Rogers says swine flu could hurt wireless revenue

TORONTO, April 29 Reuters) - Rogers Communications Inc <RCIb.TO> said on Wednesday swine flu could dent revenue at its wireless unit if travel restrictions prevent its mobile phone subscribers from ringing up costly roaming charges.

"To the extent that we see the swine flu accelerate, I think we can expect to see some softening in roaming revenues," Rob Bruce, the head of the Canadian company's wireless division, told analysts.

At least one analyst, however, said he doubted the deadly flu outbreak, which first emerged in Mexico, would have much of impact on the company.

Bruce said that the company -- the owner of the country's biggest wireless carrier -- saw a "noticeable impact" on roaming revenue on its network during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic and something similar is likely if the swine flu outbreak persists.

Travel restrictions aimed at halting the spread of swine flu could mean fewer foreigners accuring roaming charges on Rogers' network and fewer Rogers subscribers using other networks abroad, squeezing a potential source of additional revenue for the Canadian company.

Troy Crandall, an analyst at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier, said the extent of the impact the swine flu could have on the company is "a huge question."

He said the outbreak has the potential to cause some damage to roaming revenue, "but it also has the potential to be very insignificant as well."

Crandall added it's difficult to quantify any impact given the outbreak is still just days old and travel restrictions have not been widespread thus far.

Telmex, the Mexican phone service provider, said on Tuesday its business could benefit as a result of the swine flu because a rising number of calls between concerned friends and relatives may mean higher traffic for the company.