What’s Going on With Rogers’ Dividend?

Investors looking at Rogers Communications (TSX: RCI.B) often ask one key question. What’s going on with Rogers’ dividend?

Rogers offers investors a respectable 4.3% yield, but that payout hasn’t seen an increase in years. For investors prioritizing dividend growth, that can be disappointing, especially in a sector that was once known for its annual increases.

Here’s the catch. A lack of growth isn’t the same thing as a cut. In fact, Rogers’ shift in approach to its dividend looks a lot more responsible today than it was a decade ago.

Why Rogers’ dividend stopped growing every year

As of the time of writing, Rogers pays out a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share. Annually, that works out to $2.00 per share, and it has remained at that level since 2019.

Looking even further back, Rogers moved away from the practice of providing investors with annual upticks. Instead, the company gave itself some room (and capital) to make decisions based on its financial position rather than history.

The increase in 2019 showed that management was willing to raise the payout when conditions allowed. But it also avoided creating an expectation that the dividend needed to rise every year.

For income investors, that doesn’t sound too exciting. Dividend increases are always welcome news, especially when they continue to compound over time. But raising the payout when it can be supported is a better position to be in and can help avoid steep cuts or sudden pauses in dividend growth.

And we’ve seen both moves from the other big telecoms in recent years.

The rest of the telecom sector has caught up

Rogers’ approach looked far more conservative, if not odd, when it first stepped away from regular annual increases.

At the time, its big telecom peers were better known for their dividend-growth programs. Investors expected them to deliver another raise each year, making Rogers appear like the least appealing option for dividend-growth investors.

Fast-forward to today, and that comparison has changed dramatically.

BCE cut its dividend in 2025 as it reset its capital-allocation priorities.

Telus also paused its dividend-growth program late last year.

Both reflect the pressure facing Canadian telecoms, including high debt loads, intensive capital requirements, competitive pricing, and slower growth across the sector.

To be clear, Rogers’ dividend still faces those same pressures. However, the company hasn’t operated under the expectation that an annual increase was guaranteed for more than a decade.

In other words, Rogers’ dividend may lack growth, but it has managed to avoid the type of painful reset that damages investor confidence.

What Rogers investors should expect next

Does Rogers have the financial muscle to resume its dividend growth?

There are encouraging signs. In the first quarter of 2026, Rogers generated free cash flow of $776 million, up 32% from the same period last year. The company also raised its full-year free-cash-flow guidance to between $4.1 billion and $4.3 billion after reducing its expected capital spending.

Rogers is also making progress on debt reduction. Its debt leverage ratio improved to 3.8 times at the end of the first quarter, down from 3.9 times at the end of 2025 on a comparable adjusted basis.

That improving cash flow gives Rogers more flexibility. It can continue reducing debt, invest in its network, support long-term growth initiatives, and eventually increase the dividend.

For now, Rogers’ dividend is best viewed as a stable 4.3% yield rather than a payout built for dividend growth.

And given the frequency of those cuts and pauses by its peers, that stability may be more valuable to long-term investors in a well-diversified portfolio.