Natale to take Rogers’ top job in July: interim CEO

Rogers Communications Inc. incoming president and CEO Joe Natale will take the helm in July, the company announced as it reported fourth-quarter numbers that showed continuing growth in data usage among its wireless customers. The announcement was made by interim CEO Alan Horn on the company’s fourth quarter conference call with analysts Thursday morning. Rogers didn’t previously specify when Natale would start or whether he was being held up by a non-compete restriction from Telus Corp. However, following the surprise departure of CEO Guy Laurence ahead of its third-quarter earnings report in October, analysts speculated that the former Telus CEO would take the top job by mid-2017, though they wondered whether the leadership change would slow momentum at Rogers. “We’re looking forward to welcoming Joe in July,” Horn said on the call Thursday. “In the interim, we’re confident in our ability to build on the momentum we see reflected in our fourth quarter results.” That momentum included continuing the trend of strong wireless earnings over the past two quarters. For the three months ended Dec. 31, Rogers added 93,000 new post-paid subscribers — the highest of any fourth quarter since 2009, it said — up 62,000 compared to the equivalent quarter the previous year. Monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by $1.56 to $60.71 compared to the fourth quarter of 2015. “Data usage has been a significant driver of that,” Tony Staffieri, Rogers’ chief financial officer, said on the call. “Our overall data usage increases — if you look at it each month — in the 40 to 50 per cent range, and when you look at it on a per-user basis, it’s consistently in the 30 to 40 per cent range.” Additional drivers include more customers taking up premium value Share Everything plans that give them larger data buckets, which he said “makes them more comfortable to use data in a number of different ways.” The certainty and control over data charges introduced with Rogers’ new data management app also contributed to the overall picture, Staffieri said. Total wireless revenues were up four per cent to $2.05 billion, while profit was up five per cent to $792 million compared to the same quarter last year. Total postpaid and pre-paid wireless subscribers by the end of 2016 stood respectively at 8,557,000 and 1,717,000, up 286,000 and 111,000 compared to equivalent quarter in 2015. Total revenue for the quarter was $3.5 billion, an increase of two per cent compared to the same quarter last year. However, Rogers suffered a net loss of $9 million compared to a profit of $299 million in the same quarter last year, due largely to the discontinuation of its IPTV platform. The company officially reported a $484-million write-down on the product, which is within the range that was expected. The company announced in December that it will use Comcast Corp.’s X1 IPTV platform instead. Rogers also said that nearly half of residential customers are now on download speeds of 100 Mbps or higher, and Staffieri added the “vast majority” of new customers are adopting those speeds. Those speeds are now available for its entire footprint of four million homes. Staffieri said factors that will drive Internet usage include the increasing number of connected devices per household, which he said is about 11 today, and growing usage of online video. Revenues for the Internet segment were up nine per cent to $378 million compared to the equivalent quarter in 2015. The company added 30,000 new subscribers in the quarter, compared to 14,000 in the previous fourth quarter, for a total customer base of 2,145,000. However, it also said that the CRTC’s decision to lower interim wholesale access rates offset some of those revenue gains. Cable TV revenues declined about four per cent this quarter to $386 million. The total number of TV subscribers was down by 76,000 to 1,820,000 compared to the same quarter in 2015. However, the losses in the quarter were lower (13,000) compared to the same quarter in 2015 (24,000). Total cable revenues were $858 million for the quarter, compared to $855 million in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, that segment’s operating profit for the quarter sat at $435 million, up two per cent from the same period in 2015. Media revenues dipped slightly in the quarter, by two per cent, to $550 million due to fewer playoff Toronto Blue Jays games compared to the year prior, Rogers said. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Natale to take Rogers’ top job in July: interim CEO

Broadcast | January 26, 2017

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Natale to take Rogers’ top job in July: interim CEO

Broadcast | January 26, 2017

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Bibic says Canada has “unsophisticated” discourse on pricing, gov. reached wireless goals

Site-blocking can be used for online harms legislation: Rogers

ShavaTV piracy pair found in contempt of Ontario court

Bell’s Q2 profit plunges by 64 per cent

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us