Telus’ 2Q profit falls 9%, IPTV subscribers up 125%

Canadian full-service telco Telus has reported that its net income for the second quarter of 2009 fell by 9% year-on-year to CAD244 million (USD226 million) on revenues that slipped by 0.9% to CAD2.377 billion, as growth in demand for wireless services slowed in a troubled economy. EBITDA also fell in the three months to the end of June, by 4.9% y-o-y to CAD873 million, leading Telus CEO Darren Entwhistle to say: ‘The second quarter results continue to reflect the impacts of the recession on our western and nationally based businesses… In light of moderating revenues, our solid progress on operational efficiency initiatives has helped mitigate the effect of current economic conditions and better position the organisation for accelerated performance when the economy recovers.’ Highlights of the Vancouver-based firm’s 2Q results included a 4.1% annual rise in high speed internet subscribers to 1.108 million, a 125% jump in IPTV (‘TELUS TV’) subscribers to 115,000, and a 7.8% overall increase in mobile customers to 6.288 million, as post-paid users increased by 8.4% and pre-paid SIMs in service rose by 5.6%.