WINNIPEG – Manitoba Telecom Services reported huge (160.8%) growth in its television customers with the release of its second quarter financial report today.
While the still-small MTS TV group is still classified as “Other Revenue” by the company, lumped in with the company’s directory business and other items, that unit earned $22.6 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2005, a 40% jump over Q1 2004.
Offered to customers in Winnipeg, MTS TV counted 37,219 customers at March 31, 2004, placing it in the top 12 of television signal distributors in Canada. Today, the company reported it had 39,000 customers as of April 30th.
Up next for MTS TV is video on demand, said MTS Manitoba division president Cheryl Barker.
She said the company is trialing VOD with employees over the next couple of weeks and “expect to go live following that technical trial.”
When asked if anything that Shaw was doing in the marketplace was affecting the level of growth of new customers, Barker added, “really nothing that Shaw has done in the marketplace has impacted the customer additions.”
"We had a solid first quarter, very much in line with our expectations for the year," said Bill Fraser, CEO. "We have now had three consecutive quarters of consistent revenue performance from our National division (MTS acquired Allstream last year and it’s become the company’s national division), as business customers increasingly embrace the benefits our solutions can bring to their operations.
“In the Manitoba division, we had an excellent quarter with solid revenue growth through the continued execution of our strategies in support of our leadership position in the province,” added Fraser.
In the first quarter, revenues increased by 134.5% to $495.1 million, EBITDA grew by 39.4% to $159.1 million. Net income for the quarter was $42.5 million compared with $218.5 million in 2004. In 2004, first quarter results reflected the gain that was realized on the disposition of MTS’s investment in Bell West, as well as the equity losses from the investment in the quarter. Excluding the impact of Bell West, net income in the first quarter of 2005 increased by 34.1% from the prior year.
These increases were mainly driven by the consolidation of Allstream results effective June 4, 2004, as well as year-over-year growth from the Manitoba division.
Revenues from the National division were $280.5 million in the quarter, which is comparable performance to the results achieved in the fourth and third quarters of 2004. "We are looking to deliver overall growth in consolidated revenues in 2005, and one of our top priorities is executing on our National division business plan in support of first stabilizing revenues and then achieving growth from our National division," added Wayne Demkey, executive vice-president finance and CFO. "We are very encouraged by the results that have been achieved in the last three quarters."
The Manitoba division posted strong first quarter results with revenues increasing by 5.3% to $216.2 million, excluding a $1.6 million retroactive charge to revenues arising from a regulatory decision. Excellent growth in the division’s wireless, Internet and MTS TV services, together with stable revenue performance from the traditional local, long distance and directory services combined to deliver the revenue improvement, said the company’s release.
“Taken together, we’re pleased with the first quarter results, and with the progress we are achieving in integrating our operations and moving forward as a unified, strong competitor in the telecommunications marketplace," added Fraser.
For the full release, go to www.mts.ca.
