Operator
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the TELUS 2013 Q4 Earnings and 2014 Guidance Conference Call. I would like to introduce your speaker, Mr. Darrell Rae. Please go ahead.
TELUS Corporation (TU)
Q4 2013 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 13, 2014
$12.28
-0.41%
Same-Day
+1.29%
1 Week
+2.53%
1 Month
+3.65%
vs S&P
+1.11%
Operator
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the TELUS 2013 Q4 Earnings and 2014 Guidance Conference Call. I would like to introduce your speaker, Mr. Darrell Rae. Please go ahead.
Darrell Rae
Management
Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. The news release for our fourth quarter financial and operating results and 2014 targets and detailed supplemental investor information are posted on our website, telus.com/investors. This call is scheduled for up to 1 hour. [Operator Instructions] Let me now direct your attention to Slide 2. This presentation answers the questions and statements about future events such as 2014 targets, intentions for dividend growth and future share purchases are subject to risks and uncertainties and assumptions. Accordingly, actual performance could differ materially from statements made today, so do not place undue reliance upon them. We also disclaim any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law. I ask that you read our legal disclaimers and refer you to the risks and assumptions outlined in our public disclosures and filings with the securities commissions in Canada and the United States. Slide 3 outlines today's agenda. We will start with opening comments by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle; followed by a review of operational highlights by Joe Natale, our Chief Commercial Officer. John Gossling, our CFO, will provide a review of fourth quarter financial results and take you through our 2014 targets. We will conclude with a question-and-answer session. Let me now turn the call over to Darren, starting on Slide 4.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Thank you, Darrell. 2013 was an exceptional year for TELUS as we continued to deliver strong operational and financial results whilst creating significant value for our investors. TELUS' robust performance is the direct realization of our ongoing strategic investments in broadband data technology, our innovative services and solutions and our team's collective commitment to putting customers first in every aspect of our business. This unwavering focus will continue to be reflected in our 2014 targets, which I will discuss momentarily. Our differentiated, client-centric culture continues to attract new customers, as evidenced by our fourth quarter additions of 113,000 new postpaid wireless customers, 38,000 new TV clients and 21,000 new high-speed Internet connections. Indeed, for the fourth quarter, TELUS led the industry in TV and high-speed Internet net additions and did so for the full year 2013. Further reinforcing our commitment to our valued customers, TELUS reported an industry-leading monthly postpaid wireless subscriber churn rate of 0.97%, our lowest results in 7 years. Moreover, our consolidated revenue grew by 3.4% in the quarter, buttressed by higher revenues in both our wireless and, importantly, wireline segments. This progress is a result of sustained growth in our customer connections and continued data consumption that is contributing to increases in our average revenue per customer, offsetting declines in wireless and wireline voice services and equipment revenues. Our fourth quarter EBITDA, excluding restructuring costs, increased 5% year-over-year, including growth of 6% in wireless and 3.5% in wireline. This represents our fifth consecutive quarter of wireline EBITDA growth, supported by our lowest residential network access line erosion in 8 years. Our continued emphasis on cost-efficiency initiatives contributed to a consolidated normalized EBITDA margin improvement of 50 basis points to 33.4% for the quarter. This was led by a 90-basis-point improvement in our wireless margins. Overall, in…
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Thank you, Darren. TELUS reported healthy fourth quarter postpaid wireless net additions of 113,000. The mix continue to shift towards smartphones as we maintain our strategic focus on quality, high-value subscribers. Postpaid net additions were down slightly year-over-year, reflecting slower market growth and continued competitive intensity. Our strong share of industry net additions in 2013 led to a 3% expansion of our postpaid subscriber base. As shown on Slide 7, TELUS reported a low fourth quarter blended churn rate of 1.41%, a 10-basis-point improvement over last year. Postpaid churn improved 15 points to an industry low of 0.97%, the lowest in 7 years, and achieved in another intensely competitive quarter. This clearly demonstrates the continued success of our relentless efforts to differentiate TELUS through a superior customer experience. Low churn allows us to take a measured approach in acquiring new customers. And as a result, we're not compelled to match every promotion or aggressively pursue some of the more expensive gross loading. Notably, we lowered churn while spending less on cost of retention as a percentage of network revenues, which was down 50 points to 12.9%. Moving to Slide 8. We reported a 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year blended ARPU growth. As a result of our industry-leading ARPU, TELUS led the industry in share of service revenue growth in the fourth quarter. We remain very confident in the economics of our SharePlus plans and the ongoing prospects for future growth from increased data penetration, enhanced speeds and an expanded range of services and applications. Our smartphone subscriber base increased to 77% of our postpaid base, an 11-percentage-point increase in 2013, up from 66% last year. This is being supported by the continued expansion of our 4G LTE network now covering more than 81% of the Canadian population. Turning to Slide…
