Telus 2015 Annual Report Download - page 9

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A consistent focus on the strategic imperatives guides our actions and contributes to the
achievement of our financial goals. See our discussion in Section 2.2 Strategic
imperatives in the 2015 annual MD&A. To advance our long-term strategic initiatives and
address near-term opportunities and challenges, we set new corporate priorities each
year. See Section 3 Corporate priorities in the 2015 annual MD&A for progress on our
2015 corporate priorities, as well as our 2016 corporate priorities.
Business overview
Our principal markets, services and products and competition overview are described in
Section 4.1 Principal markets addressed and competition in the 2015 annual MD&A.
Further details related to competition can be found in Section 10.2 Competition in the
2015 annual MD&A.
Our assets and resources, including employees, brand and distribution methods,
tangible properties (such as our telecommunications networks and network facilities),
intangible properties (such as brand and wireless spectrum licences) and an overview of
foreign operations are discussed in Section 4.2 Operational resources in the 2015
annual MD&A. Further details on our employees are provided below under Employee
relations and further details on our wireless spectrum licences are provided below under
Regulation - Radiocommunications authorizations and spectrum licences.
Intellectual property, which we own or which we have been granted the right to use, is an
essential asset for TELUS. Intellectual property enables us to be known and recognized
in the marketplace through our brand style, trade dress, domain names and trademarks.
It protects our know-how and software, systems, processes and method of doing
business through copyrights, patents and information treated as confidential. It also
helps us to increase our competitiveness by fostering an innovative work environment.
Each form of intellectual property is important to our success. For instance, the TELUS
brand plays a key role in product positioning and our Company’s reputation. TELUS
aims to maximize the value of TELUS’ intangible assets in the areas of innovation and
invention by ensuring that they are adequately used, protected and valued. To protect
our intellectual property assets, we rely on a combination of legal protections afforded
under copyright, trade-mark, patent and other intellectual property laws as well as
contractual provisions under licensing arrangements. Further information on recognized
tangible and intangible properties can be found in Section 8.1 Critical accounting
estimates in the 2015 annual MD&A.
We depend on various key third-party suppliers and vendors to provide us with
equipment and services, such as network equipment and handsets that we need in order
to operate our business and provide products and services to our customers. If these
suppliers or vendors fail to provide equipment or service on a timely basis or fail to meet
our performance expectations, we may be unable to provide our products and services
as and when requested by customers. We also may be unable to continue to maintain or
upgrade our networks. Our dependence on suppliers and vendors is described in
Section 10.3 Technology - Supplier risks in the 2015 annual MD&A.
For revenue and other financial information on the two most recently completed financial
years with respect to our wireless and wireline businesses, see Section 5.4 Wireless
segment and Section 5.5 Wireline segment in the 2015 annual MD&A.