Bell not sweating over Rogers-Shaw deal: CFO

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the potential impacts of Rogers Communications Inc. acquiring Shaw Communications Inc., BCE Inc. CFO Glen LeBlanc does not seem incredibly fazed. During day two of the Desjardins Industrials, Telecom, Media & Tech, Diversified and Consumer Conference, LeBlanc said Wednesday things are “business as usual” for Bell in the face of the yet-to-be-approved $26.2 billion deal. “We have the right assets, we believe we have the right strategy, and more importantly than anything, we have a proven track record of execution against anyone. In the west, it’s really a swapping of one cable name for another so it’s not going to change the way we compete, nor does it significantly change the competitive dynamics at all when you consider cable overlap,” LeBlanc said. “As far as the east goes, was doing an admirable job of growing their wireless subscriber base...when the transaction is complete, we’ll see how that plays out and whether that asset remains with Rogers or whether there’ll be regulatory remedies required.” Also speaking at the conference, Quebecor Inc. CFO Hugues Simard declined to say whether his company might be interested in buying Freedom Mobile if Shaw was required to sell it as part of the deal. “There are so many things that are up in the air. It’s unfortunately impossible for us to really comment with any more specificity on this transaction,” Simard said. “It’s important to ensure that competition is maintained whatever the outcome of this transaction is and that under the right circumstances, depending on what happens and what answers are given to some of the questions and the unknowns that we’ve talked about, then we’ll see what we do.” Quebecor already has its own flanker brand in Fizz, which Simard said continues to grow. The company reported Fizz led its wireless growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. Otherwise, Simard said Quebecor has fared well through the pandemic. “I think the prospects are positive. I think we have to recognize though that we were fortunate enough to be in an industry that wasn’t completely turned around like some others by the pandemic,” Simard said. However, LeBlanc flagged one “obvious” impact of the pandemic on the industry: a lack of domestic and international travel right now means that roaming revenues in the wireless sector are “depressed and will be for the foreseeable future.” “If you look at our wireline business more specifically, residential performed extremely well,” LeBlanc said at the conference. “I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that during a time when Canadians were forced to work and shelter at home, the importance of a quality connection became critical…I think the residential products, particularly broadband, became absolutely paramount and critical for Canadians and the fact that we have fibre in so much of our footprint and a superior network offering has really served us well.” — Reporting by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca and editing by Tim Forster at tforster@thewirereport.ca and Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Bell not sweating over Rogers-Shaw deal: CFO

News | March 24, 2021

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Bell not sweating over Rogers-Shaw deal: CFO

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