TELUS to invest $20 million in TELUS House Edmonton

TELUS extends lease of TELUS House Edmonton to 2026

Seeks public input on green space revitalization



Edmonton, AB – TELUS today announced it will invest more than $20 million in downtown Edmonton’s TELUS House over the next two years for planned upgrades in and around the building. TELUS has also extended its lease on 318,000 sq. ft. of office space in TELUS House in the heart of the city to 2026.



Included in this investment, TELUS will undertake the revitalization of the green space adjacent to TELUS House Edmonton. The public’s input will be actively sought on ideas to develop this space, which will not only reflect TELUS’ commitment to the community, but the strong heritage and cultural diversity within the city of Edmonton. Details on public input will be made available soon.



“TELUS is proud of our Edmonton roots and we are equally excited about our involvement in the revitalization of the downtown core,” said Geoff de Bruijn, vice-president, TELUS Enterprise Services. “Investing $20 million in the building and the green space next to the tower further demonstrates our commitment to the city and to our more than 3,000 team members here in Edmonton.”

While the lease renewal represents a reduction of overall space for TELUS in the tower, the company is growing its team member base in the city. Last November, TELUS announced it was hiring more than 200 people in Edmonton by year end 2011 to help keep up with increasing client demand for TELUS services such as Optik TV. TELUS also houses team members in other buildings throughout Edmonton, such as the company’s downtown Toll building and a number of field offices throughout the city.



Increasing the number of TELUS team members while reducing office space has been made possible by the expansion of TELUS’ innovative national Work Styles program.



Work Styles is about making the workplace more flexible to accommodate the way people work today. Over the next few years TELUS expects to have 30 per cent of team members working at home full-time, another 40 per cent mobile, and the remaining 30 per cent working in a traditional office environment.



TELUS Work Styles leverages secure and mobile communications technologies to deliver multiple benefits for the company, our team members, the environment, and the community including:

*Taking vehicles off the roads by reducing the need for commuting. This reduces green house gas emissions, decreases traffic congestion, and lessens wear and tear on municipal infrastructure.
*Reducing travel to and from the office gives time back to employees to improve their work/life balance.
*Enhancing business resiliency by enabling team members to work remotely if situations arise where they cannot go into a corporate office – snow storms or flu pandemics, for example.



TELUS is investing $650 million in Alberta this year to further expand and enhance its 4G wireless and wireline networks. This year’s network investment builds upon the $23 billion TELUS has invested in its operations and technology in the province in the last 10 years.



About the TELUS Edmonton Community Board

The TELUS Edmonton Community Board is made up of local community leaders and TELUS team members dedicated to the communities where they live and work. They are committed to seeking out grassroots local charities and supporting them with donations and expertise. The TELUS Edmonton Community Board has funded 217 projects since its inception in 2005 donating $3.3 million. Nationally, the TELUS Community Boards have allocated more than $25 million in support of more than 1,800 innovative community projects.



About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.9 billion of annual revenue and 12.3 million customer connections including 7 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 350,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video.



In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees will, by year-end 2011, have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Ten TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS’ local philanthropic initiatives. 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.