John R. Gossling
Management
Thanks, Joe. Good morning, everyone. I'm on Slide 12. Fourth quarter wireless results continue to demonstrate our strong operational execution. Network revenue was up an industry-leading 4.1% due to subscriber growth and increased data usage from continued smartphone adoption while equipment revenue declined. EBITDA for the quarter increased by 4.4% or up 6%, excluding higher restructuring and other like costs, reflecting a market-leading margin of 41.7% of network revenue, up 60 basis points year-over-year. This is our eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year margin expansion. We should also point out that the Q4 wireless results include $9 million of revenue and an EBITDA reduction of $10 million, including $8 million of restructuring costs for Public Mobile. Capital expenditures increased by 11.5% due to investments in expanded coverage, enhanced capacity, supporting systems and backhaul facilities of our networks. For the year, wireless capital intensity remained stable year-over-year at 12%. Slide 13 shows the combined impact of our data ARPU growth plus the increase in our subscriber base, which resulted in wireless data revenue increasing by $78 million or 14% in the quarter. As Joe mentioned, this growth is driven by higher penetration of smartphones and associated take-up of data plans, as well as higher data roaming volumes. Data now represents 45% of network revenue compared to 41% in the same period a year ago. Slide 14 shows our wireline financial results. Revenue increased by over 3% due to data revenue growth from TV and high-speed Internet subscriber growth combined with higher ARPU, as well as higher revenue from TELUS Health and TELUS International. Wireline EBITDA increased by 2% despite being impacted by hiring, restructuring and other like costs of $21 million, $6 million higher over last year. EBITDA, excluding restructuring and other like costs in both periods, was up 3.5%, reflecting a…
Darrell Rae
Management
Thanks, John. Before we start the Q&A session, I'd like to reiterate that once the 700 megahertz spectrum auction concludes, and the results have been announced, we will be able to provide more information. Until such time, we refer your questions to our Q4 results and our 2014 targets. So Peter, can you please proceed with questions from the queue for Darren, Joe and John?
Operator
Operator
Our first question comes from Glen Campbell.
Glen Campbell - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division
Analyst
So a question on capital spending. Could you give us a bit of a sense of how the $2.2 billion is likely to be split? And maybe on the wireline side, you've already -- you described a really impressive footprint with 50 megs to, I think, 80% of your coverage area. What would -- what's the push in 2014 and beyond? I mean, when we think perhaps an opportunity to take it lower, but you've done well with what you've invested so far. Where are you hoping to take it from here?
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Okay, Glen. I'll handle this. In terms of the CapEx program for 2014 building off of 2013, I'm not going to give you the exact splits from the segmentation perspective, but I will tell you what all the money is being spent on exclusively and exhaustively. Number one, we're using the cash for the continued expansion of our LTE network, from both a coverage perspective, in terms of augmenting our footprint, but also importantly, from a self-densification perspective, particularly areas where we've got high data consumption within urban markets. We are driving both overall footprint expansion, but also the densification of our network. Second thing that we're doing is coming out of the spectrum auction, we will look to expeditiously and diligently operationalize the 700 megahertz spectrum that we've secured. And we intend to do so because it's the right thing to do for our customers and our customers first strategy. But our goal here is to expeditiously surpass the build requirements set out by the Canadian government because bridging broadband digital divides in Canada is a social outcome and a commercial outcome that this organization is desirous of driving, and we think it's the right thing to do. Next area, in terms of use of that capital, will be the judicious expansion of our small cell topology. That's exclusively within the ILEC footprint right now of the TELUS organization in terms of both Western Canada and Eastern Quebec. The goal there is pretty simple. We want to build a complementary microcell underlay network to sync with, in a meshed basis, the macro wireless overlay network that we have and getting those 2 things working in harmony. Again, that's a data-centric undertaking. That's a long-term goal for the organization, but something that we're focused on in 2014. Third area that…
Glen Campbell - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division
Analyst
Terrific. Maybe just a quick clarification then. As you deploy on 700, will you be able, at the same time, to do the refarming on 850 in the iDEN build that you alluded to in the release, or is -- does that come through in a separate wave later?
