Bell has announced their Q3 earnings for 2017, which resulted in strong wireless segment performance, and operating revenues increasing 5% year-on-year to $5.67 billion, while net earnings were at $817 million, growth of 2.1% compared to the year ago quarter.
The company says 117,182 wireless postpaid subscribers were added in the quarter (highest volume in five years YoY), growth of 9.2%, while service revenue surged 11.2% in the quarter to $1.9 billion.
Wireless service revenue was led by ongoing postpaid subscriber growth, higher blended average revenue per user (ARPU) due to customers moving to more expensive rate plans “with accelerating data usage”, and also a financial contribution from Bell MTS.
Blended ARPU increased 3% to $69.78, while Bell says LTE customers “consumed 26% more data per month in Q3” compared to the year ago quarter.
Postpaid churn—the percentage of customers cancelling or not renewing plans—saw an improved 0.10 percentage points to 1.16%, which Bell attributes to their “investments in network speed, customer retention, and service quality.”
Total postpaid (8,243,446) and prepaid wireless customers now total 9,008,273, as of September 30, 2017.
“We performed well across the business in Q3, posting a very solid quarter of service revenue, adjusted EBITDA and margin growth, driven by continued excellent wireless postpaid subscriber and financial metrics, stronger residential Internet and IPTV net customer additions, another quarter of stable media financial performance, and the favourable impact of Bell MTS,” said Glen LeBlanc, Chief Financial Officer for BCE and Bell, in a press release.
Bell says it is now the “only carrier in Canada to offer the complete line-up of the latest generation of Apple products,” referring to iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, Apple TV 4K and Apple Watch Series 3 cellular models.
