Canadian x-Service Providers (i.e. application, managed, wireless and Internet service providers) accounted for 14 per cent of the Top 250 companies this year, up slightly from 13 per cent last year. Ontario and Quebec contributed 30 per cent each to the Top 10 xSP list, while Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan contributed one company each.

Similar to the Professional Services list, the Top 10 x-Service Providers contributed 97.4 per cent of the total revenues for all 34 xSP companies on the Top 250 (the top six companies alone made $19.9 billion in revenues). While the revenues for all xSP companies not in the top 10 amount to $551 million, when we look at the cumulative growth rate of this group it is a staggering 32.97 per cent compared to the 11.71 per cent growth rate of the Top 10 xSP companies.

The top three xSPs this year were BCE, TELUS and Rogers Wireless, with TELUS and Rogers switching spots from last year’s list. The exit of Aliant (whose operations relevant to the Branham300 were rolled into BCE revenues) allowed SR Telecom to make an appearance on the Top 10 xSP list. In addition, of all of this year’s Top 10 xSP companies, Cogeco had the highest yearover- year revenue growth of 30 per cent (producing estimated revenues of $148 million in 2006).

BCEwas the number one xSP again this year with estimated data and wireless revenues of $7.62 billion, up seven per cent from 2005 revenues of $7.101 billion. The company increased wireless subscribers to a total of 5.7 million by the end of the third quarter and attributed higher wireless revenues to customers making more use of various data services, text messaging, mobile browsing, gaming, bundled data offers and push-totalk service. 

TELUS of Vancouver produced an estimated $5.47 billion in revenues in 2006, up one position on the list and up 13 per cent from the previous year’s result of $4.829 billion. The company reported interesting activities in 2006, including the deployment of a TELUS IP network to Saint Elizabeth Health Care, a five-year $6.5 million contract that will deliver a multi-site Internet Protocol infrastructure to help increase productivity and decrease communication costs. TELUS also extended its wireless highspeed roaming capabilities for mobile users to more than 230 U.S. cities. This is a service that will increase in popularity with business travellers. Other significant ventures include the launch of an “all-in-one” wireless medical database for health care professionals that delivers the most up-to-date medical drug and diagnostic tools on wireless handheld devices, as well as the introduction of a national wireless high-speed network in five major Canadian cities. 

Rogers Wireless Communications moved to third place in the xSP category with estimated revenues of $4.258 billion and solid revenue growth in 2006 of 18 per cent. The company increased the number of postpaid wireless retail subscribers by 12 per cent and increased the number of residential high-speed Internet subscribers by 13.6 per cent. Rogers introduced the Call Manager in December, which allows customers to manage when and how calls are placed or received, stating it was the only national carrier to offer such control to customers. It also marked its five year implementation anniversary of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard in 2006. In the past five years, global GSM subscribers have increased to two billion from approximately 500 million, while Rogers’ wireless subscribers have increased to 6.2 million from 2.7 million.

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