RE:ShortsThere is a lot of press regarding the ability of BCE to keep its dividend as currently its FCF is too low.
The other thing that is going on which i think is important is that the purchase of Freedom Mobile by Videotron/Quebecor has signidficantly changed the landscape with a new competitior with deep pockets and willing to aggressively price its services. As an example, I recently switched from Rogers to Freedom which offered the equivalent of Roam like Home in 92 countries and North American free long distance for the same price that I was paying for my Rogers subscription for basic service and Canada-wide long distance. The coiverage foer Freedom is not close to what Rogers offers in Canada but for me living in a big city, there are no coverage/service issues and i don't need to call someone in Lower Loose Tooth Saskatchewan or Nunavut. So fFeedom is highgrading by providing coverage only in large lucrative markets. Thinking this is why BCE made that announcement about cutting back on its capital plan a while back.
Sooo...the legacy telecoms are facing significant pricing issues.
All that said, I am a long time holder of BCE and have seen ups and downs over the decades and so I am still holding to see how things play out. It seems to me that a base is forming around the current price and short of a market downturn we may well have seen the bottom for this cycle.