Shares in Telus Corp., Western Canada’s leading telecommunications operator, were trading 2.64% higher today, after the company reported higher profits and announced plans to increase its dividend by approximately 10% in each of the next two years.

A jump in wireless data usage was largely responsible for a 19% increase in Telus’ profits, which came in at $328 million during the first quarter of 2011, up from $273 million in the first three months of last year. Revenue also increased, from $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, with wireless data sales along showing a 44% rise.

Telus added 52,000 new postpaid wireless customers during the first quarter, but lost approximately 20,000 prepaid users during the same time. This seems to suggest that many occasional cell phone users with “pay-as-you-go” accounts are switching to monthly subscriptions as they find themselves using their mobile devices more often and for functions other than simple phone calls.

Shares in BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion, surged more than 6% this morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as analysts increased their expectations for the company’s ‘PlayBook’ tablet device.

Jefferies and Co. Inc. analyst, Peter Misek, upgraded RIM from Hold to Buy, giving the stock a target price of $80. (Yesterday’s closing value was $60.01.)

Dundee Securities analyst, Dushan Batrovic, also gave the stock a glowing review, maintaining his ‘Buy’ rating, and stating in a note to clients that “On our new [earnings per share] forecast, RIM is trading at less than 9x earnings … we believe this is too low for a company growing 30%+ top line and 40%+ bottom line.”

In addition to high hopes for the PlayBook device, RIM’s fortunes have also been boosted by improving sales of the BlackBerry Torch 9800. The much-hyped touchsreen smartphone performed poorly after its launch this summer, but sales have taken off ever since American wireless giant, AT&T, cut the cost of the phone in half.

Nevertheless, there are still some industry experts who believe investors’ hopes for the Torch and PlayBook are unrealistic. Susquehanna Financial Group analyst, Jeffrey Fidacaro, told clients earlier today that the PlayBook’s focus was too narrow to compete on equal footing with other more mainstream tablets, such as the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Selling 10 million PlayBooks, as some analysts have suggested, “may be challenging for RIM to achieve, particularly as the PlayBook is positioned as a ‘professional device’ and initially as a companion linked to a BlackBerry,” Fidacaro predicted.

Satellite radio operators Sirius Canada and XM Canada, have reached a long-awaited merger deal, in a move that will ultimately make the full range of satellite radio content available to all Canadian subscribers.

Once the all-stock “merger of equals” is complete, the combined company will be worth some $520 million and have a total of over 1.7 million subscribers. The company expects to save around $20 million within 18 months as a result of the deal.

“The benefits of a merger are clear and together we’ll be better able to create more growth and opportunity for shareholders, accelerate technological innovation and ensure that satellite radio is able to compete in the rapidly evolving audio entertainment industry,” explained Sirius Canada president and CEO, Mark Redmond. “This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of satellite radio in Canada.”

Redmond will become CEO of the combined company, Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings, which will continue to offer a wide array of commercial free music, talk radio, news, and sports coverage.

As Apple Inc. strives to increase its share of the enterprise smartphone market, it is luring senior managers from the enterprise sales division of major rival and BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion.

At least five of RIM’s enterprise sales managers have jumped to Apple over the last eighteen months, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The first to do so was Geoff Perfect, who headed RIM’s Strategic Sales division for five years, but quit in April 2009 and was hired as Apple’s Head of Enterprise iPhone Sales a month later.

Since the beginning of this year, four more Research In Motion sales managers have gone from selling BlackBerrys to iPhones.

Apple confirmed that they now employ all five individuals named in the report, but would not comment beyond that.

Montreal-based Yellow Pages Group announced today that it will consolidate a several recently-acquired brands into a single digital marketing subsidiary known as Mediative Performance.

Over the last couple of years, Yellow Pages has spent some $60 million on internet-based brands, including search engine marketing company, Enquiro, and online advertising firms, Ad Splash Media and UPTREND Media.

The Mediative Performance subsidiary will offer a range of internet advertising services, including social media and location-based marketing, Yellow Pages Group said in a statement. It will have offices in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Kelowna, BC.