Rogers reported a sharp rise in profit for the first quarter of 2026, while announcing it would significantly scale back planned capital spending for the year.
The Toronto-based telecom reported net income of $482 million, up 72% from $280 million during the same period last year. Total revenue climbed 10% to $5.48 billion.
The company’s media division was the highlight, with revenue jumping 82% to $988 million, largely due to the full integration of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment following its July 2025 closing.
Wireless results were more modest. Service revenue was essentially flat, edging up just 1% to roughly $2.59 billion. Rogers added 33,000 mobile phone subscribers in the quarter, but monthly average revenue per (ARPU) user slipped to $55.60 from $56.94 a year ago. The company pointed to aggressive promotional pricing from competitors (hint: Freedom Mobile) as the reason for the pressure on per-customer revenue. Postpaid churn, which is the rate at which customers cancel, came in at 1.22%, up from 1.01% in Q1 2025, a sign that more customers are switching carriers.
Rogers pointed out its network highlights for the quarter included upgrading Fido customers to 5G from LTE “at no extra cost”, plus the expansion of its Starlink services powering Rogers Satellite.
There are now 11 million postpaid subscribers and 1.2 million prepaid wireless customers, for a total of 12.2 million mobile phone subscibers.
Cable also saw only marginal growth, with service revenue ticking up about 1% to $1.95 billion.
The bigger news was on spending. Rogers cut its planned capital expenditures for 2026 by roughly 30%, lowering its forecast from a range of $3.3 to $3.5 billion down to $2.5 to $2.7 billion.
Rogers said “the decrease in capital expenditures in wireless this quarter was due to reprioritization of investments and the recognition of capital efficiencies.” In a nutshell, the company is spending less on its wireless network by being more selective about where it builds and finding ways to upgrade equipment for a lower price.
CEO Tony Staffieri pointed to both the competitive environment and recent regulatory decisions as reasons for the pullback, framing the move as financial discipline aimed at accelerating debt repayment.
Next up from the Big 3, Telus reports its Q1 earnings on May 1 and Bell (BCE) follows on May 7.
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