The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.

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A new report from The Convergence Consulting Group, The Battle for the North American Couch Potato: Bundling, Internet, TV Telephone, notes that cable companies are ahead of the telephone companies in terms of controlling the household. The notion holds true both in Canada and the United States.

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As part of its strategy for national expansion, Calgary-based Shift Networks Inc. has announced several key additions to its senior management team. Keith Bradley has been named VP of sales for the western region. Bradley has worked in the telecommunications industry since 1992. He joins Shift from Telus Mobility where he was most recently director of corporate sales for British Columbia. Prior to that, Bradley was instrumental in the development and direct and retail sales channels for ClearNet’s PCS and Mike products.

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Bell Canada to become income trust
Canada’s largest incumbent telephone company announced on October 11 that it will eliminate the BCE Inc. holding firm and turn Bell Canada into an income trust. In announcing the conversion, Michael Sabia, CEO of BCE, said the move is about focusing on the core communications business of the company and an attempt to "return to our roots and to stay there, to intensify our focus on Bell and to finish the job of repositioning the company as a pure communications business, providing integrated services across the breadth of our platforms to all of our customers." The decision to convert to an income trust is also about minimizing the significant cash tax hit of about $800 million the company would have to take in 2008.

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Although Telus Corp. recently became the second Canadian telco this year to announce an income-trust transformation plan, it seems MTS Allstream Inc. won’t follow the same path, even if it seemed headed that way a couple years ago.

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