This might surprise you, but as it turns out—according to a study from RCB Capital Markets—most Canadians are satisfied with their mobile provider of choice. That news gave Rogers Communications ($TSE:RCI.B) a fractional boost in the last day of trading before Christmas.
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While most people think of mobile provides as, basically, a necessary if overpriced evil, in Canada, they are actually reasonably happy with their providers. In fact, the average score for customer satisfaction on that study was a seven out of 10, which is actually quite a bit better than average. Further, Canadians give about the same level of satisfaction with their mobile providers’ pricing plans, which is also a surprise.
Canadians also found comfort in providers’ self-service platforms, growing numbers of unlimited plans, and “…notably bigger wireless data buckets that have emerged over the last 12-18 months….” But, just to throw a bit of cold water on that surprise, Canadians are not so happy about their provider that they are not looking to change. In fact, 30% of respondents noted that the odds of switching wireless providers in the next 12 months was either “likely” or “very likely.”
Not Proof Against Lawsuits, Though
And in a move that will probably surprise no one, the impressive degree of customer satisfaction seen at Canadian mobile phone providers is not proof against the Canadian government taking aim at them with lawsuits. In fact, Rogers Communications is currently in the sights of Canadian antitrust regulators about the issue of “unlimited data,” noted an NDTV report.
The Competition Bureau in Ottawa is taking issue with some Rogers advertising, which it says creates a “…false or misleading impression…” about wireless data access. While the plans are technically unlimited, the Bureau points out what many of us have known for some time: the speeds have a tendency to drop off once a data cap has been reached. However, since Rogers’ plans apparently throttle speeds down by over 99%, which sounds like “to the point of uselessness” from here, the Competition Bureau may have a reason to complain.
Is Rogers Communications a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on TSE:RCI.B stock based on eight Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 26.89% loss in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:RCI.B price target of C$65.58 per share implies 49.04% upside potential.
