Telus has announced today that it expects a strong 2009. The company says total profits (before tax) should be up 4%-6% over 2008 with EPS ranging within $3.40-$3.75. EPS was previously forecasted in 2008 to be $3.30-$3.45 in 2009. The company says most of the profits will come from its wireless operations, direct wireless sales are only expected to grow by 2.5% to about $5.10 billion. The company said it expects EBITDA to be $3.9 billion in 09, up about 4% YoY. The company is expected to continue its joint plan with Bell to change its CDMA network to GSM across Canada. Robert McFarlane from Telus told Reuters “we’re not working on an acquisition of BCE.” BCE also failed a recent merger with private investors.

Telus was also the first to roll out the BlackBerry Storm in North America about a week ago. Please see the previous link for my thoughts on the BlackBerry Storm. Telus remains the only Canadian carrier that offers unlimited mobile internet in Canada. Please note that if you read the fine print of the terms of use, it is still capped, but no specific amount is stated. Some people have received notices concerning their excessive usage, but the service is still sufficient for the very heavy user.

Telus has also made significant recent investments, including the launch of its discount carrier Koodo more than a year ago. Koodo was the first to offer discounted rates, including no system access fees. Fido has also just offered phone plans without a system access fee after lost sales, more than a year after Koodo firstly did. The Canadian telecom industry remains somewhere between an oligopoly and a monopoly. Rogers has a monopoly over all GSM networks in Canada, while Telus and Bell control the CDMA networks. It may still be a long time before Rogers offers true unlimited internet on mobile phones as does the rest of the world.