BCE moves to limit costs

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $63.22 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares o/s: 898.8 million; Market cap: $56.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 5.0%; www.bce.ca) is required by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), like all of the country’s large telecom companies, to sell smaller Internet providers access to its high-speed networks. The CRTC’s aim is to improve competition and lower prices. The industry regulator has now cut the rates that those smaller providers must pay BCE and others. The company expects the decision will cost it $100 million. To put that in context, it earned $847 million, or $0.94 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2019. To offset the lower fees, BCE will curtail its plans to expand wireless high-speed service to rural areas in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. As a result, BCE will now connect 1 million households in those areas, down from its earlier target of 1.2 million. BCE is a buy. buy…