Canadian cableco Shaw Communications has reported its results for the quarter ended 31 August 2018 (the end of its fiscal year 2018) including its fixed network and cellular (Freedom Mobile) divisions. Revenue from continuing operations increased by approximately 7% both in the quarter and fiscal year to CAD1.34 billion (USD1.03 billion) and CAD5.24 billion respectively, compared to the same periods in fiscal 2017. Operating income before restructuring costs and amortization of CAD560 million for the quarter and CAD2.09 billion for the year increased 16.9% and 4.6% respectively.
CEO Brad Shaw highlighted Freedom Mobile’s performance gains which boosted the results, reflecting ongoing LTE cellular network investments including new spectrum deployment, device range upgrades, new data-centric ‘Big Gig’ packages and a significantly expanded retail distribution network. In the quarter to end-August, Freedom added 85,000 post-paid wireless subscribers to take the post-paid base to over one million, with total mobile customers reaching approximately 1.4 million, a 22.3% improvement y-o-y, whilst ARPU climbed 9% y-o-y driven by user demand for larger data plans.
