Telecommunications companies Bell and Rogers have lowered their prices for high speed Internet services in Toronto by about 45% amid rising competition for customers.
Bell Canada is now offering a gigabit-per-second home Internet package with unlimited data for $79.95 in parts of Toronto, down from $149.95, until the end of July. Rival Rogers has a limited time promotional offer on its gigabit-per-second service that drops the monthly fee to $79.99 for 12 months, down from $152.99, in Toronto as well as parts of New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
Market research firm IDC Canada says that Torontonians shouldn’t get too excited by the reduced costs as such local, short-term price wars are part of a long-term battle for market share among the country's major Internet providers and are unlikely to last.
Bell and Rogers are facing growing competition for home Internet customers from companies such as Videotron, Telus and Shaw. IDC notes that Canadian adoption of gigabit-speed home Internet has been relatively slow, in part because it's only available in some places, but consumers are definitely choosing faster services than they did a few years ago.
IDC says that special promotions are a way for carriers to show what the faster networks can do with the expectation that consumers will come to see them as essential services in the future.
