Hello everyone and welcome to the 2024 Annual General Meeting for TELUS. My name is John Manley. I'm pleased to be your chair for this 133rd meeting of the shareholders of TELUS. I'd like to begin by acknowledging that I'm speaking to you today from the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity today to spend time as a visitor on these beautiful lands. We acknowledge that TELUS work spans many territories and treaty areas across the country. For everyone joining us today, I also want to acknowledge the territories and lands on which you are living and working. As a corporate leader in advancing reconciliation, TELUS remains the first technology company in Canada to have launched an Indigenous reconciliation action plan reflecting our ongoing commitment based on insights received from Indigenous peoples.
This week, our TELUS team celebrated a significant milestone on Nisga’a Lands, with BC's first modern treaty nation. Together, we unveiled the first five of nine wireless sites with completion slated by year-end, a first-of-its-kind project for TELUS. Nisga’a owns and will maintain crucial infrastructure such as the towers showcasing the true economic reconciliation in action. Once again this year, we're using the power of technology to enable you to attend our annual meeting in a virtual format via a live webcast. This format allows all shareholders and appointed proxy holders from any location to attend, participate in, and vote at the meeting. Guests are also welcome to attend and listen to our meeting. As well, I would like to note that this meeting is available in French, and portions of my speech will be in French. If you're listening in English, you will hear those portions in translation.
To listen to the meeting in French, please press the French button on the top right-hand corner of your screen. This will also change the language of the presentation slides to French. TELUS is committed to keeping our customers and communities connected to what matters most. We're excited to be leveraging our world-leading technology today to stay connected with you, our shareholders, joining us from all across the country and the world. This live webcast will provide all shareholders with an ability to participate in the meeting equally, regardless of their geographic location, without needing to travel. In 2023, despite a dynamic and challenging macroeconomic environment, TELUS' dedicated team delivered strong operational and financial results. Our approach was both consistent and disciplined, effectively balancing robust mobile and fixed customer growth with optimal economic outcomes while further advancing our cost efficiency efforts.
Continuing our strategic investments, we focused on digitization, platform development, and enhancing our network leadership position. This commitment allowed us to leverage our leading portfolio of bundled solutions to achieve industry-leading customer loyalty and growth. As Darren will share in more detail momentarily, I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of the TELUS team members whose dedication and hard work made these achievements possible. [Foreign Language] .
As a leader, we are getting all of the results that we do on the environmental, social, and economic way around the world. Our commitment goes up to using our activities to the profit of all social approaches in a vast manner, and we are able to improve the lives of stakeholders and the lives of the more marginalized. This approach is not only one for our operational and financial success, but it reinforces our positive effect on communities. I'm proud to be part of a company which, thanks to its team, its vocation, and its passion, can concretely work to create a better world by allowing everybody to stay connected to their dear families and friends and have vital resources.
To introduce the people helping me to conduct this meeting today. The first is Darren Entwistle, our President and Chief Executive Officer and heartfelt champion of our global leadership in Social Capitalism. Next, we have Andrea Wood, our Executive Vice-President and Chief Legal and Governance Officer. Andrea will be acting as the secretary of this meeting. Also helping me today is Chris Main, our Associate General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary, who will be acting as our moderator with respect to any questions you may have during the formal portion of the meeting. As well, we have Jill Schnarr with us, our Chief Communications and Brand Officer, who will be acting as our moderator for the question-and-answer session that will follow the meeting. Now, before we begin, please read the cautionary statement on the screen. Today's meeting will contain forward-looking statements.
These are based on assumptions and are subject to risks, including those described in our public filings, and actual results may differ materially. We may also use non-GAAP measures to discuss our performance and results. Details about these statements and measures can be found in our annual report and are updated in our Q1 financial disclosure. Now, I'd like to invite Darren to share some remarks before we call the meeting to order and consider the business of the meeting.
