@G_Pomzz wrote:
Based on all the negative comments regarding the rewards/points debacle. Is it possible that there could be several thousand or more defections to other providers. But if they move to Telus or Koodo, it's not really a loss.
But say 3,000 leave outright then 3,000 x $30/mth avg = $90,000/mth or $1,080,000 year loss. Is that really going to hurt the bottom line of a company with $14 billion in revenue?
I don't know the numbers, either.
But I do know that there's two important measures for Canadian telcoms.
The first is total number of subscribers.
This is perhaps the most important to them because it's what determines how much voting/purchasing power they get in the spectrum licensing auctions. They've formed an oligarchy - they've tacitly agreed to "protect" the market (ban or destroy competitors), they've essentially all formed an uneasy alliance where everybody gets a big slice of the pie instead instead of a free market where everyone constantly competes for a bigger slice of the pie (which would cost them a lot of money on aggressive marketing, research, innovation, expansion, etc). But I'm willing to bet that if one of the Big Three suddenly gains or loses a large number of subscribers then the balance will shift and a lot of money streams will flow to other destinations. The Big Three have settled into certain areas of dominance but I think a big number of customers moving from one to another will mean a change in spectrum allocations (because they don't put them where there's no subscribers, ie: not profitable) and subsequently a bunch of expensive network deployment which "permanently" installs the new owner in place.
Subscribers are a fixed resource in Canada. There's basically a fixed number of Canadians and basically every Canadian who could, should, or would have a phone already does have a phone. So there aren't many "new" subscribers entering the market and the providers are basically forced to steal subscribers from each other. If one loses while the other gains then it will fall two steps behind in the race. It loses subscribers, it loses spectrum licenses, it loses government subsidies, it loses money all across the board.
The second is average revenue per customer.
Higher numbers means more revenue, more profits. That's why they're constantly trying to migrate and upsell people towards higher-cost plans, that's why they're constantly trying to put limits on costly provisions and features (and Rewards) which raise their operational expenses.
Maybe a few dozen or a few hundred or even a few thousand angry subscribers leaving won't be a serious dent. Some might come back, some might passionately stay away "forever". Some will migrate to Telus or to Koodo, some will consciously avoid ever giving Telus/etc another dime. Some won't ever think about it again, some will explain their awful experiences with greedy Telus betrayals to anyone who will listen in an effort to keep all their loves ones away from a company they hate. I think that in the end, Public Mobile's behaviour on this issue will directly and indirectly cost Telus a lot more money over time than they expect.
