Rogers 1st-Quarter Revenues Up but Profits Down

Canada's Rogers Wireless has reported a rise of 5% in first-quarter revenues to CA$2.75 billion (US$2.25 billion), but a slight dip of 2% in net profits to CA$256 million (US$210 million). Wireless network revenue grew by 8% year-over-year driven by postpaid net subscriber additions of 104,000, data revenue growth accelerating by 43% to 20% of network revenue, and a further reduction of postpaid churn to 1.09%.

Wireless activated more than 360,000 smartphone devices during the quarter, including iPhone 3G and BlackBerry devices. Approximately 40% of these activations were to subscribers new to Wireless with the other 60% being to existing Wireless subscribers who upgraded devices.

"The strength of our franchises is reflected in our first quarter results," said Nadir Mohamed, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We delivered positive subscriber trends, expanded margins, and accelerated data revenue growth at Wireless, while Cable further expanded margins and meaningfully grew its cash flow, and Media continued to adjust its cost structure and position itself to emerge from the economic downturn with greater share and stronger ratings."

"While Rogers is operating from a position of business and financial strength, we are clearly negotiating through challenging times and have much hard work in front of us to drive the performance of the business forward," continued Mohamed. "We will build upon our solid foundation by driving continuous enhancements to our customer experience, by improving our operating and capital efficiency and by continuing to deliver innovative services and leading edge technologies that our customers have come to expect."

Posted to the site on 29th April 2009