Direct fibre connection dramatically boosts data capacity, with even faster speeds for businesses, healthcare providers and schools

Port Hardy, B.C. - TELUS is investing more than $13 million to connect more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses in Port Hardy and Port McNeill directly to its fibre optic network. Planning is currently underway, and construction work will begin in the fall. TELUS anticipates connecting all homes and businesses before the end of 2017. Once the build is complete, Port Hardy and Port McNeill residents and businesses on TELUS PureFibre will have access to TELUS' first-ever symmetrical 150 Mbps Internet plan, offering customers lightning-fast download and upload speeds of 150 Mbps.

'A direct connection to the TELUS PureFibre network unleashes infinite possibilities now and into the future,' said Tony Geheran, TELUS Executive Vice-President and President of Broadband Networks. 'Just last year, we completed a $14 million project to build a new 150 kilometer fibre optic network across Northern Vancouver Island. That backbone enables us to connect homes and businesses right here in Port Hardy and Port McNeill directly to TELUS Pure Fibre, dramatically enhancing the connectivity and entertainment options residents enjoy in their homes. Perhaps most critically, these enhanced speeds and capacity will enable local businesses to thrive in global markets, and will allow healthcare providers and educators to innovate how they deliver services for generations to come.'

The gigabit-enabled TELUS PureFibre network is among the most advanced communications infrastructure available in the world today, enabling connected residents to immediately take advantage of dramatically faster Internet speeds of up to 150 megabits per second, while interested businesses, schools, healthcare providers, and institutions can access even more speed and capacity. As demand and Internet technologies evolve in the coming years, TELUS will offer faster speeds and more capacity, sufficient for decades to come. This new fibre optic infrastructure will also enable residents to access Optik TV for the first time, and will be the backbone of TELUS' wireless network, enabling even more wireless coverage and speed. Local healthcare providers, educators and technology companies will be able to draw upon the technology to reimagine how they deliver existing services and develop entirely new solutions.

'TELUS' fibre-optic investment will provide area residents with improved opportunities to learn, do business, access services and stay connected,' said Amrik Virk, Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services. 'Internet access is a great equalizer, it opens the doors to the world - this investment by TELUS supports an important goal in our #BCTECH Strategy to ensure high-speed Internet access is available to 100% of the province by 2021.'

'I'm very pleased that the strong advocacy over many years from communities in the North Island has had some success,' said Claire Trevena, MLA for the North Island. 'I look forward to TELUS moving swiftly to expand its fibre optic network to Port Hardy and Port McNeill and their continued work toward enabling broadband availability across the region.'

'We are excited about the investment being made by TELUS in our community,' said Port Hardy Mayor Hank Bood. 'It represents confidence in the economy of the North Island. This project will give our residents the opportunity to enjoy faster Internet speeds that will open up many social and educational possibilities, making Port Hardy a more vibrant community in which to live. It will allow the District to offer an affordable area for businesses to invest and for professionals to work and live with their families. We welcome TELUS to our community and are looking forward to this opportunity of working together.'

'One of the top priorities we identified in our Economic Development plan was connectivity,' said Port McNeill Mayor Shirley Ackland. 'We are very excited that true high speed internet will now be a reality in Port McNeill. Thank you to TELUS for bringing this state of the art communication and entertainment services to our community!'

This investment is part of TELUS' commitment to invest $4.5 billion throughout B.C. through 2019, at no cost to taxpayers. For more information, please visit telus.com/fibre.

The capital investment disclosed in this release is consistent with TELUS' overall capital expenditure guidance for 2016, issued on February 11.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is Canada's fastest-growing national telecommunications company, with $12.6 billion of annual revenue and 12.5 million subscriber connections, including 8.4 million wireless subscribers, 1.6 million high-speed Internet subscribers, 1.4 million residential network access lines and 1.0 million 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 $440 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 6.8 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Created in 2005 by President and CEO Darren Entwistle, TELUS' 12 Canadian community boards and 4 International boards have led the Company's support of grassroots charities and have contributed more than $54 million in support of over 4,900 local charitable projects, enriching the lives of more than 2 million children and youth, annually. 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.

TELUS in B.C.:
TELUS is planning to invest more than $4.5 billion in new infrastructure and facilities across its home province of British Columbia over the next four years. By the end of 2019 TELUS expects to have invested more than $51 billion in British Columbia since 2000 to extend the reach of advanced wireless and wireline telecommunications infrastructure throughout the province. As part of that commitment, TELUS has connected homes, businesses, schools and healthcare institutions in more than 24 communities directly to TELUS' fibre network in order to support sustained innovation and fuel the province's economic growth. The TELUS Health team is leveraging technology innovation to deliver better health outcomes for British Columbians as a leading provider of electronic medical records for physicians and as a partner of the B.C. government in introducing home health monitoring.

In support of the company's philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, team members and retirees have contributed more than $135 million and 3.76 million volunteer hours to charitable and community organizations throughout British Columbia since 2000. Created in 2005 by President and CEO Darren Entwistle, TELUS has 15 local community boards dedicated to supporting local projects. The three Community Boards in B.C. have donated more than $12.9 million in support of nearly 1,500 local charitable projects since inception, in partnership with regional TELUS Community Action Teams.

In September 2015 TELUS opened its new headquarters, TELUS Garden, located in downtown Vancouver. Rich with innovative architectural, technological and environmental features, TELUS Garden is the first office tower in Canada to receive the new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification for sustainable development. The one million square foot development also includes a 53-storey residential tower currently under construction and targeting LEED Gold standards with 424 green homes and retail space.

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For more information, please contact:
Liz Sauvé
TELUS Media Relations
(604) 719-6715
liz.sauve@telus.com

TELUS Corporation published this content on 27 October 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 27 October 2016 18:21:08 UTC.

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