BellI dont own, but i was on the conf call to listen to analyst questions specifically. Prior to call i did a bit of investigating. One thing that im really surprised about on the call was not 1 analyst asked a question to Bell CEO about Competition to Ziply.
Google states there are over 1,700 fiber optic internet providers in the US. Im not sure if this is true.
Market Cap Aprox of some of the Big Boys
BCE. $26 Billion
AT&T $157 Billion
Verizon. $172 Billion
T Mobile. $260 Billion
Comcast. $162 Billion
BCE is small potatoes compared to the operators in the US and there is immense competition in the US with deep pockets.
If there are no barriers to entry in the areas the Ziply operates then. dont see how this will work down the road. IF competition eventually swoops in and affects Ziply margins it will be very competitive environment. To put this another way, on the conf call the CEO was stating that Bell cell phone customers are switching due to competition and thus is a very competitive environment, will this happen to Ziply in the US eventually??...this was not discussed on the conf call, obviously if the amount of fiber option lines are limited in the areas that Ziply operates for whatever reason this would make the purchase of Ziply that much more acceptable.
I see alot of people stating they were in this company for the divy so leave it alone and be business as usuall, the problem with that is if you do not adapt and change you die, this is technology were talking about here , things change and BCE has to change also, is there risk, of course. IF this works the CEO is King, if not hes a bum, hopefully if works out for all concerned.
We have seen many Canadian companies go into the US and fail, the US is a different beast. One good thing about what BCE did was purchase a company in the US and go from there vs starting from scratch and building out.
In conclusion, to me, how the (fiber)competition situation plays out in the Ziply areas of buisness will make or break this recent acquisition. Like i said im surprised that analysts did not bring this up on the call,