Vancouver's Telus Corp. (TSX:T) is urging the federal government to spend $1 billion of the $42.5 billion it raised from the recent wireless spectrum auction on expanding the broadband Internet network in rural Canada.
The company recommends creating a new fund to finance construction of broadband Internet infrastructure in remote and First Nations communities, where installation of that infrastructure would otherwise be uneconomical.
Telus said the government raised almost three times more than it expected to from the spectrum auction and has an opportunity to make Canada one of the world's most connected countries.
Telus' share price during the past week: between $37.87 and $40.80; 52-week high: $63.99; 52-week low: $37.63.