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
I think that's on the comp for us. Without a doubt, Glen, that's something for the future. We still have a client base that we need to support on iDEN. We have 3 and unencumbered spectrum that we're securing through the auction process. It's very attractive, spectrum, given its propagation characteristics and in-building penetration within the urban centers. So the first order of business for us is to use that because if you want to take your LTE network footprint from 81% of the population to 95% of the population, better to do that with the quickly available 700 megahertz frequencies that we've secured through this spectrum auction if we get that particular outcome from industry Canada. That's the most efficient way for us to do things. And also to do that within the urban areas to support our densification practices. But also importantly for clients, if client services front of mind in building penetration is increasingly a concern and a requirement, then again the penetration characteristics of those radio frequencies will help us achieve that particular goal. So that's first items down the line.
Operator
Operator
Next question, Vince Valentini.
Vince Valentini - TD Securities Equity Research
Analyst
A couple of things just to clarify. You mentioned the small cell's building out just in your ILEC territory. I'm wondering if your network sharing deal with Bell allows you to leverage any small cells that they build outside of your ILEC footprint. Second clarification: Public Mobile. I didn't quite understand what you said, John. This loss from Public Mobile that you expected, is that included in your consolidated guidance you provided or are you saying that's an extra item? And last, just one thing on Public Mobile is I thought there were some tax losses you were going to pick up with them. I'm wondering if you could give any color on what those are and when you could achieve them.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
The tax losses are $100 million. They're targeted for 2014. Public Mobile is outside the -- 2015. The -- it's outside of our guidance, and the logic of network sharing on a small cell topology, I think, is readily apparent, but that's not a bridge that we've crossed thus far with the Bell organization.
Operator
Operator
Our next question comes from Dvai Ghose.
Dvaipayan Ghose - Canaccord Genuity, Research Division
Analyst
Darren, it was very good to hear you reiterate your NCIB and dividend growth targets. There is some concern nonetheless in the market that with this auction now entering its fifth week, the valuations may be excessive compared to expectations and derail that process. While I understand you can't talk about the auction itself, is that a legitimate risk in your mind? And I have a quick follow-up on wireline, if I may.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Yes. I understand the investor concern as it relates to the auction for a number of reasons. One is the information remains embargoed. Number two, it's an ongoing process. Number three, it's a significant event, so how much is going to be spent and are people going to be able to secure the spectrum that they need for their future requirements and how's that unfolded? So I'm pretty sensitive to and empathetic in respect to that particular issue for investors. Unfortunately, right now, we're under disclosure embargo and confidentiality undertakings that it's important for us to respect. What I can tell you, having been a participant in this auction process, is that it's important for me to convey as I did in my remarks that the NCIB programs that we've got scheduled for the next 3 years and the dividend growth model that we've got scheduled for the next 3 years will not be affected by the outcome of the spectrum auction. And so TELUS remains confident that we will achieve the outcome that we want from the auction because, certainly, spectrum is a strategic necessity for this organization that we will achieve that outcome at what investors would construe as a reasonable economic cost. And I can commit now that I do not see anything as it relates to the auction that will undermine our ability to return cash as stipulated within our NCIB and dividend growth model forecasts. And again, if you look at the 2014 guidance that we've provided and do some calculations from a cash flow perspective, this organization remains in a very strong position. And I think our sources of capital are really buttressed by the fact that we make investments for tomorrow in the uses of our capital. And we've done very well focusing exclusively on broadband data. I would expect that to continue. I would also expect us to continue deriving significant returns for shareholders from those investments.
