SAINT JOHN – Eastern telco Aliant Inc., a branch of Bell Canada Enterprises, said Wednesday that consolidated revenues were up 1.8% year over year to $517.3 million while net income shot up 24.4% to $49.8 million in the second quarter of 2005, ended June 30th.
"The second quarter saw Aliant recommit its energies to providing its customers with the reliable, innovative information and communication technology solutions they have come to expect from us,” said Jay Forbes, president and CEO, in a release. “We invested in our wireless and broadband infrastructure to provide more of our customers with better mobility and faster Internet speeds. We introduced digital television at an extremely competitive price with rich features and content."
The company didn’t release how many TV customers it has, since the service was only officially launched on June 21st.
Overall the telecommunications segment generated 2.2% revenue growth compared to the second quarter last year. Revenues from wireless grew 13.8% as a result of a 9.7% increase in the number of customers and a 4.8% increase in the average revenue per customer. The Internet business also performed well, with more than 5,200 net new customers contributing to a 6.4% increase in Internet revenue during the quarter
compared to the same period last year. “These revenue gains, combined with those generated from our telephone directories business and Innovatia, more than offset the 4% decline in local and long-distance revenues.”
Solid revenue growth combined with a $9.5 million decline in operating expenses led to a 23.4% increase in the quarter’s operating income. The second quarter of 2004 included $16 million in non-recurring expenses related to last year’s labour disruption, while pension and other post employment benefit costs were higher by $5.7 million in the second quarter of 2005 compared to the same period last year. Apart from these two factors, underlying operating expenses stayed virtually flat, with an increase of 0.3% to $244.6 million compared to $243.8 million in the second quarter of 2004.
