) because it’s too expensive to be usable.
Ceci explique cela…
The increase rate is impressive because VOIP solutions are really competitive alternatives to land-based solutions.
The problem is that this rate is doomed to slow down, somehow quickly, as a large group of people (in my opinion) can’t have a broadband connection due to their isolation.
So unless Videotron wants these people connected, they’ll have to stay with Bell’s monopoly.
[...] notes that recent research suggests that 44% of telephony users in Quebec, Canada are now using IP [...]
You really have to thank the agressive price structure and marketing campaign by Videotron for the high level of VoIP penetration in Quebec.
Two years ago, cable executives I spoke to were wondering whether they should introduce telephony services aggressively, forcing lower prices, or simply allowing prices to drop slowly overtime. Videtron choose to be agressive, but all other Canadian cable companies went the gentle way. Eventually, Videotron’s way prove to be a wise decision.
mdupuis,
broadband internet is deployed 90% in the Québec territory, so there is still a lot of margin, at least in 2008.
Benoit Marcoux, that’s right, it’s mostly due to Videotron (I hope by the way that they get a wireless license and come up with very aggressive pricing scheme for wireless plans too)
Heri,
Broadband may be very deployed. The problem is: I don’t think Bell will offer a VOIP solution that offer real advantages over their land-based solutions right now.
There still is a lot margin for this year, but I don’t think the `rate` is going to be really high in, let’s say, 2009.
And I must say, Videotron’s initiative is really great. They came with a real alternative that can compete (and beat) Bell and other land lines.
Modulis-voip also provides turn-key VOIP PBX with asterisk. Please check: http://www.modulis-voip.com
[...] VoIP growth in Quebec is even more startling. In 2007 Quebec nearly had a 200% increase in VoIP use! It is estimated that by 2010 VoIP will overtake standard land-line telephoney. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
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