Business in Winnipeg

[The Unknown Poster]

Not that it has anything to do with this, but if I recall, when plans were afoot to build a new arena and save the Jets in the 90's there was talk of TSN opening up inside the new arena as its Western HQ.

Also, as irony has it, MTS originally formed when the government bought Bell's telephone assets.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

It also says Bell will be selling 1/3 of current MTS post paid wireless customers to Telus. So does that mean you could be forced to switch over to Telus? I'd also like to know how this will affect Rogers, as they have some form of tower share program with MTS. All 4 major players in the MB market look to be directly affected by this.

I will throw my hat in the ring on the new tower (lol), Winnipeg's third new tallest to go up behind the current MTS tower!

First, the deal to transfer MTS Wireless customers to Telus is part of BCE's proposed takeover it is not set in stone. It is possible the CRTC comes back with a counter proposal that MTS Wireless needs to be sold or otherwise spun off as a whole in order to maintain four wireless carriers in Manitoba. That scenario could see a side deal with all MTS Wireless customers moving to Shaw. If it happened Bell could also make a very competitive bundle offer to try and retain those customers and build up their own wireless customer base locally.

That said, the normal contract language, and not just for wireless service, has a clause that allows to provider to transfer their rights at their discretion for the life of the contract. That would mean if you are a MTS customer and are told by BCE you are now a Telus customer your likely only available recource would be to use the early termination clause from your contract.

[cllew]

I'm off contract for the cell but in a triple play bundle, I wonder what my status will be in the new system?

[Chrisforpm]

It scares me to see what kind of prices we might be paying. If you look at Alberta, BC, Ontario and the maritimes their prices are way higher. I could see a gradual rise with the lack of that 4th carrier. The only wild card is what shaw does with wind. If they keep competitive and introduce service here we might not see a dramatic rise in prices.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by biguc

Everything I'm reading says the 2700 current MTS employees are safe, and will join a workforce totalling 6900 people. This might be bad for phone rates but replacing a provincial head office with a regional one is not bad, and it's nice to see a western head office locate here rather than Calgary.

Anyway, let's start wildly speculating on what the new Bell MTS skyscraper will look like.

Bell and MTS would say anything to get this past the CRTC and Competition Bureau. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in any promises they are making. Easy to say that you'll have a "Western HQ" somewhere when you're inheriting a ton of existing office and commercial space. Give it 5 years, I bet they are cleared out of Downtown Winnipeg and all your MTS Connect stores are shuttered.

They really need to allow more foreign investment in this industry. IMO that's much better for everyone but Rogers and Bell, who are essentially just dividing up the country between them.

[Chrisforpm]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

Bell and MTS would say anything to get this past the CRTC and Competition Bureau. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in any promises they are making. Easy to say that you'll have a "Western HQ" somewhere when you're inheriting a ton of existing office and commercial space. Give it 5 years, I bet they are cleared out of Downtown Winnipeg and all your MTS Connect stores are shuttered.

They really need to allow more foreign investment in this industry. IMO that's much better for everyone but Rogers and Bell, who are essentially just dividing up the country between them.

I agree. Let AT&T & Verizon in to start. But it'll never happen, Rogers and Bell have too much lobbying power. Remember when it was rumoured that Verizon was going to enter the market? The Big 3 went on a media blitz to scare people into thinking Canadian jobs would be lost and these large American interests would kill our domestic market. They successfully scared off foreign competition.

[CoryB]

Please keep that Verizon garbage out of Canada. Them and Sprint are actually holding back the whole industry in the US. They are also heavily behind the Marshmallow upgrades being delayed for Samsung handsets.

I could go into more detail but it gets technical. If we are getting foreign carriers I would much rather see EE.

[lilwayne]

people seem to be ignoring the fact that bell will be setting up their western headquarters here that will definitely mean more jobs for Manitoba and possibly a new tower, if not a new tower they will definitely anchor or take up lots of office space in true north square or 300 main street.

I wouldn't be surprised if amazon created a regional shipping warehouse or even headquarters here aswell.

Winnipeg is still on the come up stealing lots of jobs from other citys in the Midwest.

[The Unknown Poster]

Originally Posted by lilwayne

people seem to be ignoring the fact that bell will be setting up their western headquarters here that will definitely mean more jobs for Manitoba and possibly a new tower, if not a new tower they will definitely anchor or take up lots of office space in true north square or 300 main street.

I wouldn't be surprised if amazon created a regional shipping warehouse or even headquarters here aswell.

Winnipeg is still on the come up stealing lots of jobs from other citys in the Midwest.

The message internally is definitely one of optimism in regards to the investment by Bell and pushing the narrative that they wouldnt bother doing so if they didnt intend to be here long term with the new HQ. You never know ofcourse. But definitely trying to make it a good news scenario.

[esquire]

Danny D got it right, the messaging this week is happiness and sunshine and growth and all that good stuff. Once everything is approved and green lighted, that's when the cloud descends and the ugliness starts to happen.

I don't necessarily think this takeover will result in a bloodbath for Winnipeg and I believe Bell when they say they will maintain a strong presence here, but I sure am not expecting any construction or development to flow from it.