Thank you, John, and welcome, everyone. [Foreign Language] . I'd like to begin by highlighting some of our key operational and financial results from 2023. Notably, our TELUS team drove industry-leading net customer additions of nearly 1.3 million, representing our second consecutive year surpassing 1 million clients. Your company earned global best customer loyalty with a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.87%, which is 25 basis points better than our peers on average. This marked TELUS' 10th consecutive year with a postpaid churn rate below 1%. This is an exceedingly rare achievement for any telecom company in the world. [Foreign Language] . We also realized industry-leading consolidated financial results across the board, including 9.4% operating growth, 7.6% adjusted EBITDA growth, and 38% free cash flow growth. In fact, in 2023, we outperformed our peer group across almost every operational and financial measure.
Building on this momentum, earlier today we announced robust first-quarter results, and these include industry-leading customer additions of 209,000, our strongest first quarter on record, industry-leading postpaid mobile phone churn of 0.91%, and industry-leading consolidated EBITDA growth of 4.3%, and strong margin expansion of 170 basis points to 37.6%, reflecting the financial benefits of our ongoing cost efficiency programs. Our 2023 and Q1 2024 results are illustrative of the consistently robust performance that has been the hallmark of the TELUS organization. Over 20+ years, TELUS has generated a total shareholder return of 766%. This is more than double the TSX return of 349% and more than four times higher than the MSCI Telecom Services Index return of 176%. Une réalisation vraiment remarquable. In addition, over the past 20 years, TELUS has earned shareholders more than CAD 20 billion in dividends, representing more than CAD 17 on a per-share basis.
Today, John and I are pleased to announce TELUS' 26th dividend increase since initiating our industry-leading dividend growth program back in 2011. Through individual holdings, mutual funds, and pension plans, TELUS' shareholders represent our neighbors, our friends, and our colleagues. Indeed, our own TELUS team members collectively represent our fourth-largest shareholder group. Such is the confidence that I have in the future prospects of our company that I will be taking my entire salary in shares indefinitely. This builds upon the six years from 2010 to 2015 that I previously took my entire salary in shares. Year-after-year, our TELUS team demonstrates our collective passion for purpose as the most giving company in the world. TELUS [Foreign Language] .
TELUS is the most generous company in the world.
Last year, our team was proud to launch the CAD 50 million TELUS Student Bursary, the largest bursary fund in all of Canada. This innovative program will provide vital support for thousands of young people experiencing financial duress in the years ahead. Our goal is simple, and that's to make the TELUS Student Bursary so large and so impactful that every person in Canada who wants an education will get one, regardless of their financial or social circumstances. Additionally, our 18th annual TELUS Days of Giving mobilized a record-breaking 80,000 volunteers globally. Wow. This also helped to inspire a world-leading 1.5 million hours volunteering in 2023 alone. This brings our total charitable contributions to CAD 1.7 billion since 2000, including 2.2 million days of volunteerism, which is more than any other company on the planet. [Foreign language] .
Unparalleled concern for others.
In 2023, once again demonstrated having a reliable, pervasive, and powerful network is indeed essential in today's society. Indeed, a world that continues to be ravaged by tragic disasters and humanitarian emergencies, well, customers can count on TELUS' global best networks to keep them connected, connected to the people, connected to the information, and connected to the resources that matter most. In this regard, today we are announcing an investment of CAD 73 billion in new infrastructure, technology, operations, and spectrum over the next five years. This builds on the CAD 259 billion your company has invested in technology and infrastructure since 2000. These funds will ensure that our networks remain robust, resilient, reliant, and critically accessible for the millions of customers and businesses that rely on us day in and day out.
Importantly, these broadband investments in digital infrastructure and technology will also facilitate critical generational change in healthcare, food security, and productive mobile work practices, all with the attendant environmental and social benefits, including obliterating socioeconomic divides. In closing, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders, our customers, our community partners, and from the heart, our team members for helping create a better, safer, and more connected world. [Foreign Language] .
Thank you for your support.
Together, as a collective, we are making the future friendly for all. I'd now like to welcome Andrea to review today's agenda and outline for us some procedural matters. Andrea, over to you.
