Total Mobile and Fixed customer growth of 209,000, up 46,000 over last year, and our strongest first quarter on record, driven by strong demand for our leading portfolio of Mobility and Fixed services Robust Mobile Phone net additions of 45,000 and record first quarter Connected Device net additions of 101,000; industry-leading postpaid mobile phone churn of 0.91 per cent Record first quarter Fixed customer net additions of 63,000, including 30,000 internet customer additions, driven by TELUS' PureFibre network and leading portfolio of bundled services across Mobile and Home Industry-leading customer growth enabling Mobile Network Revenue and Fixed Data Services Revenue growth of 2.9 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively; TTech Adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.1 per cent and strong margin expansion of 160 basis points to 39.4 per cent reflecting cost savings from ongoing efficiency programs Quarterly dividend raised to $0.3891, an increase of 7.0 per cent over the same period last year and our twenty-sixth increase since May 2011, representing a yield of approximately 7.0 per cent; Leading dividend growth program supported by Adjusted EBITDA growth outlook and strong annual free cash flow expansion Reiterating our 2024 Financial Targets including TTech Operating Revenues and Adjusted EBITDA growth of 2 to 4 per cent and 5.5 to 7.5 per cent, respectively, Consolidated Capital Expenditures of approximately $2.6 billion and Free Cash Flow of approximately $2.3 billion VANCOUVER, BC, May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - TELUS Corporation today released its unaudited results for the first quarter of 2024. Consolidated operating revenues and other income decreased by 0.6 per cent over the same period a year ago to $4.9 billion. This decline was driven by lower service revenues in our two reportable segments: TELUS technology solutions (TTech) and Digitally-led customer experiences – TELUS International (DLCX). Within TTech, higher mobile network, residential internet and security revenues, largely driven by subscriber growth, as well as growth in managed, unmanaged and other fixed data services to new and existing business customers was offset by declines in TV and fixed legacy voice services revenues due to technological substitution. The decline in DLCX operating revenues resulted from lower external revenues in the DLCX segment across most of its industry verticals. See First Quarter 2024 Operating Highlights within this news release for a discussion on TTech and DLCX results. "In the first quarter, our team once again delivered against our differentiated growth strategy, leveraging our superior asset portfolio, consistent execution track record and proactive cost efficiency initiatives to deliver industry-leading customer additions and solid financial results against the backdrop of a dynamic operating environment," said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO. "Our robust performance is underpinned by our strategic focus on margin accretive customer growth, globally leading broadband networks and customer-centric culture, which enabled our strongest first quarter on record, with total customer net additions of 209,000, up 28 per cent, year-over-year. This included strong mobile phone net additions of 45,000, and record first quarter customer additions for both connected devices of 101,000 and total fixed net additions of 63,000. TELUS' industry-leading growth reflects the consistent potency of our operational execution, and our unmatched bundled product offerings across Mobile and Home. Our team's passion for delivering customer service excellence contributed to continued leading loyalty across our key product lines. Notably, postpaid mobile phone churn was 0.91 per cent, as we begin the 11th consecutive year below the one per cent level." "Within our global businesses, today, TELUS International (TI) also reported its first quarter results, delivering robust profitability and cash flows amidst what remains a challenging global macroeconomic operating environment, resulting in a difficult prior year comparable. Despite the near-term top line challenges, our TI team has executed against significant cost efficiency programs over the past ten months, positioning the business to achieve further EBITDA growth and incremental margin expansion, along with strong cash flow generation, as we move through the course of the year. We remain highly confident in TI's strategy and investment thesis, which is amplified by meaningful opportunities in respect of digital transformation – particularly with generative AI adoption – and the continuing critical importance of differentiated digital customer experience solutions in the market, creating a vibrant tailwind for TI's medium- and long-term growth and profitability. In TELUS Health, we achieved first quarter revenues of $420 million, alongside 28 per cent EBITDA contribution growth. This was supported by the achievement of $251 million in combined annualized synergies, towards our overall objective of $427 million by the end of 2025. Furthermore, we drove a seven per cent year-over-year increase in our global lives covered to nearly 72 million. We continue to make strong progress scaling TELUS Health and TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods, where we remain focused on accelerating the significant growth profile these differentiated global businesses represent by leveraging the expertise, experience, and high-performance culture and talent of our entire team, inclusive of leveraging