Rogers revenues rise on wireless; loses thousands more TV subs

Rogers Communications Inc. reported rising revenues driven by its wireless division as the company continued to bleed thousands of cable TV subscribers. For the third-quarter of 2012 ending Sept. 30, the company said net postpaid wireless subscriber additions were 76,000 during the quarter, 2,000 more than the 74,000 reported in the same period a year earlier. Rogers said new subscribers were driven by smartphone sales and customers signing up for subsidized device contracts, particularly iPhones, Android-powered phones, and BlackBerrys. “Wireless activated and upgraded approximately 707,000 smartphones, compared to approximately 609,000 in the third quarter of 2011. This is the second highest number of smartphone activations in any quarter in Rogers' history,” the company said in a release Wednesday. Wireless data revenues during the third quarter rose about 18 per cent from the same period a year earlier, Rogers said, reaching $719 million. The company's average revenue per user for postpaid mobile services was $71.50, down from $72.08 in the same period of 2011. Rogers said total prepaid wireless subscribers were 7.78 million at the end of the quarter, and prepaid subscribers totalled 1.64 million. Rogers' television division is under pressure from fibre-based Internet protocol TV providers like BCE Inc., with the company on track to lose a rising number of television subscribers this year. Rogers reported a net loss of 16,000 cable TV subscribers during the third quarter, tumbling from net cable additions of 9,000 in the same quarter a year earlier. The company reported a total net loss of 58,000 cable TV customers for the first nine months of the 2012 fiscal year, 50,000 more than the company's total annual net loss of 8,000 subscribers in 2011. Rogers said it had 2.24 million TV subscribers at the end of the third quarter, and that it lost a net 64,000 subscribers since the same time a year earlier, when it had 2.3 million. The company reported cable television revenues of $470 million during the quarter, $5 million less than $475 million a year earlier. The Wire Report reported this year that, in 2011, IPTV provider Telus Corp. added 194,802 TV subscribers, the most of all the major Canadian TV distributors. BCE's Bell Canada and Bell Aliant added 68,000 and 27,764 subscribers, respectively, in 2011; Quebecor Media Inc. cable subsidiary Videotron Ltd. added 49,900 subscribers and Cogeco Cable Inc. added 3,480. Facing competition from Telus, cableco Shaw Communications Inc. lost 50,988 subscribers in fiscal 2011, The Wire Report reported. Consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services forecasted in a report in April that IPTV providers' share of the digital TV market will nearly double to about 17 per cent by the end of 2014 at the expense of satellite and cable TV subscriptions. For Internet services, Rogers reported 1.84 million high-speed subscribers at the end of the quarter, during which it added a net 29,000 Internet customers. Overall, Rogers reported third-quarter profits of $495 million, up one per cent from $489 million in the same period a year earlier. Total company operating revenues were $3.17 billion, a one per cent rise from $3.13 billion in the same quarter of 2011. Rogers said its expanded Citytv network registered double-digit audience growth in key demographics during this fall's premiere television week. The company said that, with Citytv's expanded footprint, the network is now available in about 80 per cent of Canadian homes. Rogers' adjusted operating profit for its media division fell to $50 million during the third quarter from $55 million a year earlier due to a slower advertising market. news@thewirereport.ca --- CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Rogers lost 8,000 TV subscribers in the first nine months of fiscal 2011. The company lost that many throughout the 2011 fiscal year.

Rogers revenues rise on wireless; loses thousands more TV subs

News | 10/24/2012 4:33 pm EDT

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