VANCOUVER – Telus was the last of the big telecoms to report their Q3 2019 results, and on Thursday reported consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $1.46 billion with revenues of $3.7 billion for the period ended September 30th a 2.6% increase over Q3 last year, excluding the gain on the sale of Telus Garden in 2018.
For the quarter, the company’s net income of $440 million marked a 1.6% decrease over the same period last year. EBITDA growth was primarily offset by higher depreciation and amortization due to growth in the company’s asset base, including from investments in broadband technologies and business acquisitions.
Telus grew its subscriber base by 14%, or 246,000 customers, during the period. That figure breaks down to 193,000 mobility customers, 82,000 connected devices – which includes tablets, smart home gadgets, wearables and connected automobile systems – 32,000 wireline internet customers and 19,000 TV net adds.
Drilling down further on the company’s mobility results, Telus’ addition of 111,000 net new wireless customers means it now has a wireless subscriber base of more than 10 million – 8.7 million mobile phones and 1.4 million connected devices. That marks a 5.5% increase for the company over the last 12 months.
The company reported wireless EBITDA of $970 million, which increased by 5.3% over Q3 2018, while adjusted EBITDA of $976 million increased by 7%.
Telus reported mobile phone ABPU (average billing per user) of $75.06, an increase of 0.5%, which the company attributes to a combination of its new Easy Payment device financing, Peace of Mind data plans and family discount offerings. The company said those drivers were subsequently offset by a decline in chargeable data usage, a competitive pricing environment and changes in its customer mix.
Telus’ mobile phone churn rate of 1.09% increased by six basis points over the same period in 2018.
On the wireline side of the business, Telus’ results placed the company at the head of the pack among the Big Three’s Q3 financials, despite the loss of 12,000 residential voice customers.
As of the end of Q3, Telus said approximately 2.14 million premises, or 67% of its high-speed broadband footprint, were within the company’s PureFibre territory. It said this was an increase of approximately 400,000 PureFibre premises over the last 12 months.
Telus’ wireline business reported EBITDA of $464 million, an increase of $36 million (8.4%), while adjusted EBITDA of $487 million increased by $48 million or 10.9%. The company said the growth was partly offset by continued declines in legacy voice and legacy data services, higher employee benefits expense and other costs related to business acquisitions, as well as a decline in the EBITDA contribution from legacy business services.
