Rogers Communications reported that revenues increased by 28.4% in Q1 over last year, with growth coming from all three of its operating units, including 20.1% growth at Rogers Wireless, 53.2% growth at Rogers Cable and Telecom and 9.5% growth at Rogers Media.
Highlights of the first quarter of 2006 include the following:
- Postpaid voice and data subscriber growth continued to be strong at Wireless, where quarterly net additions of 89,600 subscribers reflected a modest increase from the strong postpaid subscriber growth reported in the first quarter of 2005. Postpaid subscriber levels are up 14.8% year-over-year while total postpaid and prepaid subscribers are up 11.4%.
- Wireless postpaid subscriber monthly churn continued to decrease, down 43 basis points to 1.47% versus 1.90% in the first quarter of 2005, while postpaid monthly ARPU increased 5.1% in the quarter to $62.20. This increase reflects a 72.0% lift in data revenues, which represented 10.3% of total network revenue in the quarter as well as continued growth in roaming and optional services.
- Wireless announced that it has begun deploying UMTS/HSDPA equipment.
- Cable and Telecom ended the quarter with nearly one-half million Home Phone subscriber lines, with net additions of 48,700 cable telephony subscriber lines and 11,400 circuit-switched telephony subscriber lines since December 31, 2005. Cable and Telecom continued to expand the availability of its Home Phone voice-over-cable telephony service through the first quarter of 2006, with service now available to approximately 85% of the homes in its cable service areas.
- Cable and Telecom added 50,000 net digital cable subscribers (households) representing a 35.9% increase over the growth experienced during the first quarter of 2005 of 36,800, while residential high-speed Internet subscribers grew by 40,300 in this quarter to a total of 1,176,500.
- At the end of the quarter, Rogers launched a broadband fixed wireless service in 20 cities across Canada as the first offering enabled by its Inukshuk joint venture. This service gives customers wireless portable access to Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet services at speeds up to 1.5 Mbps.
