There are reports Bell Canada is going to unveil plans today to expand its residential VOIP service in Ontario and Quebec. The obvious question is: what took Bell so long to get its act together? While there are no details about pricing, the service will apparently include all the regular bells and whistles such as an interactive portal, email as voice-mail and call-filtering. While Bell took its sweet time to get into the game (not including its three-city venture in Quebec), there is no doubt it will get a lot of business from people who want all the benefits that VOIP has to offer. The challenge for Bell will be resisting the urge to try to replace the revenue it will lose from cannibalizing its traditional telephone business. The $20-billion voice market in Canada has become ultra-competitive with the entry of Vonage, Primus, AOL and the cablecos so Bell must think as much on fighting back as it does on protecting its own revenue.
Update: What's particularly interesting about Bell Digital Voice is it's a hosted solution. It means there's no need for an adapter or back-up power in your house. To switch from Bell's traditional service to VOIP, all you need to do is make a call - no fuss, no muss, no truck roll. Now that's innovative. The only downside is the cost of the service as Bell doesn't want to be a price leader. For BDV with 1,200 minutes of North American LD, it's $61, while BDV with LD in Ontario is $53.