TORONTO-Capital expenditures fell and revenue growth was nearly flat for Canadian telecommunications service providers in the first quarter of 2002, according to a recent report from Statistics Canada.
The government statistical agency said Canada’s wireless, wireline and satellite telecommunication providers, as well as resellers of those services, posted operating profit of C$1.3 billion (US$826 million) in the first three months, an increase of 33.7 percent compared with a year earlier.
Statistics Canada said in its 16 September report that an industrywide effort to cut costs, largely through staff reductions, helped increase operating profit. The industry employed 79,870 people at the end of the quarter, down 3.3 percent. Operating expenses totaled C$6.6 billion (US$4.2 billion), down 3.7 percent.
Revenue growth in the quarter was modest. Telecom service providers posted C$7.9 billion (US$5 billion) in operating revenue, up 1.1 percent from 2001. Capital expenditures dropped C$1.3 billion or 42 percent from the previous year.
Wireless companies spent C$366 million (US$233 million) or 21.2 percent of operating revenue on new equipment in the first quarter, while wireline companies spent C$938 million (US$597 million) or 16.2 percent of operating revenue.
Wireless services continued to attract new customers. The number of wireless subscribers was up 20.6 percent from the first quarter of 2001. In contrast, subscribers for wireline companies declined 0.2 percent from the first quarter of 2001.
