TORONTO – Increased competition in the wireless industry helped to weigh down second quarter profits at Rogers Communications.
Rogers said Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended June 30th was $410 million, down 9% from $452 million in the same period last year. Revenue increased by 3% to $3.12 billion.
"Rogers delivered a solid performance in the second quarter both for financial and subscriber results, delivering solid growth in a highly competitive environment," said president and CEO Nadir Mohamed, in a statement. "The strength of our asset mix combined with successful execution on our priorities – wireless data growth, customer retention and managing our cost structure – enabled Rogers to generate continued strong margins and substantial free cash flow."
Rogers now has more than 9.1 million wireless customers after adding 135,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, compared to 119,000 in the same quarter in 2010. Approximately 591,000 of its postpaid customers either activated or upgraded their iPhone, BlackBerry or Android smart phones in the quarter, versus 385,000 last year.
In its cable division, Rogers ended the quarter with 2.3 million total television subscribers, down slightly from the same period last year. Its digital cable subscriber base grew 3% to 1.7 million, while its high-speed Internet base was mostly flat at 1.7 million subscribers.
Revenues at Rogers Media grew 13% to $437 million which the company said were mainly the result of increased advertising sales and new subscriber fees generated from Sportsnet One.
