Cablecos need to defend their Internet, voice service from Rogers brand

In two moves last month Rogers Cable Communications Inc. bolstered its national presence by expanding its Rogers Yahoo high-speed Internet offerings outside of its cable areas. Internet service providers in these regions now have more than just another competitor to contend with: they’ll have to defend their subscriber bases against the commanding Rogers brand. "If we remain a competitive and strong service provider I hope they have an awful time ungluing our customers from their relationship with us, and I suspect they will," says Patrick Kiely, director of business operations and development for Mountain Cablevision Ltd. "We’ll certainly work at that. That’s the name of the game." Mountain’s territory in Hamilton ON will be affected by both of the Rogers launches. In consecutive days Rogers announced it’s offering high-speed Internet to customers in Greater Vancouver, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville, as well as portable Internet in 20 major urban markets across Canada. "As we go to a national brand we’re trying to introduce broadband Internet over the two platforms, not just one," Terry Canning, Rogers Cables’ VP and GM of Internet Service, tells Network Letter. With its launch, the portable offering covers 60% of the Canadian population with plans to grow that around Rogers’ cellular coverage and reach 90% of Canadians in about a year, explains Canning. The service, which includes a plug and play modem that requires only a power source to give customers download speeds of 1.5 Mbps in any of the coverage areas, is targeted at what Canning calls the mobile professional niche. "We really are using it to target the individual experience," he says. "It’s the cell phone equivalent of Internet." The high-speed service in Greater Vancouver and the four southern Ontario cities, however, is a resale broadband DSL offering that stems from Rogers’ purchase of Sprint and is being offered exclusively with Rogers home phone service. Canning says the strategy with these services is to move into markets where multi-product offerings fit to the extent that there are significant rewards for Rogers. And while ISPs across the country will certainly take note of Rogers’ portable Internet, cablecos offering multiple services where Rogers is moving in with DSL and home phone could stand to lose a lot more. "It’s a question of do you have a bundle or not?" says telecommunications consultant Lis Angus. "Right now all in those areas is wireless, so they’re trying to find a way to offer a bundle to those customers without actually having to install a cable network." Indeed, Canning says the primary target for the high-speed/home phone offer is existing Rogers wireless customers, with the main sales pitch being the convenience of bundling the three services. In the case of Hamilton, Rogers is taking its triple play of Internet, home phone and wireless up against Mountain Cablevision’s Internet, home phone and cable television. Kiely says Mountain has essentially been through this before with products offered by Sprint, but concedes the caché of the Rogers and Yahoo brands. "The Rogers brand is in our market and they obviously enjoy a fair amount of collateral spill in southern Ontario. So we’ve always had that as a reality," he states. "We’re not overly concerned. It is a brand and we have to make sure our message is crisp and clean." Canning says the existing strength of the Rogers brand in the areas surrounding its cable footprint will help the expansion, and adds that the real challenge now is to bring up awareness that it has Internet available. As for the contingency that home phone be included with Internet in these areas, Canning says research shows that two products is the maximum you can make an individual customer decision on. The move also shows Rogers’ commitment to bundling its customers. This also means that anyone who migrates to Rogers from a provider like Mountain will be taking two services with them. And with the providers competing with bundles it becomes a question for subscribers of which bundle delivers the best value. Of course, that’s not always easy to determine. "For all the much-vaunted advantages for customers of bundling, the bills are often very confusing," says Angus. "So if you want to compare one component to another and see if the new offer actually would save you money, it’s sometimes hard to figure out." But Mountain plans to defend its subscriber base with more than just bundle pricing. Mountain provides services from its own plant and promises a direct customer service relationship to its customers: subscribers get to speak directly to a Mountain employee, not an automated answering system. Kiely says this will definitely help the cableco keep its customers, but it has always touted its customer service as a differentiator. "Personal service matters and we make a fuss about that. I think rightfully so because it does cost us," he says. "We don’t put people through voice mail hell. They don’t have to push four million buttons and hope they can convince a computer that they know what they’re asking for." Kiely is confident that customer loyalty will prevail. "Yes it’s a brand and it’s real," he says referring to the Rogers moniker. "I think the combination of our presence in the market and the high level of local service and personal service we offer will probably win the day." Rogers, on the other hand, is relishing the prospect of growing its brand. "Rogers is known as a company, so it’ll really be our challenge to bring up the awareness that we have Interent available . It’s always fun when you’re a national player because it creates a whole new paradigm for being able to offer customers services, so we’re enjoying the opportunity."

Cablecos need to defend their Internet, voice service from Rogers brand

News | 07/06/2006 4:00 am EDT

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