“This was another quarter of real progress capping off a productive year,” said Michael Sabia, Chief Executive Officer of Bell Canada.
BCE has reported its Q4 2007 revenue was $4.55 billion, operating income slipped to $727 million from $752 million. little changed from a year earlier. Boosted by the Telesat sale, BCE’s net earnings per share amounted to $2.93 in the fourth quarter, up from 84 cents a year ago.
“In the quarter, we were pleased with customer response to our wireless offers and our hand-set line up. This enabled us to build on our progress in Q3 and to gain further market traction,” said George Cope, President and Chief Operating Officer of Bell Canada. “We were
particularly encouraged by the high take rate of data capable handsets this quarter, recognizing that the high level of these activations and upgrades had an impact on our EBITDA growth.”
The Bell Wireless segment had 510,000 gross activations this quarter, a 16.7% increase compared to the same period last year and its best ever result. Net activations for the quarter were 195,000, or 8.0% lower than last year due mainly to higher prepaid churn. Wireless network revenues increased by 6.6% and blended ARPU increased by $2 to $55. Wireless EBITDA increased by 5.4%.
Highlights of the Q4 Results:
• Solid Bell EBITDA growth; best performance in operating profitability since 2004
• Record gross activations for Wireless and higher ARPU
• Strong Free Cash Flow of $891 million, up 30%, and Cash from Operations of $5,704 million, up 6% in 2007
• Gain on Telesat sale contributes to EPS of $2.93 in Q4; $0.72 before special item
Read the PDF of the official results here.