Dvaipayan Ghose - Canaccord Genuity, Research Division
Analyst
Having the strongest balance sheet entering the auction is obviously a key advantage. In terms of your wireline EBITDA guidance for the year, it's a very wide range, as you know, at 1% to 8%. Your wireless is much of a narrower range. What would get you nearer to the 8% growth as opposed to the 1% in terms of variables?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Dvai, I'll take that. In terms of what would get us to the upper end of that range versus the lower end, there are a few items. On the revenue growth side of the equation, we can't predict the seasonal competitive intensity of the marketplace. So it's clearly -- we have confidence in our ability to continue adding TV customers but moderated by what might happen in the fullness of the year. We still feel very confident around our ability to grow ARPU and on-demand services. We mentioned that triple-play ARPU was up 8%, and we're seeing greater consumption of on-demand services and other pay-per-view type events and other things that we're adding to our TV offering. On the OpEx efficiency side of the equation, we have a number of programs that we've laid out for the year with respect to driving down call volumes that are a big part of OpEx in supporting the business, driving better marketing efficiency with respect to the cost of acquisition around TV and the marketplace channel cost in that area. So these are all initiatives that will get us closer to the 8%. Some of them are truly within our control through the course of the year. Others will depend on the dynamic nature of the marketplace.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Dvai, I think one important point to highlight in your question, it's good positioning to go into a spectrum auction with a very strong balance sheet. I think it's also prudent to come out of an auction with a very strong balance sheet. And at the end of the day, if the cost of securing spectrum is the undermining of the balance sheet, then it's a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. And it's important in terms of the strategy and the mentality of this organization that you have a balanced outcome, you get what you need to get in terms of bandwidth for your wireless business and you protect the strategic advantage that you have in a strong balance sheet. Because it's one thing to buy spectrum, you still need your balance sheet to operationalize it, and then you need to make the investments again to deliver the services in a way that customers find appealing. And that's holistically the necessity that we have as an organization.
Operator
Operator
Next question from Maher Yaghi.
Maher Yaghi - Desjardins Securities Inc., Research Division
Analyst
After many quarters of declining, I would say, sluggish voice usage, we're starting to see a significant increase of -- in the minutes of use. Now this definitely goes to show how customers are appreciating your product offering. However, can you talk a little bit about if this is a real find of wireless substitution that we're seeing here? And as a follow-up, can you give us some maybe KPIs about your efficiency of keeping clients who are choosing to go purely wireless? And finally, what is the current rate of wireless substitution that you're seeing in your incumbent landline territory?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Sure. So generally speaking, when we talk about wireless substitution, again, no question that right now, the majority of our access line erosion in the residential sector is actually driven more by wireless substitution than competitive losses. So that's sort of the fact of the marketplace as a younger demographic especially is settling into home ownership or home rental and choosing either to not have a wireline connection for home phone and going strictly with wireless now. For us, given that we have a national wireless business and our wireline business is Western-based and Eastern Québec-based, we are a net winner in that overall dynamic as we see more cord-cutting happening on the landline front, it actually will help to support some of our aspirations and goals on the wireless growth side of the equation. With respect to voice overall on wireless, if I understand your question, the first part of the question, Maher, I would say first of all, we have been working very hard to moderate the voice ARPU and voice revenue erosion that has been a natural part of the Wireless business over the last number of years. So if you look at our overall voice revenue, it's down only 2.7% in the quarter, which I think is a good, balanced outcome, especially if you compare it against our peers, and the type of voice erosion that they face. We've been working hard to balance the re-rate on the voice erosion with the propositions we have in the market and offering more for more services. So we're really, I guess, seeing a lot of customers that are on lower-tier, mid-tier plans for voice upping and buying into cost certainty around unlimited plans or larger plans as a whole. So we're really working hard to strike that balance.…
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Data growth and good margins.
Joseph M. Natale
Management
And good margins, right, which is the key and the heart of the matter in terms of expansion of data services.
Operator
Operator
Next question comes from Tim Casey.
Tim Casey - BMO Capital Markets Canada
Analyst
A couple for me. Are you able to provide some more color on the financial metrics you're seeing with respect to Optik? Maybe some comments on blended ARPU. And you said you expect continued progress in EBITDA. Can you flesh that out a little more for us? And second, on Public, you've quantified the losses you're going to incur. Could you walk us through what the strategic plan is for those subscribers? If you're even interested in keeping them, and how you expect to transition the spectrum into your consolidated operations?
