From today's Financial Post:
Clearnet PCS off to fast start
Pocket phone service signs up more than 50,000 subscribers
By PHILIP DEMONT
Telecom Reporter The Financial Post
Clearnet Communications Inc. said yesterday it signed up more than 50,000 subscribers to its PCS network in the first three months of operation, making its launch of the pocket phone service one of the best in North America.
Clearnet, which launched its personal communications service nationally on Oct. 15, said it attracted 50,676 users in only 75 days over the Christmas buying quarter.
"The demand was overwhelming," said George Cope, Clearnet president and chief executive.
In fact, sales of Clearnet's phones were so strong that 90% of its distributors ran out during the period, he said.
Shares of Clearnet (NETa/TSE) closed at $17 yesterday, unchanged.
Clearnet's performance is good news for the Canadian wireless
industry, which has experienced tough times recently.
The stock prices of all four companies selling PCS services --
Clearnet, BCE Mobile Communications Inc., Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications Inc. and Microcell Telecommunications Inc. -- dipped after Cantel posted weak subscriber results late last year.
This week, Cantel brought in Sprint PCS veteran Charles Hoffman to replace Stan Kabala as chief executive.
Clearnet's subscriber growth was faster than that of U.S. PCS
heavyweights such as BellSouth Mobility DCS and Sprint PCS, according to figures compiled by two New York brokerage houses.
"Fifty thousand subscribers is a pretty good clip," said a BellSouth official.
Making a straight comparison of PCS launches, however, is a difficult task. For example, Sprint PCS took on only 40,000 subscribers when it launched its PCS network in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1996, according to Prudential Securities Inc.
Sprint initially turned on its PCS phones in only four U.S. cities.
By the end of last September, it offered PCS service in 134 cities and had added 200,000 subscribers in the third quarter.
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