Rogers postpaid subscribers paid an average of 5.6 percent more on their monthly bills in 2016.
The average bill for a postpaid Rogers subscriber at the end of 2015 was $110.74 CAD, which had increased to $117.37 by the end of the following year. In addition, Rogers’ average postpaid subscriber bill in the final quarter of 2016 is $119.90, versus an average rate of $112.07 in the final quarter of 2015, which represents a quarterly increase of 6.5 percent.
Customers paying more for wireless bills
This coincides with a six percent increase in revenue for Rogers’ wireless segment, which reached $7.9 billion out of a total company revenue of $13.7 billion.
The company’s total quarterly revenue was up two percent to $3.5 billion and adjusted quarterly earnings reached $1.2 billion. Adjusted operating profit increased just one percent to $5.1 billion.
Also notable in this report is the $9 million loss incurred by the company this quarter. Rogers attributes the loss to a $484 million charge taken on on for discontinuing their investment in its internet protocol television (IPTV) product.
As a result, the company also recorded an annual net income of $835 million, which represents a loss of 38 percent. The company also lost $0.02 per share this quarter as opposed to earning $0.58 per share as they did in the quarter prior.
Wireless soars as other segments see little change
On the wireless side, things are looking steady. Rogers Wireless also experienced an incremental increase of three percent in overall revenue, taking the total from $7.6 billion at the end of 2015 to $7.9 billion at the end of 2016. The company’s revenue increased by four percent to $2.1 billion.
Service revenue increased substantially by six percent compared to the same quarter last year and five percent year over year, which likely contributed to the bill increases experienced by Rogers wireless customers last year.
Despite this, however, the company’s equipment sales decreased by 15 percent sequentially and 12 percent year over year. Rogers credits this decrease to an 11 percent decrease upgrades, larger average subsidies given to consumers who purchased devices and higher postpaid gross additions.
This coincides with a six percent increase in revenue for Rogers’ wireless segment
Rogers added 436,000 postpaid subscribers during the final quarter of 2016 as opposed to 356,000 in the same quarter last year. Net increase amounts to 93,000 additions as opposed to 31,000 at this time last year.
Annually, Rogers added 1.4 million new post-paid subscribers to its wireless service in comparison to 1.3 million year by the end of 2015. Again, net additions wound up amounting to 286,000 new additions over 2016 as opposed to 106,000 over 2015.
Its prepaid subscriber rate experienced a less significant bump as the company added 38,000 subscribers to its roster last quarter, as opposed to 27,000 during the 2015 fourth quarter. In addition, Rogers’ cable segment experienced an increase of 30,000 subscribers to its internet products, contributing to over 2.1 million internet products subscribers.
Total Rogers’ wireless subscribers, including Fido and the now-shuttered Mobilicity, is 10,274,000.
The telecom giant forecasts an increase in revenue during 2017 of between three and five percent.
[source]Rogers[/source]
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