BCE Inc.

If the Rogers-Shaw transaction is approved, BCE and Rogers would be the two largest players in a three-player Canadian telecom market, with access to greater than 60% of households each, and controlling more than 70%-75% of the industry's telecom and video revenue. Rogers could eventually provide quadplay bundling capability across its footprint, while eventually expanding into the small-to-midsize business and national enterprise market. With competitive advantage being associated with a larger scale, more consolidation in the Canadian market could follow. Eventually, we believe this would then increase competition in the retail market, changing the competitive landscape for BCE in the longer term. The stable outlook reflects the company's strong operations, which, combined with good cost control, should help support annual

...BCE Inc. continues to have a strong market position despite tough competition. BCE Inc. is a leading provider of telecommunication services in Canada, with 19.2 million retail subscribers. It has the second-largest wireless market share (about 30%) and the largest in residential wireline services (about 23.6%; in terms of revenue generating units [RGUs]). The company's competitive position is supported by BCE's strong franchise with solid brands, broad distribution of its services with quad-product bundling opportunities, upgraded networks, and revenue diversity among residential and business customers. While BCE has not been immune to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, S&P Global Ratings continues to believe that the eventual return of overage and roaming revenues, wireline benefits from sustained fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) investment, and the eventual rollout of business-focused 5G services position BCE for continued growth. S&P Global Ratings also expects these factors to...

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