Videotron testing 400% faster internet service
Last Updated: Friday, February 2, 2007 | 4:02 PM ET
CBC News
Videotron Ltd. is planning in 2007 to roll out a new high-speed internet service at least four times faster than current offerings.
The Montreal-based telecommunications provider said on Thursday that it is testing a service that would let its customers achieve internet speeds as high as 100 megabits per second (Mbps).
Shaw currently offers home internet users what may be the fastest high-speed service in the country, with download speeds of up to 25 Mbps, while Videotron offers speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Other major telecommunications providers such as Bell, Rogers and Telus offer high-speed services that top out at around five or six megabits a second.
A selected group of Videotron customers in Montreal have been testing the new high-speed service for more than a month and the company is projecting that they will reach a speed of 100 Mbps later this year, the company said Thursday.
The company plans to continue testing over the next few months and subsequently offer the service to more of its 769,000 internet service subscribers.
Videotron said the higher speeds could transform its offerings, especially with the explosion of online video.
According to a statement released jointly with network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc., the new speeds are possible due to a technological breakthrough. Cisco provides Videotron with hardware through its wholly owned subsidiaries Cisco Systems Canada Co. and Cisco Systems Canada Ltd.
