TELUS to adopt "say on pay"

Advisory shareholder vote on executive compensation

VANCOUVER , Jan. 15 /CNW/ - TELUS Corporation (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) announced today that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved the adoption of a non-binding advisory vote by shareholders on executive compensation.

This vote, to be held at the annual general meetings in May of 2011, will give TELUS shareholders an opportunity to give direct feedback to the Board of Directors on the company's approach to executive compensation. Being one of the first large corporations in Canada to voluntarily extend a 'say on pay' vote to shareholders continues TELUS' long-standing commitment to best-in-class corporate governance practices.

TELUS has a strong "pay for performance" culture. On average, more than 70 per cent of a TELUS executive's 2008 compensation was based on corporate and personal performance measured by a set of transparent, publicly-stated objectives. TELUS' executive compensation practices contributed to the company being honoured recently with an Award of Excellence for Corporate Reporting from the Canadian Institute for Chartered Accountants and to the company's annual report being judged as the third best in the world for the last two years in the Annual Report on Annual Reports.

Visit telus.com/governance for a full statement of TELUS' corporate governance practices.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada , with $9.6 billion of annual revenue and 11.9 million customer connections including 6.4 million wireless subscribers, 4.1 million wireline network access lines, 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 100,000 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. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

This news release contains statements about an expected future event that is forward-looking. By its nature, forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties as a number of factors could cause actual events to differ materially from that expressed in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. Except as required by law, TELUS disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements.

For further information: Shawn Hall, TELUS Media Relations, [phone], [email protected]; Darrell Rae, TELUS Investor Relations, [phone], [email protected]