MONTREAL-Canadian personal communications services provider Microcell Telecommunications Inc. released fourth-quarter 2000 results showing the company added 134,654 customers to its Fido wireless service, bringing its total customer base to 922,527 subscribers. Of its customers, 51 percent were reported as postpaid with the remaining 49 percent reported as prepaid customers.
Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $80.9 million, a 9-percent increase from fourth-quarter 1999. For the year, total revenue jumped 58 percent from 1999 to $281.9 million last year. Microcell reported a net loss for the quarter of $95.2 million, or $1.45 per share, and a net loss for 2000 of $164.7 million, or $2.57 per share.
The company’s churn rate remained consistent for the quarter at 2.3 percent, with yearly churn increasing slightly from 2.1 percent in 1999 to 2.2 percent last year. Postpaid average revenue per user decreased for the fourth quarter from $37.80 in 1999 to $37.08 last year. The company attributed the decline to a large number of new subscribers activating service late in the quarter and said it was consistent with Microcell’s strategy of focusing on entry-level, mass-market consumers.
“The year 2000 was one of solid growth for Microcell,” said Andre Tremblay, president and chief executive officer of Microcell. “With accelerating revenue growth and cash-flow improvement being fueled by continued strong demand for our core PCS services and new services such as high-speed data, the company is strategically well-positioned to continue the market share gains and solid financial performance it achieved in 2000.”
Microcell also announced it is restructuring its operations in an attempt to sustain the growth of its PCS activities while continuing to implement its strategy to become a fully integrated telecommunications company.
The restructuring has resulted in the creation of a new management division, Microcell PCS, bringing under one roof the company’s Microcell Connexions Inc. subsidiary, which operates the company’s PCS network on a wholesale basis, and its Microcell Solutions Inc. subsidiary, which markets PCS services under the Fido brand name.
Alain Rheaume, former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microcell Telecommunications, was named president and CEO of Microcell PCS.
“Our rapid growth as well as the recent diversification of our wireless communications assets are leading us to realign our efforts to support the remarkable growth of our wholesale and retail PCS subsidiaries in the last four years and to focus on our corporate strategy in the years to come,” noted Tremblay.
