TORONTO—Rogers AT&T Wireless has become the first wireless carrier in Canada to offer ICQ two-way short message service (SMS) messaging on its network. The deal with America Online, which owns ICQ, lets users of Rogers’ services communicate with ICQ’s 120 million worldwide subscribers. Financial terms were not announced.
Rogers also announced that it has become the first wireless provider in Canada to pass the 3 million voice customer mark. For fourth-quarter 2001, the carrier added 74,000 postpaid subscribers, compared with 61,500 postpaid subscribers for the comparable period in 2000, a 21-percent improvement. Rogers added 182,000 total subscribers in the quarter, up 21,000 or 13 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.
Its churn rate improved at 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001 versus 2.56 percent for the fourth quarter of 2000. Prepaid customers increased by 106,000 in the quarter or 58.8 percent of net additions, compared with 61.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000.
The carrier is 52 percent owned by Rogers Communications and 33 percent owned by AT&T Wireless Services.
