Canadian mobile phone operator Bell has recently announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of the last year, as well as for the entire year 2009, and posted revenues increased by 4.8 percent in the last three months of 2009. Moreover, the company revealed that its operating income went up by 10 percent, and that EBITDA had registered a growth of 1 percent.

According to the wireless carrier, it managed to register healthy free cash flow in the fourth quarter of the last year, as well as net earnings applicable to common shares of $350 million. According to the company, it also registered costumer net additions of 163,000, representing a 39 percent year-over-year increase. The carrier notes that the launch of its new wireless network in Q4 helped it a lot, and that its gross activations in the time frame were of 523,000.

“For the full year, Bell's operating revenues were $15,020 million, an increase of 1.0% compared to 2008. Bell's operating income increased by 10.0% to $572 million this quarter and by 13.5% to $2,432 million for the full year due to higher EBITDA and lower restructuring and other costs. Bell's EBITDA grew by 1.0% to $1,395 million this quarter and by 1.4% to $5,719 million for the full year as higher revenues and cost reductions more than offset the impact of higher pension expense and increases in new wireless subscriber activation expense,” the carrier notes.

In addition to reporting the fourth quarter earnings, the company also announced a series of initiatives for the ongoing year, including plans to invest more in broadband networks and services, such as the deployment of Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in Quebec City (which is expected to be completed in three year's time), or the launch of its enhanced Bell Fiber Internet service. The deployment of FTTH adds to the roll-out of FTTB (Fibre-to-the-building) to MDUs (multi-dwelling units), which started already.

“The Bell team's strong execution of our service-focused strategy and ongoing cost discipline across our business delivered strong Q4 results and enabled us to meet or beat all of our increased financial targets for 2009,” said George Cope, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada. “The 2010 financial guidance announced today reflects a well-balanced financial plan that will generate substantial free cash flow in excess of $2 billion and earnings growth of 6% to 10% to support the execution of our business plan and capital markets strategy dedicated to delivering ongoing returns to BCE shareholders.”