Persona reaches 15,070 digital subscribers at May 2002
Persona Inc., formerly known as Regional Cablesystems, says its digital subscriber base almost doubled to 15,070 at May 31 from a year earlier, according to financials released July 11. Another 3,300 digital set-top boxes were deployed for use on other television sets in those households. Persona says it had 7,715 digital subscribers at May 31, 2001. "The company has produced its strongest quarterly subscriber results in nearly three years. Subscriber churn was reduced to its lowest level since the company began experiencing erosion in its cable subscribers and Internet subscribers was the highest since Persona began launching these services midway through fiscal 2000," stated Jamie Roberts, the company’s VP of finance and administration, in a media release. The company noted that telecom operations and Internet services continue to be the growth engines for revenue. During the quarter, Persona launched digital cable service in 55 systems serving about 41,700 cable subscribers. Digital cable service is now available to about 60 per cent of its subscriber base. The company also notes that its digital subscribers purchased 23,160 pay-per-view events in the three months ended May 31, up 44.4 per cent from the 16,040 pay-per-view events in the corresponding period last year. Persona has acquired many new systems in the last few years, including the recent acquisition of 24 cable systems compromising 20,000 subscribers between Quebec City and Montreal (CCR, June 21/02).

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