“This is an exciting first, both for TELUS as a company and for fans of our longstanding critter campaigns,” says Dave Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer at TELUS. “Between the Saw Whet Owl, the Otter and the Pot Bellied Pig, we knew it would be a tight race to the finish line, but we didn't predict the outstanding response from voters across Canada. We continue to be amazed at the enthusiasm shown toward our critters by our TELUS customers, our team members, and our more than half a million Facebook Fans.”

On May 10th, Canadians were invited to help select the next TELUS critter through an original Facebook application. Animal lovers voted early and voted often for their favourites, with over 460,000 total votes submitted. As part of the campaign, TELUS pledged to give $1 to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for each vote submitted, up to $100,000, a goal met within days of the campaign kick-off.

Canadian critter fans were also invited to enter a draw via Facebook to win one-of-a-kind prizing, including a trip for two to Africa for the ultimate animal lover's vacation. The trip will include a safari at the Kruger National Park, a visit to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria and other unforgettable activities.

For more information on the winning critter and other exciting news from TELUS, visit www.facebook.com/TELUS.

Key Facts/ Highlights

• The TELUS Future Friendly Office gives small and mid-sized businesses the chance to use communication technologies to help their businesses grow without having to manage a complex system. Future Friendly Office includes TELUS-supported Cisco office systems linked to TELUS wireline and wireless network services. The solution is now available nationwide.

• Future Friendly Office is based on three of Cisco’s latest small business product offerings – Cisco Unified Communications 320W, Cisco Unified Communications 540 and Cisco Unified Communications 560. These products are purpose-built for small and mid-sized businesses and offer enterprise-class features such as wi-fi capability and extension mobility.

• Both TELUS and Cisco have invested significant resources to help ensure Future Friendly Office customers have a quality experience in using technology to grow their business. Also, customers can take advantage of special offers for ordering multiple services and flexible payment options. 

• TELUS offers office and mobile communications solutions to more than 250,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. SMBs doing business with TELUS can count on a large team dedicated to meeting their business needs 24/7, access to Canada’s fastest coast-to-coast 4G wireless network**, Clear and Simple wireless rate plans, the most network and business device choices in Canada and customized solutions that enable them to work wherever they are. 

**Based on TELUS’ tests of data throughput speeds in large Canadian urban centres.

"Canadians must still be in election mode – we’re thrilled with the turnout!” says David Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer at TELUS. “Over the course of two weeks, animal lovers, TELUS customers, TELUS team members and our Facebook fans became an integral part of our advertising creative team, and we’re amazed by the great feedback. Between the Saw Whet Owl, Otter and Pot Bellied Pig, it’s sure to be a tight race to the finish line! I know who I’m voting for and I’m inviting all our TELUS brand lovers to help us decide who our next critter star will be.”

From a diverse pool of 27 different critters, the following three category finalists will move on to the second and final round of voting:

• The striking Saw Whet Owl emerged as the Small Wonders category winner. After all, small in size often means big in personality.
• Found in rivers all across Canada, the lively and lovable Otter came out on top in the Big Awesomes category.
• Proving he stands the test of time, the Pot Bellied Pig battled out the rest in the Cool Classics category.

Canadians are invited to return to Facebook yet again and help select the next TELUS critter from this final three. Once again, participants are invited to vote daily. The critter that receives the most votes in this final round will enjoy the spotlight in widespread print, broadcast and online mobility advertising this fall. TELUS also pledged to give $1 to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for each vote submitted, with the goal of reaching $100,000, a threshold reached within days of the campaign kick-off.

In addition, all voters are invited to enter a draw to win one-of-a-kind prizing, including a trip for two to Africa for the ultimate animal lover's vacation. The trip will include a safari at the Kruger National Park, a visit to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria and other unforgettable activities.

Visit www.facebook.com/TELUS for more information on the campaign and to place your vote.

“Both business and consumer customers will get an incredible mobile experience from the new BlackBerry Torch smartphone,” said Brent Johnston, vice-president of Mobility Solutions at TELUS. “TELUS is pleased to bring the BlackBerry Torch to Canadians, which will allow them to easily stay connected, entertained and informed wherever they are while running on our blazing fast 3G+ network.”

The new BlackBerry Torch redefines what's exciting about BlackBerry smartphones by combining a large capacitive touch screen and optical trackpad with a 35-key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing. It offers support for high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks around the world, includes the latest generation of Wi-Fi® (b/g/n) connectivity and built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging. Its 5 MP camera takes exceptional pictures with continuous auto focus, image stabilization, 11 scene modes and zoom, as well as video recording. It also comes with a combined 8 GB of media storage out-of-the-box, including a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that can bring the total storage memory to 36 GB for customers that want more.

The BlackBerry Torch is the first to launch with BlackBerry 6.0, a new operating system for BlackBerry smartphones. It features a redesigned interface, and a new and rich WebKit-based browser that renders HTML web pages (as well as HTML email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. The browser includes tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, double-tap to zoom that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page's key elements, and pinch to zoom.

BlackBerry 6 offers expanded messaging capabilities and RSS feeds, which provides integrated access to the popular BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) service as well as Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications. The enhanced multimedia experience includes a dedicated YouTube app, and BlackBerry Podcasts, allowing users to easily discover, acquire and enjoy audio and video podcasts from leading content providers. A universal search feature, accessible from the Home Screen, allows users to search for content on the smartphone, as well as extend the search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World™, which is included. TELUS is excited to be the first carrier in Canada to offer clients the ability to pay for their BlackBerry App World™ purchases on their mobile phone bill as well as through credit card payment. This ability will be available prior to the BlackBerry Torch launch.

For more information visit www.telusmobility.com/blackberry_9800 or www.blackberry.com/torch.  

* Based on TELUS’ tests of data throughput speeds in large Canadian urban centres available from national HSPA+ service providers. Internet access speed provided by the network operator may vary due to the device being used, network congestion, distance from the cell site, local conditions and other factors. Speed on the Internet is beyond the wireless network operator’s control and may vary with your configuration, Internet traffic, website server and management policies, and other factors.