Bell high speed fibre rollouts enable new Internet and TV services
Bell's new Fibe(TM) Internet service now offers fastest upload speeds in the market
New Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout announced for Québec City region
Bell will add fibre-based IPTV service to Bell TV line-up in 2010
MONTREAL, Feb. 4 2010 -- Bell today announced several new fibre
initiatives supporting its broadband investment strategy, including the
deployment of Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in Québec City and to new housing
developments in Ontario and Québec, the launch of enhanced Bell Fibe(TM)
Internet services, and the introduction of Bell IPTV service in 2010.
"Investment in broadband networks and services is a core strategic
imperative at Bell. We're actively building the communications platforms that
support the growth of competitive new Internet, video and other digital
services now and into the future," said George Cope, President and CEO of BCE
and Bell Canada. "Bell is executing with significant investments in both
wireless, with our November launch of Canada's largest and fastest mobile
network, and in wireline with the new fibre-based network investments and
services announced today."
Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) investments
Bell today announced a three-year plan to deploy high speed
Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) across the Québec City region, including
Ancienne-Lorette, Beauport, Charlesbourg, Lévis-Wolfe, Loretteville,
St-Cyrille, Ste-Foy, St-Nicolas, St-Réal and St-Romuald. FTTH will offer
consumer and business customers Internet download speeds of at least 100
Megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps.
One of the first FTTH deployments in Canada, Bell's Québec initiative is
also by far the largest city-wide FTTH rollout in the country. Because the
Québec City region is served largely by "aerial" infrastructure -
above-ground wiring on utility poles - these extensive fibre deployments can
be accomplished much faster and more economically than in centres with
underground infrastructure.
Bell also announced today it will deploy FTTH in all new urban and
suburban housing developments in Ontario and Québec beginning in the second
half of 2010. This is in addition to the company's deployment of
Fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) already under way, which will deliver 60 Mbps
service to approximately 1,600 condominium and apartment buildings in Ontario
and Québec by the end of 2012.
Bell Fibe(TM) Internet
Bell's new Fibe Internet service is now available in Montréal and the
Greater Toronto Area, providing customers access to increased uploads speeds
as high as 7 Megabits per second - the fastest available in the market - and
download speeds now as fast as 25 Mbps.
"Bell Fibe Internet is the fast, consistent and reliable way to access
the Internet, and it's built for the way people use the Internet now," said
Kevin Crull, President of Bell Residential Services. "With its increased
speeds, especially on uploads, Fibe Internet supports the strong growth we're
seeing in the sharing of videos, pictures and documents in line with the
revolution in social networking and online communities."
Fibe Internet employs advanced tools to proactively monitor and optimize
customer access speeds and offers comprehensive security features at no extra
cost, including parental controls, pop-up blocker, privacy control, Wi-Fi
protection, fraud protection and 5 Gigabytes of Personal Vault online
storage. For more information, please visit bell.ca/internet.
Fibe Internet is enabled by advanced VDSL2 technology enhancements to
Bell's Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network in Toronto and Montréal. By next
month, Bell will have passed 1.8 million homes with advanced VDSL2
capability, and approximately 3.6 million FTTN households in Québec and
Ontario will be enhanced by the end of 2010.
Bell IPTV
Bell's advanced FTTN network also supports the addition of Bell IPTV to
the Bell TV line-up in 2010. All-digital Bell IPTV (internet protocol
television) will deliver a wide range of advanced television and
entertainment services over Bell's fibre network to customers in Toronto and
Montréal this year.
"Bell IPTV is the perfect urban complement to our fast-growing Bell TV
service, which already serves almost 2 million Canadians coast to coast and
offers far more HD channels than any other provider in the country," said
Kevin Crull. "Bell TV is already the digital TV leader across Canada, but
Bell IPTV will soon significantly enhance competition and consumer choice in
TV services in these core urban markets."
Already in extensive consumer trials, Bell IPTV is powered by the
Microsoft Mediaroom multimedia software platform, the most widely deployed
IPTV platform in the world.
About Bell
Headquartered in Montréal, Bell is Canada's largest communications
company, providing consumers and business with solutions to all their
communications needs, including Bell Mobility wireless, high-speed Bell
Internet, Bell TV direct-to-home satellite television, Bell Home phone local
and long distance, and IP-broadband and information and communications
technology (ICT) services. Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and
the Exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and
Paralympic Winter Games.
Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). For information on
Bell's products and services, please visit www.bell.ca. For
corporate
information on BCE, please visit www.bce.ca.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this news release, including, but not limited
to, statements relating to our three-year plan to deploy FTTH across the
Quebec City region, our plan to deploy FTTH in all urban and suburban housing
developments in Ontario and Quebec beginning in the second half of 2010, our
target to deliver 60 Mbps service to approximately 1,600 MDUs in Ontario and
Quebec by 2012, our plan to enhance by the end of 2010 all of Bell's broader
FTTN network in Quebec and Ontario, our plan to introduce IPTV in the course
of 2010, and other statements that are not historical facts, are
forward-looking. Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, are
subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several
assumptions which give rise to the possibility that actual results could
differ materially from our expectations expressed in or implied by such
forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot guarantee that any
forward-looking statement will materialize and you are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Our forward-looking statements referred to above assume, in particular,
the availability of the required capital which, in turn, is based on our
ability to either generate internally or otherwise raise capital. Our ability
to generate internally or otherwise raise capital is subject to various risk
factors. These risks include, but are not limited to: the intensity of
competitive activity, including the increase in wireless competitive activity
that is expected to result from Industry Canada's licensing of AWS spectrum
to new wireless entrants, and the resulting impact on our ability to retain
existing, and attract, new customers, and on our pricing and marketing
strategies and financial results; general economic and financial market
conditions, the level of consumer confidence and spending, and the demand
for, and prices of, our products and services; our ability to implement our
strategies and plans in order to produce the expected benefits; our ability
to continue to implement our cost reduction initiatives and contain capital
intensity while seeking to improve customer service; our ability to respond
to technological changes and rapidly offer new products and services;
increased contributions to employee benefit plans; events affecting the
functionality of, and our ability to protect, maintain and replace, our
networks, information technology systems and software; events affecting the
ability of third-party suppliers to provide to us essential products and
services; the quality of our network and customer equipment and the extent to
which they may be subject to manufacturing defects; labour disruptions; the
potential adverse effects on our Internet and wireless businesses of the
significant increase in broadband demand; our ability to raise the capital we
need to implement our business plan, including for BCE's share buy-back
program and dividend payments and to fund capital and other expenditures and
generally meet our financial obligations; our ability to discontinue certain
traditional services as necessary to improve capital and operating
efficiencies; regulatory initiatives or proceedings, litigation and changes
in laws or regulations; launch and in-orbit risks of satellites used by Bell
TV; competition from unregulated U.S. DTH satellite television services sold
illegally in Canada and the theft of our satellite television services; BCE's
dependence on the ability of its subsidiaries, joint ventures and other
companies in which it has an interest to pay dividends or make other
distributions; depending, in particular, on the prevailing economic,
competitive and technological environment at any given time, and subject to
dividends being declared by the board of directors, there can be no certainty
that BCE's dividend policy will be maintained; stock market volatility; our
ability to maintain customer service and our networks operational in the
event of the occurrence of epidemics, pandemics and other health risks;
health concerns about radio frequency emissions from wireless devices; and
loss of key employees.
Reference is hereby made to BCE's Safe Harbour Notice Concerning
Forward-Looking Statements dated February 4, 2010, which is incorporated by
reference herein, for a more detailed description of the above-mentioned
risks. This document has been filed by BCE with the Canadian securities
commissions (available at www.sedar.com) and with the U.S.
Securities and
Exchange Commission (available at www.gov.com) and is also
available on BCE's
website at www.bce.ca.
The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as
of the date of this release and, accordingly, are subject to change after
such date. Except as may be required by Canadian 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. Except as otherwise indicated by BCE, these
statements do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or other
special items or of any dispositions, monetizations, mergers, acquisitions,
other business combinations or other transactions that may be announced or
that may occur after the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are provided
for the purpose of providing information about management's current
expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better
understanding of our operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such
information may not be appropriate for other purposes.
For further information: Julie Smithers, Bell Media Relations, (416)
528-9409, julie.smithers@bell.ca; Investor inquiries:
Thane Fotopoulos, BCE
Investor Relations, (514) 870-4619, thane.fotopoulos@bell.ca
SOURCE Bell TV