Telus sets aside $73B for network expansion

Telus Corp. plans to spend $73 billion to bolster its networks over the next five years, chief executive Darren Entwistle said Thursday at the telecommunications company's annual general meeting.

The money would cover new infrastructure, technology, operations and spectrum, he said.

It comes at a time when some of Telus' rivals have announced they are scaling back network spending in response to unfavourable regulatory policies.

“These funds will ensure that our networks remain robust, resilient, reliant and, critically, accessible,” said Entwistle, adding the funding builds on $259 billion that Telus has spent in technology and infrastructure since 2000.

Telus was awarded the most licences in the federal government's most recent auction for wireless spectrum — the radio wave bandwidths that carry signals — last fall. The auction offered telecom companies the chance to purchase chunks of mid-band wireless spectrum touted for being able to carry a lot of data over long distances.

Telus secured 1,430 licences for nearly $620 million.

Entwistle said the decommissioning of Telus' copper networks as it transitions to optical fibre remains a key project. Since 2018, Telus has migrated more than half a million residential customers in provinces such as B.C. and Alberta from copper to fibre.

“Our goal ... is to retire copper on a community-by-community basis within our pure fibre footprint in the next few years,” Entwistle said.

The cost of building and operating wireless networks is rising “markedly,” the CEO said, adding the price of telecom equipment increased 24 per cent from 2020-23.