Telus

Telus talks up big 2009 goals

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:51:03 -0500

Amid all the talk about the collapsed deal for the takeover of Bell Canada Enterprises, Telus may be Canada's forgotten telco. This week, Telus is doing its best to remind everyone it's still around and worth watching. The Vancouver-based company is taking the opposite direction of many North American telcos at the moment, actually pledging to increase capital spending by as much as 12 percent next year, with wireless projects as a primary target.

Telus issued a statement saying it will bring spending up to about $2.05 billion, from about $1.83 billion this year, with some of the increase coming from spending money deferred from this year to next year. The company still sees relatively flat profits, but the potential for improved earnings per share.

Telus CFO Robert McFarlane said the company would look toward Eastern provinces Quebec and Ontario for growth in 2009. According to several published reports, the company also is saying this week that it would not be interested in pursuing a buyout of suddenly-available BCE-at least not right now, as some BCE watchers and investors might have suspected. Telus had been a contender for the BCE acquisition at one point in 2007 after the company was put in play, but reportedly pulled out of contention because of what it saw as an unfair bidding process.

For more:
- The Toronto Star reports

What now for Bell Canada, eh?

Doug Mohney — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:33:56 -0500

As the smoke clears from a failed $50 billion leveraged buyout deal, Bell Canada now has to focus shoring up its bleeding business and trying to collect a $1.2 billion break-up fee from the potential buyers.

Analysts say that the failure of the buyout was the best news B.C.E. could hear, escaping a crushing debt load that would not have enabled them to do anything (See: Sam Zell, bankruptcy of Tribune publications).

Instead, the largest telecommunications company in Canada now has to play triple-play catchup. The company lags behinds Rodgers Communication and Telus in wireless, its satellite TV offerings lag "well behind" cable," and Rodgers and Videotron are grabbing 10 percent of Bell's traditional landline customers a year; estimates credit cable companies with providing about a quarter of Canada's local phone service since entering the business in 2004.

The only area where Bell remains strong is providing services to businesses and the government sector, but competition from Telus in the market has lowered Bell's profitability.

Most of B.C.E.'s problems are of its own making. In the late '90s, Bell Canada focused on buying media companies rather than upgrading its network. Today, B.C.E. competitors are able to offer better TV and higher-speed Internet services. Analysts believe Bell Canada has no choice other than to bite the bullet and invest in network upgrades or continue to lose market share to cable and wireless firms.

For more:
- NY Times reviews Bell Canada's future. Article.

Telus raises revenue outlook

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:46:02 -0400

Telus, Canada's second-largest telecom service provider, reported second quarter earnings that included a revenue spike of 8% to $2.4 billion, and a profit increase of 5.5% to $267 million. Also, unlike several other North American telecom firms, Telus actually raised its revenue outlook for the rest of this year, from the original range of $9.6 to $9.8 billion to the new forecast of between $9.675 billion and $9.825 billion. Wireless data was a primary growth engine, but wireline data revenue also grew by 20 percent. Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said the Vancouver company is still trying harder to cut costs.

For more:
- see this post by The Canadian Press

Related articles:
Telus saw first-quarter results helped by a tax gain. Telus report
Telus acquired Emergis several months ago. Telus report