>Over the past 3 days, Canada’s major telecom carriers provided their guidance for the coming year: Tuesday was Bell (TSX: BCE); Wednesday was MTS Allstream (TSX: MBT); and, Thursday was TELUS (TSX: T).
You can read the regular newspapers to decipher the financial forecasts, or read the reports that each of the major financial houses are issuing with their updated forecasts for the sector.
Income trusts, how much longer they will defer payment of taxes, dividends, share buybacks, increasing shareholder value, improved focus, receptive to Monday’s regulatory reforms. But you need to look beyond the common themes to try to understand what is happening in the battles between them.
Although TELUS has been viewed as having the greater exposure to higher growth in wireless, it now seems to be feeling competitive pressures in that sector, lowering its forecasts for year end 2006 as I described in yesterday’s post. Bell’s overall guidance for earnings growth (~5%) is substantially the same as that for TELUS, with benefits arising from its investments in its sometimes painful systems and process re-engineering efforts.
Of the three carriers setting objectives this week, only Bell conducted its review meeting live, providing analysts with an opportunity to chat with the company executives and each other. MTS Allstream had a conference call and webcast that was held with the CEO and his operating presidents as well as the CFO. In the case of TELUS, it was all finance – just the CFO by phone and webcast, having to address questions that may have been better answered by business unit heads.
I know this industry is all about telecommunications. But the ‘next best thing to being there’ is just not the same as actually being there.
Gold medal to Bell. The silver goes to MTS Allstream for making it clear that the business units are signed up to the guidance. TELUS has received recognition for disclosure and governance, but would the awards be jeopardized if its operating executives were on hand to demonstrate ownership of and commitment to the forecasts set out in the 2007 business plan?
Call me old fashioned, if you want, but there is much to be said about the chance to see the expressions on the faces and share the kibbitzing over coffee.