Rogers mulls new fees to curb 'bandwidth hogs' TORONTO -- Rogers Cable Inc. is preparing to roll out first-class and coach service for high-speed Internet access, spelling big price hikes this fall for "bandwidth hogs" who download massive amounts of digital music and videos from the Web.
At the same time, Ontario consumers who are light Internet users but want high-speed access will get a break on price, a Rogers executive told The Globe and Mail yesterday. Before September, the Toronto cable company will introduce a low-cost service that is cheaper than the current $44.95 monthly cost of Rogers' high-speed service. It plans to have three groups of high-speed Internet customers, each of whom will pay different amounts and in return get different capabilities for moving files. Rogers wouldn't reveal details of its pricing plans. Industry analysts predicted that the low-end service will be comparable to the $22.95 a month that Bell Canada customers pay for unlimited dial-up access. Alek Krstajic, Rogers Cable senior vice-president of sales and marketing, said that, as a heavy Internet user, he is getting more value out of a high-speed service than someone who simply checks e-mail and surfs occasionally. "Clearly, it's worth more to me than you," he said. Mr. Krstajic said that just 10 per cent of Rogers customers use for 70 per cent of the capacity used on the company's network. Analysts said that Rogers' main rival, BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada unit, will be quick to follow in killing off one-size-fits-all pricing, since both companies' profit margins have been pinched by fierce competition for subscribers. In December, BCE chairman and chief executive officer Jean Monty mused during a briefing with analysts about the possibility of increasing prices for heavy users. Mr. Krstajic said he has little doubt that Bell Canada will introduce its own higher-cost service. "I think they'll be right on our tails." But Bell Canada spokesman Andrew Cole would say only: "It's something we have considered and are considering." Rogers has 479,000 high-speed Internet subscribers in Ontario; Bell Canada has 757,000 in Ontario and Quebec. Rogers's goal is twofold: boost profits from heavy users, and gain the flexibility to drop prices to attract new customers, especially from consumers that use slower dial-up Internet access. Mr. Krstajic said Rogers has no intention to meter time spent on the Internet, since a major selling point of high-speed Internet service is that it is an "always-on" connection. But he said the company could charge a higher fee for a faster download connection, or for the ability to download a greater volume of content. Bandwidth hogs should expect a monthly bill in the neighbourhood of $80, said Iain Grant, managing director of telecom consulting firm Seabord Group Inc. in Brockville, Ont. Mr. Grant noted that even if prices are doubled -- Bell Canada and Rogers currently charge customers identical monthly fees -- consumers will still be paying much lower prices than in the United States, where monthly bills range as high as the equivalent of $111. In Quebec, Videotron Communications Inc. has already introduced a rudimentary form of differentiated pricing, charging users a fee once they exceed a monthly limit for downloading and uploading content from and to the Internet. In the West, Telus Corp. and Shaw Communications Inc. are locked in the same intense competition as are Bell Canada and Rogers. Shaw did not return calls yesterday, but a Telus spokesman said his company has no plans to change prices first. *********************************************** MCSE, MCP, A+ *********************************************** Visit my CD-R trading page at: http://home.cogeco.ca/~marcust99/home1.html *********************************************** I can be reached via ICQ # 4116873 *********************************************** _______________________________________________ etree mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://mail.etree.org/mailman/listinfo/etree
