Rogers Q4: Highest Number of Smartphone Activations Ever

Rogers released its fourth-quarter earnings report today. The telecommunications giant says that profit is up 3% and earnings per share are up 17%.

Rogers also says that wireless revenue is up 2%, thanks to a 42,000 new postpaid subscribers. And the company experienced the most smartphone activations ever in one quarter.

Nearly 800,000 smartphones were activated, with about one-third of those being upgrades from regular cellphones. As a result, smartphones now represent 56% of postpaid subscriptions for Rogers.

"During the fourth quarter we sold a record number of new wireless smartphones and increased the number of total cable service unit net additions by 59% versus last year in the face of intense competition, while at the same time we held our expenditures in solid check enabling us to continue to deliver healthy margins," said Nadir Mohamed, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. "We not only continued our growth during 2011, but we also met our adjusted operating profit and free cash flow targets which enabled the returning of more than $1.9 billion cash to shareholders through a combination of increased dividends and continued share buybacks, while at the same time further strengthening our already healthy balance sheet."

The company has also raised its dividend by 11% and is planning to buy back up to $1 billion worth of common stock.

Photo: Financial Post