John R. Gossling
Management
Tim, it's John. I'll take the first part, and on the Public Mobile general plan, Joe will comment on that one. I think generally on Optik and high-speed Internet, while we don't give a lot of detail in terms of ARPU or churn, I would say the trend in both of those areas is strong. ARPU growth is strong. High-speed Internet actually to even higher effect than on TV, but they're both very good. And churn, as we come into the fourth quarter, is actually very, very robust as well. So I'm not sure how much that helps. But certainly, the metrics are -- those metrics are important in, as you say, driving the EBITDA growth. It's really the mix effect in wireline, it's how quickly that legacy wireline voice revenue goes away and gets replaced by a much different gross margin and margin profile of the other 2 products. But certainly, the metrics are pointing all in a very positive direction.
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Tim, can you please repeat the Public Mobile question so I make sure I understand exactly?
Tim Casey - BMO Capital Markets Canada
Analyst
Sure. Can you tell us what your -- update us on what your plans are for the spectrum and the subscribers if you have any plans for them, and how you expect that to evolve over the year?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Sure, okay. Absolutely. So we've struck a comprehensive integration team to look at all the different elements of integrating Public Mobile into the TELUS organization. Everything from network through channel, through customers, through spectrum and the like. Our plan right now is to migrate our customers, migrate the Public Mobile customers to CDMA, and eventually to HSPA and LTE by the end of 2014. So the plan is very much is to make the quick move to CDMA and then, in the fullness of 2014, make the final transition over to HSPA and LTE. Our goal is to free up the spectrum in that period of time. We are looking at distribution and the right plans with respect to distribution and our ability to support the Public Mobile brand. We are assessing Public Mobile pricing right now and looking at the product offerings. We have made a commitment to keep the $19 unlimited voice plan in the market through 2014, but we will be looking at all the various aspects of Public Mobile rate plans and making sure that we strike the right balance between doing what's right for Public Mobile customers and putting forth a set of economic considerations for the TELUS organization. And as we mentioned earlier, we have plans to leverage the tax synergies in early 2015. So a lot happening on the Public Mobile front, most of it really happening in 2014.
Operator
Operator
Next question comes from Greg MacDonald.
Gregory W. MacDonald - Macquarie Research
Analyst
Two questions, if I can. Well, first is on ARPU. We saw with Roger's results, or at least they were indicating that the trend toward inclusion of voice features was one of the things that were impacting them, as well as the move towards shared data plans. I wonder, it seems from your guidance like you guys are thinking sort of small increase or at the least, flat ARPU or at least that's what's implied by your guidance. Could you talk about those 2 kind of inclusion of voice features for free and shared data plans as to what impact that has on your ARPU outlook?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Sure. Let me start, Greg, from sort of macro comments, then I'll get specifically to your questions, okay? So just bear with me. I want to kind of talk a bit about ARPU as a whole. First of all, this is our 13th consecutive quarter of ARPU accretion, I think something we're all very proud of in the organization. We have a lot of factors still working hard to drive growth in ARPU, whether it's smartphone penetration that's now 77% and continuing to grow towards 100%, whether it's the fact that we are a new entrant to the category of international roaming outside of the U.S., the fact that we have some very strong propositions with respect to more for more built into our SharePlus plans, the fact that we're working hard to continue to grow the data attachment rate on all categories of smartphones, the fact that there's another category of migration within the smartphone category. We have our low-tier smartphone customers moving to mid- and high-tier. We have HSPA smartphone customers making the migration to LTE along the way. They consume 2x to 3x more data in that migration path. Darren talked about our plans to expand LTE, with that expansion will come an even greater addressable market of LTE smartphone customers, et cetera. So those are sort of -- that's the plus side of the equation. The downdrafts on ARPU, the things that we're challenged by, are twofold, 2 very specific items. One is a short-term J curve in the move to SharePlus plans. So the SharePlus plans are such that it's really kind of the all-in nationwide voice and text features in those plans. So we have higher value, long-tail customers re-rating into those plans and, therefore, creating downdrafts. But we also have a tremendous number…
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
And Greg, it's also important to note that when an industry spends as much capital as we'd spend on spectrum, we have a responsibility to shareholders to monetize that bandwidth, to monetize that data in a disciplined fashion so that we generate a return on that capital. Number two, it's important to always think about ARPU and AMPU in concert because you're always driving ARPU accretion initiatives, but you're also being buffeted by ARPU headwinds. And I think the smart organization that John and Joe lead is to make sure that we never take our focus off of any efficiency initiatives, that deliver a strong result at the AMPU level. And I think that's aptly illustrated by the 90-basis-point expansion in our Wireless business, and AMPU is a big part of our performance-based pay at this organization and the concentration of the leadership team. And then, lastly, the manifestation, of course, of our Customers First initiative is achieving sub-1% churn rates on a postpaid base. I can tell you that the mathematics of ARPU are deeply informed by your churn rate, because at the end of the day, you can blow your brains out on ARPU-accretive initiatives. But if you're bleeding from your base in terms of your most valuable customers, it's not going to give you the holistic result that you're striving for. That's not the case at the TELUS organization. Our churn gives us a lot of base resiliency so that when we do drive ARPU-accretive initiatives, they stick.
