Videotron Selects General Bandwidth for Canada's Largest Cable Telephony Deployment
Austin, Texas -- General Bandwidth, a leading Voice over IP (VoIP) equipment manufacturer enabling rapid deployment and new service revenue generation over broadband networks, announces that Vidéotron, an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services, is deploying General Bandwidth’s G6® Universal Media Gateway Platforms to deliver primary line residential cable telephony services across their entire network in Québec. With the service initially launched along Montreal’s South Shore in January and recently launched in the Québec City and Montreal areas, Vidéotron was the first major cable operator in Canada to offer residential telephone services over cable and has established itself as the leading Canadian telecom company that provides telephone service via IP (Internet Protocol) technology.
Serving more than 75,000 customers, Vidéotron selected General Bandwidth’s carrier grade G6 platform to rapidly enable services by leveraging the reliability and features supported by their conventional digital switches with the savings made possible by the delivery of multiple services over a single IP network. With the G6 platform’s ability to simultaneously support both Class 5 digital switches and next generation-based services, Vidéotron can easily integrate enhanced residential and commercial VoIP services while maintaining a common media gateway architecture across their network.
“We have been very pleased with the positive customer response to our residential telephony service,” said Robert Depatie, president and chief executive officer of Vidéotron. “General Bandwidth’s G6 platform is a key enabling technology for this service -- supporting a large scale roll out of a full-featured telephone service that rivals conventional telecom services in Québec.”
Certified by CableLabs® as a PacketCableTM-qualified media gateway, the G6 Universal Media Gateway Platform is being deployed by leading cable operators like Vidéotron seeking to deliver unmatched VoIP quality and greater than 99.999% gateway service availability. Built upon a fully redundant, custom-designed architecture supporting from 240 to 16,128 simultaneous DS0s on a single chassis, the G6 platform provides Vidéotron with a highly scalable access and trunking media gateway which significantly reduces the equipment costs associated with deploying voice services across their network.
“General Bandwidth is focused on delivering the highest quality media gateway to leading cable telephony providers like Vidéotron who are seeking true carrier grade performance and high VoIP quality of service,” said Charles Vogt, president and chief executive officer of General Bandwidth. “We are pleased to be a technology partner at Vidéotron as they begin to rollout their residential telephone service.”
About Vidéotron
Vidéotron ltée (www.videotron.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Québecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access services and residential telephone service. Vidéotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television system and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. Vidéotron serves 1,459,000 cable television clients in Québec; including over 411,000 illico subscribers as of August 31, 2005. Vidéotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 591,000 clients to its cable modem and dial-up services. Vidéotron provides residential telephone service to more than 75,000 customers in Montréal, Québec City, Laval and Montréal South Shore.
About General Bandwidth
General Bandwidth is a leading provider of Voice over IP infrastructure solutions spanning more than 60 service providers worldwide. General Bandwidth delivers broadband solutions addressing a full range of applications, including residential and business access, trunking and enhanced VoIP solutions. With twelve patents issued and sixteen pending, General Bandwidth’s flagship G6 Universal Media Gateway and network management system are OSMINE, RUS, PacketCable™, and NEBS-3 certified, produced in a TL9000 quality system, and deployed in ILECs, RLECs, CLECs, and MSO networks worldwide. General Bandwidth was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Additional information on General Bandwidth is available at www.genband.com.
Contacts:
Noah Sessions
GENBAND Inc.
+1.972.265.3664 (office)
noah.sessions@genband.com
Trademark notes: G6 and General Bandwidth are registered trademarks of General Bandwidth Inc.