significant cross-sell synergies across all lines of our business." "The record customer growth we continue to report is underpinned by our dedicated team who are passionate about delivering superior service offerings and digital capabilities, over our world-leading wireless and PureFibre broadband networks. In addition to driving extensive socio-economic benefits for Canadians in communities from coast-to-coast, for decades to come, the significant broadband network investments we have made enable the continued advancement of our financial and operational performance, and the long-term sustainability of our industry-leading dividend growth program. Today, we are announcing a seven per cent dividend increase, reflecting our unwavering commitment to delivering superior value to our shareholders. Furthermore, it builds on our consistent track record of delivering on our multi-year dividend growth program established in 2011, and most recently extended through 2025, targeting annual growth in the range of seven to 10 per cent. Today's increase represents our 26th over the last 14 years and reflects our unwavering confidence in delivering leading operational and financial results on a sustained basis. Importantly, our strong outlook includes our expectations for continued free cash flow expansion in the years ahead, driven by ongoing strong EBITDA growth and moderating capital expenditure intensity, further supporting the long-term sustainability and quality of our dividend growth program."  "Reflecting our team's long-standing belief in the synergistic relationship between doing well in business and doing good in our communities, May marks the official kick-off of our 19th annual TELUS Days of Giving," continued Darren. "This year, with the support of our extended TELUS family, I have every confidence that we will exceed our goal of inspiring 80,000 volunteers supporting positive outcomes in communities across the 32 countries in which we operate. It is thanks to this unparalleled level of caring and commitment that our team members and retirees, globally, have contributed 2.2 million days of giving since 2000 – more than any other company on the planet." Doug French, Executive Vice-president and CFO said, "In the first quarter of 2024, our team navigated a highly competitive environment across mobility and fixed to deliver healthy operational and financial results. Within our global businesses, investments in our channel and distribution strength is starting to pay dividends with good momentum on increased sales, however, in the short term, the challenging macroeconomic climate continues to elongate sales cycles, impacting top line growth. We expect to see this steadily improve over the coming quarters. Despite the revenue pressures however, we delivered robust consolidated Adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.3 per cent and strong consolidated margin expansion of 170 basis points year over year to 37.6 per cent. Furthermore, within our TTech segment, Adjusted EBITDA was higher by 4.1 per cent and margin of 39.4 per cent improved by 160 basis points over the same period a year ago. This strong performance reflects our unrelenting focus on efficiency and effectiveness to drive significant cost reductions on a permanent basis. As we move through the rest of the year, we remain focused on driving towards achieving our financial targets for 2024, which we reiterated today." "During the first quarter, our team advanced our leadership position in sustainability, issuing our sixth sustainability-linked bond (SLB), linking our financing to the achievement of ambitious environmental targets," added Doug. "Furthermore, our latest SLB offering affirms TELUS as having the largest SLB program in the Canadian fixed income market and reinforces our sustainability commitments as a global leader in ESG. At the end of the quarter, our average cost of long-term debt was 4.37 per cent, our average term to maturity of long-term debt is nearly 11 years and our net debt to EBITDA ratio was 3.78 times. As we progress through 2024 and into future years, we anticipate our leverage ratio to improve as we work back towards our target ratio." "Our leading growth profile, and robust balance sheet position, support our well-established dividend growth program. Our commitment to deliver on this program is underpinned by our confidence in executing our growth strategy and generating meaningful free cash flow on a sustained basis from our leading EBITDA growth profile and low capital intensity. This is balanced against other capital allocation priorities, including ongoing strategic investments along with maintaining a strong balance sheet to provide us ample flexibility to further support our growth ambitions and shareholder capital returns," concluded Doug. As compared to the same period a year ago, net income in the quarter of $140 million was down 38 per cent and Basic earnings per share (EPS) of $0.09 decreased by 40 per cent. These decreases were driven by the impacts from: (i) higher depreciation and amortization from network leases and increased real estate rationalization; increases related to the addition of capital assets acquired in business acquisitions; growth in capital assets in support of the expansion of our broadband footprint, including our generational investment to connect homes and businesses to TELUS PureFibre and 5G technology coverage; successful internet, TV and security subscriber loading; and investments in our fibre-optic technology to support our technology strategy to improve network coverage and