Cogeco 2014 Annual Report Download - page 15

14 COGECO CABLE INC. 2014 MD&A
Florida. The Miami initiative also allows a cross-connection with Peer1 Hosting, further extending our network reach. Over time, this effort will
lead to reduced Internet transport costs, reduced operating costs through the centralization and reduction of headend operations and increased
reliability due to improved network diversity.
Focus in fiscal 2015
The optimization of fibre interconnections in the United States will continue to contribute to operational savings. New fibre links between the
systems in Pennsylvania will allow additional headends to be converted to simple hubs.
In fiscal 2015, we will complete a strategic network expansion in our Aiken, South Carolina system that will bring our network to pass 1,500 new
residences and businesses. This extension, as well as all new greenfield construction, will utilize RFoG and Fibre-to-the-Premises technology.
This will allow for greater reliability, higher bandwidth, and backward compatibility without limiting the future use of emerging technologies such
as Ethernet Passive Optical Network ("EPON"). Additionally this architecture will allow for broader deployment of Metro-Ethernet services to
commercial and enterprise customers.
We will also continue to increase Internet speeds over our DOCSIS platform and will further deploy our 1 Gigabit service in our Miami system.
By bonding up to 16 channels together, we aim to offer top speeds up to 200 Mbps over DOCSIS 3.0 in 2015 with plans to increase that further
over time. This platform will allow us to stay far ahead of our competitors, support the evolution of Television services over IP and enable new
high value services to our business customers. The next steps in our core network interconnection program include completion of a link from
Aiken, South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia and the initial steps in our headend consolidation plan within Pennsylvania which will reduce our future
capital and operating expenses.
ENTERPRISE DATA SERVICES SEGMENT
Progress in fiscal 2014
Peer 1 Hosting successfully increased stability, capacity, redundancy, and failure management for customers with extensive upgrades at its
Pullman data centre facility in Toronto, Canada with the replacement of switches and software upgrades.
Cogeco Data Services continued to invest in its network with plans established for 122 km of new route network expansion and an upgrade of
its wavelength division multiplexing ("WDM") and MPLS backbones to support new data centre operations in Montréal, Québec. In addition,
Cogeco Data Services established a point of presence in Vancouver in order to better serve its national customers.
In order to sustain its 99.999% network uptime commitment for its customers, Peer 1 Hosting continued to invest in strengthening its network by
automating the operational lifecycle of network devices which includes provisioning, change management, and device configuration history.
Focus in fiscal 2015
Investments in network will continue into fiscal 2015 with the optimization of existing facilities. Cogeco Data Services will be upgrading its core
network to support new service capabilities and Peer 1 Hosting will continue efforts to upgrade its service capabilities with ongoing equipment
refresh and network upgrades at several of its North American data centers.
As described above, Cogeco Data Services will also complete pods 2, 3 and 4 at Barrie data centre as well as start the construction of a new
data centre in Montréal.
IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND BUSINESS PROCESSES
We aim for excellence in our ability to meet the needs of our residential and business customers. We recognize that offering a positive customer
experience, resulting from the combination of enjoyable and easy to use products along with superior customer service, is a key brand attribute
that has the potential to differentiate our Cogeco services versus our competitors. We also know that a consistently positive customer experience
earns customer loyalty and retention. Our commitment to our customers is a core value, and we strive to walk the talk every day.
CANADIAN CABLE SERVICES SEGMENT
Progress in fiscal 2014
On June 26, 2014, JD Powers 2014 Canadian TV and Internet Customer Satisfaction Study ranked Cogeco Cable Canada with the 2nd best
customer satisfaction for HSI services and 3rd best for Cable TV in all of Eastern Canada (Ontario, Québec and Atlantic Provinces). The Corporation
experienced solid increases in satisfaction scores for both services.
Moreover, in December 2013, Cogeco Cable Canada was recognized by the Service Quality Measurement group ("SQM"), as the winner of its
North American Call Center Award for the highest level of customer service in the Canadian telecommunications and television industry. This
was Cogeco Cable Canada’s 5th award in the last 7 years reflecting the focus and very high standard set in our commitment to superior customer
service.
Our highly successful new store design has been rolled out to most Cogeco Cable Canada store locations creating a consistent customer
experience across all our major markets. This new open concept and experiential design allows customer a live, interactive experience with our
products and services.
As part of our ongoing program to enhance our online offer to our customers, we have continued improving the "MyAccount" site, which now
provides an easy to use interface, with menus personalized to the customers' packages and most sought-after information available right from
the first page, including account balance and upcoming payment.