MONTREAL – Bell Canada today announced its third quarter financial results for 2022, reporting operating revenues were up 3.2% year-over-year to just over $6 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA meanwhile was reported to be $2.6 billion – a 1.2% increase compared to the same quarter in 2021.
In wireless, Bell reported operating revenue grew 7.4% year-over-year to $2.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA increased 7.8% to $1.1 billion.
“Bell added a record quarterly 224,343 net postpaid and prepaid mobile phone subscribers, 64.4% higher than 136,464 in Q3 2021,” a press release says.
The company reported 167,798 postpaid mobile phone net subscriber activations, which they said is their “best-ever Q3 result”. For prepaid mobile phone, Bell reported net subscriber activations were 56,545, which is up 161.3% from the same quarter the previous year.
“The year-over-year increase was the result of 43.9% higher gross activations, reflecting greater market activity as retail stores were at full operation compared to last year, as well as increased immigration and travel to Canada, which also contributed to a higher customer churn rate of 4.58%, up from 4.15% in Q3 2021,” the press release says.
Bell’s mobile phone customer base was 9.8 million at the end of the quarter – a 5.1% increase over last year.
In wireline, Bell reported total operating revenue increased 1% to $3 billion compared to the same quarter the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA for wireline was down 1.2% to $1.3 billion.
“Bell added 89,652 net new retail Internet subscribers, up 36.3% from 65,779 in Q3 2021,” the press release says. “This represents our best quarterly result since Q3 2005, driven by the accelerated expansion of Bell’s fibre footprint, bundled service offerings and a more active back-to-school period compared to last year. Within Bell’s all-fibre footprint, retail Internet net subscriber activations were a record 95,036, up 33.2% over Q3 2021. Retail Internet subscribers totalled 4,067,039 at the end of Q3, up 6.6% from last year.”
Bell TV meanwhile added 38,093 net new retail IPTV subscribers – a 20.4% increase compared to Q3 2021 and reported retail satellite TV net subscriber losses of 27,240, which was up from 21,120 in the same quarter the previous year.
Over at Bell Media, operating revenue was unchanged in Q3 2022 compared to Q3 2021 at $719 million. Higher subscription revenue (2.2% increase year-over-year) was offset by lower advertising revenue (down by 2.3% year-over-year), the release says.
Adjusted EBITDA for Bell Media was down 15.3% year-over-year to $182 million.
“Our strong overall performance was led by wireless, which grew service revenue and adjusted EBITDA by 7% and 7.8% respectively, reflecting our steadfast focus on higher-value subscriber acquisition, and continued robust residential Internet revenue growth of 8%,” said Glen LeBlanc, chief financial officer for BCE and Bell Canada, in the release.
“Although the advertising market was weaker this quarter due to the macroeconomic environment, total media revenue was stable year over year. This is a testament to Bell Media’s diversified asset mix, including a growing contribution from digital platforms, our breadth of programming and consistently high ratings for all our television properties.”
“We’re seeing clear demand from Canadians for differentiated fibre Internet services and fast, reliable wireless networks,” said Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in the release.
“We experienced over 400,000 net activations across our wireline and wireless networks, with our highest-ever number of total mobile phone net additions, and we also gained a significant share of Internet subscriber growth with over 95,000 new net fibre-to-the-home customers this past quarter, up 33% over last year and our best-ever result,” he said.
“The devastation of Hurricane Fiona underscored the role that our networks play in the daily lives of Canadians. The Bell team worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to restore service for those impacted – work that is still ongoing – and I want to recognize the Bell team members who were part of the recovery efforts. While the damage to our infrastructure was unprecedented, it reinforced that our accelerated capital investment program to build and expand reliable fibre and wireless networks across our footprint continues to be the right approach for our customers.”
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