{"id":74683,"date":"2025-07-19T06:23:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74683\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T06:23:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:23:28","slug":"cogeco-begins-wireless-service-rollout-in-quebec-ontario-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74683\/","title":{"rendered":"Cogeco begins wireless service rollout in Quebec, Ontario markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cogeco logo is seen in Montreal on October 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Paul ChiassonPaul Chiasson\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Montreal-based Cogeco Inc. CCA-T<\/a> has launched its mobile wireless service in Canada, with the first group of customers already active.<\/p>\n

But only those who buy its internet package will get access to the new phone plans, the telecom and media company announced this week.<\/p>\n

Cogeco<\/a> plans to offer the service to 12 Canadian cities in parts of Ontario and Quebec over the coming weeks. This includes Alma, Magog, Rimouski, Saint-Georges, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Sauveur and Trois-Rivi\u00e8res in Quebec, and Brockville, Chatham, Cobourg, Cornwall and Welland in Ontario. <\/p>\n

The company said it will expand to a full commercial launch in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll target low to mid-data users and will provide a time-limited launch bonus for the first wave of customers joining us,\u201d Cogeco president and chief executive officer Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Perron said in a call with analysts on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

Chief financial officer Patrice Ouimet told analysts the company was keeping an eye on the broader Canadian wireless market but that it is not aiming to compete on that scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a strategy to go national or anything like that. We\u2019re a rational player,\u201d Mr. Ouimet said.<\/p>\n

The additional service will allow existing subscribers to bundle internet and mobile products \u2013 a strategy that Cogeco hopes will make them more likely to remain customers, reducing churn.<\/p>\n

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The company launched a similar service in the U.S. last year, where it operates an internet brand called Breezeline. That service, also only for internet subscribers, requires customers to bring their own device, and starts at US$12.50 for one gigabyte of data.<\/p>\n

\u201cWireless will become a powerful tool to retain and grow our North American wireline customer base over time,\u201d Mr. Perron said in a press release Monday.<\/p>\n

The company this week reported revenue of $758.5-million in its quarter ended May 31, down from $777.2-million in the same quarter last year.<\/p>\n

Shares of Cogeco closed down 8.49 per cent Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

Over the last 12 months, Cogeco lost 7 per cent of its revenue-generating units \u2013 mainly internet customers \u2013 in the U.S. <\/p>\n

The company has been pressured by encroachments from a cheaper type of internet offering called fixed wireless access and increased competition from telecom companies\u2019 fibre builds into its territory, Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said in a note to investors. <\/p>\n

As a result, management updated its guidance to reflect that lower revenue, he added.<\/p>\n

In the release, Mr. Perron said the higher-than-usual customer losses in the U.S. were partially caused by \u201ctemporary factors\u201d and that the company expects trends to improve in future quarters.<\/p>\n

Cogeco says its profit amounted to $2.13 per diluted share for the quarter, up from $1.97 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.<\/p>\n

With a report from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Cogeco logo is seen in Montreal on October 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[712,52014,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-74683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-nodelphi","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114878467923863750","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}