TELUS investing $13 billion across British Columbia
through 2024
- Expanding the advanced TELUS
PureFibre network across rural and remote British Columbia
- Deploying 5G to 187 more communities
in the province this year
- Supporting local grassroots
charities with financial donations and volunteer hours
- Creating 12,000 job opportunities
for British Columbians
To complement the $47 billion TELUS has invested in
British Columbia since 2000, TELUS announced it is investing an
additional $13 billion in infrastructure and operations across British Columbia
through 2024 to further support the province through the Covid-19 pandemic and
subsequent economic recovery. These investments will create important and
tangible social outcomes for us all by enabling British Columbians to work,
learn, access healthcare, and socialize from home during these unprecedented
times. TELUS’ significant investments include:
- Bringing our blistering-fast 5G network speeds to
connect more than 187 communities to 5G by the end of 2021, as well as 119
Indigenous communities and 335 Indigenous lands which include Reserves,
treaty-lands and self-governing lands across the province utilizing our
current spectrum holdings. The broad deployment of 5G across our province
will contribute to improved health and educational outcomes for British
Columbians, supporting environmental sustainability, enabling our
entrepreneurial spirit, and unleashing human productivity. It is estimated
that 5G will create 250,000 jobs and contribute $150 billion to Canada’s
economy over the next 20 years.
- Connecting hundreds of thousands more homes and
businesses to the gigabit-enabled TELUS PureFibre network. TELUS PureFibre
is Western Canada’s largest fibre-to-the-premise network with symmetrical
upload and download speeds to easily manage bandwidth demand. Since 2013,
TELUS has connected 1.5 million British Columbian households and
businesses to the TELUS PureFibre network, which was ready to withstand
the additional demands of the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling people to work
with large files at home while other family members could simultaneously
be doing virtual school, virtually connecting with healthcare
practitioners, or staying socially connected.
- Hiring 12,000 British Columbians primarily in
construction, engineering and emerging technologies at TELUS and through
our vast partner ecosystem now through 2024.
“On behalf of our 25,000 team
members and retirees, TELUS is proud to make this generational investment in
British Columbia, providing the technology to connect citizens to loved ones,
as well as vital resources and information as we continue to navigate the
global pandemic,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO of TELUS. “Now more
than ever, TELUS is committed to keeping our citizens and communities
connected, productive and healthy through our globally leading wireless
network, underpinned by our award winning TELUS PureFibre infrastructure that
provides the backbone for our 5G-enabled world. Importantly, our world-leading
networks will continue to drive the innovation that empowers the diversity and
competitiveness of British Columbia’s private sector and improves economic
equality in our digital world, helping us answer the most pressing social
challenges in health, education and the environment. Indeed, in our province’s
more remote communities, the ongoing expansion of our broadband networks,
ubiquitously deployed, is bridging time and distance, allowing residents to
live and work in any community without compromising productivity or economic
opportunity. As we look ahead with optimism to a period of social and economic
recovery, our investments are enabling more British Columbians with world-best
connectivity to work, learn, socialize, access healthcare, and transact safely
and effectively from their homes.”
Here are some of the ways TELUS
supported our customers, team members, and Canadians through the Covid-19
pandemic:
- Our world-leading networks accommodated a surge in
demand, including a 120% increase in text, photo, and video messages; a
40% surge in Internet usage; a 60% increase in average monthly call
volumes; and a 26% increase in TV viewing.
- We gave $85 million to charities across Canada and the
world, representing five per cent of our pre-tax profits -- more than any
other Canadian organization -- to drive meaningful change for our most
vulnerable citizens in 2020 alone.
- We hired close to 100 additional doctors to seamlessly
provide one-to-one virtual patient visits through Babylon by TELUS Health,
which is available to all British Columbians under the MSP program.
"Whether it's being able to
video call family members, attend classes remotely, or see a health care
provider virtually, the pandemic has reinforced the importance of staying
connected, no matter where we live," said Premier John Horgan. "We're
pleased to welcome these significant investments in British Columbia that will provide
better, faster internet and cell service for thousands of people in urban,
rural, remote and Indigenous communities. By working together to support these
projects, we can keep building a stronger B.C. for everyone."
In addition to the important network
investments referenced above, now through 2024 in British Columbia, TELUS is:
- Delivering connected technology solutions through TELUS
Agriculture to B.C.’s farmers, ranchers, and producers to
improve the food supply system through enhanced food traceability,
security, safety and sustainability.
- Further bridge digital divides and socio-economic
inequality by ensuring that safe and quality healthcare is accessible for
all British Columbians through the use of TELUS Health’s digital
solutions. In the near future, 5G will improve health experiences for
British Columbians with faster, more secure connections for video health
consultations and remote health monitoring. Eventually, remote surgeries
will be made possible as innovation is enabled by our robust
networks.
- Committing to further our position as a global leader
in social capitalism and the most giving company in the world by
supporting charities across B.C. financially and with important volunteer
hours, and expanding our For Good programs to help more British
Columbians.
- This includes expanding our Internet for Good program
- which offers low-income families Internet for $9.95 per month - to
students in-need and British Columbians living with a disability;
deploying the Kilala Lelum Mobile Health Clinic powered by TELUS Health
throughout Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to provide trauma-informed and
culturally-sensitive primary medical, addictions, and mental healthcare
to British Columbians; and offering low-income seniors across the
province a heavily subsidized data plan for $25 per month through TELUS
Mobility for Good for Seniors.
These investments build upon TELUS’
continued commitment to bring world-leading connectivity to communities across
the province, providing the technological backbone for our economic recovery
and strength well into the future. Since 2000, TELUS has invested nearly $240
billion nationally in network infrastructure, operations and spectrum,
including more than $53 billion in technology and operations in B.C.
Source: TELUS media announcement
