Canadian operator Telus had a difficult fourth quarter as sales, wireless net adds and ARPU all posted declines.
Telus, which recently completed an HSPA overlay to its CDMA network, said its net adds fell 18 percent to 122,000 as fewer prepaid customers signed onto its service. The company added 109,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter.
A 20 percent increase in wireless data revenue was not enough to offset steep declines in voice sales, resulting in a 7.7 percent dip in ARPU, which hit $57.38. Data sales represented $12.60 per user.
Telus' overall sales fell to $2.4 billion. The dip in revenue and an unfavorable tax impact brought the operator's net income down 45 percent to $156 million.
In a statement, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle remained optimistic. "There is no question that the last year was a challenging one economically, but also one where we progressed game-changing capital projects and made significant investments in operational efficiency to improve our cost structure," he said. "Combined, these initiatives will launch Telus into its next stage of net income and cash flow growth."