Time Warner unit to take on Bell, Telus by offering the Internet service to 500,000

by Mark Evans
Financial Post
January 24, 2004

Canada's $5-billion local telephony industry is poised to get even more competitive later this year when AOL Canada Inc. jumps into the market with a variety of voice services using Internet-based technology.

Craig Wallace, AOL's president and chief executive, said the popular Internet service provider will roll out the first of a wide range of services during the first half of the year. Tests with a small group of customers are now taking place.

"Our members are telling us they want a broad range of voice services, which we will deliver in the first half of the year, and augment them in the second half of the year," he said. "Time to market will be important to us. Over time, whether we evolve to a primary- or secondary-line model remains to be seen."

AOL's voice services will be carried over high-speed networks using voice over Internet protocol technology, which lets people make a phone call using a special phone or a regular phone connected to an adapter. The call is converted into small packets of data, which are scattered across the Internet, and then reassembled into sound on the other end of a call.

AOL's plans come on the heels of a new VoIP service launched earlier this month by Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. Primus, which has 900,000 long-distance and Internet customers, said its TalkBroadBand service will be about 25% less expensive than traditional service from carriers such as Bell Canada.

Continued @ National Post - Canada.com