TELUS Mobility Q4 Strategy

[Xirc]

George Cope, president and chief executive officer of Telus Mobility, a unit of Telus Corp. of Vancouver, has predicted the industry will attract as many as 500,000 new customers. Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. estimates the number will reach 521,000. Although both figures are less than the approximately 740,000 customers added in last year's fourth quarter, this year's fourth-quarter estimates approach the total number added in the second and third quarters together and would account for more than a third of the year's total.

But complicating the rush to sign up new mobile subscribers is the industry's growing focus on profitability. Last year's drive to win new customers was partly powered by looser credit policies, a strategy that attracted some customers who never paid their bills.

"That's our No. 1 job, to find the balance between profitability and subscriber growth," Mr. Cope said. "One of the balances for us is we're not necessarily concerned with being the one who adds the most clients."

from the globe and mail

[mwelch]

This is something that is difficult for subscribers to deal with...they are sometimes being confronted with the realization that we are not going to buy their business if they only want to pay 20 bucks a month or their credit is less than stellar...Some of them get upset that we don't just match everything the competition throws out (Aliant right now is selling the V60C for 179 on a two-year plan...absolutely insane and uncalled for)...They don't realize they will be paying the piper when profitability is lessened by these efforts to add subs at all cost...
MW