[Dawn Ritchie]
Good afternoon, I’m Dawn Ritchie for Rogers Cable TV and I’m down here at Nathan Phillips Square amongst much of the Canada Day hoopla for the official launch of the Cantel cellular telephone. Now what exactly is a cellular telephone you may be asking? Well, it’s only something that’s about to revolutionize our telecommunications system. It’s a portable telephone. It is so portable in fact, that you’ll be able to install it in your car or even carry it over your shoulder. As you saw a few moments ago, it has great capability including long distance calls.
[George Fierheller]
If he would make the first official phone call. Now I should point out that he will make this phone call to Mayor Drapeau who is in Montreal. Mayor Drapeau, I have been told is actually at the pavilion for the Ramsey’s II exhibit. Now that’s something like the King Tut exhibit. And not only will the mayor therefore be making the first phone call officially from Toronto to Montreal over the Cantel network, he’ll also be making worldwide the first call to an Egyptian tomb, at least that we know about.
[Art Eggleton]
Hope you didn’t get the wrong number. No wrong number.
[Reporter]
If an Egyptian answers, you know you got the wrong number.
[Art Eggleton]
If an Egyptian answers?
Anybody home?
[Jean Drapeau]
Hello?
[Art Eggleton]
Mr. Drapeau!
[Jean Drapeau]
Speaking.
[Art Eggleton]
Comment ça va?
[Jean Drapeau]
Ça va bien.
[Art Eggleton]
I’m delighted to talk with you.
In fact, we have several thousand people out here at Nation Phillips Square who are listening into our conversation. And I bring you greetings from the people of Toronto.
[Jean Drapeau]
I say hello to everyone of them and to you too.
[Art Eggleton]
Well, thank you very much. Well, I’m delighted that we have this opportunity to experience some high tech because I’m talking right from our public square and this is a new innovation for us to be able to do this. And your voice sounds so clear, it sounds like it’s a good beginning.
[Jean Drapeau]
And I hope, I wonder what will be left for the next generation to discover or experience.
[George Fierheller]
At this point in time, I’m going to call on Mr. Ted Rogers, who of course is well known to you from the broadcasting and cable industry in Toronto and across other parts of Canada to assist now in the official cord cutting ceremony. Mr. Rogers, I might add, through his company, is a partial owner of Cantel. So with this, we’re going to ask the mayor to officially cut one of the old obsolete phone cords to officially inaugurate the service.
[Ted Rogers]
George, first of all, I’d like to say that it’s a great day for Canada to have this new high tech industry start and be pioneered by Canadians. We have, in our company, Canadians from across Canada. We have Sam Belzberg and Mark from Vancouver, Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien from the province of Quebec, our group, Rogers Cable and Broadcasting Group from Ontario and Ameritech from the United States. It’s a great partnership and we’re delighted you’re with us today.
And now for the official opening.