Bell Purchase of MTS

[Chrisforpm]

Originally Posted by CoryB

^^ I would strongly suggest waiting on moving to Telus. It is unclear if Telus will gain access to the MTS network under the Bell deal. If you want Bell offers nearly identical plans in Manitoba currently...

A thought occurred to me in regards to Telus. Bell has said it will hand over 1/3 of MTS customers to Telus. If Telus does not gain access to the Bell MTS network you are going to have a lot of angry ex-MTS customers with limited service. I can't see that happening, so I'd almost believe that Telus will have access from day one.

[CoryB]

^^ Bell has not identified which 1/3 of customers would be handed over to Telus. I would wager it is going to be lots of low monthly bill customers on month to month status, voice only users, people near the end of contracts, and people with only wireless service. I would expect Bell would retain the high bill customers, the business accounts and people with multiple services. In other words Telus would be getting the less desirable portion of the wireless customer base. This would push up the ARPU (average revenue per user) from the portion Bell gets from MTS. Telus would then have to try and work retention magic to convert those into more valuable contracts.

That said, the divestment to Telus seems to run counter to the direction that could be required for approval of BCE's purchase.

[Nathan]

They may also offload rural customers, especially if Bell doesn't really plan on upping rural infrastructure (though Bell and Telus do have a joint network elsewhere).

[Chrisforpm]

Originally Posted by Nathan

They may also offload rural customers, especially if Bell doesn't really plan on upping rural infrastructure (though Bell and Telus do have a joint network elsewhere).

Problem with that is Telus doesn't have a network outside of Winnipeg, Brandon and the hwy 1 corridor. So these customers would literally have no network available to them. I would hope the CRTC would ensure that existing MTS customers still have access to a network. I'm pretty sure the wireless code indicates that if a customers network is taken away you can cancel your contact without penalty. I would say there is a 99% chance Bell allows Telus customers access to the network. The wild card is what happens to Rogers and their access.

[CoryB]

There is nothing is the Wireless Code covering loss of network coverage. As it is specifically not covered it would fall to general terms.

That said, the Wireless Code essentially capped the penalty for early termination at $20. You still have to pay off the remaining device balance though but that is financing agreement you need to settle, not a penalty.

Also, as I suggested earlier, the transfer of customers to Telus is likely to mostly be customers that have no contract (month to month) or little time (under six months) left on their contract.

Finally keep in mind that you are buying access to a network, not that you are buying access from a fixed location like you do with wired voice service for example.

[cllew]

CBC is reporting that Bell now wants to improve cell coverage in Northern Manitoba if they obtain the approvals to buy MTS

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...toba-1.3668643

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by cllew

CBC is reporting that Bell now wants to improve cell coverage in Northern Manitoba if they obtain the approvals to buy MTS

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...toba-1.3668643

They have to give some excuse for the coming rate increases...

[CoryB]

Bell's promises at this point are a lot of smoke and mirrors. If you go on the MTS community forum a very common issue is congestion on the back haul. To solve that you essentially need to run a really expensive cable from Winnipeg to whatever the service is being provided. You don't just sprinkle a few dollars on the ground where the network issue is, chant some secret words and poof have a better network.

It has also been well documented by investment and telecom industry analysts that live and breath this stuff every day that MTS invests more in CapX (capital expenditures, aka infrastructure) than BCE.

That doesn't even start to get into the mountain of regulatory barriers the BCE deal needs to clear, specifically on the wireless side.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by cllew

CBC is reporting that Bell now wants to improve cell coverage in Northern Manitoba if they obtain the approvals to buy MTS

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...toba-1.3668643

I heard the guy, Wade Oosterman?, being interviewed by Janet Stewart today on CBC Radio. It was a complete joke. She made a small attempt at challenging his assertions and what Manitobans can expect but he basically, rather arrogantly, told her we would have to pay for what we're getting like other parts of (Bell) Canada. What an asshole.

[CoryB]

The reality is if MTS stays fully independent, they are purchased by BCE or something third option comes along there is a major investment needed in the MTS infrastructure. Like it or not it will be funded by increases to customers bills. The current rates are just not sustainable to provide the level of service people are increasingly expecting in rural areas. Sure many European countries might have cheaper wireless rates but they also do not have the same disperse geographic areas to try and covering with blazing fast wireless signals and broadband connections Canadians are now demanding.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

The reality is if MTS stays fully independent, they are purchased by BCE or something third option comes along there is a major investment needed in the MTS infrastructure. Like it or not it will be funded by increases to customers bills. The current rates are just not sustainable to provide the level of service people are increasingly expecting in rural areas. Sure many European countries might have cheaper wireless rates but they also do not have the same disperse geographic areas to try and covering with blazing fast wireless signals and broadband connections Canadians are now demanding.

You sound like you have a interest in this beyond being a consumer. Do you have shares in MTS or BCE?

