(Bloomberg) — Rogers Communications Inc. reiterated its forecast for at least 6% growth in service revenue this year and extended the deadline for its proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc.
to the end of December.
Toronto-based Rogers beat sales and profit estimates for the second quarter. Canada’s largest wireless and cable operator earned C$463 million ($318 million) or 86 Canadian cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 85 cents.
The company has come under intense political pressure after its suffered a massive network failure on July 8, knocking 12 million customers offline and disrupting emergency services and businesses.
“In the coming quarters, we will continue to focus on delivering additional improvements as we build on these results, while also working hard to regain the trust of our customers following our recent network outage,” Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri said in a statement on Wednesday.
Staffieri said Monday at a Canadian parliamentary committee hearing that the company would spend at least C$250 million to split its wireless and wireline networks, hoping to avoid a repeat of the July incident.
He said the company “failed to deliver” on a promise of reliable service.
Read More: Rogers CEO Says Firm ‘Failed,’ Will Spend Heavily to Fix Network
Rogers expects capital expenditures of about C$3 billion this year, and more of that will be dedicated to network improvements than in the past, Staffieri said this week.
The company will also give customers a five-day billing credit that’s expected to cost about C$175 million in the third quarter.
The network incident has heaped more scrutiny on Rogers as it tries to gain approval from Ottawa to take over Shaw in a C$20 billion deal.
But the company has defended the merger as a way to free up capital to improve its systems.
Read More: Rogers Faces Probe of Network Failure as Shaw Investors Shaken
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