Telus was made from a merger of BCTel, the main phone company in British Columbia and Alberta Government Telephones, better known as AGT. AGT was owned by the government of Alberta. AGT wanted to separate from the government and formed a company called Telus in 1990. After that, they combined with BCTel to form the current Telus company in 1999. That remaining Telus company purchased Clearnet Communications, a cell phone company. Clearnet gave them the current style of their advertising, including the slogan ""The future is friendly."" Telus uses colorful animals to advertise their services.