Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s largest mobile-phone carrier, activated about half as many Apple Inc. iPhones in the fourth quarter as in the previous period as the global recession slowed consumer demand.

About 130,000 iPhone 3Gs were activated in the period ended Dec. 31, Rogers said today in a statement. That compared with 255,000 handsets in the third quarter. The company said it gained 199,000 wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter.

The economic slump has curbed demand for handsets such as the iPhone 3G. The Web-browsing, touch-screen device that went on sale in July enabled Rogers to grow at more than double the rate of competitors BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. About 40 percent of customers who activated iPhones were new subscribers, Rogers said.

“It was a big slowdown,” said Jonathan Allen, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets based in Toronto. He rates the shares “top pick” and doesn’t own them. IPhone sales should have held at the third-quarter level, he said.

The company sells the iPhone at a loss and tries to recoup the money in contract fees later on. Rogers lowered its price for iPhone contracts in July after more than 57,000 people signed an online petition, saying rates were too high.

The total number of mobile-phone subscribers rose to 7.94 million, the company said.

Rogers, based in Toronto, fell C$2.19, or 5.9 percent, to C$35 at 4:10 p.m. on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It fell 19 percent last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katie Hoffmann in New York at khoffmann4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 6, 2009 16:21 EST