It's On! Bell's all-fibre broadband network is now lighting up Toronto

  • $1.5 billion Bell investment connects homes and businesses throughout Canada's biggest city with the world's best Internet technology
  • North America's largest urban fibre deployment enables Toronto's global Smart City strategy
  • #BellBlueSky lights up Toronto; join the #LightUpthe6ix celebration with Arkells and City and Colour tonight at Yonge-Dundas Square

TORONTO, April 5, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell today announced that its all-fibre optic network is now on in Toronto, connecting most homes and business locations throughout Canada's most populous city with the world's fastest Internet technology, advanced television and media services, and unparalleled business connectivity on a network built for the broadband future.

The $1.5 billion Toronto fibre project is part of Bell's historic reinvention of its network footprint with next-generation broadband fibre connections. Bell fibre to the premises (FTTP) service now delivers Internet access speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) with symmetrical upload and downloads. Speeds will increase to at least 5 Gbps next year and ultimately to 40 Gbps and beyond in future.

"The Bell team is proud to light up North America's largest fibre network right here in Toronto. Bell's all-fibre network will deliver the best Internet, TV and business connectivity services to Torontonians while enabling Canada's largest city to innovate and compete at a global level with next-generation connectivity," said George Cope, President and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada. "We're grateful to the City, its citizens and all our local partners for their support of this incredible infrastructure transformation – and we look forward to celebrating this Canadian milestone in the heart of the city tonight."

"Toronto is a city always planning for the future and this is the kind of major technology infrastructure investment we need to ensure our status as a world-class Smart City," said Toronto Mayor John Tory, who attended the 2015 announcement kicking off the Toronto fibre project. "This investment in rolling out the latest network connections to both homes and businesses throughout Toronto is a great example of business leadership supporting a diverse and innovative economic future for our city."

Bell began the Toronto project in 2015, working closely with the City and Toronto Hydro and employing innovative installation techniques and new heavy equipment to roll out the network as efficiently and quickly as possible with minimal disruption to residents and businesses. The build consists of more than 10,000 kilometres of new fibre installed to date on approximately 90,000 Bell and Toronto Hydro poles and underground via more than 10,000 manhole access points, as well as technology enhancements to 27 Bell central offices throughout the city.

#BellBlueSky and #LightUpthe6ix at Yonge-Dundas Square
To celebrate the lighting of Toronto's fibre network, Bell is presenting a dazzling blue light spectacle and the #LightUpthe6ix event at Yonge-Dundas Square. #LightUpthe6ix starts at 9 pm with CTV Your Morning co-hosts Ben Mulroney and Anne-Marie Mediwake and performances by Arkells and City and Colour. For more information about tonight's event, please follow #BellBlueSky and #LightUpthe6ix on Twitter and Instagram and visit Bell on Facebook.

The world's fastest Internet technology – now with symmetrical speeds
With the Gigabit Fibe Internet service enabled by Bell fibre to the premises, customers can download a 10 MB photo in a tenth of a second or an entire 3 GB High Definition movie in just 24 seconds, upload a 500 MB business plan to the cloud in only 4 seconds or access the latest detailed stock quotes in the blink of an eye. With low latency, fibre also enhances the streaming and gaming experience, and with the new fibre-enabled Whole Home Wi-Fi service, Bell brings the smartest and fastest Internet access to every room of the home.

With FTTP capability, Bell is also the only major Canadian Internet provider to offer symmetrical Internet speeds that are equally as fast whether you are downloading from the web or uploading to social media. Fully symmetrical speeds are available at all FTTP Internet speed tiers – 25, 50, 150 and 500 Mbps – up to a Gigabit, where top upload speed is currently 940 Mbps. Uploads will increase to a full Gig next year when commercial modem technology catches up to fibre network capabilities in 2019.

Bell fibre also delivers the innovative Fibe TV service that has transformed the way Canadians watch television and made Bell the largest TV provider in the country. With superior picture quality, Fibe TV offers several exclusive features including the wireless Whole Home 4K PVR; the Fibe TV app, which enables full mobile control of the TV experience on the screen of your choice; Restart, which lets you restart shows in progress or from the past 30 hours; and Trending, which highlights the top TV shows in the country at any given time. Also enabled by Bell fibre, Alt TV is an innovative new way to watch television on multiple screens with no need for a TV set-top box or installation.

Bell has hired thousands of new field technicians to connect Fibe and business fibre services in Toronto and other Bell fibre cities. With enhanced technician training and new tools such as the Manage Your Appointment app, which provides customers real-time install information including details on dispatched technicians and their estimated arrival time, customer satisfaction with Bell fibre services installation has reached an all-time high of 95%.

Canada's largest fibre network
At more than 240,000 total kilometres, Bell's fibre optic network is Canada's largest by far. Across the 4 Atlantic provinces, Québec, Ontario and Manitoba, Bell now serves more than 9.2 million homes and business locations with fibre to the neighbourhood, and over 3.7 million locations with FTTP connections – a total expected to grow to 4.5 million by the end of this year.

Bell all-fibre cities now include St. John's, Gander, Summerside, Charlottetown, Halifax, Sydney, Moncton and Fredericton in Atlantic Canada, Québec City, Trois-Rivières, Saint-Jérôme and Gatineau in Québec, Cornwall, Kingston, Toronto, North Bay and Sudbury in Ontario, and Steinbach and The Pas in Manitoba, with major new locations to be announced in 2018. Bell unveiled its Montréal fibre project in 2017 and last month announced plans to expand direct fibre connections throughout the GTA/905 region surrounding Toronto and extending to the US border.

To learn more about the Toronto all-fibre network, please visit Bell.ca/Toronto.

Canada's broadband leader
Founded in 1880, Bell is the country's oldest and largest telecommunications provider and continues to lead the way in Canadian communications with a strategy of unparalleled investment in broadband network and service innovation.

Bell invests more than $4 billion each year in Canada's next-generation network infrastructure, delivering world-class fibre connections to the home and business, Canada's Best National Mobile Network, and the country's largest network of 28 state-of-the-art data hosting and cloud computing centres. Bell Media is Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, out of home and digital media.

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 provides significant funding for community care and access, research and workplace initiatives in every region.

To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.

Media inquiries:

Nathan Gibson
905-614-9596
nathan.gibson@bell.ca
@Bell_News

Investor inquiries:

Thane Fotopoulos
514-870-4619
thane.fotopoulos@bell.ca

 

SOURCE Bell Canada