Canadian largest cellphone player felt the impact of new competition in the sector. They registered that the rate of new wireless customers slows. In the latest quarter, Rogers added 119,000 new accounts. What sounds like a huge number, in reality, is a drop of 23,000 from a year earlier. The company sees this as a result of a fact that other two big companies (Bell and Telus) are now sharing an advance network and they are offering phones that used to be available only through Rogers. However, this Toronto-based wireless, cable and media company is still earning money. Its net income was up 21% from a year earlier, rising to $451 million US or 78 cents per share. They "posted second quarter growth and profit that was either in line with or ahead of analyst expectations," The Globe and Mail wrote.

Wireless data services were the main driver of the division's revenue growth, while profit margins also improved at all three segments - wireless, cable and Internet services - which the company said was a result of continued subscriber growth and "efficiency gains."

What some analysts see as a largely positive sign that larger incumbent providers remain well positioned means for customers, that more competition is needed in some areas. The communications and media giant still dominates Smartphone (activating 385,000 devices in the quarter), with which the company sells also data. The increase in new competition was a great step forward. Anyway, the most competitive season (beginning of the school year and Christmas) is just coming. Let's see how interesting it will be for customers.

Miroslava Hospodarova

Photo: ISIFA