New rules a plus for Manitoba Tel

Article Excerpt

The Canadian government recently decided to remove foreign ownership limits on telecom companies with less than a 10% market share. That’s a big plus for Manitoba Tel, because it will help it expand its partnerships with U.S. firms like AT&T, which already uses Manitoba Tel’s Allstream network to serve its Canadian clients. The decision could also make Manitoba Tel a takeover candidate. MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $34.82 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 66.2 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.9%; www.mts.ca) gets 55% of its revenue from its MTS division, which has over 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. The remaining 45% of the company’s revenue comes from its Allstream division, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada. In the quarter ended December 31, 2011, revenue fell 1.6%, to $439.4 million from $446.7 million a year earlier. The MTS division’s revenue rose 2.7%. Allstream’s revenue fell 6.6%, mostly because it is…