Telus talks wireless strategy after spectrum auction, Q2 results

Going forward, if Canadians are to “truly benefit” from 5G innovation and affordability, the government needs to develop “responsible, forward-looking, and predictable regulatory policy that ensures expedition, fair, and economical access to the national asset,” according to Telus Corp. president and CEO Darren Entwistle. Entwistle made the comments Friday afternoon during the company’s second quarter investors’ call, a day after the 3500MHz spectrum results were released. Telus acquired 25 MHz of 3500 MHz spectrum in the auction, spending $1.95 billion for 142 licenses covering a population of 24.9 million. Entwistle said Telus now holds on average 40 MHz of 3500 MHz spectrum in its key markets, enabling it to offer 5G broadband connectivity on a national basis. “However, 5G spectrum auctions around the world confirm that international carriers pay much less for this resource than their Canadian counterparts. Indeed Canada's position as a global network leader is being undermined by burdensome regulations governing access to spectrum and its costs,” Entwistle said. He said Telus’ wireless strategy, after the auction, is “pretty straightforward,'' with plans to operationalize the spectrum and have a coverage footprint of 75 per cent of the population by the end of 2021. “And then you get the right attributes in terms of speed coverage, reliability, and low latency. And that's what we're focused on. If we can do that right, we'll get great customer outcomes and will generate great economic returns,” Entwistle said. He reiterated that the spectrum Telus acquired was expensive, looking at it from a relative basis. “I don't think that there's any surprise behind that. When you artificially constrain supply and you exacerbate that with asymmetric set-aside, you're going to get a cost escalation of spectrum,” he said. “I do think that the cost of the spectrum for all players within the open spectrum construct was inconsistent with what I think our country's agenda should be in respect of our digital economy… and affordability agenda." The company reported a profit of $344 million, up by 9.2 per cent from the same period last year which saw profits at $315 million. Total revenue hit $4.1 billion, an increase of 10.3 per cent from the $3.7 billion it brought in during the same quarter in 2020. RBC Dominion Securities Inc. analyst Drew McReynolds wrote in a note that Telus outperformed predictions in the quarter, stating in a note on the results that they were “slightly ahead of our expectations across almost all metrics,” more specifically noting that the mobile phone customer additions were a “positive surprise.” For its mobile service, Telus reported 89,000 net additions for the quarter, an increase of 28,000 from the same quarter last year, with an average revenue per subscriber per month (ARPU) of $56.56, an increase of $0.12 or 0.2 per cent. The ARPU increase, according to the company's earnings report, were due to a greater mix of “high-value customer additions, selection of higher-tier mobile plans, and higher-value smartphones in the sales mix.” However, its increase in revenue was offset by a decline in chargeable data usage, “the impact of the competitive environment putting pressure on base rate plan prices,” and the COVID-19 pandemic. “The stronger net adds number is reflective of the higher loading numbers we have been observing across the industry in Q2,” analyst Aravinda Galappatthige with Canaccord Genuity, stated in a note Friday. “We note that TELUS’ wireless service revenues have exceeded its pre-pandemic levels (Q2/19: $1,523M), well ahead of Rogers and BCE.” Its total net additions for all customers was 223,000, up by 82,000, which Entwistle called “an industry-best client loyalty across T-mobile and fixed product line.” Television saw a net addition of 11,000 customers, an increase of 3,000, “mainly due to the success of Telus’ bundled product offerings,” according to its report, and its Internet offering saw 30,000 new subscribers. Connected devices saw net additions of 84,000 connected devices, up by 51,000, “reflecting increased demand for IoT solutions from new and existing customers,” Entwistle said. -- Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca

Telus talks wireless strategy after spectrum auction, Q2 results

News | 07/30/2021 6:31 pm EDT

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