The increasing convergence between television and phone services has been made more apparent this week, with Shaw and Telus coming up with new approaches to grab each others customers in the province of British Columbia.

Shaw has started its own digital phone VoIP service, which offers unlimited local and long-distance calling at a high price of $55. Telus tv support Although somewhat expensive for a VoIP offering, Shaw uses their existing brand to inspire trust, and targets customers who spend a fortune on long-distance calls.

Shaw has recruited 90,000 digital phone customers across Canada, and has announced that they’re expanding in to the huge market of Vancouver, BC. Merrill Lynch estimates that the service will steal 150,000 customer from Telus over the following year.

Telus, meanwhile, is wanting to pull of the same trick against Shaw Cable, by launching a satellite television service in Edmonton and Calgary late last year. They want to launch the same offering for Vancouver and the Fraser Valley by the summer.

Ultimately, both companies find yourself in direct competition with each other over the exact same market. Most customers find yourself choosing one or the other as their exclusive provider, to be able to conserve money by bundling services.

Now it is difficult to share with whether this trend of market convergence can cause one company to become dominant over the other, or if it will just cause a gradual reshuffling of subscribers. If the later happens, customers will likely benefit from the increased level of choice and potential for pricing competition.