Q: I'm certain that our family's cellphone experiences are not unique. Even though we own BCE in our combined portfolios, and our rationale for continuing to hold it was that the dividends would pay for the monthly bill, but enough is enough! Without warning, Bell Mobility increased the monthly fee by $4.00 for a very basic plan. (We are seniors who rarely need data since we rely on WiFi.) Our other cellphone had been on Virgin (owned by Bell) who did the same thing, although they did 'warn' us about the impending $4.00 per month increase. After researching options, we opted to switch to Freedom Mobile, since the price was a lot less, and the basic plans were much better than we had with Bell Mobility and Virgin. My point is this: BCE will, in my opinion, continue to languish due to their predatory price gouging. Yes, it's an oligopoly, but Freedom is rapidly increasing their customer base, while I suspect that Bell/Virgin will continue to lose customers.
Thanks for all you're doing for the retail investors, and Happy Canada Day to everyone at 5i and our fellow members.
Thanks for all you're doing for the retail investors, and Happy Canada Day to everyone at 5i and our fellow members.
5i Research Answer:
Certainly incumbents with large market share can be slow to react to ANY competition, believing they are immune. We welcome any competition in the sector: Canadians pay way more than most countries for telco services. But of course it can and does impact BCE's overall growth prospects in a fairly mature market.