Quebecor CEO says he doesn’t intend to follow Telus in selling cell towers

Quebecor Inc. reported its second-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as revenues were down slightly. President and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau speaks to media following the company's annual general meeting in Montreal on Thursday, May 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s cellphone towers are not for sale as its chief executive says the company has no intention of selling them off in the future.

Pierre Karl Péladeau says in that respect, the Quebec telecommunications and media giant doesn’t intend to follow competitor Telus — describing the tactic as a “quick-fix.”

“We don’t need to impair our future free cash flows with additional interest costs from Byzantine financial engineering structure,” Péladeau told an earnings call on Thursday.

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The owner of Videotron and Fizz said the company is on solid footing and has generated enough cash to invest in its infrastructure. Péladeau believes selling off towers would be costly long-term if Quebecor had to pay to access its old network.

Telus announced last week that it was separating its cell towers into an entity that sold 49.9 per cent interest to the Caisse de dépôt et placement — the province’s pension fund manager — for $1.26 billion.

It’s a first in Canada, but the strategy is common in the United States and Europe.

Other major Canadian communications companies could follow suit.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi views the strategy favourably. He believes it would be more profitable for telecommunications companies to lease access to towers rather than retain ownership.

Quebecor Inc. reported its second-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as revenues were down slightly.

Its net income attributable to shareholders totalled $217.7 million or 95 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30. The result compared with a profit of $207.6 million or 90 cents per share in the same period of 2024.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.38 billion, down from $1.39 billion last year.

On an adjusted basis, Quebecor says its income from operating activities amounted to 99 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 89 cents per share in the second quarter of 2024.

Quebecor managed to attract thousands of wireless subscribers, but fierce competition in the internet cable segment is causing it to lose customers.

The company added 72,000 net wireless subscribers in the quarter, according to results released Thursday. However, it lost 3,200 internet cable subscribers between the beginning of April and the end of June.

Analyst Vince Valentini of TD Securities interpreted the results as mixed. He pointed out that Quebecor moderated the decline in revenue per subscriber in the mobile phone unit, while still attracting new customers.

Valentini says it signals that incremental price aggression is unnecessary and unlikely.

Instead, the battle is likely to be over cable customers.

“It is tough to predict that competitive intensity between Bell and Videotron will ease, which is why we believe Quebecor is so motivated to improve wireless revenue growth via better average-revenue-per-user,” Valentini said.

For the moment, Quebecor does not appear to be planning an offensive to protect its market share in cable. Bell continues to be aggressive, said CFO Hugues Simard, and Videotron will continue to not respond.

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“We just believe it makes no sense, collectively, for Bell and ourselves to continue to be as aggressive in the market, in the wireline market in Quebec, as they’re continuing to be,” Simard said.

Meanwhile, the media sector, a minor player in Quebecor’s empire, remains under pressure. TVA Group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell to just $1.8 million in the second quarter from $11.4 million from the year prior.

Asked about the future of the media sector, Péladeau indicated that the closure of specialty channels was a possibility, but suggested that selling off the division or closing it was not on the table.

“We will continue to work closely with what we consider being a significant asset to Quebec,” Péladeau said.

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Stéphane Rolland, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2025.