Telus Q3 revenues rise to $2.55B on wireline, wireless data growth

Telus (Toronto: T.TO) saw its Q3 revenues rise 6.5 percent to CAD 2.6 billion (USD 2.55 billion), a result of strong wireless and wireline growth in the quarter.

Driven by strong data growth, the Canadian service provider's wireless revenue grew 9 percent, while wireline revenue grew 4  percent.

Telus Q3 2011 earnings results

Click here for details from Telus' Q3 2011 earnings results.

On a consolidated basis, Q3 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3 percent to CAD 968 million (USD 948.8 million) as a result of revenue growth being offset by support growth for its Optik broadband services.

Here's a breakdown of the company's key metrics:

  • Voice services: Total network access lines (NALs) declined 4 percent from Q3 2010 to 3.6 million, which the service provider said is the slowest rate of decline in two and a half years. Not surprisingly, the 6.3 percent decline in residential lines is attributable to cable competition and wireless substitution. What did help Telus reduce residential NAL losses by 9,000 to 30,000 was its continued focus on providing its Optik brand triple play service bundles. Meanwhile, business NALs declined by 13,000 due to ongoing competition in the small and medium business market and conversion to IP services.
  • Broadband access: Driven by the pull-through effect of Optik TV service sales and continued broadband service expansion, Telus added 22,000 new Optik High Speed Internet subscribers, up 47 percent from a year ago.
  • Video services: While the service provider continues to trail large cable MSOs like Shaw (NYSE: SJR) in terms of total video subscribers, it did add 50,000 subscribers in the quarter, a 32 percent year-over-year increase. At the end of the third quarter Telus had a total of 453,000 TV subscribers up 70 percent from a year ago.

"Our ongoing investments in broadband networks are generating operational and financial momentum as evidenced by strong sales of smartphones, Optik IPTV service and 440,000 new customer connections in the last year," said Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO. "Moreover, TELUS delivered industry leading data revenue growth in both wireless and wireline services at 53 and 15 percent, respectively, in the third quarter."

For the year 2011, the service provider has reaffirmed its total consolidated and segmented annual guidance of CAD 10.2 billion to CAD 10.4 billion (USD 10 billion to 10.2 billion) in consolidated revenues. In the wireline segment, Telus has forecast 2011 revenues of CAD 4.825 to 4.925 billion (USD 4.73 to 4.83 billion).

For more:
- see the earnings release
- Reuters has this article

Earnings summary: Wireline in the third quarter 2011

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