Telus Q3 continues industry-wide trend of strong wireless

Telus Corp. reported strong wireless revenues and subscriber additions Friday, as data helped propel overall revenues up to $3.23 billion. For the three months ended September 30, the company’s overall revenues were slightly higher, with a 2.6 per cent increase, than the $3.15 billion it earned in the same quarter last year. Net income, however, was down slightly by 2.7 per cent to $355 million against the comparable period last year. Wireless revenues did the heavy lifting, increasing 4.9 per cent to $1.7 billion compared to the same quarter last year. This was driven by an increase in data revenue, propelled by factors including higher-priced two-year plans, larger data bucket purchases and more data usage from the increased adoption of higher-end handsets, the company said. Telus added 87,000 postpaid wireless subscribers, 18,000 more compared to the same quarter last year. This was due to “higher gross additions, reflecting the success of targeted promotions and marketing efforts, and lower churn,” it said. Telus reported the total number of wireless subscribers at 8.5 million, up one-per-cent from the same period last year. Average revenue per user increased 3.8 per cent to $66.67, driven again by data network revenue. Telus said it is the 24th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. The gains on wireless were uniform for the incumbents, a fact not lost on analyst Maher Yaghi of Desjardins Capital Markets. “Now that all incumbents have reported, we see that the wireless market in 3Q16 was healthy and that all players took their fair share,” he said in a research note. Wireline revenues were up 2.3 per cent, or $32 million, to $1.4 billion, driven by “higher data service and equipment revenue.” The company reported 4.1 million wireline subscribers by the end of the quarter, up 1.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. Internet net additions for the quarter were 14,000, down by 10,000 against the comparable 2015 period due in part to competitive intensity and economic slowdown. That was offset by expansion of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and “pull-through effect of bundling with Optik TV,” Telus said. Telus added 14,000 TV subscribers, but that was also down by 12,000 compared to the last third quarter due, in part, to higher churn rate and a decline in satellite subscribers from higher competition by over-the-top (OTT) services, among other factors, the company said. Both figures were below some analyst expectations. “Ongoing near term pressure in Alberta, as well as recently heightened competition with ,” were some reasons for those weaker wireline numbers, according to a Friday note by analyst Phillip Huang of Barclays Capital. In total, Telus increased its Internet subscribers by 5.6 per cent to 1.6 million, while TV was up 6.4 per cent to 1.04 million.

Telus Q3 continues industry-wide trend of strong wireless

Brief | November 4, 2016

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Telus Q3 continues industry-wide trend of strong wireless

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