Telus Corp and BCE Inc. both pulled their financial guidance Thursday morning, as the two telecom giants reported first-quarter earnings in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Bell reported operating revenues of $5.6 billion in Q1, a year-over-year decline of 0.9 per cent, and the company’s net earnings were down 7.3 per cent, from $791 million a year ago to $733 million in 2020.
For Telus, net income dropped by 19 per cent year-over-year to $353 million, on operating revenue of $3.7 billion.
The financial results don’t fully capture the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, because the first quarter represents January to March, meaning that the social distancing measures associated with COVID-19 is limited to the last few weeks of March.
Overall, telecom revenue has been stable throughout the crisis because with most people confined to their homes, phone and internet services have been vital.
But both Telus and Bell noted that they have waived certain overage fees, and the lack of travel has eliminated most cell phone roaming fees.
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic told analysts that the company has seen a 250 per cent increase in conference call usage. Bell Media EBITDA was down by 6.1 per cent due to a collapse in the advertising market caused by the pandemic.
Bell said it will maintain plans to increase its dividend by 5 per cent for Q2, to a rate of $0.8325 per share. Telus held their dividend steady at $0.29125 per share.
“Given the uncertain magnitude, duration and potential outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board determined that it would be prudent at this time to sustain the current dividend per share and defer any dividend increase until the release of our third quarter 2020 results in November,” Telus said in a news release.
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