RE:Expenses vs DividendsBlueDawn...good points
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have seen many ups and downs for BCE over the decades and see the beginnings of a consolidation in and around current prices. I am holding for now and if the consolidation holds I will likely overweigtht BCE for a whilemand then sell the extra holdings once the price recovers.
But getting back to your point...
I had a conversation with a friend who, back in the day, was at BCE as AVP of their Rates Department and was involved in presenting cases for rate increases to the CRTC and as such was linked into decisions regarding capital expenditure plans. His take was (and I suspect he still has many contacts at upper levels of BCE) that BCE is sick and tired of spending so much money to build out and maintain its network in unprofitable areas while they are getting hammered by Freedom in the more lucrative markets. Their announced capital cutback a while back will put pressure on the regulator to do something about this. In addition, like things that have happened in the past where BCE made forays into fields that are not their core businesses (old-timers will remember real estate in the early 90s), their "adventure" into Bell Media didn't turn out well and they are making moves there.
His conclusion?
Let if play out and then pounce. He also very much doubted that the dividend will be cut and pointed out that the company has already announced a slowdown in the dividend growth.