Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Telus Corp., Canada's second-biggest telephone company, reported third-quarter sales that missed analysts' estimates after rising demand for text messaging and e- mail failed to compensate for lower-priced voice calls.

Sales climbed 4.5 percent to C$2.31 billion, missing the $2.35 billion average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Telus also cut its full-year sales forecast. Net income increased 28 percent to C$409.9 million ($434 million), or $1.23 a share, the Vancouver-based company said today in a statement.

Telus is trying to counter a loss in traditional local-phone sales by offering mobile-phone and data services. Wireless sales rose, boosted by data services including text messaging and e- mail. Still, average revenue per user declined 1.3 percent after competition forced the company to lower prices on voice calls.

``Voice pricing has been going down,'' Telus Chief Financial Officer Robert McFarlane said today in an interview. ``That's a function of the competitive environment. For the first time in 18 quarters, the data increase didn't offset the voice decline.''

Telus shares fell C$1.69, or 3 percent, to C$54.91 at 4:10 p.m. on the Toronto Stock Exchange, their biggest decline since August. The stock has climbed 2.6 percent this year.

Wireless-data sales, which also include Web browsing and music downloads, grew 56 percent, bolstering overall mobile-phone revenue, which grew 9.4 percent. Average sales per user for wireless voice calls dropped 4.5 percent, Telus said.

`Focused on Data'

Average revenue from voice has been unchanged, if not declining, ``for a number of years,'' IDC Canada analyst Lawrence Surtees of Toronto said in an interview. ``That's why the big carriers are so focused on data services. The thing they have to try to do is get that data spending up.''

Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's biggest mobile-phone company, reported 18 percent growth in wireless revenue yesterday. Wireless-data sales grew 53 percent. BCE Inc., the country's biggest phone company, reports results Nov. 7.

Telus signed 98,200 new mobile-phone customers to long-term contracts, fewer than the 103,000 estimated by Scotia Capital analyst John K. Henderson, who said in an e-mail that he's worried about the per-customer wireless sales ``trending down.''

The results were ``not to the standards I expect of our organization,'' Chief Executive Officer Darren Entwistle said in a conference call. The decline in revenue per user was the first in 18 quarters and ``demonstrates the competitiveness of the wireless industry in Canada,'' he said.

Forecast Cut

Telus cut its 2007 sales forecast to C$9.13 billion to C$9.18 billion. Analysts project sales of C$9.16 billion, according to the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Local-phone sales, which account for about a fifth of revenue, dropped 4.1 percent as more customers defected to the cable-phone service of regional rival Shaw Communications Inc.

Excluding a C$93 million tax gain, profit was 95 cents a share, beating the average estimate of 93 cents in the Bloomberg survey. Telus boosted its dividend by 20 percent to 45 cents.

(Telus held at conference call to discuss results. Click http://about.telus.com/investors/en/newsevents/index.html to listen to a replay.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 2, 2007 16:24 EDT