Bibic says Canada has “unsophisticated” discourse on pricing, gov. reached wireless goals

BCE Inc.’s CEO said that the government’s job is done in terms of achieving its wireless policy objectives. “If you take a step back and you look at the industry in our country, we now have four well capitalized significant players with very strong wireline footprints and near-national wireless footprints,” Mirko Bibic told analysts Thursday during Bell’s Q1 2023 earnings call. “That is very rare across the global footprint. And I think if you're sitting there from a public policy position, having four players like that is quite significant and will enhance competition and consumer value.” Bibic was responding to the Rogers-Shaw acquisition which was officially approved by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne at the end of March and closed in April. Part of the deal included a divestiture of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to satisfy the government’s desire to maintain a fourth national player. “On the wireless side we are one of the very few countries with four players and probably the only one with the convergence between wireline and wireless. I think the job ought to be considered as having been done now on the wireless front from a public policy and regulatory perspective,” Bibic said. Bibic then said the pricing studies and the pricing discourse in Canada “is sadly unsophisticated” when asked to respond to Rogers’ announcement that it is lowering its prices for 5G – specifically if he thought that everyday pricing should be advertised at lower levels rather than having promotions so that the government takes notice. Bibic said that looking at rates on incumbents’ websites and comparing them to other countries does not take into account real consumer spending patterns. “Everybody who operates in the industry knows that the majority of sales are in the back half of the year – Q3 and Q4 with back-to-school, Black Friday, the holiday season. That's where the promotional intensity actually happens. That's when the majority of sales happen and that's what most consumers in Canada are paying.” Bibic says Rogers’ announcement may help that regulatory dialogue. The company reported a 15 per cent decrease in profit this quarter to $788 million, compared to $934 million this time last year. Revenue increased by more than three per cent – going from $5.85 billion in Q1 2022 to $6.05 billion this quarter. Bell saw 43,289 postpaid mobile phone net subscriber activations this quarter which accounts for a 26 per cent increase from this time last year. Internet saw an almost five per cent increase in net subscriber activations to 27,274. Bell continues to see a rise in net television subscriber losses. This quarter it reported 13,949 losses in subscribers compared to 8,361 lost in Q1 2022. The television losses all came from satellite whereas internet protocol television (IPTV) continues to grow. In total, Bell racked in 63,821 new activations this quarter, a 13 per cent increase compared to the 56,371 activations it brought in last year. Bell’s mobile phone average revenue per user (ARPU) of $58.15 in Q1 2023 increased by 0.9 per cent, compared to the same period last year. Starting May 15 Bell will offer free messaging for all Aeroplan members worldwide on all Wi-Fi equipped Air Canada aircrafts. Those members will be able to send and receive messages on apps such as Apple's iMessage, Meta Inc.'s WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Rakuten's Viber and Messages by Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Newcomers and visitors to Canada will also get complementary SIM cards on certain inbound international flights so they can connect to cellular services when they get on the ground in Canada. “This allows us to speak directly to newcomers before they even enter the country on the airline that most newcomers use… So it's going to be powerful for both companies and for consumers,” Bibic told analysts about the partnership with Air Canada, and admitted his company could do better in that particular market. Bell’s quarterly also came with the announcement of the retirement of its long-time chief financial officer (CFO) Glen LeBlanc. LeBlanc has held his position in the company for 18 years and will begin his retirement Sept 1. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Bibic says Canada has “unsophisticated” discourse on pricing, gov. reached wireless goals

News | May 4, 2023

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Bibic says Canada has “unsophisticated” discourse on pricing, gov. reached wireless goals

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