VANCOUVER 芒鈧珺次元官网网址� Telus Corp. (TSX:T) says $305 million in one-time lump-sum payments that it made to employees last year helped push down its fourth-quarter profit by 69 per cent compared with the comparable period in 2015.

The payments were in lieu of wage and salary increases for a 30-month period through to the end of 2018.

The Vancouver-based telecom company says its net income attributable to common shares was $81 million or 14 cents per share, down from $261 million or 44 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Excluding the specialty payments and certain other items, Telus says its adjusted earnings fell 2.5 per cent to $316 million or 53 cents per share from $324 million or 54 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Overall revenue grew by 2.7 per cent to $3.31 billion from $3.22 billion. The Telus wireless business accounted for $1.7 billion of revenue, up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier. Landline revenue was $1.5 billion, up 1.9 per cent.

Telus added 127,000 new customers to its wireless, high-speed Internet and TV services, which was 18,000 more than it added in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The Canadian Press