Rogers Communications said its first quarter net income grew 102 percent to $339.8 million. Revenues at Canada’s largest wireless network operator rose 14 percent in the quarter to $2.57 billion.

Executives said the company’s first-quarter revenue bump was driven principally by 97,000 additions to the carrier’s postpaid subscriber base. Rogers Communications additionally was able to reduce its monthly postpaid subscriber turnover rate, or “churn,” to 1.10 percent — down from 1.17 percent in the year-ago quarter.

“This was a robust start to 2008 both operationally and financially,” said Ted Rogers, the company’s chief executive. “We added subscribers across the business at healthy rates” and achieved “a good set of balanced results overall,” he told investors.

Coming to Canada

Wireless input revenue in Rogers’ first quarter increased 47 percent in comparison with the year-ago period. Company executives said the increase reflects continued growth in a variety of wireless details services ranging from wireless Web access to downloadable ringtones,

music and games, and the company remains bullish about mobile broadband.

details revenue currently represents approximately 15.1 percent of the Canada-based wireless carrier’s total network revenue — up from 12.3 percent one year earlier. And the impending addition of Apple’s iPhone to Rogers’ product lineup potentially could boost the carrier’s data-plan adoption rates even further.

“We have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later that year,” Rogers said. “We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned. that is just one of the many exciting wireless, cable and Web innovations that you’ll take in from Rogers by the coming months.”

The Shock Factor

Though the iPhone delivers a good user experience, the ultimate success of Apple’s red-hot handset in Canada will be entirely dependent on the details plan Rogers intends to offer for the device, said Brownlee Thomas, a Montreal-based…

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