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BCE Inc (2)
Symbol BCE
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Close 2015-06-24 C$ 54.01
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BCE's Bell to roll out Gigabit Fibe service in Toronto

2015-06-25 09:16 ET - News Release

Mr. George Cope reports

BELL GIGABIT FIBE BRINGING THE FASTEST INTERNET TO TORONTO RESIDENTS WITH A BILLION-DOLLAR+ NETWORK INVESTMENT, CREATION OF 2,400 DIRECT JOBS

BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada will deliver gigabit-per-second Internet speeds to homes and businesses across the city of Toronto with the new Gigabit Fibe service. Coupled with Bell's single-largest infrastructure expansion project, creating approximately 2,400 direct jobs and significant economic and innovation benefits, Gigabit Fibe will bring North America's fastest Internet speeds to more than a million Toronto premises, starting with approximately 50,000 homes and businesses that will have first access this summer.

Highlights

  • The new Gigabit Fibe service from Bell will deliver the fastest Internet speeds available;
  • Gigabit Fibe to be rolled out to 1.1 million Toronto homes and businesses; 50,000 premises will have access this summer;
  • Bell investing $1.14-billion in Canada's biggest gigabit infrastructure project;
  • Close co-operation with Toronto Hydro increases project speed and efficiency;
  • Bell contributing Gigabit Fibe service to United Way Toronto's community hub initiative;
  • Other cities getting Gigabit Fibe service as soon as this summer; fibre infrastructure expansion continuing in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

"Bell Canada has served Toronto since 1880, and we're proud to continue our legacy of communications leadership by bringing the fastest Internet speeds to consumers and businesses across Canada's largest city. Gigabit Fibe is a revolutionary broadband communications service that puts Toronto out front as a world-class smart city," said George Cope, president and chief executive officer of Bell Canada and BCE Inc. "Network leadership has been the bedrock of Bell's rapid transformation in recent years. Our existing high-speed fibre network is already driving fast Fibe TV and broadband Internet growth, and Canada's largest 4G LTE [long-term evolution] wireless network is supporting tremendous increases in smart phones and mobile data usage. Gigabit Fibe is key to accelerating Bell's leadership in home and business Internet services and to supporting widespread access, innovation and economic benefits for Canadians into the future."

"As we plan for the future, we need to invest in our city and put in place the infrastructure required to keep Toronto competitive," said Mayor John Tory. "The rollout of Gigabit Fibe is a testament to Bell's commitment to investing in Toronto. This is Canada's largest gigabit Internet infrastructure project, creating 2,400 jobs for our city. I'd like to thank Bell Canada for investing in Toronto and delivering services that meet the needs of today and the future."

Part of Bell's plan to invest $20-billion in its broadband fibre and wireless networks across Canada by the end of 2020, Gigabit Fibe will ultimately be available to 1.1 million homes and businesses across the city. Bell will launch Gigabit Fibe in other cities in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces as soon as this summer in some locations.

As with all other gigabit services, like the Google Fiber project in some U.S. cities, service will initially be available at a maximum 940 megabits per second and rise to a full 1,000 megabits per second or faster in 2016 as modem equipment suppliers catch up to gigabit speeds. To learn more about Gigabit Fibe, please visit the Bell website.

"Bell's existing fibre network already delivers both the best television experience anywhere with Fibe TV and fast broadband Internet. With Gigabit Fibe, we're boosting Internet speeds to blazing fast levels that open up incredible new on-line opportunities for consumers and business users alike," said Rizwan Jamal, president of Bell Residential Services. "Consumers can share and access the great content they want faster than ever before; with Gigabit Fibe, you can download 100 photos or songs in three seconds, an entire HD [high-definition] movie in seven seconds, or the whole 14 gigabytes of Orphan Black in HD -- shot right here in Toronto -- in less than two minutes. Small businesses and major enterprises, technology innovators, manufacturers, resource companies, governments, health care providers, educators, and utilities all will have incredible new opportunities to share ideas and opportunities, and take full advantage of next-generation cloud data solutions, such as Bell's national network of data hosting centres, including three state-of-the-art facilities in the city of Toronto."

