Telecom operator Telus announced its capital expenditure (Capex) for both 2020 and 2021 in Canada.
Capex for 2020 and 2021, excluding the purchase of spectrum licences, will be nearly C$2.75 billion in each year.

Telus indicated that the telecom operator Capex in wireless business will intensify in the next two years in line with 5G investment plans.

“These investments reflect the expansion of our fibre optic network for connecting homes and businesses directly to network,” Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said.

Telus, a leading mobile operator in Canada, will be focusing on the investment of small-cell technology in order to improve coverage and positioning for the launch of 5G. Telus will be investing in the support systems to drive operational effectiveness and efficiency.

Rogers Communications, one of the rivals of Telus, has turned on its first 5G-powered smart campus in the country in association with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Rogers last year completed live 5G testing at Rogers Centre. In addition, Rogers has started upgrading its 4.5G network with the 5G-ready technology to be ready for the commercial deployment of 5G services in 2020.

Telus said its capital expenditures declined 1.8 percent to $748 million primarily due to the timing of fibre build activities.

Telus PureFibre covered approximately 2.14 million premises, or 67 percent of high-speed broadband footprint of approximately 3.2 million premises, at the end of the Sept quarter. This is an increase of approximately 400,000 PureFibre premises over the last twelve months, Telus said.

Vancouver, B.C.–based Telus added 258,000 wireless, Internet, TV and security customers, up 31,000 or 14 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

Telus said it added 111,000 mobile phones, 82,000 mobile connected devices (IoT), as well as 32,000 Internet, 19,000 TV and 14,000 Security customers.

Telus said the total wireless subscriber base of more than 10 million was up 5.5 percent over the last twelve months, reflecting 3.1 percent increase in mobile phones subscriber base to nearly 8.7 million and 23 percent increase to mobile connected devices subscriber base to more than 1.4 million.

Telus revenue

Telus revenue dropped 2 to $3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2019. EBITDA increased 6.3 percent to $1.4 billion due to higher wireless network revenue growth, growth in wireline data service margins, higher EBITDA contribution from customer care and business services (CCBS) and health businesses.

Telus wireless revenues increased 1.1 percent due to network revenue growth of 2 percent driven by 5.5 percent increase in subscriber base, partly offset by lower mobile phone ARPU from declining chargeable data usage and the competitive environment.

Doug French, CFO of Telus, said: “The superior execution of our customer experience focus and data growth strategy, delivered another set of strong financial and operational results that are in line with 2019 annual financial targets.”