Stock Symbol: MBT
TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2014 /CNW/ - Allstream, Canada's largest competitive
all-business communications provider, today announced it has connected
more than 3,000 buildings to its 30,000+ kilometre, nationwide,
fibre-optic IP network. This is a 50 per cent increase in the number of
buildings on the Allstream network delivering a steadily increasing
number of high margin revenue opportunities compared to three years
ago. This important milestone reinforces that Allstream remains the
single most relevant competitor in Canada to Bell and TELUS serving the
business market, and confirms its commitment to serve Canadian
businesses.
In 2010 Allstream initiated a targeted multi-year investment program to
increase its profitability by expanding Allstream's IP fibre network to
nearby multi-tenant buildings that could be connected at a low cost.
Allstream exceeded its plan and fibre fed buildings now total over
3,000, up from 2,000 buildings in 2010. Allstream's expansion program
is based on a disciplined approach to capital spending, where expansion
into new buildings is undertaken on a "success" basis to service a
contracted customer.
"Our national IP fibre network is one of Allstream's many strengths and
a competitive differentiator," said Allstream President Mike Strople.
"The more multi-tenant buildings we are able to connect to our network,
the more high-margin, on-net revenue we can generate. Since we decided
to pursue this strategy four years ago, our employees have worked hard
to enable new opportunities for our sales team."
Products and solutions are more profitable when they are delivered on
Allstream's own IP network, known as 'on-net'. Extending Allstream's
on-net reach reduces reliance on incumbent networks, allows greater
end-to-end customer service, and lowers operating costs while providing
incremental higher-margin revenue opportunities.
"Allstream has achieved significant improvements in gross margin and our
plan to drive growth in on-net revenues by expanding our network reach
has been a big part of that," added Strople. "In 2014, we will continue
to make strategic investments to expand Allstream's network reach while
we sign up more customers in our existing buildings. Our expanded
footprint makes Allstream a stronger and more resilient service
provider, now and well into the future. We have also taken important
steps in the past year to improve our cost structure and work more
efficiently."
Allstream's 30,000+ kilometre fibre-optic network combines advanced IP
connectivity, digital switching, Ethernet-based services and the latest
Internet security technologies and services, including right-of-way
access in major Canadian city centres and nine cross-border connections
to the United States.
About Allstream
Allstream is a Canadian leader in IP communications and the only
national communications provider that works exclusively with business
customers of all sizes. With nearly 600,000 customer connections,
Allstream's momentum is fuelled by the knowledge, skills and
entrepreneurial spirit of its employees across the country who
collaborate with customers to determine their unique communications
solutions needs. Supported by its more than 30,000-kilometre nationwide
high-performance fibre-optic network, Allstream's broad portfolio of
business solutions are built from an array of advanced communications
technologies and services including a wide range of innovative,
highly-scalable IP-based solutions to help organizations communicate
more efficiently and profitably. Allstream takes pride in its
commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience, and has
long been recognized by its technology partners for the contributions
made to their businesses. Allstream is wholly-owned by Manitoba Telecom
Services Inc., which is listed on the TSX (trading symbol: MBT). For
information on Allstream's products and solutions, please visit www.allstream.com.
Forward-looking Statements Disclaimer
This news release includes forward-looking statements and information
(collectively, the "statements") about Allstream's future financial
results, performance and sales opportunities that are subject to risks,
uncertainties and assumptions. As a consequence, actual results in the
future may differ materially from any conclusion, forecast or
projection in such forward-looking statements. Therefore,
forward-looking statements should be considered carefully and undue
reliance should not be placed on them. Examples of statements that
constitute forward-looking information may be identified by words such
as "believe", "expect", "project", "should", "anticipate", "could",
"target", "forecast", "intend", "plan", "outlook", "see", "set",
"pending", and other similar terms.
Factors that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to
differ materially include, but are not limited to, matters identified
in the "Material assumptions" section and the "Risks and uncertainties"
section of the Company's 2012 Annual and Q3 MD&A, 2012 Annual
Information Form and short form prospectus dated November 29, 2013, all
of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Please note that forward-looking statements reflect Management's
expectations as at the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention
or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise,
except as required by law.
SOURCE MTS Allstream
