Vancouver, B.C. – Telus finished 2014 with another strong quarter that saw double digit percentage growth in net profit and a 3.4% increase in operating revenue.
Telus announced Thursday its consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013 was at $2.95 billion, driven by increases in both its wireless and wireless business. EBITDA increased by 3.6% to $951 million. Net profit rose 10.3% to $290 million, while earnings per share rose by 17.5% to $0.47, compared to $0.40 in the same period a year earlier.
Wireless network revenues increased by $56 million or 4.1% to $1.43 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to the same period a year ago. Telus said 113,000 new postpaid wireless customers joined in the fourth quarter, bringing its current wireless customer base to 7.8 million.
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said the company’s fourth quarter postpaid subscriber churn rate of an impressively low 0.97% is a reflection of the telco’s focus on retaining customer loyalty. “Thanks to our customers’ first culture, clients are staying with us longer, as evidenced by our industry-low postpaid wireless monthly churn of 0.97%, the lowest result in seven years, and strong loyalty in TV and Internet services,” Entwistle said in a statement.
Data revenue increased by $78 million or 14% cent to $648 million, representing 45% of wireless network revenue in the quarter. Data ARPU (excluding Public Mobile) increased by $2.88 or 11 per cent to $28.17. Telus said the increases were a result of continued strong adoption and usage of smartphones and data applications, as well as higher roaming volumes.
Increased data revenue also helped drive Telus’s wireline revenues in the fourth quarter, which increased by $45 million or 3.4% to $1.36 billion , when compared with the same period a year ago. The increased data revenue was, however, partially offset by declines in legacy voice revenues. The telco’s TV subscriber based increased by 137,000 or 20% to 815,000 compared to the same period a year earlier.
High-speed Internet net additions decreased by 2,000 to 21,000, while Telus’s high-speed subscriber base of 1.4 million increased by 69,000 or 5.2 per cent from the same period in 2012.
