{"id":268225,"date":"2025-11-07T17:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268225\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T17:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:43:16","slug":"telus-in-talks-to-partner-on-data-centre-ai-business-cfo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268225\/","title":{"rendered":"Telus in talks to partner on data-centre, AI business, CFO says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Telus posted a 68-per-cent increase in net income in its third quarter following a one-time debt repurchase.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Telus Corp. T-T<\/a> is in \u201csignificant\u201d talks related to potential partnerships for its data-centre and sovereign artificial-intelligence business, according to the company\u2019s chief financial officer. <\/p>\n

In an interview Friday morning, Doug French said the company is in \u201cactive discussions on certain partnerships and on longer term expansion as part of our data strategy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last quarter, Telus chief executive officer Darren Entwistle said that it would \u201cnot be unforeseeable\u201d for the company to look at partnership opportunities to bring in capital and support the segment\u2019s growth, which he said could be \u201cnot unlike\u201d its recent sale of a minority stake of its tower assets to La Caisse. <\/p>\n

Telus announced in March that will start operating AI data centres and sell access to Canadian companies that want to build and run AI models.<\/p>\n

Canada wants to detangle its data from U.S. tech giants. Can it be done?<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking to analysts Friday morning, Mr. Entwistle addressed market concerns about the potential of AI compute oversupply, saying the company\u2019s modular build approach allows it to grow with the market opportunity responsibly, while keeping capital expenditure in mind and staying open to advancements in chip technology.<\/p>\n

Telus Corp. posted a 68-per-cent increase in net income in its third quarter following a one-time debt repurchase, and reported flat revenue as it added more internet customers than expected and grew its health business.<\/p>\n

The Vancouver-based telecom and technology company started to moderate its dividend growth rate, as it aims to deleverage its balance sheet.<\/p>\n

Telus posted operating revenue and other income of $5.1-billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, flat compared to last year and meeting analyst consensus.<\/p>\n

The company had net income of $431-million, compared to $257-million a year ago and much higher than analyst expectations of $299-million.<\/p>\n

That increase was primarily driven by a gain from the repurchase of long-term debt in July, 2025. When adjusting for this and other items, adjusted net income decreased by 10 per cent to $370-million compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Telus gained 82,000 net new mobile phone subscribers in the quarter, down 33 per cent from 124,000 last year and meeting analyst consensus.<\/p>\n

BCE revenue flat as focus shifts to expanding AI division<\/a><\/p>\n

The company earned 2.8 per cent lower average revenue per user from mobile phone services in the quarter, which it said was due to selling more cell phone plans with cheaper rates in response to promotional pricing by other telecoms, and a decline in roaming revenues.<\/p>\n

However, analysts and telecom industry executives say that the wireless competitive environment has started to stabilize, citing a less intense back-to-school season.<\/p>\n

Telus added 40,000 net new internet customers, up 17.6 per cent from 2024 and above expectations of 27,000.<\/p>\n

Telus declared a year-over-year dividend increase of 4 per cent on Friday alongside its third-quarter earnings, compared with a 7 per cent hike announced in the previous quarter as the company prioritizes financial flexibility. <\/p>\n

In May, Telus said it would slow its annual dividend growth as it aims to reduce leverage, targeting growth of 7 to 10 per cent in 2025, then between 3 to 8 per cent annually per year from 2026 to 2028.<\/p>\n

The company intends to remove the discount on its dividend reinvestment plan in 2027. <\/p>\n

Telus is aiming to bring its ratio of net-debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to 3 from 3.5 currently (excluding restructuring and other costs) by 2027.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s long-term debt decreased by $2-billion in the quarter to $25.7-billion.<\/p>\n

The company is focusing on achieving growth in its health division, where operating revenue grew 18 per cent in the quarter, meeting analyst expectations.<\/p>\n

Executives have signalled the company could seek to monetize Telus Health in the near term. In October, Bank of Montreal analyst Tim Casey said in a note to investors he expects the company \u201cwill seek a private equity partner for Telus Health in the next 12 to 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telus is already starting to cash in some of its non-core assets, including its legacy copper lines, which Mr. Casey estimated could net it $500-million.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 31, Telus acquired the shares<\/a> of its technology and customer service outsourcing affiliate, Telus Digital, after shareholders of that company voted to approve the takeover proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Telus posted a 68-per-cent increase in net income in its third quarter following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,901,276,277,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-268225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-alberta","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}