Rogers CEO Nazir Mohamed, speaking to investors at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York last Tuesday, told the crowd the company is seeing a turnaround in growth as users consume more data thanks to smartphone adoption and a lessening impact from smaller wireless entrants.
Mohamed noted “clearly, the business has had an inflection, if you want to frame it that way, or stabilized.” Rogers had previously seen a consistent decline in voice revenue and customers to newer wireless entrants such as WIND Mobile. Voice revenues have now eased off below 10% and are steadying, compared to consistent double digit losses before.
Data revenue growth has been led by smartphone adoption, cited as having “lots of room to grow.” Rogers added 707,000 smartphone activations in its 2012 fiscal third quarter. Mohamed highlighted 65% of the Rogers subscriber base is linked to multiyear contracts to devices such as the iPhone, which produces twice the revenue of regular ‘feature’ phones. The changes have been reflected in the company’s stock price rising almost 25% since June.
“The consumer is what we need to be focused on,” Mr. Mohamed said. “And if we get that right, the regulation will work for us.”
The Rogers CEO also noted the important holiday period so far has been “very competitive” amongst incumbents and newer carriers.
Have you or anyone else signed onto a three year contract for a smartphone recently?
[via Financial Post]
