Mr. Joe Natale reports

TELUS ASKS CRTC TO PUT CUSTOMERS FIRST BY REAFFIRMING ITS SUPPORT FOR FACILITIES-BASED WIRELESS COMPETITION

Telus Corp. presented its position on the future regulation of domestic wireless wholesale roaming rates in Canada today to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in the National Capital Region. Telus commended the government and the CRTC for supporting an approach to regulation that has greatly benefited Canadians -- the world's leading consumers of wireless data -- by helping Canada emerge as one of the most advanced and competitive wireless markets across the globe. Telus also told the CRTC that the deployment of next-generation technology is critical to ensuring that Canadians continue to enjoy the world's fastest and most reliable wireless networks, and asked the CRTC to reaffirm its support of a facilities-based competitive model, which Telus maintains is critical to attract the network investment required to preserve and extend Canada's global wireless leadership.

"Canada's wireless networks are among the fastest and most reliable in the world," said Joe Natale, Telus president and chief executive officer. "Our industry's investment in Canadian wireless innovation is enhancing lives by keeping people connected to each other and to information, no matter where they are in our country. Canada's advanced wireless networks are helping drive economic growth for large enterprises and small businesses, providing Canadians with access to better educational opportunities and health care outcomes, and improving our country's global competitiveness. This is no accident; it's the result of a regulatory framework which has stimulated Canadian telecoms to lead the world in private-sector wireless investment."

Canadian carriers invest three times the world average in infrastructure per subscriber, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data, and invest more private capital in networks per capita than companies in any other country. This has translated into wireless data speeds that are the envy of many countries. For example, Canadians enjoy wireless data speeds that are the second fastest in the world, with Canadian subscribers experiencing speeds more than twice the typical speeds in Germany and Italy, three times the average speeds offered in the United States and France, and nine times faster than in the United Kingdom. As a result, Canada enjoys the third-highest rate of smart phone penetration in the world.

Telus's panel at today's CRTC hearing included Dr. Georg Serentschy, the former Austrian telecom regulator and past chairman of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications. Dr. Serentschy offered Canada's communications regulator a unique view into the unintended consequences that can flow from regulation meant to favour infrastructure renters over builders and force lower prices in the short term while ignoring the long-term sustainability of wireless networks, which require constant investment to keep up with the exceptionally fast evolution of global wireless capabilities.

"Europe's telecoms industry -- and its entire digital ecosystem -- is suffering because over the last two decades, European telecom regulators have created rules intended to keep wireless prices low by stimulating increased competition," said Dr. Serentschy. "As a result, the returns of European operators fell below their costs, and they declined to make sufficient network investments. Accordingly, any consumer benefits achieved through regulation were short-lived and ultimately illusory, because of corresponding declines in network quality and technological evolution. Fast-forward to today, and we see that Europe has many relatively poor-quality networks, and consumers and businesses are frustrated on a daily basis by more dropped or failed calls, slower data speeds, poor rural coverage and dramatically less functionality on their smart phones.

"As the CRTC considers how to regulate domestic roaming rates, I encourage Canada's regulator not to recycle Europe's failed policies but rather to learn from them. Canada's wireless market is one of the most innovative in the world. Don't give that advantage away," Dr. Serentschy cautioned.