HALIFAX – Continued growth in its fibre-to-the-home product FibreOp helped to power 2013 revenues at Bell Aliant, as the Maritimes-focused telecom company posted its best year-over-year revenue performance since 2008.
Operating revenue for 2013 was $2.76 billion, down 0.1% from 2012, while adjusted EBITDA dropped 1.7% from $1.31 billion to $1.28 billion.
Net earnings of $69 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 were up $3 million from the same quarter in 2012, driven by improved earnings in Bell Aliant GP, with adjusted EBITDA declines offset by lower depreciation and income tax expense.
Operating revenues for the quarter ended December 30, 2013 were $689 million, down 0.9% year-over-year as growth in Internet and TV revenues was offset by declines in local, long distance, wireless and other revenues. Operating expenses were up $4 million from the same quarter in 2012, mainly driven by growth in promotional and TV content costs from a growing FibreOP customer base, which were partially offset by productivity savings. As a result, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter dropped 3.2% from $317 million last year to $307 million.
Revenues for Bell Alliant’s IPTV and Internet business segments grew by $12 million (50.2%) and $7 million (5.1%), respectively, while wireless revenues were relatively flat in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter last year, as the fourth quarter of 2012 included a catch-up revenue accrual that did not recur in 2013.
Bell Aliant’s total IPTV customers grew 44.8% from a year earlier to 178,100. FibreOP TV customers grew by 16,000 in the fourth quarter to reach 158,000, a portion of which were migrations from Bell Aliant's FTTN TV service. Overall net IPTV customer additions were 14,800 in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 15,600 a year earlier.
FibreOP Internet customers grew by 18,000 during the quarter, bringing the total number to 184,000 at the end of December 2013. Overall high-speed Internet customer net additions were 7,200 in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from 4,800 in the same quarter of 2012, bringing total high-speed Internet customers to 952,100 at the end of December 2013, a 3.7% increase from a year earlier.
Wireless customers were up 2% compared to a year ago.
Local service and long distance revenues dropped 5.1% and 11.6%, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter in 2012, driven by NAS declines of 5.5%. Residential net NAS declines of 28,300 in the fourth quarter of 2013 improved 5,500 from the same quarter in 2012 with improved retention in both fibre and non-fibre markets. Business net NAS declines of 10,600 were consistent with the same quarter a year earlier.
Other revenues were down 2.3% year-over-year, as revenues from non-recurring large customer projects were offset by declines in product and rental revenues.
"Solid execution of our strategy over the last five years has positioned us well to succeed in an intensely competitive industry," said president and CEO Karen Sheriff, in a statement. “In 2013, we continued to progress on the road to revenue growth, by investing in the best broadband technology available to offer the most value to customers. We challenged deeply discounted competitor pricing in our markets during the latter quarters of 2013 with our own promotions, which pressured our revenue and EBITDA results in the fourth quarter of 2013 but helped us gain and retain customers, which is the key to our future success.”
Sheriff added that the company’s FTTH is expected to pass 1 million premises by end of 2014, and that operating revenues in 2014 are expected to be between $2.70 billion and $2.78 billion. Adjusted EBITDA in 2014 is expected to be between $1.24 billion and $1.29 billion.
