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BCE Unit Reforms Honda Canada Vehicles With In-Car Wi-Fi Facility

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Bell, which is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (BCE - Free Report) , recently entered into an innovative connected car alliance with the Canadian division of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC - Free Report) . The partnership will leverage Bell’s best-in-class built-in Wi-Fi hotspots that will enable passengers to have an uninterrupted access of online content supported by a reliable mobile broadband framework.

With Bell’s commitment to support majority of the Canadians, with avant-garde 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network in their vehicles, seamless connected car experience seems to be the call of the hour. Interestingly, both Bell and Honda Canada have been sharing a long-standing connected car relationship with telco giant — AT&T Inc. (T - Free Report) .

It is worth mentioning that Bell is considered as Canada’s foremost communications company that provides broadband wireless, Internet and business communications services. Apart from delivering an advanced mobile infrastructure, Bell’s mobility services are well known for its Connected Car infrastructure. Bell Connected Car enables passengers to stay associated with infotainment services with hands free connectivity while driving. The company also provides the country’s leading assets in television, radio, digital and out-of-home media.

As part of the collaboration, Honda and Acura customers will benefit from Bell’s reliable in-car Wi-Fi Hotspot. The in-built Wi-Fi allows commuters and mobile workers to enjoy steady streaming and browsing services on up to seven compatible devices.

Markedly, Acura is the luxury vehicle division of Honda and specializes in the marketing of high-performance vehicles. Apart from sharing services, the hotspot supports on-the-go gaming with text and email access on a real-time basis.

Impressively, Bell will also provide a free of charge wireless data trial to the customers for three months, which makes it all the more enticing, especially among the smart vehicle enthusiasts. Known as the only Canadian telco to offer a built-in LTE solution, it has also collaborated with other leading automobile companies like Lincoln and Ford Motor Company (F - Free Report) .

Bell has deployed Canada’s largest 5G wireless network, offering unprecedented mobile data speeds in Montreal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, among others. It is well positioned to benefit from a robust postpaid business with subscriber additions and higher revenue contribution from prepaid services.

The company continues to focus on six strategic areas — investment in broadband network and services, accelerating wireless services, leveraging wireline momentum, expanding media coverage, improving customer service and achieving a competitive cost structure. These initiatives are expected to generate higher revenue per user and attract new customers in the coming days.

Markedly, BCE’s underlying business fundamentals are strong. Its robust liquidity position, underpinned by a healthy balance sheet, substantial free cash flow generation and access to the debt and bank capital markets, is expected to provide financial flexibility to execute on its planned capital expenditures. Although it continues to invest substantially in LTE, broadband and fiber, it is believed that the company may not be able to recover massive outlays from customers due to competitors’ short-term pricing of comparable services.

BCE currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 5.1%. The stock has returned 25.4% compared with industry’s growth of 23.8% in the past year.



You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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