TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle today issued an open letter to
shareholders, customers and communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leading the world when the world needs us the
most
Dear shareholders, customers and communities,
In 2020, our working, educational and social lives have changed
dramatically. As citizens, employees and employers, we have
had to respond in unprecedented ways to keep our families,
colleagues and fellow citizens safe, informed, healthy and
productive.
As the global leader in social capitalism, your Company
responded to the many challenges associated with the pandemic with
our customary grit, innovation and spirited teamwork. Thus
far, our team, with the support of our extended TELUS family, has
committed $150 million to support Canadians through the COVID-19
crisis. I want to share with you some of the extraordinary
ways in which we are leveraging our human and financial resources
to support our customers, communities and fellow Canadians during
this challenging time in our nation’s history.
Delivering vital services to support Canadians in a
rapidly changing reality
Since the beginning of the health emergency, your Company has
taken the evidence-based direction of a team of national medical
experts known as the TELUS Medical Advisory Council. These
specialists have considerable experience and expertise in pandemic
leadership, public health, mental health, primary care,
occupational health, infectious diseases, digital health, and
health economics, to help guide our response to the pandemic.
As an essential service, we have worked tirelessly to keep
Canadians connected to the social, economic and educational
resources that matter most, whilst also protecting the well-being
of both our customers and our team members. We have leveraged
our world-leading technology to enable 95 per cent of our domestic
team, and 85 per cent of our international team to work from home,
supporting our customers safely and productively.
Importantly, your Company has demonstrated compassion and
understanding in respect of the financial hardships this pandemic
has placed on many of our customers. To help alleviate some
of this pressure, we implemented a number of solutions, including
waiving home internet data overage charges; waiving wireless
roaming fees; offering flexible payment arrangements; extending
promotional periods; deferring all planned pricing increases; and
delaying suspensions, cancellations and write-offs.
Serving our customers safely and effectively
Within the 136 essential stores that continue to operate amidst
the pandemic and support our customers with their mobile and home
needs, your Company has created a safe environment through a
touchless in-store service experience. Our stores operate
with strict health and safety measures in place including a maximum
of two customers in store at a time, a greeter who completes a
health check, as well as social distancing and safety protocols,
such as cashless transactions, hand sanitisers and frequent
sanitisation of surfaces.
Our touchless in-store experience is complemented by your
Company’s innovative virtual installation and repair processes for
the fulfilment of services at the homes of our customers.
TELUS’ touchless fulfillment process at a customer’s premise is
supported by a series of demo videos to assist customers, including
Virtual Technician Visits, SmartHome Security Technician Assisted
Installation and How to Install your Control Panel.
Consistent with your Company’s legacy of innovative “firsts”, it is
worth noting that TELUS was the first Canadian telco to offer
virtual installations as part of our response to the health
crisis.
Enabling our business customers during difficult times
Similar to the success of our virtual installation programme for
consumers, our Business team has completed virtual installation and
repair work across multiple business sites, including pharmacies,
senior care homes and hospitals across Canada. We are also
providing our business customers with the tools and resources to
facilitate remote working, enabling them to continue serving their
customers whilst national closures are enacted. Moreover, we
have shared our pandemic planning resources, including the guidance
of our Medical Advisory Council, with 500,000 of our business
customers to help them protect their customers and employees,
whilst also assisting in the continuity of their own
businesses. Finally, we are assisting our business customers
in supporting their own clients virtually, facilitated by a TELUS
Secure Business offer, providing an equipment credit and three
months of free service, as well as offering customised payment
arrangements to assist in managing this challenging economic
period.
Being the best in the world when the world needs the
best from us
Thanks to our talented engineers, computer scientists,
technologists and technicians, our country’s networks stand alone
in terms of the experience we are offering citizens throughout this
health emergency. By way of example, U.K.-based Opensignal
analysed wireless download speeds around the globe, from January
through the end of March, when much of the world was in
isolation. The report shows that not only are Canada’s
networks continuing to operate exceedingly well, Canada earned the
distinction as the fastest across 45 countries tested. By
contrast, countries like Australia and the U.K. were challenged to
support the added pressure, at times experiencing download speeds
up to 15 per cent and 30 per cent slower, respectively. This
acknowledgement from Opensignal complements the network superiority
recognition our team has consistently earned from Tutela, PCMag,
Ookla, and J.D. Power, for three or more years in respect of
network performance excellence.
