|
|
MTS Canada Q4 2006 Results
Published on:
In the final quarter of 2006 Manitoba's regional telecom operator Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) posted almost exactly the same number of net additions as it did in the equivalent quarter of 2005, at 12,001 to the previous year's 12,078. As in 2005 (and indeed every year this century) the Christmas quarter performance was the strongest of the year. The fourth quarter result took MTS' total base to 0.355m and annual net additions for the year 2006 to 37,706 - a new high, beating the previous record set in 2001 by just 399 customers. To add to this is the fact that these customers also spent more on average in Q4 2006 than ever before - Can$56.65 each per month, up more than 50c on the same quarter in 2005.
MTS' churn figures explain much of the company's record breaking performance in 2006. The company managed to keep the disconnection rate in its contract customer base down below 1% per month for the third quarter in a row, and the Q4 2006 performance represents a 0.2pp improvement on Q4 2005. The year on year improvement was not quite so pronounced for the customer base as a whole, but nevertheless there was one - from 1.50% to 1.34%. Not only is this last figure for Q4 2006 low, it is also remarkably consistent with those for the two quarters before it (1.35% and 1.33% respectively), implying that churn is well and truly under control.
As the net additions figures above imply, proportionate customer growth fell in Q4 2006 relative to Q4 2005, from 4.0% to 3.5%. However, at 11.9% proportionate customer growth for the year was the best since 2002, climbing from 11.1% in 2005, 11.8% in 2004 and 9.2% in 2003. Putting this into context, the only other Canadian company to have reported results so far is market leader Rogers Wireless which managed a 10.4% increase in customer numbers in 2006. The comparison will no doubt please MTS management, although it should be noted that Rogers' own proportionate increase in 2006 was down 1.5pp on that recorded the previous year. If Rogers' largest competitors have picked up some of this slack, then we would expect MTS' 11.9% to be on or just below the par for the Canadian market as a whole.
This article was extracted from The Mobile World Briefing, the weekly newsletter from The Mobile World. To download a sample issue of the Briefing in PDF format, please click here. For more information including full subscription pricing, please visit The Mobile World"
Tags: [rogers wireless] [mts] [rogers] [churn] [manitoba]
| Previous Story | Next Story |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |