Telus profits down 30%

Canadian full-service telecoms provider Telus has posted a 30% year-on-year drop in net profit in the third quarter, which the company said was due to increased spending on new projects and a less favourable tax adjustment than in the previous year, reports CBC News. The Vancouver-based telco reported net income in the three months ended 30 September 2008 of CAD285 million (USD240 million), on revenues of CAD2.45 billion, compared to a year earlier when it posted third-quarter profit of CAD410 million, on sales of CAD2.31 billion. Ignoring tax adjustments, Telus said net income decreased by 5.3% year-on-year. The operator added 176,900 new wireless customers in the three-month period to take its total subscriber base to over six million. Fixed line customers, however, decreased by 4% or 43,000 in the quarter. Telus also said that a more competitive and mature market for high speed internet services led to slow growth, as it added 13,300 broadband subscribers in July-September, or 58% less than in the corresponding period a year earlier. The company reduced its financial guidance for the year, citing an increase in restructuring costs for the year from CAD30 million to CAD50 million and the current economic climate.