Le Groupe Videotron Lte of Montreal has announced the start of its home electronic highway interactive services project, called UBI. From October, Videotron will begin providing 30,000 homes in Quebec’s Saguenay region with two-way cable television systems that will enable people to shop and pay for a selection of services from home. In addition to a set-top terminal, homes will also be fitted with a mini-printer and alphanumeric remote control. The one-year test will provide market information about the commercial viability of such services and how people interact with the technology, according to Sylvie Lalande, UBI project president. If the trial is successful, Videotron will extend service to its 1.5m Quebec subscribers at a cost of more than $1,000m. The deployment will be preceded by a small-scale trial in 50 homes in early October, followed by a second wave of 450 terminals, and then 1,500 others in November and December. Widescale deployment will start immediately at the end of the small scale, to be followed next spring by a commercial phase to the 30,000 homes. The $100m cost of the test is being met by members of the UBI consortium, which includes Videotron, Hydro-Quebec, Canada Post, LotoQuebec, National Bank and Hearst Corp. In addition, the Quebec provincial government is making a $5m grant to promote the development of French-language multimedia content.
