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Gold/Mining/Energy : BCE Emergis - global e-commerce -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rocki who wrote (791)	6/1/1999 11:44:00 PM
From: rocki	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

Telcos need bigger Internet push --More reason for BCE to take quick action to keep its #1 position. Below taken from the Globe &Mail 31may99. >>Qwest Communications International Inc. of Denver and level 3 Communications Inc. of Omaha, Neb., will be offering high-speed data services in major Canadian cities by 2000 --I thought at one time BCE(IFM) had an alliance with these two, and was 1 corridor to the US >>Jean Monty said the money would go toward the company's high-growth businesses - namely E-commerce provider BCE Emergis Inc.,... --sure sounds good to me! Telcos need bigger Internet push: study Domestic firms urged to move aggressively into on-line business to fend off a U.S. invasion TYLER HAMILTON Technology Reporter The Americans are coming - and Canadian telephone companies will have to move more aggressively into the Internet content and services business if they are to fend off an invasion, according to an industry study released this month. The study, prepared by Convergence Consulting Group Ltd. in Toronto, says huge and hungry U.S. telecommunications firms such as Qwest Communications International Inc. of Denver and level 3 Communications Inc. of Omaha, Neb., will be offering high-speed data services in major Canadian cities by 2000, forcing prices to drop and margins to fall. While the outlook is good for large Canadian businesses, which will get cheaper data and voice services, companies such as BCE Inc., parent of Bell Canada, and BCT.Telus Communications Inc. will have to embrace new areas of growth - such as E-commerce, systems integration and providing content over the Internet - if they are to survive. "Toronto is the sixth-largest telecom market in North America," said Brahm Elley, president of Convergence Consulting. "Why wouldn't [the big U.S. telecom firms] come here?" Mr. Eiley said Canadian and U.S. telephone companies are aggres-sively building high-capacity networks based on Internet protocol that can handle corporate North America's growing demand for data services. The market for data services will be lucrative and strong for the next three to five years, he said, but intense competition will eventually turn data into a commodity - just as long-distance price wars have done to voice service. At that point, "content becomes king," said Mr. Eiley, adding that Canadian telephone companies will have to become more than simply carriers of voice and data. "You're going to see them selling cars and books.. . . The telcos are going to be competing with every-body." The trend is already evident. Montreal-based BCE, Canada's largest telecommunications con-glomerate, has made no secret about its plans to get into the In-ternet portal business, and to inject more money into emerging areas such as E-commerce and new media. When the company sold 20 per cent of Bell Canada to regional U.S. phone giant Ameritech Corp. for $5.1-billion, BCE chief executive of-ficer Jean Monty said the money would go toward the company's high-growth businesses - namely E-commerce provider BCE Emergis Inc., satellite and programming content unit BCE Media Inc., and systems integrator CGI Group Inc. Mr. Monty has expressed intentions to either buy into or form a partnership with a large portal player, such as America Online Inc. or Lycos Inc. Sources say BCE also wants to merge the Sympatico.ca service - run by its MediaLinx Interactive LP unit - with Canoe, an information Web site 40 per cent owned by BCE and 60 per cent owned by Quebecor Inc. BCT.Telus of Burnaby, B.C., meanwhile, has announced its in-tentions to roll out several regional Web sites that will support its own national portal strategy, one that could be linked with its AltaVista.ca Canadian search engine. Mr. Eiley said BCE appears to have all the right pieces in place, putting it ahead of its Canadian rivals. "Bell's been smart. They've cov-ered every area they're supposed to," he said, adding that Halifax-based AT&T Canada Corp. -which recenfly merged with Calgary based MetroNet Communica-tions Corp. - is another company to watch. "In a way, AT&T Canada can be a real dark horse . . . we haven't heard yet what AT&T's real strategy is."