Telus 2007 Annual Report Download - page 10

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other’s ability to provide more consistent and comprehensive roaming services to each
other’s customers. Substantially all of TELUS’ digital subscribers are provided extended
coverage in Canada, the U.S. and various other countries through analogue and digital
roaming arrangements with other carriers by means of dual-mode or tri-mode, dual-band
handsets.
Beginning in late 2005, EVDO services were introduced in major centres across Canada
offering to customers average wireless data transfers at speeds of approximately 400 –
700 kilobits per second. In 2007, TELUS continued the enhancement of digital wireless
capacity and coverage and continued its investment in higher-speed wireless EVDO Rev
A network technology, which now reaches 80 per cent of Canadians and enables
roaming to 242 metropolitan areas in the U.S.
TELUS also operates analogue specialized mobile radio (“SMR”) systems in most major
urban centres in Canada and paging networks in Alberta, B.C., and eastern Québec.
iDEN network
TELUS also owns and operates Canada’s only national enhanced specialized mobile
radio (“ESMR”) network. ESMR digital wireless business communications services are
offered under the Mike trademark using iDEN technology from Motorola. The Mike
network covers the larger population centres and surrounding areas in Alberta, B.C.,
Manitoba, Ontario and Québec, and many non-urban areas and transport corridors in
Ontario, Québec and western Canada. The Mike network utilizes frequencies in the 800
MHz range which have propagation advantages over higher frequencies such as those
used in digital 1900 MHz PCS networks, resulting in more cost effective geographic
coverage. While the amount of 800 MHz spectrum licenced to TELUS varies by region,
TELUS has ten to seventeen MHz of ESMR spectrum available for its Mike network in
Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada’s three most populous metropolitan areas.
The Mike service is marketed primarily through independent and corporate-owned
dealers to businesses and other organizations as a digital PCS-like service with the
added benefit of Mike’s Direct Connect™ Push to Talk™ functionality, which provides
low-cost instant connectivity for work groups.
In 2006, Sprint/Nextel completed a mandatory shift of channels (rebanding) for its iDEN
service due to concerns from the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) about
interference with public safety operations. Part of the TELUS Mike network utilizes
channels under control of the FCC and discussions are underway to determine if TELUS
will be required to shift some of the channels for its iDEN service to address similar
concerns in selected areas along the Canada/U.S. border. See “800 MHz Re-banding”.
TELUS - wireline segment
TELUS operates as an ILEC in Alberta, B.C. and eastern Québec where it provides
comprehensive local, long distance, data, Internet and information services in its
incumbent or ILEC territories and is a CLEC offering services primarily in central Canada
through its non-incumbent or non-ILEC operations. TELUS’ ILEC operations serve a
population of approximately 7.8 million in its incumbent western Canada service territory,
and a population of more than 500,000 in its incumbent eastern Québec territory. On a
combined basis, wireline services accounted for revenue of $4,811 million for the year
ended December 31, 2007 ($4,823 million for the year ended December 31, 2006)