MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OUR STRATEGY
To achieve our vision and drive our future growth, we have six strategic objectives. We made significant progress this year
against each of these, across all business segments. See “Key Highlights” for more detail about individual highlights.
1. DELIVER DIFFERENTIATED END-TO-END
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
Focus on evolving our cross-device, multi-screen integration to enable
seamless, reliable and easy-to-use product experiences anytime,
anyplace and anywhere; on delivering a differentiated range of devices
and device-related services; and on enabling greater integration of our
media assets across screens.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2013
We continued to evolve our wireless offering this year, redesigning and
simplifying wireless offerings and pricing tiers, and introducing
Canada’s first wireless Share Everything plan. We also launched a hybrid
wireless home and small business phone solution that operates on our
national wireless network.
Cable unveiled the next generation of TV experience with NextBox 3.0,
and Media made significant progress this year, announcing a landmark
exclusive 12-year licensing agreement to broadcast national NHL
games, launching a subscription digital magazine service, upgrading
The Shopping Channel, and including adding a mobile app and social
media. It also launched Sportsnet 360, and announced a 10-year
partnership extension with the Vancouver Canucks.
2. MAINTAIN INDUSTRY-LEADING NETWORKS
Reinforce our network’s reliability and speed to capture and monetize
the growth in data consumption by expanding our LTE network to a
wider proportion of the Canadian population, continuing to increase
broadband Internet speeds, and further enhancing our TV platforms
with next generation features and functionality.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2013
We continued to expand our high speed wireless LTE 4G broadband
network this year, and offered the largest selection of LTE devices of
any carrier in Canada. Our LTE 4G network was the first in Canada,
which covered approximately 73% of the Canadian population at
December 31, 2013.
We were also recognized for our networks: PCMag.com named us
Canada’s fastest broadband Internet service provider and wireless
network in October 2013, and SamKnows stated through in-home
testing in May 2013, that we delivered, on average, 100% or more of
our advertised download speeds on our most popular Internet
packages, better than most providers they tested in the US and Europe.
3. EXPAND OUR SERVICES REACH
Expand the reach of our networks and services through new
construction and targeted acquisitions that complement our existing
platforms; by more widely deploying products and services; and by
expanding the reach of our key media brands nationally and across our
digital platforms.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2013
We expanded our wireless network by establishing key network sharing
agreements to bring LTE to more customers at faster speeds to
customers in Manitoba, Quebec and the Ottawa region, and through
our relationship with AT&T to become the first Canadian carrier to offer
LTE roaming for customers travelling to the US. We also secured an
option to buy Shaw’s Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) spectrum
holdings.
We launched new products, including Rogers Smart Home Monitoring,
to customers in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe area and Atlantic Canada.
We completed several strategic acquisitions this year that strengthened
our offering of cable television, Internet and telephony services in the
Hamilton, Ontario area, established Business Solutions as a leader in
Canadian data centre and hosting services and increased the reach of
our television broadcast network to over 80% of Canadian households.
4. STRENGTHEN THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Constantly improve the experience that customers have using our
products and services by making it easier for them, providing the tools
and resources customers need to use our products with confidence,