New BCE CEO quietly touts 'game-changing' plan

BCE's new CEO George Cope is a believer in the adage that you have to spend money to make money and he says he thinks billions are in order for the Canadian telecom.

But first, he says, his initial goal in his 100-day plan will be for the telecom giant to sharpen its customer-service focus.

"We have a very decisive and definitive direction, a complete focus at the customer level," Cope told The Canadian Press.

Cope is being coy about the details of his plans, but you can be sure he'll be looking for ways to energize the company's broadband services and-hopefully-for ways to salvage the wireline business.

"Some announcements we will make in the area of the customer - some of which I think will be game-changing for us and some of them for the industry - it's going to start to move the company forward and rapidly over time see improvements in those areas."

Look for Bell to hold on to its satellite unit ExpressVu, to the dismay of many pundits who thought it would hit the auction block immediately, and for the company instead to cut costs by cutting employees. How exactly does that help make customer service better? Stay tuned.

For more:
- See the Canadian Press story [1] in the Chronicle Herald

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BCE deal to close in December BCE report [3]
BCE's buyers recently saw a major legal hurdle lifted by the Canadian Supreme Court BCE legal report [4]
BCE president Cope was named late last year to succeed Sabia BCE CEO report [5]