Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video, smart home automation and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

television. The company is based in the

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, area; it was originally based in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, before its merger with

BC Tel British Columbia Telephone Company, later known as BC Tel, was the telephone company operating throughout the province of British Columbia, Canada. For most of its history, BC Tel was one of several regional monopolies in Canada. In 1985, the Ca ...

in 1999. Telus'

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

division, Telus Mobility, offers

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...

- and LTE-based

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

networks. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier in British Columbia and Alberta. Its primary competitors are Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Telus is a member of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.

History

Telus Corporation was formed in 1990 by the government of

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

to facilitate the privatization of

Alberta Government Telephones Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) was the telephone provider in most of Alberta from 1906 to 1991. AGT was formed by the Liberal Party of Alberta, Liberal government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1906Wilson, Kevin G., Deregulating Teleco ...

(AGT), a crown corporation that provided telephone service to most of Alberta outside of

.Wilson, Kevin G.,
Deregulating Telecommunications: U.S. and Canadian Telecommunications, 1840–1997
', Rowman & Littlefield (2000) page 35Alberta Online Encyclopedia

''Alberta's Telephone Heritage'' In 1995, it acquired Edmonton Telephones Corporation (EdTel), the main telephone provider for Edmonton itself, from the city of Edmonton making Telus the sole provider of telephone service in Alberta. In 1996, Telus was introduced to the public as the consumer brand, replacing both AGT and EdTel.
, Telus corporate website. Retrieved February 11, 2008. TelusHillcrestMall-Cropped

In 1998, Telus and

announced a proposed merger. The proposed merged company, BCT.Telus Communications Inc., was incorporated separately in British Columbia, with headquarters at BC Tel's office in Burnaby. After shareholder approval BCT.Telus acquired BC Tel and Telus; the merger was completed in 1999. In 2000 the combined BCT.Telus changed named back to Telus Corporation, and the BC Tel brand was retired.Hunter, Jennifer,
BC Telecom/Telus Merger
", ''Maclean's Magazine'', November 2, 1998 The merger created Canada's second largest telecom company, with 22% of market share compared to Bell Canada's 42%. American company GTE had held a slight majority of ownership in BC Tel prior to the merger with Telus, and retained a 26.7% share of the post-merger company. Large swaths of rural

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, mainly the Gaspé Peninsula and the north shore, were served from 1927 by an entity known as Corporation de Téléphone et de Pouvoir de Québec, and in 1955, this became known as Québec Téléphone. In 1966, the Anglo-Canadian Telephone Company, a subsidiary of General Telephone and Electronics of Stamford, Connecticut (later GTE), became a majority shareholder in Québec Téléphone. In 1997, Groupe QuébecTel was established to own Québec Téléphone. GTE sold its interests in Québec Téléphone to Telus in August 2000, which renamed it Telus Québec on April 2, 2001. GTE was itself acquired by

Bell Atlantic A bell Help:IPA/English, /ˈbɛl/ () is a struck idiophone, directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficien ...

in 2000, and the company changed its name to Verizon Communications. Verizon inherited GTE's share of Telus, but in late 2004 sold its remaining 20.5% stake. This was so that Verizon could focus more on its own services. In October 2019, Telus Corp announced it would buy home security provider ADT Inc.'s Canadian operations for 700 million (US$527.27 million). In January 2022, Telus Communications acquired

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based ISP Start.ca. In June 2022, Telus Communications acquired Altima Telecom.

Parent company

Telus Corporation is a conglomerate, and its wholly owned principal subsidiary is Telus Communications Inc (TCI), according to the 2010 Telus annual report.

Labour dispute

After the Telus-BCTel merger, unionized employees voted to certify the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) as the sole bargaining agent for the expanded company's workforce. The TWU had previously been the union representing BCTel employees – it replaced the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...

(IBEW) in Alberta. A labour dispute between Telus and the TWU began after the previous contract, negotiated with BCTel before the Telus merger, expired at the end of 2000. After Telus made its final offer to the TWU it informed the union of its intention to bring an end to the dispute by unilaterally implementing its April 2005 offer to employees in

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The next day the union went on strike in British Columbia while Telus locked out its unionized workers in Alberta, although (as is common in disputes where an employer attempts to unilaterally implement a new contract) the union consistently referred to the dispute as a "lockout." On July 25, 2005, Telus blocked its Internet subscribers from accessing a website supporting striking union members. The company expressed concerns over content on the site, saying it identified employees crossing picket lines and encouraged disruptive behaviour, while the union alleged it amounted to censorship."Telus cuts subscriber access to pro-union website"
CBC News, July 24, 2005 The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association issued an official objection to the unilateral blocking on July 26, stating "Telus is leveraging its power as a telecommunications service provider to censor a specific group, shut down debate and limit the messages conveyed about the current labour dispute". An Alberta court injunction ordered the blocked website, Voices For Change, to remove postings of "Telus employee photos" and other "intimidating or threatening material". The site owner agreed to comply and Telus unblocked the website. Telus and the TWU ratified a tentative agreement on November 18, 2005, ending the dispute.

Relaunch of Clearnet

In April 2011, Telus Mobility relaunched the Clearnet brand as a limited market trial in Kelowna, British Columbia, and Red Deer, Alberta. The company again closed to new business in June 2012.

Non-voting share conversion

In February 2013, Telus exchanged all non-voting shares into common shares on a one-for-one basis.

Purchase of Public Mobile

In October 2013, Telus acquired minor mobile phone provider Public Mobile and relaunched it in 2015 as a "value brand" MVNO on the Telus network.

Reception

In October 2008, Telus was named one of British Columbia's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which was announced by

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they ...

and the Victoria Times-Colonist. The company has been accused of taking actions to hinder the emergence of competition in Canadian telecommunications. This, along with other industry concerns, has led to consumer and industry pressure to reform the regulatory system governing the Canadian telecommunications industry.

Marketing

Sponsorship

Telus currently sponsors the Telus Spark Science Centre in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Telus World of Science in Edmonton and Science World in

. Telus funds the annual Kokanee Crankworx freeride

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

and World Ski & Snowboard festivals, both held in Whistler, British Columbia. Telus was a sponsor and marketing partner of Hockey Canada since 2004 and the title sponsor of Canada's national midget hockey championship, the Telus Cup, since 2005. Telus has been a sponsor of Rogers Sportsnet's regional broadcasts of

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The ...

and Edmonton Oilers games. Telus has been the title sponsor of the Telus Skins Game in addition to several tournaments on the Canadian Tour, including the Telus Open, Telus Calgary Open, Telus Edmonton Open and the Telus Vancouver Open. Telus is the namesake tenant in several office buildings, including The Telus Convention Centre and Telus Sky in Calgary, Tour Telus in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Telus House in Edmonton, Telus Garden in Vancouver, the currently under construction Telus Ocean in Victoria, and Telus Harbour in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Beginning in 2014, Telus began sponsoring Canada's largest nationwide

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

education event: The HTML500. In November 2017, Telus announced it would take over as title sponsor for the Vancouver Santa Claus Parade, saving the parade from being cancelled. Telus is also the sponsor for the PEPS multifunctional stadium of Université Laval, in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. This 12,750-seat stadium is the home of the Laval Rouge et Or U Sports football team.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Telus Canadian brands Companies based in Vancouver Telecommunications companies established in 1990 Canadian companies established in 1990 1990 establishments in Alberta Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Former Crown corporations of Canada Internet service providers of Canada S&P/TSX 60 Telecommunications companies of Canada