July 20 (Reuters) - Canadian telco Rogers Communications Inc RCIb.TO reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strength in its wireless unit as it added more subscribers.
The company said it added 93,000 net postpaid subscribers in the quarter, up 28,000 from a year earlier.
Rogers discarded its internal television product upgrade plans late last year, instead choosing to use Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)'s X1 platform, which allows for video streaming on various devices. Rogers said on Thursday it will launch the product in 2018.
CEO Joe Natale, who joined in April, said the company had delivered "excellent wireless results across the board, including substantially lower churn" during the quarter.
Postpaid churn - or the rate at which customers left - came in at 1.05 percent in the quarter, down 9 basis points, the lowest since 2009, the company said.
For the reported quarter, internet revenue grew 7 percent, offsetting declines in television and phone.
The company's net income rose to C$531 million ($421 million), or C$1.03 per share, for the second quarter ended June 30, from C$394 million, or 77 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. items, the company earned C$1 per share, beating analysts' estimate of 93 Canadian cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose nearly 4 percent to C$3.59 billion.