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Bell-Boy · Guest

I have posted the following in a Shaw Dicussions thread and have just now realised there is a Eastlink forum. If anyone reading this is using the services as described below would you please post some information on how its working for you and if you are more technically inclined a explanation on how this operates. It would appear that the bigger cable operators are about to mimic the operations of Eastlink's services and I'm more than curious about this. Thanks!

From the Financial Post

At a major telecom conference a couple of months ago in Toronto, the industry's biggest corporate and regulatory players gathered to rub shoulders and discuss the challenges ahead.

But the talk of the show was a small Halifax-based cable company called Eastlink Communications Ltd., which has rattled the telecom industry by offering a bundle of services that includes cable, high-speed Internet access and local telephony. In industry-speak, this is the much-sought "triple-play" being pursued by cable companies and carriers around the world.

Eastlink's success is significant because it shows that cable companies can move into the local phone market by leveraging existing networks. The company has grabbed 25% to 30% of the local phone business in markets where it offers service -- making life increasing difficult for incumbent carrier Aliant Inc., which is part of the BCE Inc. empire.

Along with Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc., Eastlink is among a handful of North American cable companies that have aggressively moved into the local phone market. At the same time, larger Canadian players such as Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. have stayed on the sidelines -- waiting for new technology to arrive and for the federal regulator to provide some kind of relief to enhance their chances of success.

Telecom analyst Mark Goldberg said Eastlink has done well by capitalizing on its well-known brand in Atlantic Canada and its relationships with 250,000 cable and high-speed customers in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

"There is no question Eastlink has shown that if you put together a compelling offer for an alternative service and provide reasonable availability of that service, you can focus on a community and succeed," he said.

Eastlink's "triple-play" package is called Watch, Surf & Talk. For $104.95 a month, customers receive full-tier cable, high-speed Internet access and local phone service that includes all features and the ability to keep your existing number. While the company's telephone unit is losing money, it is expected to become profitable by late-2004.

A good illustration of Eastlink's feistiness was evident last month when it filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that accused Aliant of anti-competitive behaviour by bundling its local phone service with Internet access and wireless phone products.

Eastlink is the love-child of entrepreneur John Bragg, who operates Oxford Frozen Foods, the world's largest blueberry producer with daily production of more than three million pounds. Mr. Bragg started Eastlink in 1970, and he has grown it to become Canada's largest privately owned cable company. It started offering local phone service in Halifax in 1999, and aims to complete its roll-out by next year.

In some respects, Eastlink and Mr. Bragg find themselves in an interesting predicament. While they are attracting more publicity and gaining more local phone customers, the flip-side is that the CRTC may decide that competitive is alive and well in Nova Scotia and P.E.I., and take the regulatory handcuffs off Aliant. It may explain why Eastlink has adopted a lower profile recently.

"If you are the start-up on one hand, you want to brag you are doing really well because that tends to help build confidence in the customers," Mr. Goldberg said. "When it builds too much, the phone company says, 'You have to let me gear up win-back promotions.' It is a bit of a double-edge sword."