Robert Dépatie, CEO of VidéotronYvonne Berg
Consider how nerve-wracking it must be for a Vidéotron Ltée employee who deals with customers.
Just last week, the company's president and chief executive officer, Robert Dépatie, was listening in on their calls - again. He does this every week, about 10 or 15 times.
There were a slew of calls about Vidéotron's Internet service: The speeds were down, people complained. But as Mr. Dépatie listened in, it became clear that it was usually a third-party problem - people's computers and routers simply weren't fast enough.
So he asked technicians to advise customers on what to buy so they could maximize their service.
"These are the things that nobody sees but that we're doing, that have an impact on why customers will pick Vidéotron for their wireless," Mr. Dépatie says.
This is the year of new wireless competition, as several entrants to the wireless market get up and running. For Vidéotron, already a cable giant, it is this attention to detail that analysts say will give it an advantage in its home market when it launches its wireless operation this summer. Its customer service and understanding of the market have left it an unrivalled brand in Quebec. It also will benefit from its parent Quebecor Inc. 's vast French-language media assets, which make bundling possibilities even more profitable than some others.
Mr. Dépatie realized Vidéotron would need to get into the wireless game soon after he became CEO. At first, Vidéotron simply dipped its toes: It leased space on Rogers Communication Inc. 's wireless network. Slowly, Vidéotron grew: adding cable, phone and Internet customers to its subscriber base, all while building its brand as a caring company.
With its new venture looming, Vidéotron isn't taking chances: It announced 600 new jobs this past week, many of them related to the wireless network. That's on top of 600 new positions it created last year, many of which went into a new customer service centre in Joliette, near Montreal.
Maher Yaghi, an analyst at Desjardins Securities in Montreal, says it's crucial for Vidéotron to transfer its outstanding customer service to its wireless operation. It will be a key differentiator.
"I live here, so I know the difference," Mr. Yaghi says.
Mr. Dépatie puts it slightly differently: "I don't want to put my core business in jeopardy."
The chance to make a real wireless move came in 2008, when Industry Canada held a spectrum licence auction aimed at introducing more competition into an industry dominated by Rogers, Telus Corp ., and BCE Inc. 's Bell Canada, which together control roughly 95 per cent of the market.
Montreal-based Vidéotron spent more than $554-million, almost exclusively in its home province, outbidding others.
So far, attention has focused on other new entrants, such as Wind Mobile, Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc. (DAVE Wireless), and Public Mobile. But Wind, which markets itself as a national carrier, has no footprint in Quebec. And the low-cost Public Mobile only has spectrum in Montreal.
"In Toronto, you're going to have three incumbents and another three new entrants," says Amit Kaminer, of the consultancy SeaBoard Group. "In Montreal, for example, you already know what the competition is going to look like."
Over the long-term, however, it will be the bundling and content opportunities that truly set Vidéotron apart. Mr. Dépatie is hesitant to be too specific. But Quebecor Media is well placed, having vast French-language media assets: from Le Journal de Montréal, with a weekly readership of two million, to North America's largest French-language broadcaster, TVA, which churns out 1,400 hours of programming per season.
With smart-phone usage soaring and a data-focused high speed network, Vidéotron could leverage serious content for its wireless users.
"This ecosystem that Pierre Karl [Péladeau, Quebecor's CEO]has put in place - from a business stand point, from a consumer standpoint - is very attractive, because we have this ability to converge and use this content," Mr. Dépatie says. "If you have a set of channels with us, we'll give you the opportunities to get those channels on your wireless."
Further, bundling allows Vidéotron to continue to cut into Bell, its main rival in Quebec, even as Public Mobile looks set to erode Rogers' and Telus's market share in that province with cheaper rates. Bundling has been Rogers' strategy in Ontario; it will be Vidéotron's in Quebec. One analyst even called it the "Rogers of Quebec."
"Out of all the new entrants, we think they'll have the most success over the next several years," says Jeff Fan of Scotia Capital.
"We're no longer considering ourselves a cableco operator," Mr. Dépatie said. "This will be the completion of what we feel is a real telco."