capacity, including the ongoing build-out of our 5G network; (ii) higher financing costs reflecting an increase in average long-term debt balances outstanding, attributable in part to business acquisitions, an increase in the effective interest rate and an increase in unrealized changes in virtual power purchase agreements forward element which represent the estimated unrealized amounts recorded from our virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) with renewable energy projects as of March 31, 2024; and (iii) higher restructuring and other costs, primarily related to cost efficiency and effectiveness programs, including workforce reductions, real estate rationalization, and personnel-related restructuring and other costs that were recorded in the prior year. As it relates to EPS, the trends also reflect the effect of a higher number of Common shares outstanding. When excluding certain costs and other adjustments (see 'Reconciliation of adjusted Net income' in this news release), adjusted net income of $390 million increased by 1.0 per cent over the same period last year, while adjusted basic EPS of $0.26 was down 3.7 per cent over the same period last year. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure and adjusted basic EPS is a non-GAAP ratio. For further explanation of these measures, see 'Non-GAAP and other specified financial measures' in this news release. Compared to the same period last year, consolidated EBITDA increased by 1.1 per cent to more than $1.6 billion and Adjusted EBITDA increased by 4.3 per cent to approximately $1.9 billion. The growth in Adjusted EBITDA reflects: (i) broad-based cost reduction efforts across both the TTech and DLCX segments, including workforce reductions, synergies achieved between LifeWorks® and our legacy Health business, and an increase in TTech outsourcing to DLCX resulting in competitive benefits given the lower cost structure in DLCX, as well as savings in marketing, discretionary and administrative costs; (ii) higher mobile network, residential internet and security revenues, largely driven by subscriber growth; (iii) higher net gains in other income; and (iv) growth in managed, unmanaged and other fixed data services to new and existing business customers. These factors were partly offset by: (i) lower mobile phone ARPU; (ii) merit-based compensation increases; (iii) labour cost imbalances arising from reductions in service volume demand in the DLCX segment; (iv) declining TV and fixed legacy voice margins; (v) lower mobile equipment margins; (vi) lower health and agriculture and consumer goods revenues from increased client churn; (vii) higher costs related to the scaling of our digital capabilities, inclusive of increased subscription-based licences, and cloud usage costs; and (viii) higher bad debt expense. In the first quarter, we added 209,000 net customer additions, up 46,000 over the same period last year, and inclusive of 45,000 mobile phones and 101,000 connected devices, in addition to 30,000 internet, 19,000 TV and 22,000 security customer connections. This was partly offset by residential voice losses of 8,000. Our total TTech subscriber base of approximately 19.2 million is up 6.8 per cent over the last twelve months, reflecting a 4.7 per cent increase in our mobile phones subscriber base to over 9.8 million, and a 23 per cent increase in our connected devices subscriber base to more than 3.2 million. Additionally, our internet connections grew by 5.5 per cent over the last twelve months to approximately 2.7 million customer connections, our TV customer base stands at 1.3 customers, and our security subscriber base increased by 7.8 per cent to approximately 1.1 million customers. Lastly, our residential voice subscriber base declined slightly by 2.8 per cent to approximately 1.1 million. In health services, as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, virtual care members were 5.9 million and healthcare lives covered were 71.7 million, up 14 per cent and 7.0 per cent over the past twelve months, respectively. Digital health transactions in the first quarter of 2024 were 159.0 million, up 6.8 per cent over the first quarter of 2023. Cash provided by operating activities of $950 million increased by $189 million in the first quarter of 2024 and free cash flow of $396 million decreased by $139 million compared to the same period a year ago. Consistent with our internal plan, the decrease in free cash flow was driven by increased restructuring and other costs disbursements, net of expense and increased interest paid, partly offset by lower income taxes paid. Our definition of free cash flow, for which there is no industry alignment, is unaffected by accounting standards that do not impact cash. Consolidated capital expenditures of $725 million, including $14 million for real estate development, increased by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2024. TTech real estate development capital expenditures increased by $9 million in the first quarter of 2024 due to an increase in capital investment to support construction of multi-year development projects, including TELUS OceanTM and other commercial buildings in British Columbia. DLCX capital expenditures increased by $6 million in the first quarter of 2024, primarily driven by expansion in our Asia-Pacific and Central America and others regions (notably Africa), and software investments in our managed digital solutions business. As at March 31, 2024, our 5G network covered approximately 31.8 million Canadians, representing approximately 86 per cent of the population, and