Dateline: Toronto

The day before our Anywhere Tour reached Toronto to talk about the impact of convergence and competition on connectivity in Canada (lots of Cs there), the local news was all about Bell Canada (BCE) being on the block and the pursuit to acquire it being joined by yet another private equity firm, Onex. On a cable TV financial show, I talked a bit about the implications. In the global connectivity revolution, traditional regional incumbent network operators face declining fixed line revenues and the emerging appetites of a new kind of consumer, emboldened by new connectivity freedom but just as reluctant to spend for media as always. What BCE really needs is more scale which could come from a merger with another Canadian operator, such as Telus and relentlessly creative consumer marketing to pick up their mobile revenue.

The same day, I met with Virgin Mobile Canada CEO Andrew Black and his leadership team, who are building a Canadian Virgin brand on top of a white-label mobile network. They bring deep experience from the brand world and an intense focus on making their retail strategy work for the Canadian consumer.

Revolutions change the power structure. Will the Anywhere Network be led by firms that understand the consumer better than the network itself?