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
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
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
"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
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
Telus reported net income attributable to common shares of
The results were "in line to slightly ahead of forecasts," said RBC analyst
"We view the results as largely neutral for the shares at current levels," he said.
Operating revenues and other income for the quarter totalled
On an adjusted basis, Telus said it earned
But Entwistle told shareholders he was so confident in the future of the company that he would be receiving his entire salary in Telus shares indefinitely — something he previously did from 2010 to 2015.
Entwistle's total compensation for 2023 was
That included a
Telus saw a total of 209,000 net customer additions across its telecom services in the first quarter, up 28.2 per cent from a year earlier and marking its strongest result on record for the three-month period, it said.
But the company’s 45,000 net mobile phone subscriber additions in the quarter were down 4.3 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier. Telus’ churn rate for mobile subscribers — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — was 1.13 per cent, up from 0.9 per cent during its previous first quarter, which it said was largely due to "more aggressive marketing and promotional activities."
Chief financial officer
French said Telus is emphasizing its bundling opportunities, along with other advantages, to retain and attract customers.
"There's always going to be enhanced competition and we will work our way through what that looks like through product superiority of bundling, network superiority by having the best fibre networks and 5G networks in the world," he said in an interview.
"So we will compete and we will do very well either way. I think you can't be concerned with competition, you really just have to lead with your strengths."
Telus' mobile phone average revenue per user was
It said those factors, along with a decline in overage revenues, were partly offset by higher roaming revenues as a result of increased travel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
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