TORONTO – Telus Corp.’s fourth-quarter profit fell 69 per cent compared with the same period in 2015 partly because of a $305-million, one-time, lump-sum payment the company made to employees.

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

The Vancouver-based 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.

Telus, like the other Big Three telecommunications companies, added more new net wireless postpaid subscribers — typically those on contracts — in its past quarter than analysts expected.

The company added 87,000 such subscribers in the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with 62,000 additions in the same quarter a year earlier.

Analysts anticipated a 74,000 customer increase, Drew McReynolds, an RBC Dominion Securities analyst, wrote in a note.

However, Telus (TSX:T) lagged behind its competitors Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) and BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE), which added 93,000 and 112,393 such customers respectively.

“It’s nice to see,” said president and CEO Darren Entwistle in a call with analysts of the industry-wide larger-than-anticipated growth.

Some of the factors behind it include a growing Canadian population thanks to immigration, more people owning more than one phone and more tablets coming into play, he said.

Telus also added 24,000 high-speed Internet subscribers and 16,000 TV subscribers.

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. Wireline revenue was $1.5 billion, up 1.3 per cent as it was helped by high-speed Internet subscriber growth.

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Note to readers: CORRECTS wireline revenue increase from 1.9 per cent to 1.3