travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON
| reply to CanadianIron
Re: Bell reports record income growth, reduced investment.
I just read through their results pretty extensively. I'd love to see a breakout of their retail vs. wholesale Internet customer movement - they added 10,000 Internet subscribers in Q1, but I'd bet dollars to donuts their higher-margin retail base shrunk while their lower-margin wholesale base increased.
They put a pretty nice spin on things, but the bottom line is they'd be completely screwed without wireless continuing to grow and prop up their results. Their customer growth on wireline and video services is stagnant, and the only way they are increasing profitability is by jacking up rates (long distance, ExpressVu) while they're losing voice customers hand over fist. We've seen their desperation to hold on to customers by offering huge retention discounts on the video side while trying to pin down everyone on any service into a long-term contract, whether they agreed to it or not (see: this forum).
It's unfortunate that they'll soon be private - IMO they're at a tipping point where their atrocious customer service and competitive pressure is finally going to force them into an overall downswing in their results. Since they're going to be private, we won't get to see it and enjoy it.  |
