Bell 2013 Q3: Wireless Subscribers Up 3%, Now Close to 8 Million

bell_logoLg

Bell’s operating revenue has grown 3% to $4.524 billion, up from $4.393 billion reported a year prior, the company has announced today in a press release.

The company’s net earnings attributable to common shareholders were $343 million in the third quarter of 2013, down compared to a year ago $527 million, but this is due to the CRTC’s tangible benefits obligation of $230 million the company was forced to pay as part of the acquisition of Astral Media.

The number of wireless subscribers has grown 3% compared to a year ago; and the carrier now has a total of 7,805,100 wireless subscribers, adding 102,714 wireless postpaid activations during the past quarter, down 10.6% due to fewer promotional offers and reduced handset discounts.

As the press release points out, the strong adoption of smartphones is driving up the postpaid user base, with smartphone users accounting 73% of the postpaid base.

Bell Wireless operating revenues are up 4.1% to $1.493 billion in the past quarter – a year ago the company reported $1.434 billion in operating revenue – wireless data revenue increased 18.4% due to the rapid adoption of smartphones and use of wireless data services.

Blended ARPU is up 1.7% reaching 58.30% in the third quarter of 2013, representing the fifteenth quarter of continuous year-over-year improvement.

P.S. - Like our news? Support the site with a coffee/beer. Or shop with our Amazon link. We use affiliate links when possible--thank you for supporting independent media.