Thank you, Darren, and good morning, everyone. As outlined on the agenda, we have a few business items to cover today. In addition to tabling our financial statements, there are four motions that we will be voting on. Once all of the motions have been voted on, we will announce our preliminary voting results, and the legal business of the meeting will officially come to a close. If you have any comments not related to the business of the meeting, please save them until our question-and-answer session after the meeting. Let us now turn to the meeting procedures. I'm pleased to advise that we have the necessary quorum. The preliminary scrutineer's report indicates that approximately 43.47% of the shares are represented here today at the meeting. I will add the final scrutineer's report to the minutes of the meeting when available.
We have also received a declaration of mailing from Computershare confirming that it sent notice of today's meeting to all registered holders of TELUS shares, as well as a notice advising them that the information circular was available online for viewing or downloading. I am tabling the declaration and will add it to the minutes of the meeting. Back to you, John.
Thanks, Andrea. I declare this meeting to be properly constituted for the conduct of business. I'd like to appoint Tara Israelson and Stephen Bandola, representatives of Computershare, as the scrutineers for this meeting. Now, let me introduce to you the 13 board members standing for reelection and one new nominee. Biographical information for each nominee can be found in our information circular. I'm honored to serve as chair of the TELUS board. I've already introduced Darren Entwistle, our CEO. Our other nominees include Ray Chan, Hazel Claxton, Lisa de Wilde, Victor Dodig, Tom Flynn, Mary Jo Haddad, Christine Magee, David Mowat, Marc Parent, Denise Pickett, Sean Willy, and our new nominee, Martha Hall Findlay, who is standing for election to the TELUS board for the first time today. A warm welcome to you, Martha. Now, let's proceed with those matters that require a vote at this meeting.
Andrea, would you explain the voting procedure that shareholders will be following?
Yes, thanks, John. Voting on the four resolutions will be conducted by an online poll, which I will explain shortly. But first, I'd like to table TELUS' audited annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023, which are included in our 2023 annual report. These were made available to shareholders on April 5th. Additional copies are available by sending an email request to our investor relations department at ir@telus.com. Now, let me explain some of the basic features of our virtual meeting platform and how you can vote at our meeting. When you are logged in today, either as a shareholder or a guest, you should see the information screen displayed. Here, you can view information about TELUS, and you can ask questions. To see our slide presentation while you're listening to the webcast, simply click the broadcast icon or the arrow.
Again, this year we are using the Lumi virtual meeting platform. This platform has online voting for the items of business to be voted on today. Only registered shareholders or validly appointed proxy holders may vote on the four items of business. We have asked John Poirier, a shareholder, to make motions today. This is intended to make the meeting flow more smoothly. When the chair declares the poll is open, you will see a voting icon on your screen, and the resolution wording will be displayed. To vote, select one of the voting options. Your response will be highlighted. A confirmation message will appear to show that your vote has been received. To change your vote, simply select the other voting option. If you would like to cancel your vote, please press cancel.
In order for your vote to be properly recorded, it is important that you remain connected to the internet at all times. If you are not connected, your vote will not be recorded. John will open the poll on all four items of business at the same time. This will give you ample time to vote while he introduces each resolution. He will remind you of your choices for each item. After the last item of business, he will provide a reminder for you to input your vote if you've not already done so before the poll's closed. Now, let me explain the procedure for asking questions. Note that only registered shareholders or validly appointed proxy holders are able to ask questions.
When you wish to ask a question, please select the messaging icon and type your question in the chat box at the bottom of the messaging screen. Click the send button, and you should receive a confirmation that your message has been received. We ask that shareholders and proxy holders please be brief and concise and answer only one topic per question. If you have a question related to the resolution that's being discussed, please submit it at that time. Once shareholders and proxy holders have had a reasonable opportunity to express their views both for and against the matter, in the interest of keeping to our schedule, John may end the discussion. If you have a general question that is not related to the resolutions, please wait until after the formal business of the meeting to submit it.
We will be monitoring all questions submitted and will relay them to John. If there are many similar questions on the same topic, we may pick one or we may summarize the nature of the questions. All shareholder questions are welcome. However, we will not address those that are irrelevant to the business of the meeting or to TELUS' operations, that are related to nonpublic information about TELUS, or that are derogatory to individuals or otherwise offensive to third parties. Any questions that are personal in nature or related to customer service will be directed to a representative who will be in touch with you by email after the meeting. This year, we also invited shareholders to submit questions prior to today's meeting while they voted their shares electronically through the investorvote.com website.
