Telus Communications

Telus Communications Inc. – The Largest Telecom and Internet Network in Canada

Telus Communications Inc. is a Canada-based telecommunications company founded in 1990 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The company is the second-largest telecommunication company in Canada and offers its services on an international level as well. The company is a leading telecom company in Canada, making billions of revenues every year. As of 2020, Telus earned worth C$15.34 billion in revenues.

Telus Communications is among the top 100 best companies for employees, and as of 2019, over 65,000 people are working for it globally. Public Mobile, Alarmforce Canada, and Koodo Mobile are some of its major subsidiaries, providing services in the field of mobility, TV, internet/fiber, smart home security, healthcare, etc. Earlier, the company headquarters was in Alberta, which now has been moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The Founding of Telus Communications

The government of Alberta founded Telus as Telus Corp in 1990. The company was founded to encourage the privatization of the government-owned Alberta Government Telephones (AGT). This service was the most used telephone service in Alberta, except in Edmonton. Telus Communications is among the top 100 best companies for employees, and as of 2019, over 65,000 people are working for it globally. was a holding company, and to expand its operations into Edmonton, Telus acquired Edmonton Telephones Corporation (EdTel) in 1995. The same year, the company established the consumer internet service, and the next year, it launched Canada’s first Internet Yellow page service, i.e., Alberta.com. By 1996, AGT and EdTel had become a part of Telus.

The year 1997, Telus received approval for running multimedia service trials in Edmonton and Calgary from the CRTC. In 1999, Telus had a merger with BC Tel resulting in another big expansion for Telus, making it the second-largest telephone service in Canada. The same year, Telus Corp was renamed Telus Communications.

Telus Communications
Image Source: en.wikipedia.org

Telus, in 2005, merged its mobility department, Telus Mobility, with Telus Communications, resulting in the integration of the wireline and wireless segments of the company.  In 2009, the company launched a 3G+ wireless network, becoming the largest 3G+ network in Canada. Telus Communications won the most outstanding philanthropic corporation with a global award in 2010.

Telus Health launched an electronic service (first of its kind in Canada) for people to track their health in 2010. The next year, Telus launched the 4G+ wireless network in Canada, offering up to 42 Mbps downloading speed. Telus also became the first company to offer the Facebook app on its TV service in 2012. The same year, it launched the 4G LTE wireless network in 14 metropolitan cities in Canada.

Telus Communications Acquisitions

In June 2000, Telus acquired the market-leading bill integration firm CAG-TAMS. It also acquired the shares of GTE in Québec Téléphone (one of the oldest telecom companies in Quebec) in August 2000 and later renamed it to Telus Québec on April 2, 2001. On 25 October 2000, Telus acquired Clearnet to launch a wireless service in Canada. The next year Telus went on to acquire more companies, including Northwest Digital (NWD) Systems Inc., Columbus Group., PSINet’s Canadian operations and facilities, Daedalian Solutions Inc., Arqana Technologies Inc., and QuebecTel.

In the further years, Telus made some other acquisitions, including  ADCOM, Inc. (2004), Assurent Secure Technologies (2006), Emergis (2008), Black’s Photography (2009), Public Mobile (2013), etc.

The CEO: Darren Entwistle

Darren Entwistle is the CEO and the President of Telus Communications. He is a native of Montreal, Quebec, and completed his high school education at a local public school. Darren has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honours) from Concordia University and an MBA (Finance) from the McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management. He also has got a diploma in Network Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Darren joined Telus in 2000, and before that, he had been with companies like George Weston Ltd., the Business Council of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, McGill University Board of Governors, and Bell Cablemedia Plc. Bell Cablemedia Plc is a UK-based company, where Darren served as an executive. Being with Telus for the past 20 years has made Darren the longest-serving CEO amongst all the telecommunication companies worldwide.