Rogers blames CRTC decisions as profit drops 17%

Rogers Communications Inc. says profits dropped 17 per cent in the first quarter as the company blamed two recent CRTC decisions for some of its financial setbacks, CP reports. Rogers reported net income fell to $255 million from $307 million in the same period a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, the earnings were equal to 53 cents per share, falling 10 cents short of analyst estimates, according to Thomson Reuters.
Operating revenue rose to $3.18 billion from $3.02 billion.
Rogers says part of the profit decline was caused by the defection of some customers to competitors after a CRTC rule change under which customers are no longer required to give telecom companies 30 days' notice before they cancel their services.
Rogers says that left a $3-million dent in cable revenue for the quarter and contributed an estimated loss of 40,000 subscribers to its overall decline in customers.
The company also says a separate CRTC rule change which has shortened the span of wireless contracts to two years caused operating expenses to rise 32 per cent, as it worked to retain customers with subsidized smartphone upgrades.