The boss of Telus says that the company can do more to attract new customers without necessarily lowering its prices to compete with its competitors.
Posted at 9:18 am Updated at 5:34 p.m.
Sammy Hudes Canadian press
The president and chief executive officer, Darren Entwistle, said he was encouraged on Friday by the performance of Telus in the first quarter, with 218,000 new net customers, around 9,000 more than at the same time the previous year, establishing a record for the company in the first three months of the year.
This figure includes 20,000 mobile telephony subscribers – down 25,000 by one year – and 21,000 Internet subscribers – down 9,000 by one year.
Amber Bracken photo, Canadian Press Archives
Le PDG de Telus, Darren Entwistle
The net additions of subscribers of connected devices established 148,000 in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 47,000 attributable to the growth of connections to the IDO (Internet of Objects) of Business of Transport, Smart Safety and Connectivity.
During a conference call with analysts, Mr. Entwistle said Telus should not be satisfied with this result.
“Okay, applaud, applaud. It’s great, but it is not enough, “he said, adding that he would like to see Telus develop his sales of machine learning services and the Internet of Things more.
“It is a profitable activity, an attractive income growth for our organization. It is one (investment on investment) for all the investments we have made in the 5G infrastructure and spectrum. It is a good deal in terms of loyalty, ”he said.
More Telus will manage to increase its sales in this area, the more it can generate its turnover growth, said Entwistle, and thus lighten the pressure on its average income by user, a key indicator followed by companies in the telecommunications sector.
The average income per user of Telus for mobile phones was quantified at $ 57.13 in the first quarter, a drop of $ 2.18, or 3.7 %, compared to the previous year.
Telus explained that this drop was due to the subscription of basic packages at lower prices “in response to increased competition in terms of marketing and promotional prices targeting new customers and existing customers”, as well as a drop in income related to overtaking and roaming.
Questioned by an analyst on the decrease of almost 1 % of the turnover of the mobile services of Telus during the quarter and on the way in which the company can balance prices and subscriptions, Mr. Entwistle said that Telus should “adopt a more bloody economic model”.
Note that “customers favor reliability to accessibility”, he denounced the price alignment culture in the telecommunications sector and argued that Telus should be oriented differently.
“We have to change the mentality of the sector in marketing and sales. In the mobile services sector, competition on prices must be fair, and personally, I do not understand this, “said Entwistle.
“Why can’t we offer an added price?” If we offer better features, and above all better customer service, why should we constantly align our prices, always and again, in a race to the lowest? It is a transformation to which our organization is ardently endeavored to achieve, “he explained.
Mr. Entwistle added that Telus “systematically underperform in terms of integration or grouping of products” and that it would seek to improve its capacity to sell cross-products to its customers. He said it could help reduce the unsubscribe rate, a key indicator measuring subscribers that resile their services.
The company indicated that its mobile phone unsubscription rate was 1.06 % in the first quarter, down from 1.13 % in the first quarter of the previous year. This figure includes an unsubscription rate of 0.84 % for postpayed mobile phones.
Dividend increase
Telus increased his quarterly dividend after announcing an increase in his profit in the first quarter compared to the previous year.
The company announced a quarterly dividend of 41.63 cents per share, against 40.23 cents before.
This increase arises while Telus said that it has achieved a net profit attributable to the ordinary shares of 321 million, or 21 cents per share, for the closed quarter on March 31.
This result is compared to a profit of 127 million, or 9 hundred per share, in the first quarter of 2024.
On an adjusted basis, Telus announced that it had made a profit of 26 cents per share during its last quarter, the same amount as the previous year.
Operating products and other revenues totaled 5.06 billion, compared to 4.93 billion a year ago.
Analyst Maher Yaghi, from Scotia Bank, said that the results were in line with expectations, while telus wirelessly “echoed what we observed in BCE and Rogers, showing continuous pressure on prices due to the adoption of international roaming packages and a global decrease in the prices of packages due to high competition.”
Also Friday, the company announced that it has finalized the acquisition of Workplace Options, an American health service company for employees, for around 500 million.
The financial director Doug French said that in the context of the transaction, Telus has signed a non -binding agreement with a third -party investor who will invest 285 million in the company.
