SURREY, B.C. – B.C. businessman Gordon Keast is suing Telus after the company refused to let him out of a three-year cellphone contract because he objects to Telus offering what he says is a pornography service.

“At the time I renewed my contract with Telus in November they didn’t market and sell pornography. Now they do, and as a subscriber I don’t want my fees to underwrite their pornography business,” said Keast, who runs a communications-based company in Surrey, B.C.

Keast filed his suit Tuesday in small claims court. He’s seeking $3,000 for alleged breach of contract.

Cellphones have offered access to adult content for several years, a Telus spokesman said yesterday. Of the top 25 Web sites visited by Telus customers via their handsets in December, more than half were adult sites.

Telus has introduced an adult entertainment service enabling subscribers to download adult content to cellphones.

Keast, a church-going Lutheran, said he served notice of his suit with a Telus lawyer on Tuesday.

In his statement of claim, Keast says Telus selling pornographic images for $3 to $4 a piece “could hurt my reputation and businesses because I am associated with Telus.”

“I tried to breach my contract but Telus wanted $609.60,” his statement said.

The allegations haven’t been proven in court.

Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson said the the company wasn’t offering “X-rated material” but “single model nudity that involves no sexual activity.”

He said Telus was offering the service so customers could visit “legal and safe sites.”