VANCOUVER – Telus reported a 6% increase in operating revenues in the third quarter, but a 30% drop in net income, the company announced Friday.
Wireless saw an 8.7% per cent revenue increase to $1.2 billion thanks to “record” year to date subscriber growth. Telus now has 5,981,200 wireless subscribers, up 10.6% from a year earlier. Wireline revenue grew 3.6% to $1.25 billion, driven by data growth, the release continued, though 43,000 connections were lost during the quarter, bringing the total number of landline connections to 4,282,000.
Telus now has 1,211,600 Internet subscribers, a 58% decrease from a year ago, due to increased competition and a maturing market. The release did not contain any subscriber information for now three-year-old terrestrial digital television service Telus TV.
“High-speed net additions were disappointing,” said Telus CFO Robert MacFarlane during the company’s conference call with financial analysts. However, wireline losses “remain largely consistent with previous quarters.
While the company released no numbers on Telus TV (it never has since launch in late 2005), growth in the digital service continues. CEO Darren Entwistle said during the call that the service grew well during the third quarter adding it “has been performing very strongly within the areas where we have coverage… if you look at the Telus footprint, where we are able to offer a full suite of services from voice to internet, to entertainment.”
