TORONTO - The future of Rogers Communications has been thrust into the spotlight once again as president, CEO and founder Ted Rogers celebrates his 75th birthday on Tuesday, bringing into question the company's direction in the coming years.
The next five years should bring on a whole new set of challenges for the media empire, including holding onto its wireless customers in what's expected to be an increasingly competitive market.
"Generally speaking we're just out to build the brand and expand operations in the communications space as we possibly can do," Rogers vice-chairman Philip Lind says.
But for many observers, it's hard to imagine a Rogers empire without Ted Rogers at the helm. He has been an outspoken, sometimes unpredictable leader for the corporation, known for going against the grain and taking risks that pay off in the end.
But eventually he'll either volunteer or be forced to retire, and answer the relentless question: who will succeed Ted Rogers?
So far, the longtime leader has been elusive in providing a solid answer.
The most likely contenders include Nadir Mohamed, who has risen from head of the company's wireless business to chief operating officer, president and CEO of the broader Rogers communications group, which includes wireless, cable and telecom.
Mohamed is credited by many investors for building the Rogers cellular business into the Canadian market leader.
Ted's son Edward Rogers is another possibility. The 38-year-old is currently the head of Rogers Cable, but working against him is a reputation for being quite the opposite of his father.
"Young Edward is incredibly shy and normally that shouldn't matter, but at the helm of a large publicly traded company you could argue that some degree of extroversion is a good thing," said Lawrence Surtees, vice-president of communications research at IDC Canada Ltd.
"If (he) is the heir apparent, it's not enough to just grow into the job. He's going to have to confront his personal foibles."
A change at the top could be healthy for the company, suggested Mark Tauschek, senior research analyst with InfoTech Research Group.
"I don't know if they need a gregarious, outspoken leader at the helm a la Ted Rogers. It may be good to have someone that's a little more reticent," he said.
Ultimately it'll be the company's board that decides the successor whenever Ted Rogers decides to vacate his position.
In 2006, Ted agreed to give the board six months notice of when he decides to vacate, ending the three-year renewable contract agreement that existed before.
The new leader's approach could determine the company's future direction.
Rogers has built itself almost as much on image as its services, placing its name on what was once known as the SkyDome, buying the Toronto Blue Jays and investing in cutting-edge services for its customers.
"The reason why Rogers has fared so well ... is because they got into the right technologies at the right time," said Tauschek.
Tauschek pointed to Rogers' investment in high-speed Internet around the turn of the millennium as one of the pivotal decisions that solidified the company's presence on the market.
"Ted had a vision there," Tauschek said.
Rogers believed that while only a limited number of people would subscribe to high-speed services initially but the investment would pay off in the long term, he said.
About 15 years earlier, Rogers was also the driver behind a decision to invest in wireless technologies, which only in its infancy at the time.
While the board of Rogers Cablesystems quashed his idea of investing in cellular technology, saying it was unprofitable at the time, Rogers gathered a group of investors to form a private company to be a pioneer in Canada's mobile phone industry.
Despite early setbacks of what was originally Rogers Cantel in the mid-1980s, when the Canadian telecom world was dominated by Bell Canada and the other regional phone monopolies, it formed the nucleus of what has become the biggest revenue source for the overall Rogers group.
Over the past five years, stock in the company has shot up as much as 410 per cent. While it has lost some of its momentum in the past year, and tumbled from its high of $52.20 last July, Rogers stock is still ahead more than 340 per cent.
On Monday, shares closed down 19 cents to $44.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Lind said the company has plenty of area to grow because the number of subscribers using multiple services "aren't anywhere near where I think they ought to be."
The company is also working on boosting its customer satisfaction rates, which have been a key complaint from many outside observers.
The "satisfaction numbers are one of the most important variables in terms of assessing whether the manager is doing a good job or not," Lind said.
"Those metrics are not as good as they ought to be -- for everybody, not just Rogers."
On Tuesday, in what could only be explained as a scheduling fluke that lands squarely on Ted Rogers birthday, the company will start the bidding process on wireless spectrum in Ottawa, a move that could give the company more bandwidth.
Aside from building Rogers' network the event could also introduce one, or several, new competitors to the wireless market as they vie for a piece of the lucrative mobile phone market.
A spokeswoman for Rogers wouldn't disclose whether Ted Rogers plans to travel to Ottawa for any part of the bidding process.
The company plans to hold a birthday celebration -- complete with a cake and well wishes -- at the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.