Providing the network strength to keep Canada working –
remotely
The strength, speed and consistency of our networks have
bolstered our nation’s productivity. According to an
independent global study examining the impact of recent
work-from-home measures, Canadians have recorded a 170 per cent
increase in remote work since emergency measures began taking
effect, contributing to an overall increase in productivity of 25
per cent. By comparison, the same report found that the shift
to remote work had the opposite effect in Europe and the United
States, where productivity has declined by 8.2 per cent and 7.2 per
cent, respectively, since self-isolation policies began.
Leveraging our significant investments to keep Canadians
connected
Through our world-leading broadband networks, our team is
dedicated to providing Canadians with the speed, reliability and
coverage to help us all live better lives and keep us
connected. Since 2000, we have invested almost $200 billion
in network technology, infrastructure and operations, and we are
poised to invest prudently another $40 billion into our country
over the next three years.
This longstanding commitment to network excellence, reflected in
the strength and reliability of our PureFibre network, has proven
foundational to the robust connectivity supporting more people and
families working, learning, playing games, accessing entertainment
and socialising virtually from home. Your Company’s ongoing
investments in technology and infrastructure have allowed us to
effectively manage a 50 per cent daily increase in voice traffic –
four times the traffic that occurred on Mother’s Day last year –
and they have also enabled us to respond to a near doubling of our
multi-messaging service, which is currently twice what we normally
see on Christmas Day. To put it all in perspective, our
team’s efforts to sustain our networks throughout COVID-19 are akin
to supporting Super Bowl-level traffic… every day.
Continuing to efficiently evolve our wireline network
Supporting enhanced and reliable connectivity, your Company
continues to accelerate our fibre build in key areas and drive
significant cost efficiencies. By way of example, we injected
$100 million to accelerate our TELUS PureFibre build programme in
Calgary in 2020. These efforts will ensure we boost the
much-needed fibre connectivity in the communities we serve, whilst
maximising unit-cost efficiencies and keeping our team and
customers safe with respect to social distancing
guidelines.
Stepping up and leaning in to bolster frontline
care
Your Company has collaborated with regional health authorities
and provincial governments to provide and expand broadband
connectivity to hospitals and pop-up clinics on a national
basis. Indeed, we remain committed to supporting Canada’s
healthcare institutions and helping citizens stay connected to
medical support during this challenging time. In this regard,
our team is proactively monitoring coverage and capacity for the
hospitals in our service footprint and as well, screening centres
and temporary hospitals. In addition, we continue to leverage our
relationships with local and international suppliers to secure
630,000 pieces of PPE, representing ten times our regular annual
volume.
Virtual care scaling rapidly and necessarily
As the leading digital healthcare company in Canada, we are
supporting the health and safety of frontline healthcare workers
and our fellow Canadians by offering access to virtual care visits
between patients and their doctors through our electronic medical
record (EMR) platforms. Since launching in early April,
doctors have scheduled 30,000 consultations through our innovative
EMR Virtual Visit solution.
As we all take important precautions to practice social
distancing, your Company’s virtual healthcare solutions allow
Canadians to securely monitor their health and that of their
families. At the same time, these solutions are relieving
pressure on crowded hospitals and ERs, and helping preserve
precious capacity for those with urgent healthcare needs.
Through Babylon by TELUS Health, your Company is enabling
patients in B.C., Alberta and Ontario with access to one-on-one
video consultations with a locally licensed doctor at no cost from
their smartphone and from the safety of their home. Babylon
enables us to provide support to the five million Canadians who do
not have a family doctor and the more than half of all Canadians
who find it difficult to quickly access after-hours medical care
without going to the emergency department.
Similarly, our Akira by TELUS Health platform is helping more
than 1,000 of Canada’s largest employers support the health and
well-being of their employees during this challenging time, with
our employer-funded virtual care platform. As a result of the
increased demand for digital health, we realised a ten-fold
increase in demand for Babylon by TELUS Health and the addition of
more than 300 employers through Akira by TELUS Health.
Wellness monitoring solutions for ill and senior citizens
Furthermore, we are supporting Canadians, including those not
able to or choosing not to leave their homes, through innovative
digital health solutions. By way of example, TELUS’ Home
Health Monitoring Service is being utilised by patients in B.C.,
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia who have contracted COVID-19,
have been exposed to the virus or who are vulnerable based on their
pre-existing conditions. They are able to remain in the
comfort of their homes and feel assured that they are being
monitored by a virtual pool of public healthcare clinicians.
As well, our LivingWell Companion and Direct Alert provide personal
emergency support for elderly citizens living independently
inclusive of offering reduced pricing on these personal emergency
support solutions, making it easier for vulnerable seniors to
access 24/7 emergency support during this pandemic.
