As soon as the Telecom Canada reorganisation into Stentor was announced, the consortium released details of a market trial of its Virtual Corporate Network service, starting on March 31. A company spokesman described the difference between a virtual private network and a Virtual Corporate one as similar to the difference between a local and a wide area network. Virtual Corporate Networks comprise many virtual private networks, and will be used over a large geographical area, giving organisations a fully-tailored package for all types of telecommunications service. Stentor is claiming that the new service is more flexible than the virtual corporate network services offered by many carriers, since these are generally established on an individual basis for specific types of communication service. Network intelligence provides call processing and call routing based on pre-defined network configurations and user instructions. It is used to provide advanced network monitoring, reporting and traffic analysis functions. According to a Stentor spokesman, the trial will be as much to test the proposed tariff structure as the new service. Indeed, the awaited approval is not for the technology, but for the proposed prices that Stentor has filed and which should amount to a 45% discount on regular phone rates. It is not revealing any details of how it intends to tariff the service, but Stentor says it wants to be sure that it can come up with a pricing policy acceptable to the market. Also, fulfilling industry predictions, Stentor has made a bid for the Canadian government’s 53% stake in Telesat Canada. The bidding consortium, Allouette Telecommunications, comprises Spar Aerospace, which built Telesat’s Anik D and Anik E satellites, and Quebec-Telephone, a small carrier described as an associate member of Stentor. Stake details are not yet disclosed.
