Bell Reports Increased Profits in Q2, After Wave of Job Cuts

Montreal based BCE Inc., the parent company of Bell, announced its financial results for its fiscal Q2 of 2024 on Thursday, seeing growth in several areas.

“Bell’s Q2 results reflect the Bell team’s disciplined execution and continued ability to navigate an evolving marketplace,” said Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in a statement.

Bell saw net profit increase to $604 million, up 52.1% compared to the year ago quarter. Back in February, Bell slashed thousands of jobs across the company, cutting back nearly 9% of its staff, with most cuts affecting its media business.

Net earnings attributable to shareholders were $537 million, an increase of 63.2%, or $0.59 per share compared to the same period last year.

Total mobile phone net activations were 131,043, up 4.4%. Bell says this includes the highest quarterly prepaid net activations in nearly two years, totaling 52,543, a 269% increase.

But a key metric, mobile phone blended average revenue per user (ARPU), was down 1.9% to $58.04 from $59.16 in the quarter, “reflecting sustained competitive pressures on base rate plan pricing, which have intensified over the past year, and lower overage revenue from customers subscribing to unlimited and larger capacity data plans.”

Bell also deployed 3800 MHz spectrum in select areas of Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo, bringing speeds up to 4 Gbps for its 5G+ wireless network. The company noted for the second year in a row, Ookla recently named Bell as the fastest internet provider in its Q1-Q2 2024 Speedtest Awards report.

The company saw total retail Internet net subscriber activations at 23,841, the second-best Q2 result since 2007.

As for Bell Media’s digital revenue, it increased by 23%, driven by growth in digital platforms and advertising technology.