Gregory W. MacDonald - Macquarie Research
Analyst
I guess the second question, it's nice that we dovetail onto this on the churn rate, and I think everyone understands the focus that TELUS has on profitability and on churn gives you the ability to have that competitive advantage, and ability to pull back when the market gets a little bit perhaps aggressive on pricing. But if we assume, given the maturity that, that pricing aggressiveness may continue, it's not lost on me that there was a 10% decline in the postpaid gross adds. The 0.97% is a fantastic churn rate. Is there room on the downside to that to continue? Because as time goes on, one might assume that you lose that ability to step back and allow the market to do what it wants on pricing.
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Greg, if I look at the market overall, wireless growth will continue as penetration reaches 100%, 100% plus when you include tablets and other devices. Smartphone penetration will go up from 77% to 100% on that front. It really becomes a battle of who will get the best customers. At some point, every Canadian will have a multiplicity of wireless devices. And to me, the secret sauce is do you have the customer service capability, given we are a service provider, to attract and retain those best customers? If you do, then you will maintain your economic capability to drive value for the organization and for shareholders. Because the equation is an expensive one. Churn certainly is expensive from the point of view of pricing discipline, as Darren and I just described, but churn costs bleeds through every part of the organization. Whether it's cost to support customers who are thinking of leaving through loyalty and retention efforts, whether -- all or the rest of it. So at the heart of it, I really believe that churn has to be the primary focus and the primary measure. And it will allow us to maintain a squarely focused purpose on getting those highest value customers and keeping those highest value customers. As we evolve to a marketplace where there are more and more solutions to leverage in our channels on top of the wireless broadband connectivity, it's important to have those high-value customers. Whether it's machine-to-machine solutions, whether it's connected home solutions, connected car solutions, whether it's health care solutions, the highest value customer base will allow us the opportunity to grow our revenue and grow our contribution over time because of having that capability.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Greg, I think the question that you raised is perhaps best answered by, a forward-looking organization deals with downside contingencies by having a vigorous and continued focus on efficiency initiatives to deal out such eventualities if they present themselves. The second thing that I would say is when you have a company coming forward with 2014 guidance that's 6% in terms of revenue growth up to 8% EBITDA growth for wireline and wireless and EPS growth of 11% to 21%, I think that gives you our view of the future. And if you want to extend beyond 2014, I think stepping forward with a dividend growth model with a 10% annual CAGR and another $1.5 billion to go on our NCIB program speaks to our ability to deliver against the expectations that we've set, and to deal up effectively downside eventualities if they present themselves. But I think the best way to draw the line is to look at the robustness of our guidance for 2014 and the fact that the growth tenet at TELUS is not a singular one, but we have the duality of contribution for both wireless and wireline.
Operator
Operator
Next question is from Jeff Fan.
Jeffrey Fan - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division
Analyst
Most of my questions have been answered, but I do want to address something more macro on the data revenue and data ARPU side. As the wireless industry continues to grow and you guys now have the highest smartphone penetration, wondering if you can share some insights on just the long-term ability to monetize higher usage and maybe you can share for us -- with us anything you can say on the data usage per subscriber growth that you're seeing in your base, whether that growth continues to be stable, whether it's accelerating or is slowing down? And the second part is whether there's any difference between what you're seeing in the East versus the West because of the presence of Wi-Fi offload.
