Total revenues for the period were down 7% - CAD3 billion ($2,3 billion), which according to the company is largely due to the 8% decline it saw in wireless service revenue – CAD2.2 billion ($1,7 billion). In turn, it reported that Wireless service revenue was down due to lower roaming revenue caused by global travel restrictions during Covid-19 as well as lower average revenue.
The company saw a slight increase of 3% - CAD1 million ($796 million) in its cable revenue thanks to a growing number of its Internet customers moving from its legacy Internet services to its Ignite Internet offerings as well as service pricing changes and discipline.
Media revenue saw the biggest decline of 23% during the quarter as a result of the delayed NHL and NBA seasons, which begin in early Q4. Additional causes include softness in the advertising market due to Covid-19. The media unit earned CAD409 ($319 million) for the period.
"Rogers continued to see sequential improvement in Q4, finishing the year with solid efficiency gains across all of our businesses, a strong balance sheet, solid Wireless postpaid net subscribers, and continued momentum in cash flow growth in our Cable business," said Joe Natale (pictured), president and CEO, Rogers communications.
"Despite the ongoing uncertainty from the pandemic, we remain committed to investing in our customers and our country by expanding our world-class networks that Canadians are relying on and continuing to build out Canada's largest 5G network, which will play an important role in Canada's long-term productivity and post-pandemic recovery efforts."
Looking ahead to 2021, the company says that due to the volatility of Covid-19 “we are unable at this time to predict the ongoing future impacts on our operations and financial results, but the impact in 2020 was material and could remain material in 2021”.
