VANCOUVER – Telus Corp. (TSX:T) is boosting its dividend by 5.5 per cent following stronger third-quarter profits.
The telecommunications company said quarterly net income rose 30 per cent to $326 million, or $1 per share, three cents above estimates from analysts in a poll by Thomson Reuters.
The results were up from $251 million or 78 cents a year ago.
Adjusting for three one-time items, profits were 12 per cent higher, the company said.
Revenues increased 6.5 per cent to $2.62 billion from $2.46 billion.
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Telus also announced it will raise the company’s dividend to 58 cents per share, up from 55 cents.
“This is the second of our six targeted semi-annual dividend increases out to 2013,” noted president and CEO Darren Entwistle in a release.
“Our ongoing investments in broadband networks are generating operational and financial momentum as evidenced by strong sales of smartphones.”
The company said wireless data revenue was up 53 per cent as it added 133,000 postpaid customers.
Telus is one of the few major telecom companies that has said it won’t pursue a strategy of buying up media properties to give it content for its online and mobile phone platforms. The company announced in August that it’s increasing its 2011 revenue guidance by $200 million to $300 million based on increases in both the wireless and wireline businesses.
In addition, the telecom operator said it will raise its capital spending plans to $1.8 billion from $1.7 billion, reflecting an increase in this year’s investment to build a new wireless network.
The Vancouver company offers its Internet-Protocol television service in British Columbia, Alberta and eastern Quebec. Telus has said it will launch an even faster wireless network with technology called Long-Term Evolution in early 2012.
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