Any questions that cannot be answered today due to time constraints will be answered and posted at telus.com/agm. The questions and answers will be available 24 hours after today's meeting and will remain online for one week. We will now turn to the first item of business to be voted upon. John, over to you.
Thanks, Andrea. I'll now open the polls for all four items of business. Please feel free to vote while I'm speaking on each of the items. The first voting item is the election of directors for the upcoming year. The board has set the number of directors at 14. In addition to the senior executive and strategic leadership experience the board requires of each director, the 14 nominees I listed earlier in this meeting represent a diverse cross-section of experience and background. They've all agreed, if elected at today's meeting, to help direct the future of TELUS for the next year. Further to our advance notice requirements for director nominations, Andrea has advised me that no additional nominations for election as directors were received. May we please have a motion for the nomination of these 14 individuals? John?
I move that the 14 individuals nominated in the information circular be elected as directors of the company to hold office for the ensuing year.
Thank you, John. Chris, are there any questions on the election of directors?
There are no questions, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Chris. For the election of directors, you'll see the names of all 14 nominees. Please scroll down to ensure you have voted on all 14 nominees. To cast your vote for a nominee, please select 4. To withhold your vote from a nominee, please select withhold. The next item of business is the appointment of our auditors for the ensuing year. The recommendation to reappoint Deloitte LLP was made by the audit committee of your board and supported by the board. May I please have a motion for the appointment of the auditors?
I move that Deloitte LLP Chartered Professional Accountants be appointed as the auditors of the company for the ensuing year at a remuneration to be fixed by the directors.
Thanks, John. Chris, are there any questions on the appointment of the auditors?
No questions, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Now, let's turn to the motion to appoint the auditors. We've done the appointment of auditors. Let's turn to the motion to accept, on an advisory basis, our approach to executive compensation. Our compensation program strongly links executive pay to actual performance and aligns compensation with corporate success and shareholder value. Additional details of our executive compensation program can be found in our information circular, which was made available to shareholders on April 5th. We value your direct feedback on the company's executive compensation approach, and the board will consider the results of this vote when evaluating future compensation policies, procedures, and decisions. The resolution must be approved by a simple majority of the votes cast by the holders of shares. May I please have a motion to approve our approach to executive compensation, John?
I move that the shareholders approve, on an advisory basis, the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's information circular, delivered in advance of the 2024 annual general meeting of shareholders.
Thank you, John. Chris, are there any questions on the vote on executive compensation?
There are no questions, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Chris. To cast your vote for the say-on-pay resolution, simply select 4. To vote against this resolution, please select against. The next item of business is a motion to approve an increase to the share reserve under TELUS Deferred Share Unit Plan or DSU Plan. The purpose of the DSU Plan is to align the interests of management with those of shareholders by providing incentive compensation based on the value of the shares and to promote retention. This strategy provides an opportunity for participants to acquire, through DSUs, an increased ownership interest in the company. On March 13th, 2024, subject to shareholder approval, the board amended the DSU Plan to increase the maximum number of shares to be reserved for issuance from 1,800,000 shares to 3,400,000 shares, representing approximately 0.23% of the number of outstanding shares.
John, may I please have a motion to approve an increase to the share reserve under the DSU Plan? This will increase the maximum number of shares to be reserved for issuance from 1,800,000 shares to 3,400,000 shares.
I move that the resolution set out in the 2024 information circular regarding an increase to the share reserve to 3,400,000 shares under the DSU Plan be approved.
Thank you, John. Chris, are there any questions on the DSU Plan resolution?
There are no questions, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Chris. So again, to cast your vote for the increase to the DSU Plan share reserve, please select four. To vote against this resolution, simply select against. We'll now continue with the voting. If you have not already done so, please vote on all four items of business. I'll give you a few additional seconds to finalize your vote selections. I now declare the poll closed on all four items of business. Thank you. The scrutineers will now tabulate the results and we will disclose the official voting results shortly after the meeting. However, based on the proxies we have received to date, we can confirm the results of the votes today. On the first motion, the election of directors, the 14 nominees listed in the information circular are elected.