Helping our healthcare heroes stay connected and well
To aid in response efforts, your Company repurposed our Health
for Good Mobile Health Clinics across the country, with all 11
mobile clinics operating as either COVID-19 testing and assessment
centres or acting as emergency quarantine shelters. Moreover,
to demonstrate our gratitude for the tremendous courage and
selflessness of Canadians on the frontline, we expanded our
Mobility for Good programme, providing a credit for two months of
free wireless service to thousands of frontline healthcare workers
at 126 hospitals, long-term care facilities and health facilities
in areas across the country that have been significantly impacted
by COVID-19.
For the months of April, May and June 2020, I will donate my
salary to Canadian healthcare workers on the frontlines battling
COVID-19. In addition, The Entwistle Family Foundation,
established in 2018, will match this donation, stemming from the
100 per cent salary reduction, in order to double the positive
financial impact for health caregivers and, by extension, those
vulnerable citizens who need assistance the most. Through
this donation, I am privileged to demonstrate my deep admiration
for everything the TELUS team has done to support healthcare in
Canada.
Connecting those who need us the most
Importantly, during this pandemic, the synergies between doing
well in business and doing good in our communities have never been
more evident, as we leverage our technology and culture of caring
to keep our most vulnerable citizens connected. This includes
contributing $20 million from our TELUS Friendly Future Foundation
and TELUS Community Boards to help build public healthcare
capacity. Our funding has been directed toward purchasing new
medical technology and equipment, including the procurement of
personal protective equipment.
We partnered with the Fondation du Centre Hospitalier de
l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) to help further amplify their
inspiring work in supporting Canadians through this challenging
time, offering the Fondation du CHUM a $170,000 grant to support
the purchase of 3D printing supplies and equipment (including nasal
swabs) as, together, we work to help those who need our support the
most.
In addition, TELUS is gifting a $100,000 grant to the London
Health Sciences Centre to fund the purchase of critically-needed
glidescopes to support the intubation of COVID-19 patients.
Our TELUS Friendly Future Foundation is providing $200,000 to the
Children’s Aid Foundation to support youth transitioning out of
foster care into independence who do not qualify for government
assistance.
Importantly, as we all look ahead to better days, we have
donated $500,000 to a globally leading research team from the
Vancouver General Hospital and University of British Columbia
Hospital Foundation, to assist in the search for therapeutic
antiviral treatments for COVID-19. Your Company’s donations
are also supporting community-based initiatives with a focus on
providing increased support for food security, outreach to isolated
seniors, virtual education programmes and support for mental health
initiatives – through the crisis and beyond.
Helping our most vulnerable citizens stay connected
Furthermore, to keep Canada’s most vulnerable citizens connected
during the COVID-19 pandemic, your Company donated more than 10,000
free mobile devices and free rate plans, valued at more than $5
million, to hundreds of organisations across the country. By
way of example, when Mount Sinai Hospital in Ontario notified our
team that hundreds of their patients were critically or terminally
ill, many with no way of connecting with family in a safe manner,
our team responded quickly, securing 100 phones and having them
delivered to the hospital within two days. With these
devices, healthcare workers could perform minor check-ins with
patients remotely and, more importantly, intubated patients could
hear the voice of a loved one through their final days.
Indeed, these connections are offering hospitalised COVID-19
patients the ability to connect virtually with loved ones, whilst
also enabling isolated seniors, and low-income, homeless and
at-risk individuals with a much-needed lifeline to their families,
health practitioners and vital social support services during this
complex time.
Promoting the mental health of our frontline workers
We are equally focused on supporting the mental wellness of our
passionate and hard-working first responders as they enable our
safety throughout this pandemic. In this regard, our team
contributed a further $500,000, over and above a previous $5
million commitment, to expedite completion of a First Responder
App, which will support the mental health and well-being of
frontline workers from coast to coast. Our team believes
wholeheartedly that we are all in this together and we are truly
privileged to help in whatever way we can.
Continuing to give where we live
On April 17, your Company launched our Stay Connected page to
showcase our team’s amazing work and highlight the positive
difference TELUS has made in communities across Canada during the
pandemic. This site provides resources to help Canadians stay
safe, informed, healthy and inspired and combines our own TELUS
content, including access to our TELUS Wise workshops, which aim to
help youth have a positive online experience, with key partners and
their learning programmes. Our Stay Connected page also
provides access to our newly launched TELUS Talks with Tamara
Taggart podcast, which features guests such as Dr. Bonnie Henry,
Hayley Wickenheiser, Arlene Dickinson and our own Chief
Neuroscience Officer, Dr. Diane McIntosh. We have introduced
a series of inspiring videos, including Stay Strong – which quickly
became the most watched video in TELUS’ history – as well as Stay
Thankful, which celebrates and amplifies Canadians’
appreciation for frontline workers.