more than 3.2 million households and businesses in B.C., Alberta and Eastern Quebec were connected to fibre-optic cable, which provides these premises with immediate access to our fibre-optic technology. Consolidated Financial Highlights  C$ millions, except footnotes and unless noted otherwise Three months endedMarch 31 Per cent (unaudited) 2024 2023 change Operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) 4,866 4,925 (1.2) Operating revenues and other income 4,932 4,964 (0.6) Total operating expenses 4,357 4,365 (0.2) Net income 140 224 (37.5) Net income attributable to common shares 127 217 (41.5) Adjusted Net income(1) 390 386 1.0 Basic EPS ($) 0.09 0.15 (40.0) Adjusted basic EPS(1) ($) 0.26 0.27 (3.7) EBITDA(1) 1,638 1,621 1.1 Adjusted EBITDA(1) 1,856 1,779 4.3 Capital expenditures(2) 725 713 1.7 Cash provided by operating activities 950 761 24.8 Free cash flow(1) 396 535 (26.0) Total telecom subscriber connections(3) (thousands) 19,168 17,953 6.8 Healthcare lives covered(4 (millions) 71.7 67.0 7.0 Notations used in the table above: n/m – not meaningful. (1) These are non-GAAP and other specified financial measures, which do not have standardized meanings under IFRS-IASB and might not be comparable to those used by other issuers. For further definitions and explanations of these measures, see 'Non-GAAP and other specified financial measures' in this news release. (2) Capital expenditures include assets purchased, excluding right-of-use lease assets, but not yet paid for, and consequently differ from Cash payments for capital assets, excluding spectrum licences, as reported in the interim consolidated financial statements. Refer to Note 31 of the interim consolidated financial statements for further information. (3) The sum of active mobile phone subscribers, connected device subscribers, internet subscribers, residential voice subscribers, TV subscribers and security subscribers, measured at the end of the respective periods based on information in billing and other source systems. Effective for the first quarter of 2024, with retrospective application to January 1, 2023, we reduced our mobile phone subscriber base by 283,000 subscribers to remove a subset of our public services customers that are now subject to dynamic pricing auction models. We believe adjusting our base for these low-margin customers provides a more meaningful reflection of the underlying performance of our mobile phone business and our focus on profitable growth. As a result of this change, associated operating statistics (ARPU and churn) have also been adjusted. Effective January 1, 2024, on a prospective basis, we adjusted our TV subscriber base to remove 97,000 subscribers as we have ceased marketing our Pik TV® product. First Quarter 2024 Operating Highlights TELUS technology solutions (TTech) TTech operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) increased by $15 million or 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, primarily reflecting increases in mobile network revenue and fixed data services revenues, as described below. Decreases in mobile equipment and other service revenues, fixed voice services revenues, fixed equipment and other service revenues, health services and agriculture and consumer goods services were partial offsets. TTech EBITDA decreased by $2 million or 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, while TTech Adjusted EBITDA increased by $66 million or 4.1 per cent, reflecting: (i) broad-based cost reduction efforts, including workforce reductions, synergies achieved between LifeWorks and our legacy Health business, and increase in TTech outsourcing to DLCX resulting in competitive benefits given the lower cost structure in DLCX, as well as savings in marketing, discretionary and administrative costs; (ii) higher mobile network, residential internet and security revenues, largely driven by subscriber growth; and (iii) growth in managed, unmanaged and other fixed data services to new and existing business customers. These factors were partially offset by: (i) lower mobile phone ARPU (ii) merit-based compensation increases; (iii) a decline in TV and legacy voice margins driven by technological substitution; (iv) lower equipment margins; (v) lower gains in other income; (vi) lower health and agriculture and consumer goods revenues from increased client churn; (vii) higher costs related to the scaling of our digital capabilities, inclusive of increased subscription-based licences, and cloud usage costs; and (viii) higher bad debt expense. Mobile products and services Mobile network revenue increased by $49 million or 2.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, largely due to growth in our mobile phone and connected device subscriber base, as well as roaming revenue growth. These impacts were partly offset by the impact of lower prices in base rate plans and a decline in overage revenues. Mobile equipment and other service revenues decreased by $36 million or 7.