Big scope seen in data service expansion for Canadian mobile phone operators

(CP) -

‘s mobile-phone industry has vast room to grow in data services for businesses and consumers, the president of the country’s biggest cellphone operator said Tuesday.

Nadir Mohamed of Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) told a BMO Capital Markets media and telecom conference that at business forums such as Tuesday’s event 95 per cent of those present typically have mobile-e-mail devices, mostly BlackBerrys made by Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM). But he estimated only five per cent of businesspeople who could profit from constant e-mail access have it.

“There’s lots of room for e-mail connectivity and applications on the business side,” he said.

“On the consumer side it’s been fuelled by SMS (short message service),” he added.

“Both sides of the equation are growing and in my mind will continue to grow significantly.”

In terms of transmitting video to mobile devices, “the noise we’re making is more about the brand,” Mohamed said, and “video is some time away from being a meaningful contributor” to revenue.

In the wake of Monday’s announcement by Telus Corp. (TSX:T) that it will become an income trust, Mohamed said Rogers has no similar plans – primarily because it won’t have to pay income tax in the foreseeable future thanks to almost $4 billion in accumulated tax losses.

He added that paying a high dividend is not a priority for Toronto-headquartered

‘s largest cable-television operator as well as the biggest wireless provider.

“Clearly the focus is paying down our debt – that’s goal No. 1,” he said. “We’re not going to go from a growth company to a yield company anytime soon.”

Meanwhile, the country’s largest telephone company,

(TSX:BCE), continues to struggle with “service issues in the consumer segment,” George Cope,

‘s new president and chief operating officer, acknowledged at the meeting.

Bell has geared up for competition from cable-TV operators and others in local telephone service after generations as a monopoly and it has “an unbelievably reliable local access service,” he declared, but it remains hamstrung by “ridiculous” federal regulations.

“The last time I looked I don’t think

needs our help in terms of their financial position by the regulator,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged, “our customer service has to improve, and it’s a very tricky balance as you’re taking costs out there.”

Cope, the former president of Telus Mobility who joined Bell in January, said it’s too early to know whether erosion of Bell’s local access line business has hit bottom, but “now for the first time (competitors) have churn, not just us,” while Bell remains “the clear leader in the enterprise segment.”

Asked about the income trust issue, Cope noted that rural phone operations were spun off this summer in the Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund (TSX:BA.UN) and he repeated a previous statement that “management and the board continue to review the suitability of the income trust structure” for the rest of the enterprise.

“That’s all I’m saying.”

Also at Tuesday’s conference, Marc Tellier, president and CEO of Yellow Pages Group (TSX:YLO.UN), said the trust’s “big focus is really to integrate one national platform” after a series of acquisitions ranging from the Trader Canada group of advertising publications to the MTS Media phone-book operation in Manitoba.

“It’s not that it’s difficult work, it’s just that there’s a lot of wood to chop” in such tasks as consolidating eight accounting and human resources systems, Tellier said.

Yellow Pages is also working to expand its clientele by attracting more national advertisers, which “typically don’t come to us in droves,” he said.

Tellier added that the trust now has “a much more compelling value equation for national advertisers” such as automotive companies which he said account for one-fifth of all advertising in the

.

Source- http://money.canoe.ca

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