Telus 1Q Net Ex-Items Up On Subscriber Growth

Canada's Telus Corp. posted higher first-quarter earnings excluding items due to continued strong wireless performance and high speed Internet and wireless subscriber growth.

The Vancouver telecommunications company said its first-quarter net income was C$210.1 million or 60 Canadian cents a share compared with C$242.2 million or 66 Canadian cents (67 cents a basic share) a year earlier.

The year-earlier figure includes favorable tax and regulatory recoveries of 17 Canadian cents a share. Excluding these items, earnings per share increased by about 20% over the year earlier.

The Thomson First Call mean earnings estimate for Telus's first quarter was 59 Canadian cents a share.

Revenue increased to C$2.08 billion from C$1.97 billion a year ago.

-Tara Zachariah; 416-306-2100; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 3rd May 2006