Kegaska and La Romaine are about to be digitally transformed with TELUS high-speed Internet and mobile phone service

KEGASKA, Quebec, June 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, TELUS announced that, for the first time, the communities of Kegaska and La Romaine (Unamen Shipu) have access to mobile phone service and high-speed home Internet with browsing speeds similar to those available in urban centres. Thanks to an innovative and ambitious project that builds on TELUS’ LTE Advanced wireless technology, around 1,000 citizens in these two communities of the vast and roadless Lower North Shore are now connected for good. They have access to the digital tools needed to transform health care, pursue their studies remotely, optimize the potential of their businesses, and share their rich culture with the rest of the world.

“Connecting Kegaska and La Romaine to one of the fastest and most powerful wireless networks in the world represents a total digital transformation for these two isolated communities,” says Marie-Christine D’Amours, TELUS Vice-President, Consumer Solutions and Customer Experience in Quebec. “TELUS’ ambition is to deploy its infrastructure in remote regions, especially in the unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which people are relying on networks for work, education, access to health care, and social contact more than ever before. Our project in the vast Lower North Shore is clearly one of the most complex and ambitious deployments that TELUS has ever undertaken. More importantly, it’s also one of the most crucial as it bridges the digital divide and gives everyone an equal chance to succeed, no matter where they live.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic shows how essential high-speed service is to ensure our region’s economic vitality, keep education going, and provide virtual health care services, while enabling families to stay informed and entertained,” says Darlene Rowsell Roberts, administrator of the municipality of Côte-Nord-du-Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent. “Since last November, that same connectivity has brought us together with our loved ones and have encouraged our youth to stay in the region. It is also essential for attracting teachers, entrepreneurs and health care professionals. We can now travel the region safely thanks to the new wireless service, and have access to all the tools we need to share the beauty of our communities with the whole world.”

One of TELUS’ largest digital infrastructure projects north of the 49th parallel

In November 2019, TELUS celebrated a new digital era for several remote communities between Blanc-Sablon and Pakua Shipu which had access to high-speed connectivity for the first time. TELUS is now kicking off the next phase of its wireless network deployment efforts in the region which had been temporarily interrupted in the first few weeks of the pandemic. Teams onsite are complying with all the rules established by provincial and regional public health authorities and are working closely with the municipalities. TELUS still expects to have connected all of the communities by 2021, almost a year ahead of the originally targeted schedule.

Deploying high-speed Internet and mobile-phone service to the 14 communities of the vast and roadless Lower North Shore was made possible by a joint contribution of over $23 million from the governments of Quebec and Canada as well as TELUS. Equipment is transported by ship and helicopter, and entire teams travel in all-terrain vehicles to build the network in remote areas. To take on this immense challenge, TELUS has focused on its LTE Advanced wireless technology, which is supported by 200 kilometres of fibre optic and one of the world’s largest and most advanced microwave ecosystems. TELUS LTE network has also been awarded multiple times by external firms, including UK-based Opensignal, which ranked TELUS first in Canada in its Download Speed Experience category in February 2020. In its State of Mobile Network Experience 2020 report, Opensignal also noted that download speeds on Canada’s 4G networks were the world’s fastest, slightly ahead of South Korea’s.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications and information technology company with $14.8 billion in annual revenue and 15.3 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, video and security. We leverage our global-leading technology to enable remarkable human outcomes. Our long-standing commitment to putting customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. TELUS Health is Canada’s largest health care IT provider, and TELUS International delivers the most innovative business process solutions to some of the world’s most established brands.

Driven by our passionate social purpose to connect all Canadians for good, our deeply meaningful and enduring philosophy to give where we live has inspired our team members and retirees to contribute more than $736 million and 1.4 million days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company in the world.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com, follow us on Twitter (@TELUSNews) and Instagram (@Darren_Entwistle).

For further information, please contact:

Jacinthe Beaulieu
TELUS Media Relations
418-318-6102
[email protected]