TELUS and BenchmarkPortal Renew Exclusive Partnership

TELUS and BenchmarkPortal today annouced the extension of an exclusive partnership between the two organizations.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Telus and Benchmark Renew Exclusive Partnership"][/caption] Vancouver, B.C., April 16, 2004 - TELUS, the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country, and BenchmarkPortal, the primary source of best practice customer satisfaction data for customer call centres worldwide, today announced the extension of an exclusive partnership between the two organizations. The partnership, which originally commenced in September of 2003, included a successful series of seminars on Contact Centre best practices in eight Canadian cities. The partnership has also resulted in a substantial increase in the utilization of best-in-class performance metrics among Canadian contact centres, as well as collaboration on engagements for major Canadian clients. "When we formed the relationship with BenchmarkPortal last year, our expectations for market acceptance were relatively high, and they have been more than exceeded," said Ken Redekop, TELUS' director of contact centres. "Hundreds of customers have participated in our TELUS - BenchmarkPortal program to date, including our own TELUS Contact Centres. We look forward to continued interest in the coming years." "We are delighted with the energy and professionalism we have found in our Canadian colleagues at TELUS," said Dr. Jon Anton of Purdue University's Centre for Customer-Driven Quality, and director of research for BenchmarkPortal. "They are true 'partners in passion' for discerning and serving the needs of the call centre market in Canada." TELUS and BenchmarkPortal are addressing the need for benchmarking and have introduced the Centre for Customer-Driven Quality program for Centre of Excellence Certification, which certifies organizations that have achieved optimal performance according to program objectives and measurable metrics. "Our objective is to benchmark every call centre possible in Canada, and we feel this partnership with TELUS is leading us there," added Bruce Belfiore, chairman of BenchmarkPortal. "The Canadian call centre market has already distinguished itself by its cost competitiveness in the North American landscape. Through benchmarking and certification, the bar will be raised even higher on issues of quality and centre optimization." To increase quality and cost effectiveness, TELUS is introducing BenchmarkPortal's ECHO (Every Customer Has Opinions), an advanced, real-time system for monitoring Customer satisfaction and integrating it with the emerging model for agent monitoring and coaching. TELUS is also introducing BenchmarkPortal's FairCompare, a new agent satisfaction survey tool, which has been designed specifically with the call centre in mind. About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country, with more than $7 billion of annual revenue, 4.9 million network access lines and 3.4 million wireless subscribers. The company provides subscribers with a full range of telecommunications products and services including data, voice and wireless services across Canada, utilizing next generation Internet-based technologies. TELUS was a premier founding supporter of the successful bid to bring the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to Canada. About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal manages the world's largest database of performance metrics for customer contact and support centres. This unique data warehouse was originated by Dr. Jon Anton at Purdue University's Centre for Customer-Driven Quality in 1995 and is the recognized source for best practice standards. BenchmarkPortal's reports provide the information that enables call centre professionals to make intelligent, fact-based management decisions by comparing their call centre performance to other similar call centres. BenchmarkPortal also conducts leading-edge research, which is published in numerous trade publications, as well as in books (BenchmarkPortal's Anton Press Division has 22 CRM-oriented books in print). BenchmarkPortal manages the College of Call Centre Excellence, a premiere curriculum for training of call centre personnel of all levels. For more information about BenchmarkPortal, call 805.614.0123, or visit our Web site at www.BenchmarkPortal.com. For media inquiries, please contact: Karen Dosanjh, TELUS Phone: (604) 313-8456 E-mail: karen.dosanjh@telus.com For additional information contact: Bruce Belfiore BenchmarkPortal, Inc. (805) 614-0123 ext. 25 BruceBelfiore@BenchmarkPortal.com