Quebecor bucks telecom sector trend as average revenue per user rises in Q1

Quebecor head office is seen in downtown Wednesday in Montreal. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc. continues to add mobile subscribers amid its expansion of Freedom Mobile, which chief executive Pierre Karl Péladeau says “has helped foster genuine competition” in the Canadian telecom sector.

The media and telecommunications firm said Thursday that its profit was up year-over-year in its first quarter. The company reported its net income attributable to shareholders totalled $225.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, up from $190.7 million a year earlier.

That profit amounted to 97 cents per diluted share during the three-month period, up from 82 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

• Latest updates on company news here

Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.40 billion, up from $1.34 billion in the first three months of 2025. That included a 4.9 per cent increase in telecom-related revenue.

The figures show that Quebecor is living up to its promise of emerging as a fourth national mobile carrier since its Videotron subsidiary acquired Freedom Mobile three years ago, said Péladeau.

He said that transaction, which came as Rogers Communications Inc. purchased Freedom’s previous owner Shaw Communications, “has significantly contributed to transforming Canada’s telecom landscape.”

“This wave of renewal has helped foster genuine competition in a market that was historically dominated by an oligopoly and ... has led to a significant drop in wireless service prices,” Péladeau said in French during the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

As part of the Freedom deal, Videotron was assigned a list of mandatory conditions by the federal government, including that it must offer pricing plans at least 20 per cent lower than its competitors for 10 years.

The company noted that wireless service prices have fallen 31.6 per cent overall since March 2023, citing data from Statistics Canada, while the consumer price index has risen 7.8 per cent over the same period.

“At the same time, we’ve continued to invest in our network, including by accelerating the activation of new 5G and 5G+ sites, and by expanding the reach of those technologies in nearly 50 markets across Canada,” said Péladeau.

He touted Quebecor’s rollout of spectrum — the electromagnetic frequencies that enable smartphone communications — in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta, along with the upcoming construction of its own wireless network in Manitoba later this year. He said the latter initiative “marks a key milestone in strengthening our technological independence.”

In total, the company’s three wireless brands — Videotron, Freedom, and Fizz — now reach nearly 83 per cent of Canada’s population, he said.

In its first quarter, Quebecor added 28,800 net mobile lines, down from 54,400 subscriber additions in the same period last year.

While that figure was slightly below analysts’ expectations for the quarter, it beat rivals BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., which saw net subscriber gains of 5,400 and 12,000, respectively, said Desjardins analyst Jerome Dubreuil in a note. Rogers was ahead of the pack with 33,000.

The big players have described the first quarter as more competitive than usual, as promotional offers from late 2025 carried over into the new year, leading to high customer turnover.

• Latest technology news on BNNBloomberg.ca

That has also dragged down rivals’ average mobile revenue per user, a key metric measuring their performance.

However, Quebecor said its monthly ARPU was $35.19 in the quarter, up 1.4 per cent from $34.70 a year earlier.

“(Quebecor) is the only member of the Big Four with positive ARPU growth — and we believe (it) remains better positioned than peers to drive ARPU growth over the longer term,” said Dubreuil.

Quebecor’s mobile telephone services revenue was up 8.8 per cent year-over-year, while internet access services revenue grew 3.2 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Quebecor said it earned 97 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 80 cents per share a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

CTV News, BNN Bloomberg, and CP24 are owned by Bell Media, which is a division of BCE.