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Today the move is clearly afoot to more
bandwidth on the Internet. It's all part of what Nicholas
Negroponte, the communications guru, called convergence. So who's got bandwidth already? Cable companies, that's who. Shaw and Rogers, among others have been active participants in the market by selling Internet access via cable through their affiliation with the @Home network. Companies like America Online, which provide access via telephone lines, have been eagerly eyeing cable broadband, but the cable companies have been reluctant to sell them any. But now Regional Cablesystems has become the first cable company in Canada to reach an agreement to sell cable access wholesale to AOL Canada. The launch is set for the fall of 1999 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, a town of 6000. Regional Cablesystems serves 250,000 subscribers in seven provinces spread over 1000 smaller locales. The company is headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland. While the company has not previously been an Internet Service Provider, it has conducted tests supplying bandwidth to two ISPs simultaneously in Timmins, Ontario with no problems. While the large cable companies have claimed that there are technical problems to be surmounted before they can accomodate ISPs wanting access, Regional CEO Brendan Paddick says the big boys are are merely making excuses to protect their cozy monopolies. Regional is an independent cable company and not a memeber of the Canadian Cable Television Association. Their alliance with AOL Canada marks a shrewd move for greater exposure and revenues. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares Outstanding: 9,033,503
Tiny cable firm gives boost to AOL - Report on the AOL deal from the National Post of Sept. 17, 1999. Address: Ontario: Phone: (709)
754-3775 This page last updated: Sept. 19, 1999 |