On the second motion, the appointment of auditors, Deloitte LLP has been appointed as the company's auditors at a remuneration to be fixed by the directors. On the third motion regarding the company's approach to executive compensation, the resolution has been approved. On the fourth motion regarding an increase to the share reserve under the DSU Plan, the resolution has been approved. A copy of the scrutineers' report with the tabulated results will be available upon request after the meeting. The official results of the meeting will be available on sedarplus.ca and on TELUS.com following today's meeting. Now that we have completed the formal items of business for this meeting, I declare the meeting to be terminated and we'll move on to the question-and-answer session. If not done already, I invite shareholders and proxy holders to submit their questions online.
As Andrea noted earlier, you can select the messaging icon at the bottom of your screen and type your question or comment in the chat box at the bottom of your messaging screen. Please remember to press send, and you should receive a confirmation that your question has been received. We'll now begin our question-and-answer session. If we're unable to answer all of your questions, we'll answer them in writing on TELUS.com/agm. We will post all questions and answers at the same spot within 24 hours, and they will be available for one week following posting. We'd like to remind you that shareholders are always welcome to ask questions throughout the year, not just at this time of the year, by emailing us at board@TELUS.com or by emailing our investor relations team at ir@TELUS.com.
We try to respond to every inquiry, whether directly by email or by making sure the appropriate TELUS team member gets back to you. So let's have the first question, Jill.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have our first question from Francis, who asks, "Does TELUS have a short-term debt reduction strategy?
Darren?
Thanks, Francis. Achieving strong and industry-leading operational and financial results is a trend that your company has consistently demonstrated over the longer term. Indeed, this supports our robust balance sheet and strong liquidity position. Francis, your company is very well positioned to continue successfully navigating a very dynamic operating environment, and our debt maturity schedule is a testament to our prudent, diligent financial planning. Notably, TELUS closed the first quarter with a strong liquidity position of more than CAD 4 billion. Moreover, our long-term debt is at approximately 11 years from a maturation point of view, and 86% of that debt is fixed. Furthermore, the average cost of our long-term debt was at 4.37% as at the end of the first quarter, which, as you would know, remains low relative to the current interest rate environment.
Indeed, over the medium term, we plan to work back towards our objective leverage of 2.7x following the conclusion of the upcoming spectrum auctions that take place in the months ahead. This includes the residual spectrum and millimeter wave auctions. Francis, importantly, your company's balance sheet in 2024 is going to be maturely enhanced by several factors, including a meaningful increase of circa 30% growth in free cash flow, which will bring us up to approximately CAD 2.3 billion. It'll be enhanced by strong, robust, organic EBITDA growth, and of course, the balance sheet will significantly benefit from a stable capital expenditure outlook. This strong position further supports our industry-leading dividend growth program that stakeholders clearly benefit from.
Of course, this is in place through to the end of 2025, where we're looking to grow our dividend 7%-10%, and we are coupling that smartly with deleveraging our balance sheet along the way. Francis, we are confident in long-term free cash flow expansion driven by continued leading EBITDA growth within the industry, including growing contributions from diversified and global businesses beyond the strength of our classic telecom business. And these include TELUS International, TELUS Health, and TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods. And as well, they're buttressed by the realization of cost savings from significant efficiency efforts, as well as a focus on simplification and digital leadership across our industry. Thank you, Francis, for the question. Much appreciated.
We have another question from Diane, who asks, "Does TELUS have a timetable for completing the deconditioning of the company's copper networks?
That's over to you as well, Darren.
Thanks, John. Thank you, Diane. Much appreciated. Always great to have an opportunity to talk about my favorite subject, PureFibre and its attendant benefits. You know, Diane, since I'd say about 2018, your company has been on a journey to migrate residential customers from copper to our world-leading PureFibre network. And I'd say, Diane, that your company thus far has successfully migrated over 500,000 customers to date, representing 98% of eligible customers across areas like British Columbia and Alberta. At the end of 2023, we had decommissioned 14 central office locations from legacy copper infrastructure, and that's just the beginning. Indeed, an additional 25 central offices are in progress for decommissioning just this year alone.
