TORONTO — Rogers Communications today announced its financial results for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, reporting its total revenue rose 2% to $3.74 billion compared to the same quarter of 2021.
The increase was attributed to strong performance in the company’s wireless and media segments.
Rogers’ Q3 results included $150 million in customer credits paid out to compensate for its July network outage that affected both its wireless and wireline services. Excluding those customer credits, Rogers says its total revenue in Q3 2022 rose 6% compared to Q3 2021.
Total service revenue for the company increased 3% to $3.23 billion year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA decreased 1% to $1.58 billion, according to a press release announcing Rogers’ Q3 2022 results. Excluding the customer credits, Rogers’ total service revenue rose 7% and adjusted EBITDA increased 8% compared to the third quarter of 2021, the release notes.
Looking at the Q3 performance of Rogers’ individual business segments, wireless revenue increased 2% to $2.27 billion (or by 6% excluding outage credits). This includes a 3% increase in wireless service revenue (9% increase excluding credits), which accounted for $1.76 billion of the wireless segment’s total revenue for the third quarter.
Wireless adjusted EBITDA decreased 1% to $1.1 billion in Q3 2022 compared to the same quarter of 2021. Excluding the outage-related credits, wireless adjusted EBITDA would have increased by 7%, according to the release.
Rogers reported total mobile phone customer net additions of 221,000 in Q3 2022, which included 164,000 postpaid net adds and 57,000 prepaid net adds. This represents an increase of 30,000 net adds when compared to the 191,000 subscriber net additions the company reported in the previous year’s third quarter. As of the end of the third quarter, Rogers reported having a little under 10.5 million total mobile phone subscribers.
Rogers’ cable segment revenue decreased 4% to $975 million compared to the third quarter of 2021, which included a 4% decrease in cable service revenue. Cable adjusted EBITDA fell 10% to $465 million compared to Q3 2021. Cable revenue and adjusted EBITDA would both have increased by 2% if the outage-related customer credits were excluded from the equation, the company’s release says.
Within its cable segment, Rogers reported 6,000 retail Internet subscriber net additions, 7,000 video net adds, 4,000 Smart Home Monitoring net losses and 18,000 home phone net losses in the third quarter of 2022.
Rogers’ media segment, which includes its sports media and entertainment, television and radio broadcasting, specialty channels, multi-platform shopping and digital media, reported a 12% increase in revenue to $530 million in Q3 2022 compared to the same quarter of 2021. This is the one Rogers segment that was not affected by the company’s issuance of customer credits due to its July network outage.
The increase in media revenue was a result of higher Toronto Blue Jays revenue, primarily due to increased attendance at the Rogers Centre, which was able to return to full audience capacity as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, partially offset by lower Today’s Shopping Choice revenue, the company’s release says.
Media adjusted EBITDA increased 130% to $76 million in Q3 2022 compared to the same quarter of last year.
Rogers reported overall net income of $371 million in the third quarter of 2022, a 24% decrease compared to Q3 2021. The company attributed the net income decline to higher finance costs attributable to Shaw senior note financing and the impact of the July network outage-related customer credits.
“This quarter, we continued to demonstrate our strong and consistent execution in our Wireless business and the robust demand from consumers and advertisers for our sports and Media assets,” said Tony Staffieri, Rogers president and CEO, in the release.
“Building on this position of strength, we will continue to invest in our networks and our customers’ experience to deliver the resilience and service our customers expect. Looking ahead, we remain committed to the Shaw transaction and the significant connectivity and affordability benefits it will deliver to Canadians.”
For more on Rogers’ Q3 2022 financial results, please click here.
