Telus is allegedly planning to introduce a new, non-waivable $15 “SIM purchase” fee for both physical SIM cards and digital eSIMs starting June 11, 2026, according to documents seen by iPhone in Canada. The move appears to arrive just ahead of upcoming CRTC changes, set to kick in this Friday.
The document details how the $15 charge will be applied to the customer’s first bill for all new activations across all retail and dealer channels, excluding online web purchases. The internal memo explicitly instructs employees that the fee is not an admin charge but a mandatory product purchase that cannot be waived or credited under any circumstance.
In the document’s internal FAQ section, the carrier addresses why this should not be considered a hidden connection fee, alleging that the previous $80 connection charge has been eliminated and bundled these costs in. The company justifies charging the $15 fee for digital eSIMs by claiming that digital activations still involve backend infrastructure, secure provisioning, and technical profile management despite the lack of a physical plastic card.
As for shipping a physical SIM card to you, that will cost $10, so the total will be $25 for customers. The Telus website already mentions a $15 SIM card fee, but this document claims new activations will always have to pay a SIM card or eSIM fee, and it cannot be waived. In the past, you could get free SIM cards and eSIMs from dealers, as part of promotions.
The document notes that the new fee structure will be implemented as a mandatory billing tile within the company’s internal system on June 11, with no escalation process available for employee overrides.
Ahead of this Friday’s CRTC ruling that will axe connection fees, Bell and Virgin Plus last month debuted a new $40 device handling charge.
We’ve reached out to Telus for comment, and will update this story accordingly.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
❗️🤬Telus🤬Bell🤬Rogers❗️
When my current telus mobile plan expires
I Will Definitely Be LEAVING FOREVER
&
changing over to Freedom Mobile as soon as many of family, friends & random people
I’ve talked with concerning
These Big 3 Monopolistic🤬CORPORATE🤬🧛🏻♂️
THAT TAKE
a Perverse Pleasure
🤬THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMERS Their💰🐄Around
x penalizing them instead of Rewarding Them With is What Customer Service Was Founded On For Loyalty.!