Vancouver-based national carrier Telus added 11,000 new mobile wireless subscribers and now has a total of 9,736,000 subscribers as of Q1 2019.
According to its earnings results that were released on May 9th, Telus said this total was a 14,000 year-over-year increase that was “driven by lower mobile phone churn rate and higher mobile phone gross additions.”
It is worth noting that Telus reported 49,000 mobile connected device net additions, which reflects the company’s Internet of Things offerings. Connected devices are any device other than a mobile phone with its own SIM or IMEI number. These data-centric devices include tablets, internet keys, Internet of Things, wearables, connected automobile systems. In addition, Telus has a direct billing or support relationship with the user of each device.
The company reported it added a total of 99,000 new wireless, internet and Telus TV customers in Q1 2019.
In the three months that ended on March 31st, Telus reported a churn rate of 1.02 percent, which improved by eight basis points over the same period a year ago. This churn rate is reflected in only mobile wireless subscribers.
Churn represents the rate at which subscribers left Telus for one of the company’s competitors.
“Without a question, our continued strong performance is owing in no small part to our team’s unparalleled dedication to providing exceptional customer experiences. Telus, once again, achieved industry-leading wireless loyalty, with a record first quarter low mobile phone churn of 1.02 percent,” Telus’ CEO Darren Entwistle said in the earnings report.
“This unrelenting commitment to our Customers First promise is buttressed by our meaningfully differentiated product offering, as well as the ongoing significant investments we are making synergistically in our world-leading broadband network and technologies across both our wireless and wireline operations.”
In Q1 2019, Telus reported a 0.1 percent increase in its average billing per user to total $72.19.
The carrier said this increase was because of “growth from customers selecting plans with larger data buckets or periodically topping up their data buckets, the introduction of our Platinum rate plan and more higher-value smartphones in the sales mix were partly offset by declines in chargeable data usage, the impact of the competitive environment putting pressure on best rate plan prices in the current and prior periods and the changing customer mix.”
In Q1 2019, Telus’ operating revenue totalled to $3.5 billion, an increase of 3.8 percent from $3.4 billion that was reported in the same period a year ago.
Telus said this growth was driven by “higher wireless and wireline data services revenue growth.”
Telus also reported a net income of $437 million, an increase of 6.1 percent from the $412 million that was reported during the same period a year ago.
