Telus announced Tuesday it will invest more than $70 billion over the next five years to expand its network infrastructure and operations across Canada.
Priorities for its investments through 2029 include enhancing connectivity, supporting Canadian AI leadership and fuelling economic growth, the Vancouver-based telecom said in a press release.
Telus is pledging to bring Telus PureFibre connectivity to more homes and businesses across B.C., Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. In addition, it will deploy targeted enhancements to its 5G and LTE services at more than 500 macro and micro sites nationwide this year, significantly increasing wireless coverage and capacity, it said.
Furthermore, Telus said it will expand its advanced broadband networks to an additional 20 indigenous lands and 53 rural communities through 2026. This is on top of the 637 indigenous lands and 530 rural communities already connected to its broadband networks, Telus said.
To address the increasing demand for affordable rental housing, Telus said over the next five years it will redevelop its central office buildings into Telus Living initiatives as part of its copper retirement program. Under that program, to date, Telus has mined more than 4,600 tonnes of copper from its network and enabled a reduction of 9,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent of removing nearly 2,000 cars from roads for a year, according to its press release.
As previously announced, Telus is launching two Sovereign AI Factories in Rimouski, Que., and Kamloops, B.C. In April, Telus said the Rimouski facility will start operations this summer followed by expansion to the Kamloops site. These secure facilities promise to provide Canadian businesses and researchers access to cutting-edge technology, “ensuring every piece of data, computation and breakthrough created will remain within our borders,” according to the release.
“The $70-billion investment we are making across Canada transcends traditional connectivity; it is powering advanced digital services, fuelling innovation across all sectors of the economy and propelling our productivity as a nation,” said Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of Telus, in a statement. “Moreover, this investment is a cornerstone of Canada’s competitiveness on the global stage, driving critical transformational change and advancing our leadership in Canadian AI sovereignty, innovation and development. Crucially, TELUS’ capital investments empower a more resilient and inclusive society, enabling us to remediate the environmental state of our planet through technology virtualization and bridge socio-economic and geographic divides, particularly in rural and Indigenous communities.”
Telus said the investments announced Tuesday build on the more than $276 billion it has invested across the country since 2000.
