A View on View :: Shaw's Telephony Progress

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Shaw's Telephony Progress

by Mark Evans on Thu 27 Oct 2005 07:34 AM EDT | Permanent Link

Shaw Communications added 34K cable telephony subscribers in its fiscal fourth-quarter - numbers that impressed analysts even though it doesn't seem like a big number in the scheme of things. The 34K new customers came despite difficulty in porting lines from Telus, which was going through a strike. As well, Shaw only moved into Winnipeg in July. Analysts described the performance "strong" and a sign that price ($55 a month) will not be a growth hindrance. From a financially-disciplined perspective, Shaw may doing well but it only has attracted 54K customers in eight months, barely a dent in Telus' residential market share. If Shaw's prices aren't high, they're high enough that most local phone customers have not rushed to switch. The bigger question is how many customers can Shaw be reasonably expected to get. Perhaps 250,000 (at current prices) is a reasonable cap. If that's the case, should Telus really be worried? If Telus rolls out IP-TV and attracts 250K customers, is the battle betwen Telus and Shaw a wash?

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