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, due to a reduction in contracted volumes attributable to our efforts to match only on economical offers due to the aggressive promotional activity in addition to the growing number of customers taking advantage of bring your own device plan offerings. These were partly offset by the impact of higher-value smartphones in the sales mix. TTech mobile products and services direct contribution increased by $13 million or 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, largely reflecting mobile subscriber growth and higher roaming margins associated with rising international travel volumes. These were partly offset by the impact of lower prices in base rate plans and a decline in overage revenues, lower equipment margin contribution from lower contracted volume and increased competitor-driven discounting and higher amortization of commissions attributable to rising retail traffic in prior periods. Mobile phone ARPU was $59.31 in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $1.07 or 1.8 per cent, attributable to the adoption of base rate plans with lower prices in response to more aggressive marketing and promotional activities targeting both new and existing customers, which began to intensify in the second quarter of 2023 and have continued through the first quarter of 2024, and a decline in overage revenues. These factors were partly offset by higher roaming revenues as a result of increased travel. Mobile phone gross additions were 376,000 in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 76,000, driven by growth in postpaid gross additions in response to ongoing aggressive promotional activity, as discussed above, and growth in the Canadian population. Mobile phone net additions were 45,000 in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 2,000, reflecting a higher mobile phone churn rate, as described below, partially offset by higher mobile phone gross additions. Our mobile phone churn rate was 1.13 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 0.90 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, largely as a result of customer switching decisions in response to more aggressive marketing and promotional activities, as discussed above. These factors have been partly mitigated by our continued focus on customer retention through our industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings. Connected device net additions were 101,000 in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 43,000, attributable to growth in IoT connections from customers in the transportation, smart buildings and healthcare industries. Fixed products and services Fixed data services revenues increased by $31 million or 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, driven by an increase in our internet, security and TV subscribers and growth in managed, unmanaged and other services to new and existing business customers. Our revenue per internet customer remained consistent with the prior year, while fixed data services growth was partially offset by lower TV revenue per customer, reflecting an increased mix of customers selecting smaller TV combination packages and technological substitution. Fixed voice services revenues decreased by $13 million or 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting the ongoing decline in legacy voice revenues as a result of technological substitution and price plan changes. Declines were partly mitigated by the success of our bundled product offerings, our retention efforts and the migration from legacy to IP services offerings. Fixed equipment and other service revenues decreased by $11 million or 8.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, largely due to a reduction in business premises equipment sales, as equipment sales tend to be more one-time in nature, and in the first quarter of 2023, there were more hardware sales related to one large contract. TTech fixed products and services direct contribution increased by $7 million or 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting increased internet, business data and security margins, driven by subscriber growth. These were partly offset by declines in TV and legacy voice margins attributable to technological substitution, as well as lower health and agriculture revenues driven by customer churn. Internet net additions were 30,000 in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 5,000, attributable to a higher churn rate due to macroeconomic and competitive pressures that have continued to impact consumer purchasing decisions, partly offset by our success in driving strong gross additions in both the consumer and business markets through diversified product offerings. TV net additions were 19,000 in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 10,000, attributable to our diverse offerings catered towards the changing needs of our consumers, partly offset by a higher churn rate due to the same factors impacting internet net additions. Security net additions were 22,000 in the first quarter of 2024, consistent with the prior year, attributable to offsetting dynamics of higher demand for our bundled offerings and diverse suite of products and services, and a higher churn rate due to the same factors impacting internet net additions. Residential voice net losses were 8,000 in the first quarter of 2024, consistent with the prior year. Health services Through TELUS Health, we are leveraging technology to deliver connected solutions and services, improving access to care and revolutionizing the flow of information while facilitating collaboration, efficiency, and productivity across the healthcare ecosystem, progressing our vision of transforming healthcare and empowering people to live healthier lives. Health services revenues decreased by $3 million or 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, driven by customer churn outpacing the growth of new clients, partly offset by an increase in pharmacy management software revenue and virtual pharmacy sales. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, 5.9 million members were enrolled in our virtual care services, an increase of 0.7 million ...