Canada’s largest mobile operator Rogers Wireless has confirmed it will launch Apple’s iPhone later this year. In a brief statement released earlier today to coincide with the operator’s latest set of financial results, President and CEO Ted Rogers confirmed a 2008 launch date but declined to give any further information. As the only GSM operator in Canada, Rogers Wireless will be the exclusive iPhone partner in the country by default as the iPhone does not work on CDMA-based networks. However, it is unclear if Rogers will launch the existing version of the iPhone or a new 3G version, which Apple is reportedly preparing to launch this summer. A report in the Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times this week claimed that China’s Foxconn Electronics – the sole manufacturer of the first-generation iPhone – is preparing to ship 3 million 3G iPhones in June.
In its first-quarter results announcement, Rogers Communications reported that net income had risen to C$344 million (US$339 million) from C$170 million, a year ago, while revenue had grown 14 percent to C$2.61 billion, meeting analysts’ projections. The operator’s mobile business accounted for over half of all revenues. Rogers reported mobile subscriber postpaid net additions for the quarter of 97,000, while postpaid subscriber monthly churn was reduced to 1.10 percent from 1.17 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Postpaid ARPU increased 7 percent year-on-year to C$72.39, driven in part by a 47 percent rise in data revenues to $206 million, or 15.1 percent of network revenue, the operator said.
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