BCE reports first-quarter results, Thursday.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
BCE Inc. smashed expectations on Thursday and delivered profit growth of more than 60 per cent, as huge investments in its wireless network and its high profile Vancouver Winter Olympics sponsorship began to pay off.
The company reported its first quarter financial results on Thursday, delivering net earnings of $608-million, compared to $377-million in the same quarter last year, and earnings per share of 79 cents, compared with 48 cents last year.
At BCE's wireless division, Bell Mobility, subscriber growth surged to a record quarter on the backs of heavy Olympics-related advertising. Rogers Communications Inc. , which reported its earnings and subscriber results on April 28, saw weaker wireless growth and pulled back advertising dollars as it ducked the barrage from Bell.
With its smart phones appearing in commercials after many Olympic events, Bell added 55,625 wireless subscribers in the quarter, 83.6 per cent higher than the amount of subscribers it added in the same quarter last year. The amount of "post-paid" subscribers -- who pay a bill at the end of the month, as opposed to "pre-paid" customers -- more than doubled to 81,212, as more customers came onto the new network Bell launched with Telus Corp. in late 2009.
Like other telecommunications providers in North America, BCE continued to lose customers in it traditional landline phone business, likely due to increased competition from cable companies, though it grew its Internet customers base slightly.