HAMILTON, ON, Jan. 23, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - As
part of the work of the Mayor's Intelligent Community Task Force
(MICTF) and the City of Hamilton's
ongoing efforts to improve effective community-wide digital
infrastructure, Bell Canada and the
City of Hamilton are pleased to
announce they will be moving forward together with a Bell
investment of approximately $400
million to expand broadband Internet access in urban and
rural areas of Hamilton, the
largest digital infrastructure investment in the City's
history.
Over the next five years, Bell and a Bell-funded team of
City of Hamilton staff will bring
direct fibre network connections to more than 200,000 homes and
business locations throughout the City with zero cost to taxpayers.
The network will provide consumers with access to data speeds up to
1.5 gigabits per second, the fastest home Internet speeds in
Canada.
Working in partnership with the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce's Digital
Infrastructure Task Force, gaps in digital infrastructure across
the community were identified. Subsequently, the City worked to
increase investment in digital infrastructure to address the gaps.
As part of the plan to enhance Hamilton's standing as a Digital City, Mayor
Eisenberger requested that broadband speeds be enhanced for all of
urban Hamilton, business parks and
major commercial areas, and rural areas in the community.
In addition to premium network support for the City's business
community, the Bell project includes the expansion of high-speed
Bell Wireless Home Internet service to 8,000 homes in rural
Hamilton. This innovative 5G
capable technology delivered over Bell's advanced LTE wireless
network provides broadband residential Internet access for small
towns, farming communities and other less populated locations.
Bell will work in close cooperation with the City and local
contractors, including Aecon, Telecon and Sentrex, to employ
innovative techniques to minimize disruption to residents and
businesses throughout the project. The majority of the network
build will consist of new fibre installed underground, with
additional fibre located on Bell, Hydro One and Alectra Utilities
poles.
This project represents a significant opportunity for the City
from an economic development perspective. One of the City's nine
areas of focus in its Economic Development Action Plan: 2016-2020
is investment in strategic infrastructure for economic growth,
which includes information and communication technology. This focus
area addresses the goal of improving access to reliable, affordable
and high capacity and speed broadband infrastructure, essential to
local business operations now and in the future.
Quotes:
"The City is proud to work with Bell to enable its investment in
the long-term growth and sustainability of Hamilton as we continue to increase our
reliance on digital infrastructure – one of the foundations of our
city's health, growth and prosperity – to attract and grow local
businesses and manage our busy lives, now and into the future."
- City of Hamilton Mayor
Fred Eisenberger
"Long recognized as one of North
America's top manufacturing centres, the City of Hamilton is also quickly becoming a
leader in advanced technology and innovation. Our historic
partnership will provide the critical infrastructure necessary to
deliver the next generation of communications services to
Hamiltonians while accelerating the City's ongoing digital
transformation."
- J. Bruce Furlong, Bell's
Senior Vice President of Access Engineering and Deployment
"The innovative process changes developed by the City of Hamilton's Public Works Engineering
Services team on this project demonstrates that Hamilton is Open for Business and can work
collectively with private partners and telecommunications vendors
resulting in major investments for our community. Broadband
accessibility and high-speed connectivity is rapidly becoming the
new essential utility and is vital to economic growth."
- Cyrus Tehrani, Chief Digital
Officer
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Michelle Shantz
Communications and Media Advisor
Office of Mayor Fred Eisenberger
905-546-4225
michelle.shantz@hamilton.ca
Nathan Gibson
Bell Canada
905-614-9596
nathan.gibson@bell.ca
@Bell_News
SOURCE Bell Canada