MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Apr 16, 2015) - TELUS will invest $116 million in new infrastructure and facilities across the Greater Montréal area this year to enhance wireless capacity and data speeds, connect more businesses directly to the company's fibre optic network, and deliver TELUS Health technology solutions.

This significant investment is part of TELUS' commitment to invest $1.6 billion in Québec through 2018 to bring advanced telecommunications infrastructure to every corner of the province, enabling sustained innovation, providing access to world-class education programmes, extending critical healthcare technology to more communities, and fueling economic growth. By the end of 2018, TELUS will have invested $23 billion in Québec since 2000.

"We are more than doubling our investment in the region this year compared to last year to connect local businesses directly to our fibre optic network and bring faster, higher-capacity wireless services to more Montréal neighbourhoods, ensuring our customers continue to have access to outstanding service as demand continues to explode," said François Gratton, Executive Vice-President and President, Business Solutions East and TELUS Québec. "This investment directly supports our city's ambition of becoming one of the world's smartest cities. In connecting Montréal businesses and healthcare facilities directly to our fibre networks, we are opening up opportunities for them to operate more efficiently and become even more innovative in how they deliver critical services."

In the Greater Montréal area this year TELUS will:

Services

  • Continue expanding underground wireless service in Montréal's métro system in partnership with the STM;
  • Complete upgrading all wireless sites in the community to 4G LTE, enhancing the already world-leading speed, coverage and reliability experienced by TELUS customers.
  • Offer enhanced security, data storage and email services to adequately meet current and future needs of users on the go.

Health

  • Further grow the important role of TELUS Health, which currently provides electronic medical records to more than 14,000 Canadian physicians as well as health benefits management solutions to more than 9,000 pharmacies, 11,000 dental clinics and 25,000 extended healthcare providers across the country. TELUS Health has invested more than $1.5 billion to bring patient-centric solutions to market that are improving the flow of information across the healthcare continuum and enabling better health outcomes for Québecers and all Canadians;
  • Support quality, speedy and efficient health care with secure electronic health records holding details of patient encounters across a healthcare facility. Detailed information such as lab results, diagnostic images and medical procedures are available instantly to all authorized care providers throughout a hospital, including those in emergency rooms. TELUS currently provides this service for several health regions in Québec including Montréal and Laval.

Business

  • Continue to connect business locations and industrial parks directly to TELUS' fibre optic network to further stimulate economic growth. Over the past 10 years, TELUS has deployed countless kilometres of fibre optics across the province of Québec to connect thousands of businesses in Eastern Québec, the North Shore, Saguenay, Abitibi, Québec City, Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Eastern townships and other communities directly to fibre optics, dramatically increasing their available Internet speeds and capacity;
  • Invest heavily in core areas of network, security, cloud computing and Internet-connected devices to facilitate Internet of Things (IoT) growth in the Greater Montréal Area, driving solutions that will enable local businesses to further their global competitive advantage, reduce environmental impact, and increase worker safety;
  • Expand the capacity of TELUS' Intelligent Internet data centre in Rimouski to meet the growing demand for cloud computing and managed data services of new and existing business customers in Montréal.

The capital investment disclosed in this release is consistent with TELUS' overall capital expenditure guidance for 2015, issued on February 12, 2015.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX:T)(NYSE:TU) is Canada's fastest-growing national telecommunications company, with $12 billion of annual revenue and 13.7 million customer connections, including 8.1 million wireless subscribers, 3.2 million wireline network access lines, 1.5 million Internet subscribers and 916,000 TELUS TV customers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services, including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video, and is Canada's largest healthcare IT provider.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed more than $396 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered and more than 6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Created in 2005 by Executive Chairman Darren Entwistle, TELUS' 11 community boards across Canada have led the company's support of grassroots charities and will have contributed $47 million in support of 3,700 local charities organizations by the end of 2015, enriching the lives of more than two million Canadian children and youth. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

Forward looking statement:

This news release contains statements about expected future events, including TELUS' projected multi-year capital and operating expenditures, which include spectrum license purchases that are forward-looking. The investments described for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 are subject to the ongoing review and approval of TELUS' Board of Directors. By their nature, forward-looking statements require the Company to make assumptions and predictions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. There is significant risk that the forward-looking statements will not prove to be accurate. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a number of factors (such as regulatory and government decisions, the competitive environment, economic conditions, our ability to purchase spectrum licences through auctions or third-parties, and our earnings, free cash flow and financial position) could cause actual capital and operating expenditures to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, this news release is subject to the disclaimer and qualified by the assumptions (including the assumptions for our 2015 annual guidance, semi-annual dividend increases through 2016, ability to sustain and complete our multi-year share purchase program through 2016, ability to sustain and complete our multi-year share purchase program through 2016), qualifications and risk factors referred to in the 2014 Management's Discussion and Analysis for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, which are specifically incorporated by reference herein, and in other TELUS public disclosure documents and filings with securities commissions in Canada (on SEDAR at sedar.com) and in the United States (on EDGAR at sec.gov). Except as required by law, TELUS disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements.