Telus reportedly in talks to buy Mobilicity, spectrum likely to be the prize

WIND Mobile, Mobilicity & Public Mobile withdraw from Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association

CWTA has become voice of Big Three telcos at expense of consumers and new entrant mobile service providers

TORONTO, April 10, 2013 /CNW/ - After careful consideration, WIND Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity today announced their withdrawal from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).

The three mobile service providers say the move is a direct result of their long-standing, mounting frustration with the CWTA's consistent bias in favour of Rogers, Bell and TELUS on a wide variety of issues. From this point, the CWTA does not, and cannot claim to, speak on behalf of the Canadian mobile wireless sector.

"When we were first approached by the CWTA, we were promised clear and fair representation on issues of true industry alignment," said Simon Lockie, Chief Regulatory Officer for WIND Mobile. "But despite making our objections and concerns abundantly clear on numerous occasions, the CWTA has repeatedly failed to honour this promise, leaving us no alternative but to withdraw."

"It has been evident for quite some time that, rather than being a true industry association which represents the views of all players regardless of size, the CWTA has instead largely been an advocate for Rogers, TELUS and Bell, and often directly contrary to the interests of new entrant wireless carriers," said Bob Boron, General Counsel and Senior Vice-President, Legal & Regulatory Affairs for Public Mobile.

"We have spent the better part of three years repeatedly voicing our opposition to the CWTA on a wide range of matters to the point of issuing a press release in January 2011 that publically expressed our dissent on the CWTA's position on wireless consumer protection," said Gary Wong, Director of Legal Affairs for Mobilicity. "There seems to be a blatant disregard of the new entrants in favour of acting in the best interests of the Big Three carriers and it is unacceptable."

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By: Unknown On 9:51 PM

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Telus profit lifted by wireless; dividend raised

n">(Reuters) - Telus Corp reported a stronger third-quarter profit on Friday, as increased smartphone adoption boosted earnings from its wireless business and spurred the Canadian telecom company to raise its quarterly dividend.

Wireless data revenue jumped 23 percent in the third quarter ended September 30 as the proportion of postpaid subscribers using smartphones rose to 63 percent, from 48 percent a year earlier.

The Vancouver-based company, one of Canada's largest telecom players, raised its quarterly dividend to 64 Canadian cents a share, from 61 Canadian cents.

In a report to clients, Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said Telus' quarterly results and dividend increase were in line with expectations.

"Telus continues to post strong wireless results, which more than offset the decline in the profitability of the wireline business," he said. "The company should continue to attract dividend growth-seeking investors."

Telus said it added some 116,000 postpaid wireless subscribers in the quarter. Rogers Communications' has said its postpaid customer base grew by 76,000, and BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecom company, added 148,502 net postpaid customers.

The number of new postpaid subscribers is watched closely, because they often enter into multi-year contracts and pay more than prepaid customers.

The average Telus wireless customer paid C$61.42 each month in the quarter, 90 Canadian cents more than a year earlier, as growth from data more than offset declining revenue from voice services.

Telus' net income rose to C$351 million ($351 million), or C$1.07 per diluted share, in the quarter from C$326 million, or C$1.00 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of C$1.07 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 6 percent to C$2.77 billion, compared with the consensus forecast of C$2.75 billion.

The company also said Chief Financial Officer Robert McFarlane, who has been with Telus for 12 years, will retire at the end of the year. He will be replaced by John Gossling.

Telus said it also added 42,000 new TV subscribers and 26,000 high-speed Internet customers in the quarter ended September 30, partially offseting the loss of about 39,000 landline customers.

The company said its total wireless subscriber base of 7.6 million is up five percent from a year ago.

Shares of Telus were up 2.3 percent in afternoon trading. ($1 = 1.0017 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bangalore and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Tim Dobbyn)

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By: Dilusha On 7:38 PM

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Telus profit lifted by wireless; dividend raised

n">(Reuters) - Telus Corp reported a stronger third-quarter profit on Friday, as increased smartphone adoption boosted earnings from its wireless business and spurred the Canadian telecom company to raise its quarterly dividend.

Wireless data revenue jumped 23 percent in the third quarter ended September 30 as the proportion of postpaid subscribers using smartphones rose to 63 percent, from 48 percent a year earlier.

The Vancouver-based company, one of Canada's largest telecom players, raised its quarterly dividend to 64 Canadian cents a share, from 61 Canadian cents.

In a report to clients, Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said Telus' quarterly results and dividend increase were in line with expectations.

"Telus continues to post strong wireless results, which more than offset the decline in the profitability of the wireline business," he said. "The company should continue to attract dividend growth-seeking investors."

Telus said it added some 116,000 postpaid wireless subscribers in the quarter. Rogers Communications' has said its postpaid customer base grew by 76,000, and BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecom company, added 148,502 net postpaid customers.

The number of new postpaid subscribers is watched closely, because they often enter into multi-year contracts and pay more than prepaid customers.

The average Telus wireless customer paid C$61.42 each month in the quarter, 90 Canadian cents more than a year earlier, as growth from data more than offset declining revenue from voice services.

Telus' net income rose to C$351 million ($351 million), or C$1.07 per diluted share, in the quarter from C$326 million, or C$1.00 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of C$1.07 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 6 percent to C$2.77 billion, compared with the consensus forecast of C$2.75 billion.

The company also said Chief Financial Officer Robert McFarlane, who has been with Telus for 12 years, will retire at the end of the year. He will be replaced by John Gossling.

Telus said it also added 42,000 new TV subscribers and 26,000 high-speed Internet customers in the quarter ended September 30, partially offseting the loss of about 39,000 landline customers.

The company said its total wireless subscriber base of 7.6 million is up five percent from a year ago.

Shares of Telus were up 2.3 percent in afternoon trading. ($1 = 1.0017 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bangalore and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Tim Dobbyn)

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By: Dilusha On 4:20 PM

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Rogers overhauls its cellphone plans to offer unlimited voice and text, hook Canadians on data (update: Bell and Telus too)

By Jon Fingas posted Nov 7th 2012 2:03PM
Most larger North American cellular carriers still base their plans around voice minutes -- how quaintly 2006 of them. We're in an era of smartphones now, and Canada's Rogers is revamping its plans to reflect a data-first reality while possibly wringing out a few dollars more. A quartet of newly active Unlimited Talk and Text rates hand out the now-trivial messaging and voice time like candy: apart from a $55 entry plan that includes a still-healthy 1,000 minutes of talk,

By: Dilusha On 10:53 AM

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