The big news from the TELUS guidance conference call may have been a small footnote on the year-end 2006 wireless net additions. TELUS (TSX: T) is now expecting only 550,000 net adds for 2006, a drop from a range of 560-590,000 given in their guidance only a month ago. In the 4th quarter of 2005, TELUS added 235,000 subs. The revised guidance is pointing to less than 200,000 in the year end rush of 2006, more in line with numbers last seen in 2003 and 2004.
The Christmas season is not delivering the results that TELUS was looking for, possibly pointing to brighter lights shining at other carriers, including the cable resellers and discounted brands like Rogers’ Fido and Bell’s Solo.