TELUS continued its financial winning streak last quarter (though in the Canadian market, do any carriers really lose?) with an earnings per share of $0.51 on revenue of $3.13 billion CDN. Net income was $312 million, up 7.6% from the same period a year ago.
Overall, there was nary a negative stat to mull, as TELUS posted boosted wireless revenue of $1.55 billion, an 8% increase over last year thanks to a larger customer base, higher ARPU from increased LTE data usage, domestic roaming agreements with companies like WIND and Rogers, and the transition to “higher-rate two-year plans.”
The company added 110,000 net wireless customers — growth of 118,000 in postpaid and a drop of 8,000 in prepaid — and decreased postpaid wireless churn to 0.94%, down three basis points from the previous year and but slightly higher than the previous quarter. Overall churn was slightly higher than the previous quarter at 1.33%.
Though smartphone ownership now comprises 81% of TELUS’s postpaid base, up from 80% in the previous quarter, blended ARPU dropped slightly to $64.20 from $64.51 last quarter. The number is still considerably higher than the same time last year. The company’s total wireless subscribers now sits at 8.1 million, excluding Public Mobile, which TELUS plans to relaunch this quarter as “Canada’s most cooperative network.”
The company, looking forward to 2015, predicts “modest growth in both subscribers and ARPU,” as it converts more prepaid customers to postpaid. As an increasing number of subscribers finish three-year plans, TELUS also sees higher wireless revenue from the transition to two-year contracts, “partially offset by lower voice revenue.”
Bell added 117,000 customers last quarter and Rogers lost 58,000.
[source]TELUS[/source]
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