The history of TELUS began with Alberta Government Telephone (AGT) created by the Alberta government in an attempt to acquire and operate Bell Canada operations within the province. Edmonton at the time had their own city owned telephone utiltiy called EdTel that contracted for long distance with AGT. The creation of the TELUS brand was accreditited to in part from the tension developed between the two companies as EdTel sought more revenue from AGT. The name TELUS was first used in 1990, it was the new name for AGT after being privatized by the Alberta government. In 1995, TELUS purchased EdTel completely putting an end to the government owned telecommunications in Alberta. A new iteration of TELUS was formed in 1999 after a merger with BCTel who was the monopoly telecommunications service provider in British Columbia. Althought BCTel was the larger of the two mergers, the regional liminations of the name abriviation "BC" resulted in the company name "TELUS". The name made possible for the firm to appeal on an national and international level.
TELUS grew at a rapid pace during the early 21st century and they continued to acquire local service provider in Ontario and Quebec. In 2004, TELUS made a bid for Microcell