AOL Canada To Offer High-Speed Cable Access
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation : America Online Inc.'s [NYSE:AO:] Canadian operation says it has inked a deal with a small regional Canadian cable operator to bring high-speed broadband Internet access to small towns across Canada.
The deal struck between AOL Canada Inc. and St. John's, Newfoundland- based Regional Cablesystems Inc., will see service begin this autumn in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, population 6,200 and marks the introduction of AOL Plus, as the high-speed service is dubbed.
A national rollout to Regional Cablesystems' 250,000 subscribers in 1,000 non- metropolitan areas across Canada is expected to follow, but a schedule has not yet been set, AOL Canada told the Wall Street Journal.
US cable companies have resisted requests by AOL and other content providers to lease them bandwidth because of the huge investments involved in upgrading cable networks to accommodate two-way data communications.
The AOL deal is the first to be announced since the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission ruled last Tuesday that Canadian cable operators must open their networks to independent Internet service providers (ISPs).
The major Canadian cable operators have slammed the ruling, calling it unnegotiated regulation and is also pointing to tremendous costs involved in upgrading systems to accommodate Web access.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, www.newsbytes.com
(19990917/WIRES ONLINE, PC, TELECOM, BUSINESS/)
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