Vidéotron’s flanker brand Fizz will debut outside of Québec for the first time in the “coming weeks.”
Québecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said the service will go live in Western Canada, with a “beta launch in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.”
Péladeau shared the details during his speech at the Canadian Club Toronto on Tuesday, promising “deeply discounted plans” for new customers. “This will be a great opportunity for the people of British Columbia and Alberta to experience Fizz for the first time.”
Vidéotron, a Québecor subsidiary, will gradually roll out Fizz across Canada next year. “Fizz is an entirely different animal when it comes to wireless carriers,” Péladeau said. “It keeps a tight-knit relationship with its community of members, not customers, members, and treats them with perks and gifts. It offers unmatched innovative features like data rollover and data gifting among its community.”
Of course, Fizz isn’t the first or only service provider to offer its customers such gifts. Telus’ flanker brand Koodo offers “perks” like rollover data and international SMS. Bell’s flanker, Virgin Plus, has also had a long-standing members program that largely focuses on discounts on non-telecom services. Roger’s flanker, Fido, also has a similar program, but it will soon come to an end.
These programs don’t include the bonus data offers carriers send customers from time to time.
Fizz’s expansion is through Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services, which allows smaller companies to expand their wireless footprint through incumbents’ infrastructure. Last month, Québecor noted it will expand Vidéotron and Freedom Mobile’s services through MVNO as well.
“Our mobile network now covers more than 70 percent of Canada’s population. Over the next few months, we will be able to reach millions of additional Canadians,” Péladeau said.
He further stated Freedom lowered its threshold to access 5G services by nearly 25 percent last week. “Any Freedom customer with a plan of $39 and up now gets access to the latest wireless technology at no additional cost,” Péladeau said, noting 200,000 customers will receive a message notifying them of the change.
Freedom’s possible future as an internet service provider
Péladeau also praised the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for its decision to order Bell and Telus to give competitors access to their fibre networks.
He called it a “major milestone” for Freedom as it will allow the company to offer bundled services. He also hinted at the company offering standalone internet services down the road.
“But there is not only a bundle environment where you can succeed. A standalone and internet access also is certainly a formula that can be offered to our customers,” Péladeau said.
Image credit: Canadian Club Toronto
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