Cogeco 2013 Annual Report Download - page 13

12 COGECO CABLE INC. 2013 Management's discussion and analysis (“MD&A”)
In line with our commitment to offering the best possible Internet experience to our customers, we substantially improved our Internet packages
by increasing upload and download speeds and ramped up monthly transfer capacity for all HSI residential packages for Ontario and Quebec
customers. Customers of Express 5, Express 10, Turbo 14, Turbo 20, Ultimate 40 and Ultimate 60 HSI packages were given upgrades of between
5GB and 100GB and speed increases up to 2Mbps faster to improve their on-line experience. Business customers also received significant speed
and monthly increases speed and download at no extra cost.
We also expanded the availability of our Telephony services to several communities in our system service area including Courtright, Rosseau
and Mooretown in Ontario and Ste-Rosalie and Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil in Quebec.
Enterprise services segment
As a result of the acquisition of PEER 1, we expanded our products and services offered by the Enterprise services segment as well as the
Enterprise services customer profile, which had previously consisted of medium and large businesses. We serve small businesses as well. We
also significantly expanded our geographical footprint, which had previously been concentrated in Toronto and Montreal and now covers Canada
more broadly, as well as the United States and Europe. As a result, we believe we are well-positioned to further increase our market share of this
expanding market.
We introduced, through our subsidiary CDS, a Single Point Information ("SPI") and Communications Technology ("ICT") solution to support Chief
Information Officers ("CIO") and their need to reduce IT complexity and create transformational value for their organizations. The new offering
combines data centre, managed hosting, cloud and connectivity services. By providing enterprise-class single-point solutions, we have expanded
the scope of CDS's services to help customers to get the greatest value from its expertise and the latest technology. CDS's new suite of services
has been developed to help reduce IT complexity and shift the focus of the IT department from operational support to innovation.
Furthermore, on June 13, 2013, CDS announced the opening of a new data centre in Barrie, Ontario. Built to exceed Tier 3 standards which are
standards from the Uptime Institute, the new facility increases CDS' data centre footprint by 60,000 square feet. We believe this facility will meet
the growth requirements of business customers going forward. We also believe we will benefit from the scalability of our operations and the high
barriers to entry presented by the capital intensive nature of the industry.
IMPROVING THE NETWORKS
We operate in an industry characterized by rapid technological innovation which will continue to require substantial capital for the upgrade,
expansion and maintenance of our network and the launch and expansion of new or additional services.
Progress in fiscal 2013
We have recently completed significant capital expenditures in our Canadian cable services segment, having invested $216.0 million during the
year ended August 31, 2013. In the American cable services segment, we invested $48.3 million during fiscal 2013. Our capital expenditures
were designed principally to increase our scalable infrastructure, to extend and improve network capacity and to deploy advanced technologies.
In particular, as a result of our capital investment:
• 99% digital migration in tier services, which is the conversion of analogue channels offered in video tier services into digital signals,
has been completed in Canada and United States;
• conversion to Switched Digital Video ("SDV") technology has been substantially completed for further bandwidth recovery to satisfy
the greater demand for channels in Canada. The SDV technology has been rolled-out to almost all households in Ontario; and
• DOCSIS 3.0, which allows us to provide faster Internet speeds with packages up to 60 Mbps in Canada and 110 Mbps in the United
States, is available in 89% and 88%, respectively, of our networks.
IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND BUSINESS PROCESSES
We aim for excellence every day, with every customer, in our ability to meet the needs of our residential and business customers. We recognize
that customer service is a key brand attribute that has the potential to differentiate our services compared to our competitors. We also know that
superior customer service earns customer loyalty and retention. Our commitment to our customers is a core value, and we strive to walk the talk
every day.
Progress in fiscal 2013
In Spring 2013, we were included in East Region of J.D. Power's first ever 2013 Canadian Television and Internet Service Provider Customer
Satisfaction Study. Over 6,000 customers were surveyed on-line at their option in the English or the French language. Study results ranked
Cogeco Cable 2nd for HSI services and 3rd for Cable TV in all of Eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Provinces). Key drivers of
performance included the cost of service, customer service and billing. We also have gained valuable customer insight as to where we need to
be even better.
In addition, the Corporation’s on-going focus and hard work has earned the praise of customers with overall customer satisfaction scores improved
year-over-year in every key measurement area. Call Center "Top Box" customer satisfaction scores are up as high as 82% and Installation and
Service satisfaction range consistently between 81% and 90%. Commercial customers surveyed report 92% overall satisfaction.
We also upgraded our customer surveying technology in Canada through Service Quality Management, North America’s leader in voice of
customer first call resolution management, to provide enhanced, real-time, agent level web based reporting tools to address customer needs.