After Rogers, Wind, and Bell, it was Telus’ turn to report its second-quarter earnings. Canada’s second-largest carrier has posted a revenue growth of 4.4% compared to $2.95 billion a year ago. Wireless revenue increased 6.2%, while wireline revenue is up 2.4% compared to the same period last year. Profits increased by 33% to $381 million, while basic earnings per share jumped by 41% to $0.62.
During the three months up to the end of June, Telus recorded a wireless revenue growth of $85 million, up 6.1% to $1.48 billion and driven by subscriber base expansion, and higher data usage and smartphone adoption.
Just like Rogers and Bell, postpaid additions were lower during the second quarter, although Telus added 78,000 subscribers – by contrast, it reported 79,000 postpaid additions a year ago – but the additions were partially offset by a loss of 20,000 lower-ARPU prepaid subscribers, so this makes a net addition of 58,000.
Darren Entwistle, TELUS Executive Chair said, “Our strong second quarter results were characterized by growth in revenue, EBITDA and free cash flow, supported by80,000 net new subscriber additions and continued leading customer loyalty with a record monthly postpaid wireless churn rate of 0.90 per cent. On the back of these robust results, we continued to demonstrate our commitment to returning capital to shareholders through our dividend increases and stock repurchases, which this year have totalled $1.1 billion to the end of July. On an absolute basis,or on a relative basis with our global peers, TELUS continues to drive industry-leading results.”
The total wireless subscriber base (excluding Public Mobile) was up 2.2% to 7.9 million, while postpaid subscribers account for 87% of the total subscriber base.
As the press release highlights, smartphone users represent 79% of the carrier’s postpaid base, up from 71% reported a year ago.
In the second quarter of 2014, blended average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 2.3% to $62.51, growing for the fifteenth straight month.
