Telus CEO Darren Entwistle has revealed the telecom operator’s main achievements in Canada during the second quarter of 2019.

Telus added 195,000 new wireless, Internet and TV customers during the second quarter, up 45,000 or 30 percent over the same quarter a year ago. The net additions included 82,000 mobile phones, 72,000 mobile connected devices, 25,000 Internet subscribers and 16,000 TV customers.

The number of wireless subscribers of Telus increased marginally to 9.890 million in Q2 2019 from 9.736 million in Q1 2019.

The number of wireline subscribers of Telus rose marginally to 4.243 million from 4.275 million.

Telus said mobile connected device net additions of 72,000 increased by 35,000 year-over-year, driven by growth in our Internet of Things (IoT) offerings including the connected device growth.

Internet net additions of 25,000 were lower by 4,000 as consistent customer demand for high-speed broadband services, including fibre to the premises, was partly offset by increased competitive intensity.

Telus said TV net additions of 16,000 increased by 1,000 over the same quarter a year ago due to a lower customer churn rate from stronger retention efforts.

Telus said residential voice net losses of 9,000, its fewest quarterly net losses since 2004, improved by 1,000 over the same quarter a year ago.

Telus Capex

Telus spent $770 million (–2.7 percent) towards Capex (capital expenditure). The Capex of Telus in wireless network reached $223 million (–8.2 percent) and wireline Capex was $547 million (–0.2 percent).

Telus PureFibre covered approximately 2.04 million premises, or 64 percent of high-speed broadband footprint of approximately 3.2 million premises. This is an increase of 390,000 PureFibre premises over the last twelve months.

Telus received the recognition as the best mobile network in Canada, inclusive of the fastest speed and most expansive coverage, from Ookla. Tutela ranked Telus number one for mobile experience in Canada — for the second quarter in a row.

Telus revenue

Telus reported revenue of C$3.597 billion (+4.2 percent) with EBITDA margin of 38.2 percent during the second quarter.

Telus generated second quarter revenue of $1.997 billion (+2.9 percent) from wireless and $1.674 billion (+6.4 percent) from wireline business.

Mobile phone ABPU of $73.43 increased slightly by 0.5 percent as growth from customers selecting plans with larger data buckets or periodically topping up their data buckets, the launch of Platinum rate plan and higher-value smartphones in the sales mix was partly offset by declines in chargeable data usage.

Mobile phone ARPU of $60.30 declined by 1.2 percent as the declines in chargeable data usage and competitive pressures on base rate plan prices and changes in customer mix as mentioned above more than offset the increased number of customers selecting plans with larger data buckets.

Mobile phone churn rate of 1.01 percent increased slightly by 2 basis points over the same period a year ago due to increased competitive intensity, partly offset by focus on executing customers first initiatives and retention programs.

“Telus reported strong second quarter results, including robust subscriber net additions across our portfolio of growth services. This was anchored by the TELUS teams’ efforts to deliver a superior performance in respect of wireless and wireline customer loyalty,” said Darren Entwistle.

Telus CFO Doug French said: “Free cash flow before income taxes is higher by 8 per cent for the first six months, driven by EBITDA growth and stable capital expenditures as we continue to make the right strategic investments to drive sustainable and profitable subscriber growth.”