Tackling the next stage in corporate integration for KMTS and Bell-Aliant: Q&A Part II

The establishment of competitive markets created a sense of urgency for Kenora Municipal Telephone System (KMTS) to find a new buyer, but since its acquisition by Bell Aliant Regional Communications closed at the beginning of February the task of integrating the two companies has been a balancing act. Mark Hanlon, senior VP and COO Ontario for Bell Aliant, explained that KMTS has good standing in the community and good relations with customers and imposing the Bell Aliant brand wouldn't benefit the organization. So while there aren't any plans at the moment to make KMTS more like Bell Aliant, the two companies are going to take advantage of their respective strengths in networks and services to improve the level of service for residents in Kenora. "There are some excellent synergies between the two companies," said Dennis McCaffrey, GM of KMTS. He pointed to KMTS' deployment of a broadband wireless network which is complemented by Bell Aliant' broader fibre optic distribution network. McCaffrey also highlighted a wider service portfolio that will become available. ExpressVu satellite TV service will be added to KMTS' service offering. NL: It's only been a few weeks since the acquisition closed, but what are some of the challenges associated with integrating the two companies? I probably shouldn't ask about billing, but in terms of some of the other integration aspects, are there issues that need to be addressed here? MH: Our intention here is to make sure that we don't lose what we purchased by smothering the organization. Our current direction is to have KMTS operate in very much the same way as they have in the past. At Bell Aliant we have a number of brands in the marketplace - Telebec, NorthernTel, xwave and others - that have strength with consumers so there's no reason to change them. But what has been great in the first few weeks that we have been working together is Bell Aliant, while it's not Bell Canada size, is large and we do bring economies of scale and we understand how to leverage those economies of scale. In others we know how to do big, if I could call it that. KMTS has already demonstrated how ingenious they are, creative, how fast they are able to do things in smaller markets. And we'll want to take advantage of that as opposed to smother it. With respect to billing, if it makes sense to use Bell Aliant's billing in a particular case as opposed to the current system at KMTS we'll go down that path. But if doesn't make sense then there's nothing wrong with the status quo. NL: What are some of the top priorities over the next 6, 12 or 18 months? DM: There are certainly opportunities for integrating our networks better. Together we've got a better network. The same holds true with our switching environment. We've got cellular service in the area which Bell Aliant doesn't have and we're certainly going to be looking at whether we can or should continue to expand that. Bell Aliant offers ExpressVu and we want to bring that in our product line as quickly as we can. They have much better business conferencing services than we do. They own spectrum in areas for some of these more advanced wireless services. NL: What are the plans for expanding broadband in Bell Aliant's territory? DM: There are some excellent synergies there between the two companies. KMTS has a lot of broadband wireless towers throughout the Kenora area which Bell Aliant doesn't have. But they have a nice distribution of fibre that goes out further than we have. With the existence of these two networks, we can now optimize the positioning of those networks so they don't overlap. And similarly if it makes more sense economically or service wise to go into an area using our broadband wireless technology then they can do that. NL: So by combining the two networks, service expansion is accelerated? MH: Exactly. We have said from the very beginning and have demonstrated over time that our focus will be increasing the broadband footprint in our geography and of course in northwestern Ontario. We've already done some work there and there is more to do, but suffice to say our most significant capital focus for 2007 and 2008 is around broadband expansion.

Tackling the next stage in corporate integration for KMTS and Bell-Aliant: Q&A Part II

News | March 3, 2008

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