Bell and FirstLight to offer new high-speed routes with triple redundancy between Secaucus, NJ, Toronto, and Montréal

MONTRÉAL and SECAUCUS, NJ , Nov. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Bell Canada announced today, in partnership with FirstLight Fiber, new unique wavelength data routes with speeds up to 400G that will enable triversity – otherwise known as triple redundancy – between Secaucus, NJ, Toronto and Montréal, to be available in Q1 of 2024.

Launched by Bell in April 2021, 400G wavelength technology delivers significantly increased speeds and the capacity required by large cloud and data centre providers, offering reliable, secure fibre-optic networks for the transport of voice, data, and video. By adding triversity to its network capabilities, Bell can reliably offer resilient business continuity.

As Secaucus, NJ is a major data centre hub with explosive growth and customer demand, this move supports Bell's plan to increase network resilience, fulfilling needs of customers requiring connectivity between Canada and the US. The new routes will terminate in Equinix's data centre campus in Secaucus and will allow traffic flow into the US, fortifying the networks for Bell customers.

These routes will provide triversity into Secaucus, bypassing New York City for two routes:

• Toronto – Secaucus
• Montréal – Secaucus, via Albany
• Montréal – Secaucus, via the Maritimes, going through Manhattan

In addition to existing routes to New York City, these new routes will also enable triversity into New York City:

• Toronto – Secaucus - NYC
• Montréal – NYC, via Albany
• Montréal – NYC, via the Maritimes

"With continued growth in data demand, – particularly because of cloud technology and AI delivered by leading telecom networks like Bell Canada – we are excited to fortify Bell's extensive footprint further with these new routes, which will enable faster and more reliable data transport between the major hubs in Secaucus, Toronto, and Montréal."

-       Ivan Mihaljevic, SVP, Bell Wholesale

"Given the vast amount of bandwidth we expect AI will require, coupled with the criticality of network resilience, we are delighted to work with Bell Canada to offer these unique routes that provide bandwidth up to 400G, diversely routed between Canada and the United States."

-       Patrick Coughlin, Chief Development Officer for FirstLight. 

Bell is Canada's largest communications company,¹ providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet, media, and business communication services throughout the country. Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

Through Bell for Better, we are investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of our communities. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which 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.

FirstLight, headquartered in Albany, New York, provides fibre-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud, unified communications, and managed services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic connecting more than 15,000 locations in service with more than 125,000 locations serviceable by our more than 25,000-route mile network. FirstLight offers a robust suite of advanced telecommunications products featuring a comprehensive portfolio of high bandwidth connectivity solutions including Ethernet, wavelength and dark fibre services as well as dedicated Internet access solutions, data center, cloud and voice services. FirstLight's clientele includes national cellular providers and wireline carriers and many leading enterprises, spanning high tech manufacturing and research, hospitals and healthcare, banking and financial, secondary education, colleges and universities, and local and state governments FirstLight was named a Top Workplace USA in 2022 and 2023.

To learn more about FirstLight, visit https://www.firstlight.net/, or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Media inquiries

Audrey Hood
audrey.hood@bell.ca

Maura Mahoney
mmahoney@firstlight.net

Investor relations

Richard Bengian
richard.bengian@bell.ca

SOURCE Bell Canada