TELUS modernizing telecommunications infrastructure of the City of Montreal

MONTREAL , Nov. 4 /CNW/ - Three articles recently published in a Montreal daily newspaper called in to question the telephony and data transmission contracts between TELUS and the City of Montreal ; the process in which the contracts were awarded, TELUS' capability to deploy the services and its network reliability. TELUS would like to rectify the facts.

First of all, the contracts awarded to TELUS were done so after requests for proposals were sent and TELUS responded according to the established process. The process led by the City of Montreal was transparent and TELUS adhered to its requirements.

TELUS submitted its proposal after an exhaustive review of the request for proposal documentation based on its expertise gained through large scale contract deployments across the country. TELUS was selected by the City of Montreal for two of the three requests for proposals submitted. These contracts were for the provision of data connectivity and wireline telephony services valued at $87 million over ten years. The contract value was well-below what the competitors were offering.

The highly dynamic telecommunications industry drives TELUS to be innovative in both technology and business, offering customers leading-edge solutions at competitive prices. These were contributing factors to winning the City of Montreal contracts, opening the door to the latest technology while experiencing substantial cost-savings into the next ten years.

TELUS is pleased to have been selected as the partner to lead the modernization of the City of Montreal's telecommunications infrastructure. Currently, more than 300 sites served by data transmission and more than 16,000 phone lines on 1,100 sites are being upgraded to migrate an over 100 year old infrastructure to a modern infrastructure, one that will see City of Montreal's employees and citizens into the future. The plan jointly developed by TELUS and the City of Montreal is on track and is moving in alignment with the necessary requirements.

Contrary to what was written, there is no "arm wrestling" between the City, the former supplier and TELUS. As soon as the telephone network of the City of Montreal was handed over in November 2008 , TELUS signed a sub-contracting agreement with the former supplier in order to ensure an orderly transition of services. This is common practice for a migration of such scope, in order to minimize the impact on the users. The TELUS network is one of the best and most reliable in the industry.

It should be noted, the 911 services are not impacted by the wireline contract. However the TELUS IP telephony solutions will be integrated in the 911 services and to all handsets used by the City of Montreal employees.

Should, as it was mentioned in the recent article, the City's Auditor General decide to hold a full investigation on the matter, TELUS will fully cooperate. In the meantime, the dedicated team is focusing all its efforts on the project delivery.

Since 2000, TELUS has been an agent of change in Quebec . After investing more than $6 billion into the province, TELUS continues to expand its infrastructure with the launching of its 3G+ network. With 5,400 employees in Quebec , TELUS is committed to modernizing the City's network, to foster competiveness in the industry and to promote sustainability in the province's communities.

To view the February 2008 release, announcing the City of Montreal contracts, click here:

http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/media_news_viewer_french.cgi?news_id=147&mode=2&news_year=2008

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada , with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 11.6 million customer connections including 6.1 million wireless subscribers, 4.2 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. 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 have contributed $135 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

For further information: Stacey Masson, TELUS Media Relations, [phone], [email protected]