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MetroNet's goal is to be the first and leading national facilities-based provider of competitive local telecommunications services to business and government customers in Canada, and the principal and preferred competitor to the ILEC in each of the Company's target markets. The principal elements of MetroNet's strategy include:
- Rapid Market Entry
- Developing a National Presence with Uniform Services
- Focusing on Business and Government Customers
- Providing Bundled Telecommunications Services
- Developing High Capacity, High Quality Networks with Broad Target Market Coverage
- Providing Superior Customer Care
1. Rapid Market Entry
The Company's strategy is to be one of the first CLECs offering local switched services in each of its markets and to position itself as a national CLEC for business and government customers. MetroNet believes that its strategy of being one of the first competitive providers of local telecommunications services will enable it to quickly capture market share and customers looking for an alternative to the ILECs, as well as to achieve brand recognition as the competitive alternative. MetroNet believes that its early presence in each of its target markets will provide it a competitive advantage in attracting business and government customers with multiple locations in one or more of the Company's markets.
2. Developing a National Presence with Uniform Services
MetroNet intends to differentiate itself from the ILECs by providing uniform services and technology and consistent customer service solutions on a national basis. The Company believes that the separate ownership and geographic segregation of the ILECs have given rise to inconsistent evolution of products and services between and sometimes within individual markets, thereby creating an opportunity for a national uniform service provider such as MetroNet. Because the ILECs have separate tariffs, pricing strategies, product development streams and sales forces, the Company believes that its ability to provide a uniform national service will give it a competitive advantage over the ILECs. MetroNet believes that its presence in Canada's eleven largest markets will enable it to attract business and government customers with multiple locations in one or more of the Company's markets.
3. Focusing on Business and Government Customers
MetroNet's targeted customer base is primarily medium and select large business and government customers. Business and government customers are generally concentrated in the downtown cores of the Company's target markets, represent the largest and most profitable segment of the telecommunications market and have the greatest need for sophisticated telecommunications services. MetroNet's sales and marketing programs will be designed to enable the Company to differentiate itself from its competitors by targeting the unique needs of business and government end-users.
4. Providing Bundled Telecommunications Services
MetroNet believes that there is substantial demand among business and government customers for an integrated package of telecommunications services that meets customers' telecommunications needs. The Company believes that, by bundling a variety of telecommunications services to offer ''one-stop'' integrated telecommunications services, it will be well positioned to penetrate its target markets and build customer loyalty. The Company intends to position itself as a single source provider of bundled telecommunications services, including local switched, dedicated access, private line, data transmission and long distance, Internet, network management and wireless services, at prices competitive with those offered by the ILECs. The Company intends to offer local voice and data services using its networks, leased facilities and resold ILEC services. MetroNet expects to provide long distance and wireless services through strategic alliances or resale agreements, and Internet services either through its own facilities or resale or other strategic arrangements and to bundle these services with MetroNet's local services.
5. Developing High Capacity, High Quality Networks with Broad Target Market Coverage
MetroNet's long-term network design strategy has four key elements:
(i) the Company is designing and building its networks to provide efficient coverage of principal business and government concentrations in its five initial markets and intends to design and build networks providing similar coverage in its six additional markets;
(ii) the Company is constructing high capacity, high quality networks that utilize large fiber bundles capable of carrying very high volumes of voice, data, video and Internet traffic as well as other high bandwidth services, provide flexibility and reliability and position the Company as a provider of wholesale services to other carriers;
(iii) the Company is implementing a uniform technology platform based on the Nortel DMS-500 digital telephone switch and ancillary transmission technologies, enabling MetroNet to quickly and cost-effectively deploy features and functions in all of its networks and to expand switching capacity in a cost-effective manner; and
(iv) as MetroNet expands, it will, where possible, cluster its networks near one another to benefit from economies of scale in network operations, management, marketing and sales.
6. Providing Superior Customer Care
MetroNet believes that its planned customer care systems will be an important element in attracting and retaining, and selling additional services to, customers. The Company believes that its customer care systems will give it a competitive advantage over the ILECs by virtue of starting with new state-of-the-art systems and uniform technologies, as opposed to the ILECs which have a wide variety of customer care technologies and systems that are integrated with a variety of different operating platforms. The Company will offer consistent services in each of its target markets through a single point of contact within MetroNet, permitting customers with locations in more than one of these markets to obtain rapidly delivered and uniform service. The Company believes that the following planned features of its customer care systems will be attractive to customers:
(i) the quick and effective response to customer requests and needs at all times through immediate access to customer data by Company personnel;
(ii) the delivery to the customer of one integrated billing statement for all MetroNet services;
(iii) the ability of customers to manage certain services via on-line service ordering, order status viewing, billing inquiries and other services; and
(iv) on-line, live customer care personnel (in both of Canada's official languages), 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The Company is in the final phases of testing its core customer care systems and intends to have such systems operational in January 1998, with additional features following in late 1998.
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