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Ottawa LRT: Closure to extend into weekend

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Officials say the work to repair Ottawa’s LRT line after freezing rain Wednesday night is expected to continue into the weekend after efforts to remove ice caused further damage.

More than 36 hours after freezing rain shut down the city’s light rail system, a section of the line remains closed and two trains are still stuck.

On Friday morning, crews sent a third train to the area between Lees and Hurdman stations with a special attachment called a “winter carbon strip” to remove ice from the overhead wires, but the train caused more damage to the wires.

Instead, crews are removing the ice manually, Mario Guerra, Rideau Transit Maintenance CEO and acting general manager, told reporters Friday afternoon.

“We have our staff up in the bucket truck removing the ice manually,” he said. “Before we were trying to use the vehicles themselves.”

Once the ice is clear, crews will resume work to try to repair the overhead catenary wires that broke when the third train was brought in, Guerra said.

After that, they will work to move the two trains that first became stuck Wednesday night near Lees Station as freezing rain fell and ice built up on the overhead wires.

“Once we have done that, we will test the system to make sure the repairs that we made are safe,” Guerra said.

In a memo earlier Friday, transit general manager Renee Amilcar said there is “significant” ice buildup in that area of the tracks because no trains have run there since Wednesday, making it more challenging to remove.

Officials say there’s no estimate on when the work will be completed, but they anticipate the work will continue into the weekend.

Trains are running between Blair and Tremblay stations in the east and Tunney’s and uOttawa stations in the west. Replacement bus service is still running between St. Laurent and Rideau stations.

Troy Charter, OC Transpo’s director of transit operations, said two trains are running between Tunney’s and uOttawa, and four are running between St. Laurent and Blair.

Video on Twitter Friday morning showed a broken wire on the closed stretch of the tracks.

A spokesman for Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe declined an interview, saying Sutcliffe was in budget meetings all day. He referred interview requests to Coun. Glen Gower.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA Friday, Gower said trains would not be operating if there was a safety issue with the track, adding that although there isn’t a definitive answer on the cause of the outage, but freezing rain is “very likely” a contributing factor.

“Anytime we have an outage of the train lasting 24 hours, that’s a major outage and a concern,” he said.

Gower is the new chair of Ottawa’s Transit Commission and a member of the newly formed LRT subcommittee.  He said OC Transpo needs to look at the practices it has in place to deal with freezing rain.

Amilcar said two trains ran overnight from Blair to Tremblay stations to keep the wires clear of ice.

Sparks fly

A video posted on Twitter just after 11 p.m. Wednesday showed sparks flying from the overhead catenary system as a train approached Hurdman Station.

Around 11:45 p.m., two trains got stuck in that area. Passengers waited about an hour before they were escorted off the trains to a bus at Hurdman station. Amilcar said Thursday that early analysis showed ice buildup on the catenary system caused the stopped trains.

There was also a power outage on the system shortly after midnight. Replacement bus service ran on the eastern part of the line for all of Thursday.

Rideau Transit Maintenance is now concerned the flashes of light spotted in the trains, known as “arcing”, may have damaged the OCS.

“While arcing is a contributing factor to the current situation, the root cause investigation continues to identify the full scope of any issues and required corrective actions,” Amilcar said in a Thursday memo.

Guerra said Friday that riders should not expect this kind of outage to become a normal occurrence during freezing rain.

“I would say riders can expect that we will be much better prepared and react better in the future with regards to vehicles getting stranded,” he said.

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:T)

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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