[bomberjet]

I guess if they truely want Winnipeg to be their western HQ, Bell would need to add some type of staff to account for all the business west of Manitoba. Right now all the MTS staff are dealing with MTS business in Manitoba. I don't think anyone would expect them now take on X amount of work from Bell in SK, AB and BC. There would need to be some increase in staff to deal with the Bell business. Not sure to what level, but seems there would need to be something.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I guess if they truely want Winnipeg to be their western HQ, Bell would need to add some type of staff to account for all the business west of Manitoba. Right now all the MTS staff are dealing with MTS business in Manitoba. I don't think anyone would expect them now take on X amount of work from Bell in SK, AB and BC. There would need to be some increase in staff to deal with the Bell business. Not sure to what level, but seems there would need to be something.

Definitely. A bunch of my friends are decrying the news as if thousands of jobs will leave winnipeg but if this is gonna be their western hq I can't imagine a scenario where there aren't at least several hundred jobs added to our market.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by lilwayne

people seem to be ignoring the fact that bell will be setting up their western headquarters here that will definitely mean more jobs for Manitoba and possibly a new tower, if not a new tower they will definitely anchor or take up lots of office space in true north square or 300 main street.

From what I have heard is that there is available space inside the MTS footprint already. Outside of the existing MTS operations Bell was running a fairly small western operations out of Alberta if I am not mistaken mostly handling their business clients and wireless services in the region. As they share a wireless network with Telus, Telus would be handling the bulk of the wireless work either way. If you trade off some of the more senior jobs MTS will lose with the handful of jobs that might move here from other western areas the "Bell western HQ" is essentially a status quo from MTS. With 201 Portage Ave having empty space, the empty office space in the WPS tower and both the new Winnipeg Square tower and SkyCity having office space which could be available there is zero chance the Bell takeover of MTS sees any new office construction. There is just too much available office space already and too low of a need from Bell.

[Tacheguy]

it would be helpful to get the perspective of someone who knows this industry well. All I know is that the telco sector is not growing much, so future profitability will be driven mostly by cost cutting. Bell paid a lot for this business.

anyways hopefully the western hq will gain traction in the industry and spin off local benefits.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't necessarily think this takeover will result in a bloodbath for Winnipeg and I believe Bell when they say they will maintain a strong presence here, but I sure am not expecting any construction or development to flow from it.

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I guess if they truely want Winnipeg to be their western HQ, Bell would need to add some type of staff to account for all the business west of Manitoba. Right now all the MTS staff are dealing with MTS business in Manitoba. I don't think anyone would expect them now take on X amount of work from Bell in SK, AB and BC. There would need to be some increase in staff to deal with the Bell business. Not sure to what level, but seems there would need to be something.

It really depends. For example, to have a unified brand you normally has a single marketing department that works on your ads, billboards, campaigns, etc. That would seem to suggest people in that department at MTS are in "at risk" jobs. The flip side in Manitoba is relatively affordable place to run a call centre from and being in central time makes it easier to cover core hours for both eastern and western regions. Billing is another tricky one. In the not too distant past MTS had actually contracted out the printing of the bills to Bell. I am not sure if they still do that.

End of the day it is likely there will be some notable job losses from MTS. It is unavoidable as a cost savings will be removing areas of service duplication. That said Winnipeg could gain some of the lower level jobs from other regions that do not have a direct face to face element. Assuming the Bell deal goes through I would expect in say three years time the head count at MTS/Bell in Manitoba is pretty similar but that the average salary has dropped significantly has the higher paying jobs left and the jobs coming in were lower paying.

[bomberjet]

Again if Bell is truely serious, which seems they are by spending $4B dollars, they could be heading into an expansion of their own facilities. As in building a tower network across the west to become the leader. Instead of leasing from other service providers. I would assume down east Bell is running the show on the wireless infrastructure side.

[bomberjet]

Makes sense Cory. I've been through two quite large mergers now and there is always redundant staff, especially at the upper management levels. Two CEO's for example. Two of this manager, two of that manager. They then cherry pick who they want. Some of the managers are then either let go, or reassigned elsewhere. New positions may also rise from the ashes.

I guess we'll see where this all goes. Maybe the CRTC rejects it.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Tacheguy

it would be helpful to get the perspective of someone who knows this industry well. All I know is that the telco sector is not growing much, so future profitability will be driven mostly by cost cutting. Bell paid a lot for this business.

anyways hopefully the western hq will gain traction in the industry and spin off local benefits.

There are two sides to the telco industry -- you have boots on the ground and in the trenches people and the backend office worker group. From the Bell announcement they plan to have Winnipeg fully migrated to fiber within 12 months. That is a lot of cable to run in a very quick time. That seems to suggest at least a temporary increase of the boots on the ground positions. While the announcement only talks about the first 12 months rural areas of the province have been begging for a fiber network upgrade. It is very possible that once Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach, Selkirk, etc those teams will start moving into smaller rural areas to do similar upgrades.

As I mentioned above, the back office type jobs are were you can leverage a lot of consolidation. When you reach out to customer service it doesn't matter if the person is in the same city, province or even country. The people generating the bills, doing the marketing, etc have a similar level of flexibility in where they are located. This is where I would expect Winnipeg to both gain and lose employees.

[cheswick]

They're paying a premium over the market price cause of perceived synergies after the merger. That for sure means there will be cuts somewhere.

[jmt18325]

According to Global and The Sun, the move will have 2700 MTS employees join Bell to create a 6900 person Western Canada HQ in Winnipeg. That doesn't sound like bad news.

On the other hand, despite better service coming, I'm sure prices will go up.