HALIFAX – Bell Aliant says 2011 will be all about the continued rollout of its fibre-to-the-home network.
In a press release detailing its fourth quarter financial results and outlook for the year, the telco said that it plans to spend millions to push its FibreOp service even deeper into its territory. At the end of December 2010, the network passed 138,000 homes and businesses in Atlantic Canada, up from 33,000 at the end of 2009, and plans to pass over 430,000 by the end of this year.
“Our investment in fibre-to-the-home is the key to changing our revenue trajectory going forward and our fourth quarter results give us confidence that our strategy is the right one,” said president and CEO, Karen Sheriff, in a statement. “Our customers are migrating to our higher value Internet services, our TV subscribers are growing, and net NAS declines were lower than the same period a year earlier for the third consecutive quarter.”
Operating revenues of $709 million in the quarter were down 1.4% ($10 million) compared to the same quarter a year earlier, driven by declines in local, long distance and data revenues as a result of lower network access services (NAS) and migration to alternative technologies. EBITDA dropped 1.7% ($6 million) year-over-year, largely driven by the declines in revenues.
Looking ahead, Sheriff predicted that 2011 “will be a year of significant investment” for the company.
“Our planned fibre-to-the-home expansion is the cornerstone of our strategy and supports all of our strategic initiatives: improving the customer experience, retaining customers, growing broadband, resetting our cost structure and engaging employees”, she continued. “Accelerating this investment will give scale to this area of revenue growth allowing us to improve our profitability going forward.”
Operating revenues for 2011 are expected to be between $2,650 million and $2,750 million, down from IFRS re-stated 2010 revenues of $2,807 million. Bell Aliant’s 2011 guidance also includes a planned $200 million voluntary contribution to its pension plans which the company said “will address a meaningful portion of our solvency deficit”.
Click here for more on the company’s results and projections.