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Okay. So, Jeff, first of all, your question that data growth is an important part of our future outlook. Right now, the data represents 45% of our network revenue and growing. The appetite for data and wireless broadband from our customers is growing. We're seeing -- I think as I mentioned in the past, we're seeing LTE customers consume 2x to 3x as much data as previous generation of smartphone customers were consuming. So with the quality of network capability, the availability of bandwidth and the capability of phones, we are seeing that grow substantially. And in the fullness of time, we will be truly a data business on this front. So the onus is on us as an organization to make sure that we extract fair economic rent for the cost of that data service and capability. Whether the cost comes in the form of spectrum, whether it comes in the form of infrastructure or other support costs in the organization to support the needs of a more complex smartphone customer. And the path to that is, I think, multifold. The first path to that is maintaining strong, disciplined focus in the marketplace with respect to monetizing that data consumption, and driving forward with rate plans that allow customers to attach data in a way that they feel comfortable with. We have some customers that are only comfortable or capable of consuming a small amount of data, and therefore, we need to have strong, transparent capabilities to let that customer manage and control their ability to spend money on data. And we're doing exactly that with respect to onboard applications and monitoring tools that help customers manage and gauge their data consumption. To the higher-value customers who have opted in for large bucket SharePlus plans with multiple family members…
Operator
Operator
Next question comes from Philip Huang.
Unknown Analyst
Analyst
My question is on the data roaming. It's certainly encouraging to hear that your data roaming volumes have been growing, which is quite a contrast versus the trends that we're seeing at some of your peers. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on what the drivers were. Is it because TELUS is gaining more share of subscribers who tend to roam more, such as corporate or SMB customers? Or is it a function of recent changes in pricing or dynamics in the market?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Sure. Number one, Philip, is just market share gain. When we launched HSPA in November of 2009, it didn't just launch a network capability. We became a new entrant in the international roaming market. In that period of time, we have signed...
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
550.
Joseph M. Natale
Management
Over 550 bilateral agreements with carriers across the globe. And not just agreements, we've created high-quality, network-to-network interfaces and roaming experiences that we have pressure-tested across the globe and therefore, created an experience that we know has been well received by our customers. As a result, we're able to attract more of the consumer-based, high-value customers that travel internationally, more of SMB and enterprise customers that travel internationally. And historically, we've often struggled -- before 2009, we often struggled to get SMB customers as a whole where the owner operator would travel internationally. We were often cut off from any of the wireless loading within those accounts. Not only are we getting the wireless roaming, data roaming capability of the senior people in those organizations, we're winding up with the entire account because of the broader capability on that front. So no question, it's been a big push. And we continue to grow on that front, and continue to do so in a manner that is customer friendly, driven by the TELUS focus on putting customers first.
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Another piece is we have been working hard to increase the value in roaming packages and roaming passes. So we've cut roaming rates by as much as 60% in the last 12 to 18 months. We've increased the value in roaming passes, and we're exchanging the rate reduction, if you will, for an increase in volume based on the reaction from customers that now feel more comfortable in roaming and turning on the roaming features. We're still not completely there. I think there's still upside on that front. I think as we continue to offer even greater insight into roaming capability, and we've always maintained a very future-friendly approach to helping customers manage their roaming expenses. We were the first to offer data roaming notifications for international travelers and the like. So as we continue to increase that level of comfort for our customers, I think we'll continue to see growth on the roaming side. We do not have the long tail to re-rate, which is the challenge with some of our competitors.
Unknown Analyst
Analyst
Are you able to provide any sort of color on the growth level of the unique roamers that you're seeing, unique users and roamers at all, like in terms of the percentage increase since like, say, 2009 when you launched the HSPA network?
Joseph M. Natale
Management
We're not in the place to provide that color. I think it's competitively sensitive information.
Darrell Rae
Management
So as always, if you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to call me or my colleagues. And on behalf of Darren, Joe and John, thank you for taking the time to join us today.
Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the TELUS 2013 Q4 earnings and 2014 guidance conference call. Thank you for your participation. Have a nice day.