Telus says Bell reselling fibre in western Canada will bring ‘net benefit’

As BCE Inc. gears up to launch wholesale fibre services in western Canada, Telus Corp. says that while it plans to continue competing on the retail front, the revenue that it will get through its resold fibre will still be a welcome return. Telus CEO Darren Entwistle and CFO Doug French commented on the matter during the company’s third quarter earnings conference call Friday, Nov. 7. The Vancouver-based telco saw flat revenues and an increase in profits compared to the previous year. “We are obviously supportive of competition,” said French, noting that even though wholesale revenue comes at a “really good margin right up front” because it takes the “pressure off” of capital expenditures, Telus will miss out on the opportunity to offer bundled services to the end customer. However, “there's a good chance these are customers that we would not have gotten, so it is a net benefit to us,” he stated. “Our goal is to ensure that when we're leasing or when we're renting fibre on a wholesale basis, the total economic return is equal to — or better — than the economic return that we derived historically from our own fibre build in western Canada,” explained Entwistle. “Leveraging the limitless bandwidth of fibre, we're also looking to secure economies of scope by creating new services over that rented fibre and getting a better return than what we did originally…,” he continued, explaining that the company has many other services in its portfolio that it can offer to wholesale customers besides internet. Telus reported revenues of $5.1 billion for Q3 2025, the same as Q3 2024. Profits were $431 million, a 68 per cent increase from last year’s $257 million. The company pointed to gains on the purchase of long-term debt as the reason for the growth. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $1.75 billion, also remaining relatively flat compared to the previous year. Telus’ telecom segment saw revenues of $3.88 billion, a decline of three per cent from Q3 2024’s $3.99 billion. The company continued to expand its customer footprint, reporting 20.78 million total telecom subscribers as of Sept. 30, 2025, an increase of five per cent from the same time the previous year. Quarterly net customer additions, however, totaled 288,000, reflecting a decline of 59,000 or 17 per cent compared to the 347,000 additions recorded in Q3 2024. Telus attributed this partly to decelerating Canadian population growth from slowing immigration and a focus on profitable customer “loading.” Telus recorded 40,000 net internet additions in Q3 2025, an increase of 6,000 compared to 34,000 net additions in the prior year. The television segment, conversely, recorded only 5,000 TV net additions, a substantial decrease of 16,000 or 76 per cent compared to the 21,000 additions in Q3 2024. Residential voice experienced 14,000 net losses in the quarter, representing a 56 per cent greater loss compared to the 9,000 losses reported in Q3 2024. phalentm@thewirereport.ca

Telus says Bell reselling fibre in western Canada will bring ‘net benefit’

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
|November 7, 2025

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Telus says Bell reselling fibre in western Canada will bring ‘net benefit’

Telecom | By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald |November 7, 2025

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