Videotron Ltd. continues to grow with its recent acquisition of new cellular airwave licenses as well as the biggest data centre in Quebec City.
Mobile phone service, Internet and cable TV provider Videotron, subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc.(TSE:QBR), recently announced its $31.5 million purchase of the Quebec City data centre owned by4Degrees Colocation.
Located at the heart of the Quebec Metro High Tech Park, the facility is one of the few data centres in the provinces to be Tier III certified by the Uptime Institute. Built in 2014, it has a total capacity of 2,000 cabinets and the equivalent of 85,000 servers.
“The integration of 4Degrees into our operations is very much in keeping with our vision of making life simpler than ever for our business customers,” said Manon Brouillette, president of Videotron.
He said the acquisition will enable Videotron to provide the data centre needs of more Quebec companies of all sizes.
The 4Degrees data centre located in a part of Eastern Canada has a combination of clean hydroelectric power and very cold temperature. 4Degrees takes its name from the average annual temperature in Québec City, 4.6°C, according to Martin Bouchard, president of the company. Through the use of colder outdoor air, 4Degrees is able to maintain IT equipment at optimal operating temperatures while generating significant energy savings.
During the government’s AWS-3 wireless spectrum auction held by the government earlier this month, Videotron increased its spectrum by as much as 65 per cent by obtaining additional cellular airwave licences in Quebec and eastern Ontario for $33 million.
This falls in line with the company’s plans to expand its wireless service outside of Quebec. Videotron is waiting for a ruling from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Communication on wholesale domestic roaming rates before making a move.
As of December 31, 2014, Videotron was serving 1,782,300 cable television customers, including 1,561,700 Digital TV subscribers. The company has 1,537,500 high-speed Internet subscribers in Quebec, 632,800 mobile telephone subscribers and provides cable telephone service to 1,349,000 Québec households and organizations.
Videotron’s growth coincides with Quebecor shedding its digital and print media business. Quebecor has sold its English-language Sun Media newspapers for $315 million to Postmedia Network Canada Corp. The company also sold its digital agency Nurun Inc. for $125 million as well as 74 Quebec weekly newspapers for $74 million.