[CoryB]

I have just grown tired of the snail's pace of tech rollouts from MTS. Other Canadian markets already have access to 4K programming on their cable systems and have access to lots of on-demand apps to stream content. MTS says they are looking into that and the one they finally launched took over two years of customer requests. MTS also has not done any significant investments in infrastructure upgrades which is going to be a real pain even in Winnipeg when most people start trying to stream Netflix, etc in 4K. On the wireless side MTS needed to outsource the upgrades to both HSPA and LTE. Not only that Winnipeg was so late getting LTE is was behind even some third tier cities in Canada.

About the only good thing MTS brings to the market is by having one of the big three wireless companies (Telus) with under 10% of the market share and poor network coverage it forces Telus to keep prices low which in turn force market giants MTS and Rogers to match.

I had grown tired of how MTS was basically draining every last nickel of profit from their customers before the deal was announced and had begun to call for changes BEFORE the BCE sale was announced. Do I think BCE will be better than MTS? I am not sure but cost aside it is going to be challenging for them to be much worse.

[Chrisforpm]

Originally Posted by CoryB

I have just grown tired of the snail's pace of tech rollouts from MTS. Other Canadian markets already have access to 4K programming on their cable systems and have access to lots of on-demand apps to stream content. MTS says they are looking into that and the one they finally launched took over two years of customer requests. MTS also has not done any significant investments in infrastructure upgrades which is going to be a real pain even in Winnipeg when most people start trying to stream Netflix, etc in 4K. On the wireless side MTS needed to outsource the upgrades to both HSPA and LTE. Not only that Winnipeg was so late getting LTE is was behind even some third tier cities in Canada.

About the only good thing MTS brings to the market is by having one of the big three wireless companies (Telus) with under 10% of the market share and poor network coverage it forces Telus to keep prices low which in turn force market giants MTS and Rogers to match.

I had grown tired of how MTS was basically draining every last nickel of profit from their customers before the deal was announced and had begun to call for changes BEFORE the BCE sale was announced. Do I think BCE will be better than MTS? I am not sure but cost aside it is going to be challenging for them to be much worse.

I agree with you on everything you said. I didn't realize how behind MTS really was until I went out west and played around with Telus Optik TV. It integrates netflix and crave tv right into its set top box. Plus 4K offerings and modern guide and UI.

It seems like the only thing MTS is good at is offering a mediocre service at a moderate price. I would rather pay a bit more for better.

Also have you ever tried to call MTS after hours to get anything done? You can't even sign up for TV after hours.

[Riverman]

We quit all MTS services to close to 5 years ago. We still receive an MTS bill in the mail every month for the amount of $0.00. I have tried to stop it numerous times to no avail. They have probably spent $100 on postage to a customer they no longer have.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Stuff.

So that's a yes. Thanks. Looks like you're not the only one.

Look forward to an increase of $40.00 a month on your cells everyone and for the first time for MTS subscribers, limits on internet use AND/OR massive increases on bandwidth access.

Congratulations.

[CoryB]

It was be awesome if people even tried to know facts on the MTS deal.

1. MTS has had limits written into their broadband usage agreement since the start of service they just do not enforce them. That could change any day.

2. Federal telecom policy is to support four wireless carriers.

3. The BCE deal as proposed would reduce wireless competition in Manitoba.

4. BCE broadband rates are CHEAPER that what MTS currently offers.

5. Part of the reason MTS is being sold the BCE is they were under charging and not able to reinvest to keep customers.

[northern_hoser]

Take it with a grain of salt, as this was coming from a Bell store employee, but when the wife and I were in there yesterday looking at new cell phones, he said that one of the factors leading to the sale was because it was costing MTS too much $$ to provide unlimited internet on their cell phone network.

We've been thinking about making the switch to either Bell or Rogers for our cell phones. The guy at the Bell store was going to give us a pretty solid offer on trading in our iPhone 5's to get the Samsung 7 and 7 Edge at a reduced rate.

[bomberjet]

Talked about this recently. The GF and I traded in our old phones with Rogers (Sony Xperia T, quite old, and iPhone 4S) for an additional credit of $175 each, on top of the instant rebate of $225. We were existing customers too, not one of those new customers flim flam things. So we paid nothing at the till. $500 each on the tab payment plan, as is quite normal.

[CoryB]

The issue behind the MTS is much less to do with wireless than the wired network upgrades that need to be undertaken. The elephant in the room is the wired network data growth is occurring far faster than planned and going to soon out strip the network capacity.

On the wireless side the cost to provide service and the possible reinvestment from the services offered hit a point MTS could no longer sustain their own network more than seven years ago. That lead to the first of the two deals with Rogers to do some of the heavy lifting on the MTS wireless network.

[Cyro]

I still use pigeons for carrying my personal messages so I guess I'm immune to the incoming changes, yes? lol..

Seriously, I got my kid a new IPnone 6s with unlimited data?!? + insurance for drops/water damage etc.. Down $150 /off the hop, 65$/ month did I get burnt? Sounds reasonable...(MTS)