A public partnership without public funding

Fully financed by Bell, Gigabit Fibe in Toronto is supported by the company's single-largest infrastructure buildout. Bell's long-term agreements with Toronto Hydro to share utility poles across the city are accelerating the Gigabit Fibe project's efficiency and speeding up deployment. When the project is complete, Bell teams will have upgraded 27 Bell Central Office facilities across the city and installed over 9,000 kilometres of new fibre, both underground via more than 10,000 manholes and on approximately 80,000 Bell and Toronto Hydro poles around the city. Approximately 70 per cent of the network will be aerial and 30 per cent underground.

"Bell stays ahead of the game in communications by investing the capital and planning required, building the best technology teams and working with great partners, like the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro, in the Gigabit Fibe project," said Stephen Howe, Bell's chief technology officer. "Our engineers, technicians and field crews are energized about this incredible undertaking, and we're working co-operatively with our partners, suppliers and contractors, [and] residents and businesses to make Toronto North America's gigabit leader as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Bell is building Gigabit Fibe on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis and will advise residents in advance if Bell crews may need to access their properties. Torontonians can visit the Bell website for updates and Gigabit Fibe availability. Bell will have a dedicated customer service process for Gigabit Fibe and work with Toronto's 3-1-1 information service to answer any questions about the infrastructure project.

Bell suppliers and contractors working on the Gigabit Fibe buildout in Toronto include Aecon, AGIR, Alcatel-Lucent, Asplundh, Corning, Davey Tree, Distinct Tech, Effigis, Expertech, Huawei, Infrastructel, MMM, Somerville, Sentrex, Telecon Group, Teranet and TRJ Telecom.

Bell's industry-leading capital investments in Canada's newest broadband networks have a significant positive economic effect, enabling businesses to better innovate, compete and create high-value jobs with the fastest Internet access. Including 2,400 direct jobs created in Toronto, Bell estimates Gigabit Fibe Toronto will create more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ontario and $2.5-billion in economic activity over the next two years.

Gigabit support for United Way

As part of its continuing support for the United Way Toronto community hub initiative, Bell will contribute Gigabit Fibe service to each the charity's citywide community hub initiative, including Access Point on the Danforth, Bathurst-Finch, Dorset Park, Jane Street, Mid-Scarborough, Rexdale Community Hub, Victoria Park Hub and the planned Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre serving the Steeles L'Amoreaux community.

United Way community hubs are focused on building healthy neighbourhoods and currently host more than 50 community organizations. The hubs bring together targeted health and social services with essential mixed-use community space under one roof.

"There's no question that in 2015, the most powerful access to on-line resources and services is a major factor in supporting opportunity and healthier, more vibrant communities," said Susan McIsaac, president and chief executive officer of United Way Toronto. "Bell and United Way Centraide are close partners here in Toronto and across Canada. Welcoming our community hubs into the infrastructure that will make Toronto one of the world's smartest cities again demonstrates Bell's genuine community spirit and desire to make a positive difference in the lives of Canadians."

Bell matches employee donations to United Way Centraide across Canada. In 2014, the Bell team and Bell Let's Talk gave more than $1.1-million to United Way Toronto alone, supporting projects such as the United Way mental health crisis response agencies that answer almost 360,000 calls each year. In 2012, George Cope served as chair of the United Way Toronto campaign cabinet, which led that year's charity campaign to record donations of $117-million.

Bell remains Canada's broadband leader

Canada's largest Internet service provider, Bell serves approximately 3.3 million total high-speed Internet customers. Bell will make Gigabit Fibe available in other cities across Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces over the next year, some also as early as this summer. Cities primed for Gigabit Fibe include Quebec City, locations in Montreal, Laval, Blainville, Gatineau, Joliette, Saint-Jerome, Chicoutimi, Sherbrooke, Vaudreuil/Valleyfield, St. John's, Charlottetown, Halifax, Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Sudbury, North Bay, Peterborough and Kingston. Gigabit Fibe infrastructure rollouts are under way in even more cities and service availability will be announced over the next year.

In April, Bell unveiled plans to invest $20-billion across the country from 2015 to the end of 2020 to continue expanding its broadband fibre and 4G LTE mobile networks, one of the largest capital projects in any industry in Canada.

Investing more than anyone in Canada's modern communications infrastructure and research and development in urban, rural and remote locations, including the North, Bell is dedicated to ensuring Canada remains competitive at the global level in next-generation broadband communications.

We seek Safe Harbor.

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