BCE reports Q2 2021 earnings with 44,433 postpaid mobile phone net additions

BCE released its Q2 2021 results on August 5th, noting 44,433 postpaid mobile phone net additions.

The company’s total operating revenue was up 6.4 percent over Q2 2020 to almost $5.7 billion, thanks to five percent higher service revenue and an 18.8 percent increase in product revenue. For Bell Wireless specifically, total operating revenue was up 10.7 percent to roughly $2.13 billion.

Bell added 46,247 total net new postpaid and prepaid mobile phone customers, up from 12,110 in Q2 2020. As mentioned up top, 44,433 of those were postpaid, up from a net loss of 960 in Q2 2020. Prepaid net additions, however, were down from 13,070 in Q2 2020 to 1,814 in 2021. Bell notes this is due to a slowdown in immigration and international travel due to the pandemic.

Postpaid mobile churn was slightly higher at 0.83 percent compared to 0.76 percent last year.

Bell reported its mobile phone customer base totalled 9,212,995 customers at the end of the quarter, up 2.6 percent over the same time last year. 8,405,697 of those customers were postpaid subscribers, up 2.8 percent, while the 807,298 prepaid customers remains “essentially unchanged” from last year.

Bell reported its blended average billing per user (ABPU) increased by an “industry-leading” 3.3 percent to $72.21. Bell says that reflects its “focus on higher-value activations,” which includes a growing number of customers on equipment instalment plans and improved roaming and data overage revenue.

Additionally, Bell reported a 47,449 (22.2 percent) increase in mobile connected device net activations. Total mobile connected device subscribers were 2,177,761, up 13.7 percent from last year.

Those interested can find the Q1 2021 results here, the Q2 2020 results here, and the full BCE earnings report here.