Quebecor headquarters in Montreal in May, 2024.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Quebecor Inc. QBR-B-T showed that Canadians love bargain shopping for cellphone plans, picking up 54,000 new wireless customers in the first three months of the year by undercutting pricing from telecom rivals.
Quebecor landed approximately 45 per cent of all new wireless customers in Canada in the first quarter of 2025, beating analysts’ expectations for growth in the sector.
Ahead of Thursday’s release of Quebecor’s financial results, analysts predicted the company would pick up 43,000 new wireless customers.
“Quebecor has demonstrated once again that price elasticity in wireless remains a significant force driving consumer purchasing behaviours,” analyst Maher Yaghi at Bank of Nova Scotia said in a report. He said: “Unlike incumbents, Quebecor was able to continue to load a significant number of customers.”
Montreal-based Quebecor launched a national wireless platform two years ago when it purchased the Freedom Mobile brand from Shaw Communications Inc., along with access to the national network at Rogers Communications Inc., which acquired Shaw.
Since then, Quebecor has focused on gaining market share with advertising campaigns centred around low prices and sponsorships across the country. This week, the company announced plans to build its brand in Alberta by making Freedom Mobile a major sponsor of the 2025 Calgary Stampede.
“Quebecor continues to perform well in a highly competitive market, disrupting the established order and reshaping the industry as Canada’s fourth major telecommunications player,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, chief executive officer at Quebecor, said in a news release.
BCE cuts dividend by more than half, signs Ziply deal with PSP
On Thursday, Bell Canada parent BCE Inc. reported it lost 9,598 wireless subscribers in the first three months of 2025. The Montreal-based company attributed the decline to “a less active market, slowing population growth attributable to government immigration policies, and our focus on higher-value subscriber loading.”
Rogers Communications Inc. added 34,000 wireless subscribers in the first quarter of 2025. The Toronto-based company, the country’s largest cellphone provider, reported its results in late April.
Vancouver-based Telus Corp., the fourth national wireless platform, will report results for the first quarter of 2025 on Friday.
Quebecor posted net income attributable to shareholders of $190.7-million in the first three months of the year, up 10 per cent from the same period a year ago. Revenue in the first quarter was $1.34-billion, slightly below the analysts’ consensus forecast of $1.36-billion.
“Quebecor looks to have strong momentum on customer acquisition, but we believe a more balanced approach in terms of price and quantity would be a better strategy for long-term shareholder value creation,” Mr. Yaghi said.
He said that while the company picked up customers, revenues from its telecom operations fell by 2 per cent year-over-year, which showed that “relying on subscriber loading alone will not be enough” to boost financial results.