Bell Q1 2010 Results: Net activations increase 83.6% from last year, subscriber base now at 6,888,927

It looks from reading over Bell’s Q1 2010 results that being a major sponsor of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics paid off. They are reporting, along with their new distribution outlet of The Source and taking over complete control of Virgin Mobile (no mention of Solo Mobile at all) that they had another record quarter with total net activations of 55,625 – a massive 83.6% higher when compared to last year (Postpaid net activations were 81,212 and Prepaid was 25,587). These numbers now bring their subscriber base to 6,888,927 (increase of 5.5% from last year).

Bell states in their report that “By leveraging its new wireless network and distribution capabilities, Bell Wireless captured a significantly higher market share of the postpaid net activations reported by the three major wireless carriers in Canada in Q1 2010, which is estimated to have increased to 42% from 19% in Q1 2009.”

Here are other stats from the quarter:
– Total Bell Wireless operating revenues increased by 7.0% to $1,153 million this quarter.

– Blended ARPU increased by $0.23 to $50.07. Postpaid ARPU decreased by $0.52 to $61.72 due to customer migration to lower rate plans and lower usage, while prepaid ARPU increased by $0.82 to $16.87 due to the growth of Virgin’s higher ARPU subscriber base.

– Postpaid churn improved to 1.2% from 1.3% last year while prepaid churn increased to 3.4% from 3.0%. Blended churn increased to 1.8% from 1.7% last year.

– Cost of acquisition decreased to $362 per gross activation this quarter, or 3.2% lower than last year.

More here at Bell