The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that the first quarter of the year tends to be the slowest season for the telcos, but analysts expect strong wireless performance will continue to drive growth this year. The Post's Emily Jackson quotes Desjardins analyst Maher Yaghi as saying in a note to clients Thursday, "We believe wireless will again be the highlight of this reporting season as the positive momentum from last year has likely continued." Sustained immigration, children getting cellphones at younger ages and relatively low wireless penetration (82 per cent of Canadians have a wireless subscription, according to the CRTC) all supported strong growth last year.
"The economic situation in Alberta has also improved -- thus removing a drag that was present in the previous year," Mr. Yaghi wrote. "These factors lead us to believe that healthy subscriber growth will be constant through the end of 2017."
Desjardins predicts that average revenue per user will not grow as fast as it used to as Shaw Communications upgrades its wireless network and becomes a viable fourth player in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, though Shaw's "inferior network" should protect the Big Three's prices near term.
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