Throughout 2020, our TELUS team will volunteer virtually and
safely for our 15th annual TELUS Days of Giving to help build
stronger, healthier communities. Our team members and
retirees are already sewing masks and gowns for frontline workers,
delivering food and comfort kits to local food banks and families
in-need, conducting virtual phone check-ins with lonely seniors and
so much more. We are inviting all Canadians to join us in
giving back through a number of activities, including sewing masks
– it is a kind and thoughtful act of selflessness to help keep our
families, our neighbours and our communities safe. We are
striving to create more than 100,000 masks, and we invite you to
join us.
Supporting education through virtual learning tools and
technology
Our Stay Connected site also provides access to WE’s free online
tools and resources to support at-home learning for grades
kindergarten through 12 and the Microsoft Family Learning Centre,
which is a collection of free activities, curated out of
educational resources from around the world.
Additionally, as we continue to amplify the good we are able to
do in our communities, we have provided all low-income families
enrolled in our Internet for Good programme with two months of free
service to help them manage the financial challenges associated
with COVID-19. Moreover, working in partnership with Apple,
we are providing iPads to school boards in Alberta, B.C. and Quebec
with free LTE connectivity until June 30 on a 6 GB Peace of Mind
rate plan.
TELUS International giving with their hearts, hands and
philanthropy
This inspiring dedication to supporting our communities during
this challenging time is exemplified by our team members around the
world. Notably, our TELUS International (TI) team in
Guatemala distributed 120 grocery baskets to families living in
extreme poverty on the edge of a landfill, with the supplies being
purchased from small merchants, enabling our team to contribute to
the community’s economic reactivation. This is the community
where, in 2015, 1,500 TELUS International volunteers built a school
for the children in these families, where the adults recycle and
sell the garbage from the landfill to provide for their loved
ones. In addition, our TI team supported the purchase of
personal hygiene products for seniors who live in poverty and make
a living by selling crafts to tourists – but with no tourists they
cannot sell their products. These are just two of the many
ways our TELUS International team is making a difference in
communities that need our help now, more than ever before.
Thanking our TELUS family for their commitment to a
culture of caring for 20 years
I would like to recognise our entire TELUS team for their
outstanding efforts in aiding our amazing healthcare heroes, our
government partners, our customers, our communities and each
other. I would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to
our passionate TELUS retirees and amazing Community Ambassadors who
responded to Canada’s critical shortage of personal protective
equipment by dedicating their time and talent to sew essential
items like the masks, scrub caps and gowns so desperately needed in
their communities.
These impressive demonstrations of your Company’s culture of
caring in action truly exemplify TELUS’ leadership in social
capitalism on a worldwide basis. Our team’s commitment to
improving outcomes for our fellow citizens, synergised with our
world-leading, customer-centric operating, financial and
shareholder results, will continue to define TELUS’ leadership in
social capitalism in the years to come.
Amazing recognition for our entire TELUS family
As a result of the passionate dedication of our team, your
Company has earned 1st place on the global crowd-sourced Heroes
Leaderboard. It is certainly a point of pride to see a
Canadian company leading this world-wide ranking. This
authentic, unsolicited recognition truly exemplifies our team’s
unwavering commitment to helping those who need our support the
most.
Exemplifying our commitment to tax morality
It is important to reflect upon the fact that your Company has
paid more than $43 billion in total tax and spectrum remittances,
since 2000, to our federal, provincial and municipal
governments. These funds support the roads and bridges,
public education, healthcare, cultural pursuits and national
defence of our country.
Navigating through uncertain times with purpose and
care
In these challenging times, we are exceedingly grateful to our
customers and our investors for your ongoing faith and confidence
in us. As this crisis continues to evolve, you have my
guarantee that all 85,000 of our team members, worldwide, will be
here to demonstrate – in words and in deeds – that when things are
at their worst, you can rely on our TELUS team to be at our
best.
Thank you for your patronage and we look forward to a friendlier
future together. Please stay safe and stay strong. We are
getting through this together.
Darren
May 7, 2020
Contact:Francois
GabouryFrancois.faboury@telus.com(438) 862-5136
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