- First 300,000 households to access 50/10 speeds starting this
fall
- Wireless Home Internet also expanding to rural regions of
Atlantic Canada
- 5G rural Internet access to launch following federal spectrum
auction
MONTRÉAL, July 23, 2020 /CNW
Telbec/ - Bell today announced its Wireless Home Internet
(WHI) service for rural Canada will increase Internet download
speeds to up to 50 Megabits per second and uploads to 10 Mbps
(50/10) this fall while also expanding to rural communities
throughout Atlantic Canada this
fall.
"Leading the way in delivering broadband Internet access to
rural Canada is a core part of Bell's goal to advance how Canadians
connect with each other and the world, and we've made remarkable
progress in narrowing the digital divide with Bell Wireless Home
Internet. We're pleased to take this unique technology further by
doubling Internet download speeds available to rural communities
while also beginning our rollout of WHI service throughout
Atlantic Canada," said
Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of
BCE Inc. and Bell Canada.
"Bell's continued investment in building the best networks has
been critical to Canada's management of COVID-19's impact and will
be key to the country's ongoing recovery. The intense usage of
Wireless Home Internet and positive feedback from our rural
customers throughout the COVID-19 crisis underscored how important
fast and reliable broadband connections are to ensuring communities
both large and small will be part of Canada's move forward. To meet
the needs of our rural customers, Bell accelerated our service
rollout in response to the unprecedented demand, bringing WHI
service to 137,000 more households than anticipated by the end of
April," said Mr. Bibic.
The new 50/10 WHI service will initially be offered to
approximately 300,000 homes in 325 communities in Ontario, Québec and the Atlantic provinces
starting this fall. Some of the first communities that will receive
50/10 service include: Selwyn, Trent
Hills and Wilmot in
Ontario; Dunham, Messines, Saint
Adolphe d'Howard and Sutton
in Québec; Doaktown, New
Brunswick; Guysborough, Nova
Scotia; Kensington, PEI;
and Burgeo, Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Fully funded by Bell, the Wireless Home Internet program is
designed to bring broadband Internet access to homes in rural
communities and other hard-to-reach locations by leveraging the
scale of Bell's high-performance wireless networks – which will
include upgrades to 5G service as necessary wireless spectrum is
made available by the federal government.
"As the key builder of Canada's network infrastructure, Bell
developed Wireless Home Internet specifically to ensure that rural
Canada can share in all the opportunities of our digital future,"
said Stephen Howe, Bell's Chief
Technology Officer. "Wireless Home Internet is ready to enable all
the speed and capacity capabilities of fixed 5G Internet access in
future by leveraging additional 3500 MHz spectrum following the
federal wireless spectrum auction in 2021."
Already available to approximately 400,000 households in
Ontario and Québec with download
speeds of 25 Mbps, Bell's Wireless Home Internet service is
expected to ultimately reach 1 million homes in smaller towns and
rural communities across Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova
Scotia, Prince Edward
Island, New Brunswick,
Québec, Ontario and Manitoba. Please visit Bell.ca/FastInternet to
learn more.
About Bell
Canada's largest communications company
with more than 22 million consumer and business connections, Bell
provides advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet and business
communication services throughout the country. Bell Media is
Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in
television, radio, out of home and digital media. Founded in
Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE:
BCE). To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.
The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes Canadian mental health
with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's
Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access,
research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the
country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Media inquiries:
Caroline Audet
514-391-9794
caroline.audet@bell.ca
@Bell_News
Investor inquiries:
Thane Fotopoulos
514-870-4619
thane.fotopoulos@bell.ca
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain
statements made in this news release are forward-looking
statements, including statements relating to our network deployment
and capital investment plans, our business outlook, objectives,
plans and strategic priorities, and other statements that are not
historical facts. All such forward-looking statements are made
pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable Canadian
securities laws and of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks
and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions which give
rise to the possibility that actual results or events could differ
materially from our expectations. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance or events, and we caution you
against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained in this news release describe
our expectations at the date of this news release and, accordingly,
are subject to change after such date. Except as may be required by
applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this
news release, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. Our network deployment and capital investment plans
and the benefits expected to result therefrom are subject to risks
and, accordingly, there can be no assurance that our network
deployment plans will be completed or that the benefits expected to
result therefrom will be realized. For additional information on
assumptions and risks underlying certain of our forward-looking
statements made in this news release, please consult BCE's 2020
First Quarter MD&A dated May 6,
2020, filed by BCE with the Canadian provincial securities
regulatory authorities (available at Sedar.com) and with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (available at SEC.gov). This
document is also available at BCE.ca.
SOURCE Bell Canada