MONTREAL – Second quarter revenues for Quebecor came in at $1.06 billion, up 1.8% for the same quarter of 2018 after the company added 38,300 new wireless subscribers.
Adjusted EBITDA for the period ended June 30th was $455 million, up 6.8% and net income attributable to shareholders was $140.2 million in the quarter, well ahead of last year’s $42 million.
Cable and wireless division Vidéotron significantly increased its revenues from mobile telephony by 11.9% and Internet access by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2019. Vidéotron's total average billing per unit ("ABPU") was $50.20 in the second quarter of 2019, compared with $49.68 in the same period of 2018. Mobile ABPU was $52.56 in the second quarter of 2019 compared with $53.70 in the same period of 2018, a 2.1% decrease “due in part to the popularity of bring your own device plans,” reads the press release.
Subscriber connections to the mobile telephony service increased by 38,300 in the second quarter of 2019 compared with an increase of 31,900 in the same period of 2018.
The company’s broadcasting and publishing division reported its results last week.
"Videotron maintained its excellent performance, particularly in mobile telephony, where subscriber connections increased by 152,700 or 14.1% during the 12 month period ended June 30, 2019," said Jean François Pruneau, Vidéotron president and CEO, in the press release.
“I am very satisfied with Quebecor's performance in the second quarter of 2019," said Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO, in the release.
However, Péladeau noted the recent staff cuts made at TVA, adding they were done “in response to economic and competitive environments that have been destabilizing the television industry for years, combined with a regulatory framework that places Québec and Canadian companies at a competitive disadvantage. For years, the television industry has been contending with numerous inequities, which have been exacerbated by the lack of decisive action by regulatory authorities to modernize the Canadian system,” he said.
Péladeau also complained about the proposed Bell Media purchase of V network and said it would be taking action to try and stop that – and again referenced the unfair value he says Bell applies to TVA Group’s channels.
“The business practices of Bell Canada, which is both broadcaster and distributor, do not recognize the fair market value of TVA Group's specialty channels, including TVA Sports, and have forced us to sound the alarm to alert regulatory authorities to the need to correct these major flaws in the Canadian broadcasting system,” he added, in the release.
"In view of the CRTC's refusal to act and inability to modernize, we intend to vigorously defend our rights in court, as we have done successfully against Bell Canada on several occasions.”
