Content area
Full text
Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE) reported that in Q1 it added 47,463 new Fibe TV IPTV customers in Q1 2013, up 41.9 percent from the same period a year ago, a factor that helped it stem traditional wireline voice revenue losses.
BCE reported operating revenues of CAD 4.9 billion (USD 4.83 billion), a scant 0.2 percent rise over Q1 2012. However, net earnings attributed to common shareholders rose 6.6 percent to CAD 566 million (USD 558.8 million), resulting in an adjusted EPS of 77 cents, up 11.6 percent.
As of the end of the quarter, the telco had 295,761 Bell Fibe TV subscribers, up 147 percent over last year. However, overall Bell Satellite TV and Fibe TV net additions declined to 13,971 in the quarter due to lower year-over-year satellite TV net activations attributable to aggressive offers from cable and other TV competitors. Overall, Bell TV's subscriber base totaled 2,169,954 at the end of Q1 2013, up 2.8 percent year-over-year.
Interestingly, the ongoing adoption of Fibe TV helped drive 13,000 new broadband Internet additions in the quarter. Still, the telco only added...