![]() | |
Formerly | Electronic Box (1997–2016) |
---|---|
Company type | Brand of Bell Canada |
Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | 1997 |
Founder | Jean-Philippe Béïque and Dominic Létourneau |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1 |
Area served | Ontario and Quebec |
Key people | Isis Thiago De Souza (CEO) |
Products | High speed Internet IPTV VoIP |
Number of employees | 400 (2020) |
Parent | Bell Canada |
Website | ebox.ca |
EBOX is a brand [1] of Bell Canada headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec. EBOX offers a wide range of high speed Internet plans in Ontario and Quebec as well as VoIP Digital Home Phone service. EBOX also provides IPTV (Internet Protocol television).
Between 2007 and 2012, EBOX, formerly known as Electronic Box, increased its net sales by 1,859%. [2] Following a decision from the CRTC in 2011 favoring Canadian independent telecom service providers, Electronic Box was one of the first independent providers to offer Internet services at a reduced rate. [2]
In 2016, Electronic Box simplified its name by rebranding to EBOX.
In 2017, EBOX launched their largest advertising campaign in collaboration with the DentsuBos advertising agency [3] which allowed them to grow their customer base to 70,000 subscribers. [4]
In April 2018, EBOX launched their IPTV service. [5] which enabled them to expand their customer base to 130,000 subscribers. [6]
In 2019, EBOX was ranked 227 as a PROFIT 500 company which recognizes the top 500 Canadian companies which had the highest annual growth. [7]
In a surprise decision in May 2021, the CRTC cancelled their wholesale tariff rate reductions that were proposed two years earlier in 2019. This had a devastating impact on many independent telecom providers such as EBOX who had already lowered their rates in anticipation of having the reduced access rates implemented retroactively. EBOX CEO Jean-Philippe Béïque subsequently criticised the CRTC's decision, which granted large telecom incumbent providers to charge what they would like to. » [8] In January 2022, EBOX announced an rate increase for all of their subscribers, which marked the first one 2015. [9] However, the increase was reverted on February 10, 2022, before it was even fully implemented with no explanation provided. [10]
On February 24, 2022, Bell formally announced their acquisition of EBOX. [11] EBOX co-founders Jean-Philippe Béique and Dominic Létourneau announced at the same time that they have resigned from EBOX and the company will continue to operate as an independent brand. Some of the reasons they provided for the sale was due to financial challenges caused by the CRTC's 2021 decision along with increased costs related to higher data usage caused by a much higher number of people working from home. [12]
EBOX offers their services as a third party provider by using the distribution networks of Bell, Cablevision, [13] Rogers, Vidéotron and Cogeco.
Internet services are offered either by FTTH, DSL or cable, with download speeds between 5 and 1000 Mbit/s and data usage plans from 100 GB/month to unlimited and certain limited plans offer an unlimited off-peak data usage period for a nominal extra cost.
EBOX also has home or office phone service when combined with one of their Internet plans.
The EBOX television service is offered on an Android TV based platform. The service uses a Sagemcom's set top box (STB) made for EBOX which allows access to Google Play Store and includes Chromecast functionality.
During 2019, support for non STB devices was added including Sony Bravia Android TV, Nvidia Shield (2017, 2019 and Pro), Xiaomi MiBox 4S and Amazon FireTV (2nd generation or higher including TV's with FireTV built-in).
In 2020, a cloud PVR service was launched which allows subscribers to make recordings without requiring a local hard disk unit and a second set top box (STB), made by Technicolor for EBOX, was introduced.
EBOX was a member of CNOC (Canadian Network Operators Consortium) until 2022 when they were no longer an eligible independent telecom provider following their acquisition by Bell.
In 2016, EBOX announces a 7.5 million dollar investment [14] for the installation of Campus EBOX, a workplace for 150 of their employees.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.
Bell Canada is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; as such, it was a founding member of the Stentor Alliance. It is also a CLEC for enterprise customers in the western provinces.
The Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes, Brittany, France.
Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily serves Quebec and Ottawa, as well as the Francophone communities of New Brunswick and some parts of Eastern Ontario. Its principal competitors are Bell Canada and Telus Communications.
Bell MTS Inc. is a subsidiary of BCE Inc. that operates telecommunications services in Manitoba.
Super Écran is a Canadian premium television network owned by Bell Media. It airs a mix of commercial-free films and television series. Films are primarily sourced from the United States and Canada, while the television series mostly consist of original series and programs from HBO and Showtime in the United States.
Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline, and Cogeco Media. The company provides a range of telecommunication products and services including cable television, radio and television broadcasting, telephony, and Internet services in Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and in eleven states along the east coast of the United States.
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable transmission formats. Unlike downloaded media, IPTV offers the ability to stream the source media continuously and hence can begin playing the content almost immediately.
In the field of telecommunications, the concept of triple play service refers to the provision of three essential services — high-speed broadband Internet access, television, and latency-sensitive telephone services — all delivered over a single broadband connection. This approach emphasizes the convergence of multiple services by a single supplier, aiming to enhance user convenience and streamline service delivery.
Free S.A.S. is a French telecommunications company, subsidiary of Iliad S.A. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications to consumers in France. Its head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and it is the second-largest ISP in France.
Canada is served by various multichannel television services, including cable television systems, two direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline IPTV and wireless MMDS video providers.
Telus Optik TV is a product of Telus Communications, a subsidiary of Telus Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital channels, including more than 100 in HD. Despite its name, the service is available to both Fibre To The Node (FTTN) or Fibre To The Home (FTTH) clients, with FTTN implementations using telephone lines instead of fibre optics for a portion of the connection. Telus launched IPTV service in November 2005 to customers in select Alberta communities. As of February 2017, over 1 million customers are subscribed to the Optik TV. Major competitors include satellite services Shaw Direct and Bell Satellite TV, as well as various cable and communications companies across British Columbia and Alberta, such as Rogers, Novus and Eastlink.
Canada ranks as the 21st in the world for Internet usage with 31.77 million users as of July 2016 (est), making up 89.8% of the population. According to Harvard researchers, Canada has some of the lowest internet standards among OECD countries, as a result of high costs and slow internet speeds.
VMedia Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company and broadcast distribution provider.
Bell Fibe TV is an IP-based television service offered by Bell Canada in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is bundled with a FTTN or FTTH Bell Internet service, and uses the Mediaroom platform. Bell Fibe TV officially launched on September 13, 2010. It is also available in Manitoba and Atlantic Canada, where Fibe TV is re-packaged, being offered by Bell MTS and Bell Aliant with similar services and integrated with Bell Fibe TV.
TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other French-language sports channel in the country.
WWE Network is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel programmed by WWE and distributed by Rogers Sports & Media. Its programming consists entirely of the linear feed offered as part of the WWE Network video streaming service.
Shomi was a Canadian subscription video on demand service jointly owned by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, in operation from 2014 to 2016. The service was viewed as a Canadian-based competitor to Netflix, with a library of 1,200 films and 11,000 hours' worth of television programs available on launch. Shomi content could be accessed as an over-the-top service through the service's website and apps, or through the video-on-demand libraries of participating television providers. The service emphasized manually curated categories of content, in contrast to the algorithmic approach used by competing services.
Crave is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media. The service competes directly with other subscription-based over-the-top streaming services operating in Canada, primarily against American-based services.
Distributel is a brand of Bell Canada headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, founded in 1988 and offering Canadians long distance phone service. Distributel now offers a wide range of high speed Internet plans in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta as well as VoIP Digital Home Phone service across Canada. Distributel also provides IPTV in all major markets in Ontario and Quebec.