Shaw reports 31 percent increase in postpaid net additions in Q1 2021

Shaw Communications has reported a 31 percent year-over-year increase in postpaid net additions for Q1 2021.

The carrier “achieved record wireless subscriber growth in the first quarter with approximately 101,000 new wireless customers, including 87,300 postpaid net additions and 13,700 prepaid net additions,” according to its earnings report released on January 13th.

The report notes that the success of Shaw Mobile led to record wireless net additions and also continued wireless service revenue growth of approximately 10 percent.

Further, the carrier says that the 31 percent year-over-year increase in postpaid subscriber additions reflects strong demand for Shaw Mobile from existing Shaw internet customers.

It’s worth noting this is the second earnings report from Shaw since the company launched its Shaw Mobile wireless service in western Canada on July 30th.

“Throughout this period, we have made significant investments that have enabled us to be innovative and disruptive, while providing tremendous value for Canadians, particularly as we continue to face uncertainties from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Brad Shaw, the CEO of Shaw Communications, in the report.

Shaw’s ARPU (average revenue per unit) decreased by around 1.3 percent to $38.25 in the quarter compared to the $38.76 reported in the same period a year ago. The report says that this reflects the successful onboarding of bundled Shaw Mobile customers.

The carrier’s ABPU (average billing per unit) for Q1 2021 was $42.66, compared to the $43.60 reported in Q1 2020. Shaw says this 2.2 percent decrease reflects the execution of its bundled growth strategy.

“Continued aggressive price competition, primarily impacting the Freedom Mobile brand, caused postpaid churn to increase in the first quarter to 1.81 percent compared to 1.50 percent a year ago,” the report states.

For context, the churn rate is the percentage of subscribers who discontinue their subscriptions in a month. Shaw notes that its increase in postpaid churn for the quarter was due to continued aggressive price competition, primarily impacting its Freedom Mobile brand.

Shaw notes that wireless service revenue for the quarter increased by 9.7 percent to $215 million due to an increased subscriber base, including significant Shaw Mobile additions.