Telus investing $73B over five years

Telus Corp. plans to invest $73 billion to bolster its networks over the next five years, chief executive Darren Entwistle announced Thursday at the telecommunications company’s annual general meeting.

The investment would cover new infrastructure, technology, operations and spectrum, he said.

It comes at a time when some of Telus’ rivals have announced they are scaling back network spending in response to unfavourable regulatory policies.

“These funds will ensure that our networks remain robust, resilient, reliant and, critically, accessible for the millions of customers and businesses that rely on us day in and day out,” said Entwistle, noting the funding builds on $259 billion that Telus has invested in technology and infrastructure since 2000.

Telus was awarded the most licences in the federal government’s most recent auction for wireless spectrum — the radio wave bandwidths that carry signals — last fall. The auction offered telecommunications companies the chance to purchase chunks of mid-band wireless spectrum touted for being able to carry a lot of data over long distances.

Telus secured 1,430 licences for nearly $620 million.

Entwistle said the decommissioning of Telus’ copper networks as it transitions to fibre remains a key ongoing project. Since 2018, Telus has migrated over half a million residential customers in provinces such as B.C. and Alberta from copper to fibre networks.

“Our goal … is to retire copper on a community-by-community basis within our pure fibre footprint in the next few years,” Entwistle said.

“This approach enables (Telus) to prioritize our efforts to harvest deeper cost savings, have a stronger competitive position in the market and, critically, contribute to the circular economy.”

Meanwhile, the cost of building and operating wireless networks is rising “markedly,” the CEO said, noting the price of telecom equipment paid in U.S. dollars rose over 24 per cent from 2020 to 2023.

Earlier in the day, Telus announced it raised its quarterly dividend as it reported its first-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago. Telus said it will now make a quarterly payment to shareholders of 38.91 cents per share, up from its previous rate of 37.61 cents per share.

Telus reported net income attributable to common shares of $127 million or nine cents per share. The result was down from a profit of $217 million or 15 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

The results were “in line to slightly ahead of forecasts,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note. “We view the results as largely neutral for the shares at current levels.”

Operating revenues and other income for the quarter totalled $4.93 billion, down from $4.96 billion in the first quarter of 2023.