Our goal, Diane, as you rightly point out in your question, is to retire copper on a community-by-community basis within our PureFibre footprint in the next few years, in alignment with our ongoing copper reclamation and central office redevelopment initiatives. This approach enables your company to prioritize our efforts to harvest deeper cost savings, have a stronger competitive position in the market, and critically contribute to the circular economy. It also enables your company to transform retired cables into sellable raw copper product through what we call urban mining. In parallel, we are redeveloping our old central office buildings into affordable housing through an initiative called TELUS Living, helping to address the increasing demand in communities where we operate for living space. Certainly, this is going to support the federal government's objective to build more housing, more accessible housing for Canadians.
You know, Diane, not only is PureF iber synonymous with lightning-fast speeds and unparalleled reliability, but it's also Canada's most sustainable internet technology. Notably, TELUS's PureF iber supports your company's sustainability goals as it strives to drive 85% more efficiency from our network leveraging PureF iber than what was historically the case with copper. Pure fiber is more resilient to extreme weather events, and of course, these seem to be more recurring than ever. Pure fiber reduces network repair activity and technician visits by two-thirds and the copper footprint associated with that. And of course, as a result, it yields fewer tailpipe emissions from our fleet. Importantly, Diane, the transition from copper to fiber has already led to the reduction of more than 7,400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. This is roughly equivalent to removing over 1,600 gas-powered cars from our roads within a single year.
Our team has recycled and repurposed more than 3,600 tons of copper, offsetting the need to mine new copper sources. We've done it during an attractive period as it relates to copper pricing, so the economic value is there as well within the circular economy. Thanks, Diane , for your question. Much appreciated.
Thanks, Darren. I think some of our shareholders will be surprised to learn that we're an urban mining company. Jill, another question?
Yes, Mr. Chair. We have a question from Jitinder, who asks, "The telecom CEOs were recently in front of the INDU Committee, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, and were questioned about affordability. Can you tell us are prices actually coming down?
Darren, I know a lot about being in that committee, but maybe you should answer this question too.
I thought it was a government question, John. You're the expert on that subject matter. Thanks, Jitinder. Jitinder, at the Industry Committee, clearly you heard myself and my peers and even some members of Parliament confirm that Statistics Canada is consistently reporting that telecommunications services continue to be one of the few deflationary pressures, and Jitinder, significantly so in that regard. In fact, if you pulled out the price decreases on the telecom front from the CPI bundle, the CPI would go from roughly 2.5%-2.7% all the way up to 3.2% if you removed the price decreases emanating from the telecom industry. At that particular meeting, we illustrated that wireless prices have decreased materially, significantly so, as our industry is delivering more value to Canadians. It's important that people understand the juxtaposition in this regard.
We are doing this despite the escalating cost factors of production, our industry is experiencing because we're not immune to the inflationary pressures within our supply chain. In fact, Jitinder, many other categories on the Consumer Price Index, categories such as food and housing costs, continue to climb, whereas there have been significant reductions in wireline and wireless prices occurring across all plans. You know, between 2016 and 2023, high-speed internet prices declined 8.3% against a backdrop of historic economy-wide inflation of nearly 20%. Interestingly, during that same period, average data consumption increased by 200% according to the CRTC. More recently, Innovation, Science and Economic Development published its Wall Report that also showed, corroborated indeed the information from Stats Canada, that wireless prices have declined on average more than 18% for data plans in 2023 alone.
Moreover, Jitinder, the report found that Canadian wireless prices are lower than in the United States and Japan that benefit from better demographics when it comes to the economics of deployment than Canada. Canadians, well, they're now paying CAD 1,600 more per year for groceries. They're paying CAD 1,800 more per year for housing and CAD 150 more per year for electricity. By contrast, consumers are paying CAD 75 less for internet services, and that is equivalent to getting one month of service free of charge. In addition, in last month's federal budget, the government quoted the December 2023 Statistics Canada report stating that wireless phone plan costs declined by 50% since December of 2018. Jitinder, it's important to note that as wireless prices decrease, the cost of building and operating wireless networks are rising markedly. By way of example, the cost of telecom equipment paid in U.S.
