With the coming merger of Aliant into Bell’s regional income trust, BCE has put forward the first indication of its management team. Jay Forbes, the current CEO of Aliant will be stepping aside on July 1 to make room for the return of Stephen Wetmore to Aliant. Wetmore has been a past president of Aliant and at NewTel – so this is a return to the Atlantic region for him, having grabbed a hold of much of the land mass of Ontario and Quebec as a prize to bring back with him.
By replacing Forbes with Wetmore, BCE keeps east coast credibility in the Aliant home base. In many cases, Aliant is seemingly inextricably linked with the provincial governments. With the level of competition coming from the cable companies in Aliant’s home turf, leadership is required who fully appreciate the way consumers, businesses and governments respond. His time at BCE has provided a base for assuming control of an integrated Bell / Aliant trust.
Stephen Wetmore was a keynote speaker at our very first Canadian Telecom Summit in 2002. We wish him luck trying to stem the tidewaters of competition – heading back home to Aliant.