Telus profit rises on strong wireless, dividend up

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TORONTO, May 8 (Reuters) - Profit at Telus Corp (T.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), Canada's second-biggest phone company, jumped almost 50 percent in the first quarter, helped by higher wireless revenues as the company added long-term subscribers at a faster pace.

Telus said on Thursday it earned C$291 million ($287 million), or 90 Canadian cents a share, in the three months ended March 31. That was up from a profit of C$194.8 million, or 57 Canadian cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The company also declared a quarterly dividend of 45 Canadian cents per share, an increase of 20 percent from the quarterly dividend of 37.5 Canadian cents paid in 2007.

Operating revenue rose 6.6 percent to C$2.35 billion from C$2.2 billion a year earlier as the company made more money from wireless services and data, which includes text messaging and mobile e-mail.

Telus said that while net wireless subscriber additions dipped 2.3 percent to a total 88,400 during the quarter, the amount of postpaid net additions was up 19 percent to 72,400.

Postpaid users are those who pay monthly bills and usually sign multi-year contracts, as opposed to prepaid subscribers who pay in advance for a set amount of service. They are viewed as key to the long-term growth of wireless firms such as Telus.

Prepaid wireless additions fell 46 percent to 16,000, Telus said.