BCE sees profit jump more than 30 per cent

First-quarter result called ‘very solid start to the year’

BCE Inc. has reported an increase of more than 30 per cent in its firstquarter profit compared with a year ago.

The telecommunications company said it earned $707 million, or 82 cents a share, for its first quarter, up from $532 million, or 63 cents a share, a year ago.

Glen LeBlanc, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, called it “a very solid start to the year,” in a conference call with analysts.

The company said the increase was due in part to lower severance, acquisition and other costs, offset in part by higher income taxes and increased depreciation and amortization costs.

In addition to strong wireless and wireline performance, “media had a very strong quarter,” said president and CEO George Cope. Significant restructuring in the previous quarter allowed the company to offset higher sports rights costs and the launch of its CraveTV content expansion.

In January, BCE launched its streaming service directly to any consumers with an Internet connection. Previously, it was only available to subscribers of some TV providers.

In the first 90 days of the launch, BCE said, it gained more than 100,000 subscribers for the service.

On an adjusted basis, BCE said it earned 85 cents per share for the quarter, up from 84 cents a share a year ago.

Revenue totalled $5.27 billion, up from $5.24 billion in the first three months of 2015.

During the quarter, BCE said it gained 25,805 net new wireless postpaid customers and reported a net loss of 35,673 prepaid subscribers. It also added 47,740 net new Fibe TV customers while it reported a net loss of 37,741 satellite TV customers.

BCE said it added 19,783 new highspeed Internet customers, while NAS line net losses totalled 107,632.