BCE Inc., owner of the country’s largest phone company, says its acquisition of The Source electronics stores and the remaining half of Virgin Mobile Canada helped increase its fourth-quarter revenues by 3.9%.
BCE’s overall revenue rose to $4.65 billion for the final three months of last year while its net earnings in the fourth quarter were $350 million, or 46 cents per common share. A year earlier, BCE lost $48 million or six cent per share.
As usual, telephone division Bell Canada provided the biggest share of the Montreal company’s overall revenue. Bell’s sales rose by nearly $200 million to $3.98 billion.
"We met or exceeded all of the increased financial guidance targets that we set [in August] for the company… and we balanced that financial performance with good subscriber growth from strong holiday sales,” chief financial officer Siim Vanaselja said on a conference call.
"All of this gives us excellent momentum as we begin the new year and lets us set higher expectations for our performance in 2010.”
BCE is a Montreal-based conglomerate that also owns a controlling stake in Bell Aliant, Atlantic Canada’s largest phone company, and a minority stake in CTVglobemedia.
Through Bell, BCE owns one of Canada’s largest wireless communications networks as well as one of the country’s two direct-to-home satellite TV services, formerly called ExpressVu and rebranded Bell TV.
The wireless division will face growing competition this year as new wireless players enter the market.
BCE president and CEO George Cope said that Bell has bulked up its competitive stance by setting up a faster wireless network, stronger product distribution, and reworking its branding in anticipation of the new entrants.
"It’s going to be straight-on competition and we’re ready to compete at every level,” Cope told analysts. "We’re just going to have to monitor it. At this point it’s literally having no impact at all.”
Bell Wireless operating revenue increased by 5.7% in the quarter to $1.198 billion, including about $1 billion from services, in part because of the purchase of the remaining 50% of Virgin Mobile Canada.
However, BCE’s average revenue per wireless user fell by $1.48 to $51.08 due to more postpaid customers moving to lower rate plans, lower usage and lower roaming revenue from calls made outside customers’ home territory.
Cope said Bell is quickly installing its wireless devices at The Source, adding the products in about 20 to 30 stores each night, with a total of about 400 stores with full installations of Bell and Virgin phones.
