ROGERS, VIDÉOTRON TEAM UP AGAINST BELL

Rogers Wireless Inc. and Vidéotron ltée are ganging up on Bell Canada in Quebec.

Vidéotron said yesterday it plans to resell Rogers’ wireless service in Quebec starting in the second quarter of next year.

The partnership means Vidéotron will be able to offer customers a “ quadruple play” of services — a collection of Internet access, cellphone, TV and residential phone services.

“ This is great for consumers,” said Kona Shio, an equity analyst with Conscius Capital Partners in Montreal. “It will be cheaper for them as they will likely get a bundling discount.”

The quadruple play has become a must- have for carriers and cable companies because they are able to “lock in” consumers by offering modest discounts.

The bundles have also locked cable companies such as Vidéotron and carriers such as Bell Canada in a heated battle for customers— especially in Quebec, where both have headquarters.

Vidéotron has introduced new services, such as cable telephony, over the past year to gird for battle with Bell. Bell has responded by introducing a digital voice Internet phone plan that will be rolled out in Ontario and Quebec over the coming months.

Vidéotron has made progress, signing up roughly 76,000 phone subscribers since February.

Isabelle Dessureault, a Vidéotron spokeswoman, said the company won’t price its cellphone service as aggressively as its nascent phone service. “ It is a completely different market,” she said.

Vidéotron, however, does have a regulatory advantage. Bell has offered all four services for years, but the CRTC prevents it from offering local phone service within a three- or four-service package.

The alliance also ends Rogers’ sometimes frosty relationship with Quebecor Inc., Vidéotron’s parent company. The cable TV and printing companies waged a bitter battle for Vidéotron five years ago that Quebecor won when the Chagnon family sold Vidéotron for $ 5.4- billion in cash.

Financial Post,

with files from Sean Silcoff

krestivo@ nationalpost. com