Expect fewer mobile discounts from Bell and Telus next year

Bell and Telus executives recently spoke separately at the Desjardins conference in Toronto and shared both companies' views on the current telecommunications market and its development.

Both companies sent their CFOs, who spoke in detail about many aspects of the telecom ecosystem, but seemed largely focused on areas of growth. This conference was very much like an earnings call, but without any specific numbers.

To start this Telus CFO Doug French shared that the company has noticed a decline in offerings for wireless services, but not so much for home Internet. He also mentions that mobile plan rates in Canada have dropped by 70 percent over the past few years.

However, as we know from previous reportthis number is manipulated because it tends to focus on the average cost per gigabyte rather than what the average person pays. Moreover, recent Statistics Canada report notes that wireless prices actually increased in October 2025. It is noteworthy that this happened after the organization Changed the way you track wireless prices to better reflect what consumers actually paid last year.

Operators strive to increase ARPU

Continuing with this, French and the moderator talk about Telus' average revenue per user (ARPU) and how Telus' ARPU in the mobile sector has been in negative growth territory lately. Don't confuse this with negative ARPU—the telco is still earning it: ARPU has hovered around the $58 mark for the past three years, but it's down slightly compared to 2024 and 2023.

Below I've outlined how much Telus has earned on average from its mobile subscribers since the start of 2023. The first number is ARPU, and the second is the total revenue the company generated from its wireless division this quarter:

• Third quarter of 2025 – $57.21 – mobile network turnover – $1.755 billion.
• Second quarter of 2025 – $56.58 – mobile network turnover – $1.723 billion.
• 1st quarter 2025 – 57.13 US dollars, mobile network turnover – 1.732 billion US dollars.
• Fourth quarter 2024 – $58.05, mobile network turnover – $1.758 billion.
• Third quarter 2024 – $58.85, mobile network turnover – $1.766 billion.
• Second quarter of 2024 – $58.49 – mobile network turnover – $1.734 billion.
• First quarter of 2024 – $59.31 – mobile network turnover – $1.746 billion.
• Fourth quarter 2023 – $58.50 – mobile network turnover – $1.759 billion.
• Third quarter of 2023 – $59.19 – mobile network turnover – $1.753 billion.
• Second quarter of 2023 – $58.80 – mobile network turnover – $1.718 billion.
• First quarter of 2023 – $58.61 – mobile network turnover – $1.697 billion.

As we get closer to Black Friday, French also laughed at the rise in prices following the shopping event, which should help boost ARPU. Bella in conversationThe company also seems to have caught on to the trend of trying to increase ARPU, so it looks like Canadians will start to see higher prices on wireless plans as the Big Three try to increase their ARPU above $60. Bell said it hopes to increase its average ARPU by the end of 2026. (Bell's ARPU chart is very similar to the Telus chart above: it has been hovering around $57-$58 for the last few quarters.)

It's an interesting dynamic as the Big Three have had to become more competitive as Freedom strives to become Canada's fourth national carrier. CFOs at both companies seem to agree that things are returning to normal in the telecom world, which for them means high prices and no deals.

However, the CRTC required Freedom to keep its prices 20 percent more affordable than incumbent carriers in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta for ten years. That was early 2023, so it's been over two years, meaning Freedom will likely remain competitive for much longer. Unless prices start to go up, I think Bell and Telus may be jumping the gun thinking the competition will die down.

Focus on Home Internet Offers

French says Telus will be quieter next year with fewer deals on mobile plans and devices. Bell's remarks suggest the same thing, so only time will tell how strictly they adhere to this strategy. However, he expects there will be plenty of offerings on the home Internet. This home internet game is complemented by Bell's talk, which also focuses heavily on installing fiber into the home and getting subscribers that way.

Telus continues plans to expand its fiber and hopes to make an impact in the east, such as Ontario and Quebec, where the company has been pushing hard since a recent CRTC ruling allowed it to share infrastructure with other major telecom companies. On this point, French mentions that Telus is initially focusing on high-yield (large population) areas, but ultimately he says that “everyone deserves to have fiber at the end of the day” and that is the company's goal.

Bell CFO Curtis Millen also talked a lot about the promising return to growth and really hit the company's fiber strategy. I found this an interesting twist, Given that Bell spent a lot of money on advertising, it paused its fiber rollout due to the same CRTC ruling that helped Telus move east. However, since then we have seen Bell launches fiber internet in the west using Telus infrastructureso it looks like the company is finally playing ball again.

On top of that, Millen says Bell is again planning to “run fiber, load subs, run more fiber, load more subs, etc.” However, he did not say where or when this would happen. Interestingly, the company told me last summer that there would be fiber in my Toronto area, but it still isn't here, so it's hard to take its word for it as it keeps changing its fiber deployment strategy.

Source: Desjardins Bell Conference, Telus, Telus earnings, Bell's income