VIDEO SATURDAY - A Bell, A Bike Helmet and A Business Model

InfoStream Video Saturday is pleased to bring you three short films to watch (10m):

GE 2017 (3M) - Unimpossible Missions: 'You Can't Unring a Bell'

IBM 2015 (2M) - Shanker Ramamurthy on Business Model Innovation: The Why, When and How of Incubation 

GE 2013 (4M) - The invisible bike helmet:

ACQUIRE - Bell buys Alarm Force for C$166M Cash

Two weeks ago, BCE Inc. offered C$16.00 per share to acquire AlarmForce Industries Inc., a leading home security and automation firm in Canada. 

Alarm Force is said to have 102,000 subscribers paying an average monthly fee of C$35.00. The transaction is expected to close in January 2018. 

Bell's offer represented a 71% premium to AlarmForce's closing share price of $9.34 on November 6, 2017 and a 70% premium to the 20‐day volume weighted average price for the period ending November 6, 2017.

George Cope, President and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada said the acquisition would "Leverage Bell's network and service leadership and our place in millions of Canadian homes. We look forward to growing our nascent position in security and automation services to ensure Bell residential customers are at the leading edge of connected home innovation."

While most analysts believe the transaction isn’t material to Bell’s bottom line we see the transaction as part of a strategic move.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds advised clients, that “Strategically, we believe the acquisition highlights the growing battle among telecom operators to own the home as well as the desire to tactically and actively participate in over-the-top services (such as home security and home automation),” 

Barclays analyst Phillip Huang was quoted as saying the deal, (less than 0.2 per cent of BCE’s market cap) is “a small acquisition that serves big purposes." In his message to clients Huang noted that AlarmForce is another product that can be bundled with internet, TV and telephone. Bundled customers are less likely to change providers due to the hassle. For network providers, a reduction in customer churn is desirable.

More details are available from the press release.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Network providers, online retailers and equipment manufacturers are all chasing the 'connected home'. Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot as well as the Google Home devices are prime examples of the race to 'own the home'. Adding innovative applications that allow these devices and the network connections owned by large players like Bell, Rogers, Telus and Shaw to be more effective and productive is the next battlefield. So who will win? Those who currently own the cable, wired and wireless connections to the home or those with the largest pool of content, the most available products and services or the most applications that consumers use. Stay tuned.

INNOVATE - An IoT Solution Improves Wine Making for Henry of Pelham

Last week Bell announced it has partnered with BeWhere Technologies and Huawei to implement an automated Internet of Things (IoT) solution for the Henry of Pelham vineyard to help improve planning and sustainability programs.

By using wireless environmental sensors connected to Bell's LTE-M wireless network, the winery will be able to remotely monitor temperature and water levels, prevent vine disease, and ultimately improve the health of its plants, lowering operating costs and providing for years of maintenance-free data gathering.

"Unexpected adverse weather conditions can impact quality, yield and mortality of our crops," said Matthew Speck, Owner/Viticulturist of Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery. "Bell's solution will increase the density of our environmental monitoring. We'll be able to automatically act on temperature inversions by turning on fans when temperatures change, ensuring the health of our grapes and an optimal product for our customers. The solution is not only economical and scalable, it gives growers a good view of the vines' temperature needs to improve quality and drive sustainability."

In June, Bell announced it will launch an LTE-M (Long Term Evolution, category M1) wireless network in 2018 to support the rapidly increasing use of IoT devices on low-power, wide-area networks (LPWANs) in Canada.

LTE-M improves the operating efficiency of IoT devices by enabling very low power consumption and better coverage in underground and other hard-to-reach locations. In partnership with Huawei, Bell has successfully demonstrated these benefits in its Mississauga wireless innovation lab and in network field trials.

"Bell's LTE-M network combined with BeWhere's environmental sensors and cloud-based applications will provide Henry of Pelham with a perfect solution to help them do what they do best – produce fine wines," said Owen Moore, CEO of BeWhere. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Bell, Huawei and Henry of Pelham on this project."

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:  LTE-M is intended to support a broad range of large-scale IoT solutions, including smart city services, smart metering, home automation, weather and environmental monitoring, asset tracking, supply chain management, security monitoring, transportation and logistics, as well as personal wearables for healthcare and accessibility applications.

Q9 Networks Acquired for $1.1 Billion

An investor group, comprising of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, and BCE Inc.(Bell) have announced an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Canadian data centre operator, Q9 Networks Inc., for $1.1 billion. 

Under the agreement, Teachers, Providence and Madison Dearborn will contribute 70 percent, or $420 million, of the equity funding and Bell will provide the remaining 30 percent equaling to $180 million. 

The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2012, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Read the News Release

Bell and Telus Announce Q3 Subscriber Numbers

In the third quarter of 2011, Bell and Telus added 198,749 voice and data subscribers to bring the combined voice and data subscribers of these two Canadian carriers to 14,580,596.


Bell added a total of 84,749 net new retail wireless voice and data subscribers. Bell’s total retail subscriber base is now 7,369,596, an increase of 3.4% for the last 12 months. The company’s subscriber base is now 79% postpaid and 21% prepaid.

TELUS added a total of 114,000 net new retail wireless voice and data subscribers in the third quarter, bringing its total retail subscriber base to 7,211,000, an increase of 5.2% for the last 12 months. The company’s subscriber base is now 83% postpaid and 17% prepaid.

Q2 Report shows Telus ahead of Bell at adding Subscribers

Q2 Bell:

• added 37,507 new net wireless subscribers
• total wireless subscriber base is now 7,283,847, an increase of 4.2% over the past 12 months
• total subscriber base was 78.5% postpaid and 21.5% prepaid
• smartphones represented 56% of postpaid gross activations in the quarter

Q2 TELUS:

• reported 94,000 new net wireless subscribers
• total wireless subscriber base is now 7,097,000, representing growth of 5.9% over the same time last year
• total subscriber base is was 82.4% postpaid and 17.6% prepaid
• smartphones represented 61% of postpaid gross additions in the quarter
• total postpaid smartphone subscribers are now 2,456,580.