By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco executives said Thursday that the company will soon launch an Oxio-style brand in the United States, owing to the wholesale internet service’s success in Canada and the need to gain American market share it believes is right there for the taking.
CEO Frederic Perron said on a first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call that its U.S. brand Breezeline will launch an “Oxio-like” fully digital brand in its operating territory next month. Cogeco purchased Montreal-based Oxio’s internet business in 2023 as a digital-only second brand leveraging the wholesale internet access regime.
“We are … super excited about the launch of an Oxio-like brand in the U.S.,” Perron said. “Oxio in territory is already doing so well for us in Canada. We’ve reported our best subscriber performance in Canada in the past 13 years. Last quarter and this quarter was solid as well, and Oxio is a big part of that.”
The move is part of an all-out effort to capture more share in Breezeline’s footprint that has gone underpenetrated relative to Cogeco’s experience in Canada.
“In half of our U.S. footprint, our penetration is still below 20 per cent, which gives us ample room to keep growing our customer base in those areas and offset any losses in other regions,” Perron said Thursday, noting that Cogeco’s penetration in Canada is in the low 40 per cent.
The lower penetration is attributed to a mix of newly built footprints over the past few years and an “under index” on sales, which Perron said is currently being rectified with the deployment of more sales forces in states including Ohio and Florida.
“So you just start thinking about the possible upside from such a second brand, and it gets pretty exciting,” Perron said of the Oxio strategy.
Otherwise, he said Breezeline is “making great progress at selectively upgrading our network in a capital-efficient manner, including the launch of 2.5 gigabit speeds during the quarter, which is helping us protect and grow our business in key areas.
“We’re still in the process of ramping up new sales channels and beefing up important marketing capabilities … We’re confident about materially improving financial trends for our U.S. business starting in the second half of this year.”
Last summer, Cogeco launched its mobile wireless service in Canada using the CRTC’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime. Since then, it has expanded the product to subscribers of its internet services.
Still, Perron said Thursday that the company is not at a place to disclose the number of customers it has on the new service.
“It will take a couple of years before our wireless customer base to be material and really benefit our bottom line,” he said Thursday. “But when you when you look at what some of the U.S. cables are doing, after a few years of being into wireless, it’s really a needle-mover to their [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] positively, but I would not expect much of an impact in the short term.”
Executives said last quarter that the mobile wireless business is a “small base,” considering it started from nothing, but they are otherwise “very happy” with the adoption numbers.
For the three months that ended on November 30, Cogeco reported revenue of $707.2 million, down 4.9 per cent on a constant currency basis compared to the same period last year. That was attributed to a lower subscriber base in the American telecom space, especially in the entry-level services; a higher proportion of customers subscribing to internet-only services; and competition on pricing.
American revenue was $330.3 million, down 9.9 per cent in constant currency.
Breezeline lost 1,146 internet subscribers, lower than the 5,726 it lost in the equivalent period last year, for a total base of 614,924. It lost 6,978 video subscribers, compared to the 8,527 it lost last year, for a total base of 227,189. And it lost 1,970 landline customers, less than the 3,252 it lost last year, for a total base of 109,976.
Across the segments, the company had a total of 952,089 American subscribers at quarter-end.
Canadian revenue was $377 million, which was flat compared to the same period last year. That was attributed to a decline in wireline and video customers, an increasing number going internet-only, and the competitive pricing environment, offset by a higher number of internet adds.
Cogeco added 8,913 new internet subscribers in the quarter, lower than the 10,691 it added in the same period last year, for a total subscriber base of 947,079 by quarter-end. The company lost 10,820 video subscribers, more than the 7,983 compared to the equivalent period, for a total of 567,941. It also lost more landline customers – 6,165 – compared to a loss of 4,035 last year, for a total base of 350,979.
Across the segments, the company had a total of 1.87 million Canadian subscribers at quarter-end.
Overall profit was down 13.1 per cent to $93.1 million over that same period.
Cogeco CEO Frederic Perron
