Videotron - perhaps the most aggressive cable telephony service provider in North America - has attracted 42K customers since February. Videotron's success is not a surprise given its prices ($15.95 to $29.95, not including LD) make cable telephony service a no-brainer, particularly if you're already a cable and high-speed Internet subscriber. Concius Capital analyst Kona Shio expects that Videotron will have 90K telephony users by the end of this year. You wonder how Bell will respond to losing serious market share. Given Videotron's telephone service has few bells and whistles other than low prices, perhaps Videotron's picking up customers who just like bundles - something Bell has embraced as well. The real challenge for Bell is making sure its own customers, who buy two or more services, don't jump to Videotron. Losing them would means losing lucrative customers. Another way of looking at Videtron's success is it could accelerate the de-regulation of the local phone market in Montreal. Then, Bell could really start to compete on price and promotions.
For more insight into Videotron's VOIP plans, including its difficulty keeping up with demand, check out this story in today's Financial Post.

Om Malik has a posting on Skype's new took for Outlook, a toolbar that lets you use Skype directly from Outlook. Skype users will like the fact it appears easy to connect Skype IDs with Oulook contacts. You have to admire Skype's chutzpah for essentially tweaking its nose at Microsoft. The new tool should encourage people, who rely on Outlook and intrigued by VOIP, to at least give Skype a test-run. The newest Skype product is also a nice strategic counter-move to the buzz created by Michael Robertson's Gizmo application, which is taking direct aim at Skype. In light of Skype move on Outlook, you wonder how much longer it will be before Microsoft unveils its own VOIP application or IM add-on.

FatPort, which bills itself as Canada's largest Wi-Fi provider (a dubious claim given there are few rivals) is now selling pre-paid cards through retailers such as Best Buy, Future Shop, London Drugs and Wireless Wave. The cards can be used at more than 300 FatPort hotspots. While FatPort gets credit for trying something new, its long-term prospects are, at best, modest given Telus Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility have joined forces to push Wi-Fi service through a common branding campaign and expansion into 500 HotSpots. At the end of the day, I believe Wi-Fi will thrive as a low-price option offered by wireless service providers. Sure, there may be room for FatPort or a Boingo but they are likely destined to be marginal players.