Industry committee  Our prices range between $5 and $10. We have the online capability to set the package in place to allow customers to make adjustments on the fly or to determine the best rate prior to their departure. Our service on the roaming front also includes health care extensibility for when people are travelling within that value proposition.

Industry committee  I would argue that the auction framework in Canada was flawed, and as a result of that flawed auction framework it extracted significant economic rent in terms of spectrum prices paid. That's been to the detriment of the industry in totality. I would argue that if we followed the auction process that the FCC has implemented in the U.S., or even within Europe, that would have generated better outcomes for both operators and Canadians with lower prices paid on the spectrum front.

Industry committee  To the extent to which a market is competitive and customers are being well-served in terms of affordability and also quality and innovation, clearly there's not the need for an intervention or regulatory activity, and the posture should be more benign. If the market is deemed to be insufficiently competitive, then I think there's the opportunity for the government to step in.

Industry committee  Firstly, in terms of the evaluation, sadly it hasn't increased by hundreds and hundreds of percentage points, but this is a serious, sad and emotional subject in terms of the impact upon our employees. As a result of the macroeconomic environment and regulatory changes, including increases in competition, and what we're experiencing at the price level with successive decreases, with price commoditization and margin compression, and the significantly escalating costs within our supply chain we have indeed, as you rightly point out, made difficult decisions in terms of reducing our staff levels.

Industry committee  To be extremely precise in the response, yes, the regulatory environment increased competition. As I said earlier, the decreasing prices and the macroeconomic environment that has seen significant cost escalation within our supply chain, which we've talked to at length, and the impact of that, have forced us to reduce staffing levels.

Industry committee  That is correct.

Industry committee  Since the phones have gone from, as you say, a few hundred dollars to up to $2,000, extending the financing period beyond 24 months would indeed be extremely helpful as it relates to affordability. To answer your question directly, that type of thing is normal in other jurisdictions.

Industry committee  I see no downside whatsoever to extending the financing term to 36 months. We had it previously. I think that would be decidedly in the interest of consumers, particularly given how expensive smart phone devices have become.

Industry committee  I would have to get back to you with the specifics on that component of the bill.

Industry committee  Telus has done significant deployments in terms of broadband wireless and wireline within our rural communities.

Industry committee  I'm getting to that. In terms of 507 rural communities that we've connected and 577 indigenous communities that we've connected, almost half a million rural households, the preponderance of that we've done of our own volition, on our own cost base, but we have collaborated as well with the Canadian government in the connecting Canadians program.

Industry committee  I'd say, first, that I don't think the industry has done a very good job of communicating with the general public in terms of the value that we provide and the cost of the service. Second, if you mathematically cut the cost in half but the user uses twice as much data as they did historically, the cost is going to look the same to the user from a nominal bill point of view.

Industry committee  Yes, we would be pleased to do so—both our information and also third party independent assessments.

Industry committee  Yes, we'll table again our information plus independent third party information as it relates to data consumption, and do it on a relative basis to show Canada versus other G7 countries.

Industry committee  I don't envisage that particular cost flowing through to cellphone users. Second, Telus is an organization that leverages our technology to bridge time and distance and reduce the carbon footprint. Our goal is to be not just carbon neutral but nature created by 2027.