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.

Ascendant Canadian wireless operator, Wind Mobile, is urging the government of Manitoba to mandate greater transparency in wireless contracts, among other consumer protection measures.

The company applauded Manitoba’s Consumer Protection Office for holding a public consultation on consumer protection measures in the wireless market, noting that it is essential that customers are able to “vote with their feet” and switch carriers without facing unexpected contract termination fees.

“As long-standing champions of wireless choice for Canadians, we’re glad to see that the Manitoba Consumer Protection Office is taking strides to protect consumers from unfair wireless practices and is joining Quebec in raising the bar for the rest of Canada,” commented Wind Chairman, Anthony Lacavera.

Quebec’s consumer protection legislation for cell phone users, Bill 60, was passed by the provincial legislature last August.

Microsat Systems, a Canadian spacecraft systems manufacturer, has announced plans to launch 78 small communications satellites with the aim of enhancing high-speed internet availability.

The so-called “ComStellation” system will act as a backhaul, linking various local carriers with the global fiber-optic broadband infrastructure so as to improve the bandwidth and reach of high-speed internet services.

“Here in Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is pushing to extend high-speed internet connections to all Canadians,” noted Microsat president and CEO, David Cooper. “Industry estimates to extend that fiber network are on the order of seven billion dollars and will take 10 years to implement. CommStellation [on the other hand] will be about one-tenth of that cost and be twice as fast to implement.”

Microsat expects to deploy the CommStellation system by 2015. Details on financing for the project have not been released.

Ottawa’s emergency operators dealt with some 27,000 inadvertent 911 calls in 2009, representing 12% of all emergency calls and resulting in many unnecessary police attendances, according to a recent report.

Many of these accidental calls result from cell phones being dialed in callers’ pockets or handbags, which is especially likely to happen when ’911′ is placed on speed dial, and a high percentage of the inadvertent callers immediately hang up.

“The most intuitive reaction when you accidentally call 911 is hang up and hope that nobody realizes that 911 was called,” commented Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Sandra McLaren. “In actual fact, it’s that reaction that will cost us a lot of time.”

When a 911 call is terminated, operators must follow a procedure of calling back and asking the person a series of questions to ensure that there isn’t an emergency. If such calls go unanswered, police are deployed, McLaren explained, noting that the best thing for mistaken 911 callers to do is remain on the line.

“We can get to the bottom of this much more quickly than if the person hangs up,” she explained. “Every minute we can save in a 911 environment is a very precious minute to everybody.”

Research In Motion plans to offer a number of dual-core BlackBerry devices in the future, according to one of its chief executives.

“We are working on multi-core smartphones, and QNX is our multi-core platform for those devices. Those devices are both in smartphone and in tablet form,” commented RIM co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, in an interview with PCMag.com.

Dual-core technology will initially be available exclusively on tablets, including the BlackBerry PlayBook, Lazaridis said. The multi-core technology will then be gradually extended to smartphones as technology improves and concerns about the size, weight, cost, and battery life of smaller dual-core devices can be addressed.