Significant investment will increase wireless speeds and expand rural coverage, extend fibre optic Internet network, help deliver better healthcare outcomes, offer market-leading Internet of Things solutions

Montreal, QC - TELUS intends to invest more than $1.6 billion in new communications infrastructure across Québec through 2018. When combined with operational expenses, this will bring TELUS' total investment in Québec over the next four years to more than $6 billion. This significant investment will result in TELUS having invested more than $23 billion in Québec since 2000 to further extend advanced telecommunications infrastructure supporting sustained innovation and fueling economic growth.

"In little more than a decade, our sustained investment has extended TELUS' reach from offering traditional phone services in Eastern Québec to blanketing the province with the fastest wireless network technology and some of the most advanced business communications networks in the world," said François Gratton, Executive Vice-President and President, Business Solutions East and TELUS Québec. "Our continued focus over the next four years will further extend our fibre optic network directly to thousands of Québec homes and businesses to dramatically increase their available Internet speeds, while connecting schools and healthcare facilities to allow more innovation in how they deliver life-changing services. We will bring wireless to more rural communities and even Montreal's metro, and expand our advanced Internet data centre in Rimouski to meet the cloud computing and managed data needs of businesses in Québec and across Canada. All of this is possible only with the dedicated work of our 6,000 team members across Québec."

TELUS' infrastructure and technology investments will advance services for the benefit of all Québécois. In 2015 and beyond TELUS expects to:

Services
  • In the coming years, complete adding underground wireless coverage in Montreal's métro system in partnership with the STM;
  • Finish upgrading all wireless sites in Québec to 4G LTE, enhancing the already exceptional speed, coverage and reliability experienced by TELUS customers;
  • Connect more homes and businesses directly to TELUS' fibre optic network, dramatically increasing Internet speeds, ensuring reliability and enabling organizations to improve how they deliver services such as healthcare and education;
  • Enrich the customer viewing experience by adding more choice and flexibility to TELUS' television services, and adding new TV content, packages and applications.
  • Offer enhanced security, data storage and email services to adequately meet current and future needs of users at home and on the go.

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 Québec, driving solutions that will enable all sectors 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 demands of new and existing customers.
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 Montreal and Laval.

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), 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.

For more information, please contact:

Luiza Staniec

TELUS Media Relations

(514) 665-3413

Luiza.staniec@telus.com

distributed by