Telus Q1 2025 Results: Profit and Revenue Surge, but Mobile Subscriber Growth Stalls?

Telus Corporation’s first-quarter 2025 earnings report underscored a company in transition: its financial performance was robust, with profits and revenue hitting new heights, yet its mobile subscriber growth slowed compared to previous quarters, raising questions about long-term momentum in a competitive wireless market. While Telus continues to diversify its revenue streams through healthcare and technology ventures, investors must weigh these strategic wins against lingering concerns about its core wireless business.

Financial Highlights: Profit Jumps, but Adjusted Earnings Stagnate
Telus reported a net income of $321 million, a 151% year-over-year increase, driven by lower tax rates and operational efficiencies. However, adjusted earnings per share held steady at 26 cents, matching Q1 2024. Revenue rose 2.6% to $5.06 billion, fueled by strong demand for bundled services and its PureFibre broadband network. The results suggest Telus is benefiting from cost-cutting measures and cross-selling synergies, particularly in its health and technology segments.

Customer Growth: A Record Total, But Mixed Signals for Mobile
Telus added a record 218,000 total Mobile and Fixed customers in Q1 2025, marking its best quarterly performance ever. However, the breakdown reveals a critical nuance: mobile phone and connected device additions totaled 168,000, while fixed broadband customers surged by 50,000—a significant shift from prior years when mobile growth dominated. This raises questions about whether Telus is relying too heavily on its fixed-line business, which faces slower long-term growth, to offset a potential slowdown in wireless demand.

Postpaid mobile churn remained impressively low at 0.84%, but the company’s ability to retain subscribers may not translate to new customer wins in an increasingly crowded market. Competitors like Rogers and BCE are aggressively pricing unlimited data plans, which could pressure Telus’s margins if it follows suit.

Strategic Wins: Health and Tech Drive Diversification
The star of Telus’s Q1 report was its TELUS Health segment, which reported 12% revenue growth and 30% Adjusted EBITDA growth, serving 76.5 million global lives. The recent acquisition of Workplace Options—a global wellbeing solutions firm—expands Telus’s health platform to 88 million employees worldwide. Combined with synergies from the LifeWorks acquisition, Telus now projects $427 million in annualized cost and cross-selling efficiencies by year-end 2025, a key lever to offset wireless competition.

TELUS Digital, the company’s global tech subsidiary, also showed promise despite a 38% drop in Adjusted EBITDA due to increased investments in sales teams and operational improvements. While short-term pain persists, Telus remains committed to its $2.15 billion Free Cash Flow target, underpinning its 3–8% annual dividend growth through 2028.

Risks and Challenges Ahead
Despite the positives, two major risks loom. First, TELUS Digital’s struggles highlight the challenges of scaling its tech services amid global economic uncertainty. Second, Telus’s leverage ratio—currently 3.6x net debt to EBITDA—remains a concern. The company aims to reduce it to 3.0x by 2027 through asset sales and debt repayments, but this requires disciplined execution in a volatile financing environment.

Conclusion: A Diversified Play, but Wireless Momentum Matters
Telus’s Q1 results paint a company thriving in its second acts—healthcare and technology—while its core wireless business shows signs of maturing. With a 7% dividend hike and a shareholder-friendly capital allocation strategy, the stock remains attractive for income investors. However, sustained growth hinges on stabilizing mobile subscriber momentum and realizing synergies from its health acquisitions.

The data tells the story: while Telus’s adjusted EBITDA grew 3–5% in 2025, its wireless revenue growth has slowed to single digits. Investors should monitor whether fixed-line and health segments can offset this, especially as TELUS Digital’s EBITDA struggles suggest execution risks in new ventures. For now, Telus’s 8% dividend yield and $2.15 billion Free Cash Flow target make it a compelling play—but the wireless slowdown serves as a reminder that no telecom giant can rest on its laurels.