Dollars has risen over 24% from 2020 to 2023. Canadian labor costs have increased 17%. Utilities and electricity prices have grown 15%, while fuel prices have skyrocketed 54%. So, of course, our industry is not immune to inflationary pressures but is being impacted by those at a significant level at the same time we are driving retail prices down. So, Jitinder, despite these cost factors in Canada being 103% higher than the G7 and Australia, we are proud to continue to invest in and operate the best quality wireline and wireless networks in the entire world. We are equally proud to invest in charitable organizations and initiatives that enable positive social outcomes for all Canadians. At TELUS, we leave no one behind. Jitinder, as Canadians continue to grapple with the cost of living, we are providing choice and we are providing value to our customers.
We offer a broad range of options and plans for every budget, as well as a number of programs to support vulnerable or marginalized populations. Notably, since their inception, your companies Connecting for Good programs have provided essential healthcare, technology, and below-cost services to 1.2 million vulnerable youth, seniors, low-income families, and people with disabilities, and people that are marginalized living on the edge. Clearly, the telecom industry is truly delivering enhanced value and significantly lower prices for Canadians. And most importantly, as it relates to our society and our digital economy, we are playing a vital role in strengthening our nation's economy and quality of living. Jitinder, thank you for the question. It was a very thoughtful and important one.
Darren, thank you for the thorough response. I'm sure the Industry Committee approved it heartily when they heard it. Jill, are there any other questions?
Yes, Mr. Chair. We have another question from Tammy, who asks, "How are you making progress on your diversity goals for the board and for the TELUS leadership team?
Well, Darren, I guess that one goes to me. So let me take a run at that because, in fact, Tammy, in 2023, the TELUS Board updated its diversity policy to establish specific representation targets for visible minorities and Indigenous groups by 2023. Building upon our success to date in creating a diverse, value-adding, and effective board, TELUS Board of Directors approved the following updates to its diversity policy targets. Gender representation was increased from a minimum of 33.3% male and female directors to a minimum of 40% of each gender. The collective target for underrepresented groups was broadened to include persons with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ2+ community, and the target for underrepresented groups was increased from two to three directors. With the election of Martha Hall Findlay today, six of our 14 directors are women, which represents 43%.
Three directors are from underrepresented groups, including one who identifies as Indigenous. Martha's election will further complement the experience, skills, and diversity of our board. For our executive leadership team, there are four women with an executive officer position representing 45% of this team. In addition, nearly 30% of our executive leadership team identifies as members of a visible minority. TELUS' commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is central to our social purpose and is reflected in our promise to make a friendlier future. We were recognized by Forbes as one of the best places to work in the world and named as one of Canada's best diversity employers. We firmly believe that honoring the diversity of the TELUS team, customers, and communities leads to new perspectives and creates remarkable outcomes for Canadians.
Working alongside the TELUS board, Darren, and the senior leadership team, we're trying to foster an inclusive and diverse culture, which is a very gratifying work to do. We're in a good spot, Darren, I think. Jill, are there any other questions?
Sorry, we are out of time today on questions, and we can post all other questions and answers on TELUS.com/agm within the next 24 hours.
Okay. Thank you, Jill, and thank you to each of our participants today. I'd like to extend my personal thanks, as well as that of my colleagues on the board of directors, to all the TELUS team members whose passion for putting customers first and making a world of difference drives our ongoing success. Through your efforts, you continue to demonstrate our heartfelt social purpose by creating remarkable outcomes for our customers and for our communities. Also, thank you to all who participated in our virtual meeting. Please take a moment to provide your feedback by clicking the link to the online survey that will appear on your screen. And lastly, thank you to our shareholders for your continued support and confidence. Inspired by our leadership in social capitalism, TELUS remains well-positioned for the future and committed to making a meaningful difference around the world.
Thanks to our people, our purpose, and our passion.