Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s largest wireless carrier, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as job cuts lifted profitability at its main mobile phone unit.

Profit excluding some items rose 6 cents to 91 Canadian cents ($0.90) a share, the Toronto-based company said today in a statement. That beat the average estimate of 86 cents from 16 analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Sales gained 0.3 per cent to C$3.11 billion. Analysts estimated C$3.14 billion on average.

Rogers has cut jobs to boost profit amid increased competition, a slowdown on spending on smartphones and subsidies the wireless operator pays Apple Inc. to carry the iPhone. The layoffs and other “efficiency gains” lifted profit margin at Rogers’ wireless business, which accounts for 57 per cent of sales, to 48.2 per cent from 46.5 per cent a year earlier.

The carrier’s average monthly revenue from both customers on contracts and prepaid clients, who usually opt for cheaper calling plans, fell to C$59.10 during the quarter, down from C$60.26 a year earlier. That beat the estimate of $57.65 from Maher Yaghi, an analyst at Desjardins Securities in Montreal. He rates Rogers a hold.

“As we said on the call last quarter, we could see the revenue trajectory was lower than what we had anticipated and we took immediate action,” Rogers Chief Executive Officer Nadir Mohamed said on a call with analysts today. “Our definition of winning longer term is from top-line growth” and “we’re committed to improving this trajectory,” he said.

Rogers rose 5.5 per cent to C$39.30 in Toronto, the biggest intraday gain since July, 2010. The shares had declined 5.1 per cent this year through yesterday.

New Subscribers

Rogers added 87,000 subscribers with contracts, the long- term customers who typically buy a smartphone and spend more on data, less than Yaghi’s estimate of 110,000.

“Aside from lower smartphone activations, which will likely pick up in the second half, there still appears to be positive signs on cost control,” Jeff Fan, an analyst at Scotiabank, said in a note today to investors. He rates Rogers the equivalent of hold.

Rogers is the first of the big three Canadian carriers, which along with BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., to report second- quarter earnings. Telus and BCE, which have narrowed the gap with Rogers in recent quarters, are scheduled to report earnings on Aug. 3 and Aug. 8, respectively.

Net income was C$400 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with C$410 million, or 74 cents, a year earlier.

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