google weighs in on bell throttling

[Evan Leibovitch]

Andrej Marjan wrote:
> That's true today, but what I'm describing has been going on at Bell for 
> decades, since long before outsourcing was an option. Bell has an entrenched 
> corporate culture of monopoly, and the current oligopoly market situation 
> gives them no reason to change.
>   
Certainly the shift from monopoly to oligopoly has been significant, and
led to a substantial drop in business. While the number of big players
has not risen sharply, there is no love lost between Rogers and Bell (or
Telus, for that matter). What worked when there was no other choice
doesn't work any more.

To successfully compete, Rogers and Telus don't have to be perfect or
even that good; they just need to be better than Bell (which isn't
asking for much). As you suggest, the corporate culture within Bell
isn't accustomed to competition, and not even talking beavers can stop
the slide. Do you think it's any coincidence that BCE is being sold, not
to another telco, not to a media or tech company, but to a pension plan?
That action will inevitably lead to the slicing and dicing of the
company, in a desparate search for competitive snippets, leading to a
Bell that will be very different in a few years from what it is now.

While I don't see much pity or sadness over the dismantling, the
potential aftermath could be a relaxation of foreign ownership
regulations in the telco industry. Anyone interesting in seeing pieces
of Bell scooped up by Verizon or Vodaphone?

(Heck, having a Canadian telco move towards the European/Asian model of
cellphone acquisition might be a very good step. But I'm not holding my
breath for it.)

- Evan

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