Telecom giant Telus says its 2022 fourth quarter financial results are the best Q4 results “on record” for customer growth.
The company added 112,000 mobile customers, which remained unchanged compared to the year prior. Despite not seeing growth in the section, Telus increased its mobile network revenue by $104 million (6.5 percent), partially due to an increase in its connected device subscriber base. Higher ARPU (referring to how much Telus made off each mobile customer) also played a role, which Telus largely attributes to increased roaming. Revenue from mobile equipment increased by 9.7 percent.
Telus grew its internet subscriber base by five percent and added 106,000 connected devices (a 30 percent increase). During the earnings conference call, Darren Entwistle, the company president and CEO, said more growth is expected. “There’s tremendous upside on that front still to be harvested, which I think will be aided and abetted by what we’re doing on the 5G front and product development that leverages 5G bandwidth in that regard.”
However, the company’s total profits didn’t see the same growth. Telus pulled $265 million in net income this quarter, compared to $663 million in Q4 2021. The company says the cost of “higher goods and services purchased” played a role.
Telus also recently revealed that it acquired two independent service providers. It took over Altima in June 2022 and Start.ca in January 2023. However, neither of those transactions are part of the Q4 results.
Zainul Mawji, president of consumer solutions, said acquisitions like these are “consistent” with company practices. “We have been doing small tuck in acquisitions in specific areas where we’ve competed for a number of years that these are no different.”
Update 2023/02/09 at 9:12am ET: Updated the headline to increase clarity.
Update 2023/02/09 at 10:56am ET: The article has been updated for clarity.
Update 2023/02/09 at 2:16pm ET: The article has been updated with additional information.
Source: Telus
