Bell Canada will invest 1.14 billion Canadian dollars to build fiber optic infrastructure in Toronto. Bell announced it will deliver Internet at Gigabit speeds to homes and businesses across the City of Toronto with the new Gigabit Fibe service.
Coupled with Bell’s single largest infrastructure expansion project, creating approximately 2,400 direct jobs and significant economic and innovation benefits, Gigabit Fibe will bring North America’s fastest Internet speeds to more than a million Toronto premises – starting with approximately 50,000 homes and businesses that will have first access this summer.
Bell is Canada’s largest communications company, providing consumers and business customers with wireless, TV, Internet, home phone, and business communications services. Bell Media is Canada’s premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, out of home, and digital media. Bell is wholly owned by Montréal’s BCE Inc.
The new Gigabit Fibe service from Bell will deliver the fastest Internet speeds available Gigabit Fibe to be rolled out to 1.1 million Toronto homes and businesses; 50,000 premises will have access this summer. Bell investing $1.14 billion in Canada’s biggest gigabit infrastructure project. Close cooperation with Toronto Hydro increases project speed and efficiency. Bell contributing Gigabit Fibe service to United Way Toronto’s Community Hubs initiative. Other cities getting Gigabit Fibe service as soon as this summer; fiber infrastructure expansion ongoing in Ontario, Québec, and Atlantic Canada.
Bell Canada has served Toronto since 1880, and we’re proud to continue our legacy of communications leadership by bringing the fastest Internet speeds to consumers and businesses across Canada’s largest city. Gigabit Fibe is a revolutionary broadband communications service that puts Toronto out front as a world-class Smart City. Network leadership has been the bedrock of Bell’s rapid transformation in recent years. Bell’s existing high-speed fiber network is already driving fast Fibe TV and broadband Internet growth, and Canada’s largest 4G LTE wireless network is supporting tremendous increases in smartphones and mobile data usage. Gigabit Fibe is key to accelerating Bell’s leadership in home and business Internet services, and to supporting widespread access, innovation, and economic benefits for Canadians into the future.
As part of Bell’s plan to invest $20 billion in its broadband fiber and wireless networks across Canada by the end of 2020, Gigabit Fibe will ultimately be available to 1.1 million homes and businesses across the city. Bell will launch Gigabit Fibe in other cities in Ontario, Québec, and the Atlantic provinces as soon as this summer in some locations.
As with all other gigabit services, like the Google Fiber project in some US cities, service will initially be available at a maximum of 940 Megabits per second and rise to a full 1000 Megabits per second or faster in 2016 as modem equipment suppliers catch up to gigabit speeds.
Fully funded by Bell, Gigabit Fibe in Toronto is supported by the company’s single largest infrastructure buildout. Bell’s long-term agreements with Toronto Hydro to share utility poles across the city are accelerating the Gigabit Fibe project’s efficiency and speeding up deployment. When the project is complete, Bell teams will have upgraded 27 Bell Central Office facilities across the city and installed over 9,000 kilometers of new fiber, both underground via more than 10,000 manholes and on approximately 80,000 Bell and Toronto Hydro poles around the city. Approximately 70% of the network will be aerial and 30% underground.
Bell is building Gigabit Fibe on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis and will advise residents in advance if Bell crews may need to access their property. Torontonians can visit Bell.ca/Toronto for updates and Gigabit Fibe availability. Bell will have a dedicated customer service process for Gigabit Fibe and work with Toronto’s 3-1-1 information service to answer any questions about the infrastructure project.
Bell suppliers and contractors working on the Gigabit Fibe buildout in Toronto include Aecon, AGIR, Alcatel-Lucent, Asplundh, Corning, Davey Tree, Distinct Tech, Effigis, Expertech, Huawei, Infrastructel, MMM, Somerville, Sentrex, Telecon Group, Teranet, and TRJ Telecom.
Bell’s industry-leading capital investments in Canada’s newest broadband networks have a significant positive economic effect, enabling businesses to better innovate, compete, and create high-value jobs with the fastest Internet access. Including 2,400 direct jobs created in Toronto, Bell estimates Gigabit Fibe Toronto will create more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ontario and $2.5 billion in economic activity over the next 2 years.
As part of its ongoing support for the United Way Toronto Community Hub initiative, Bell will contribute Gigabit Fibe service to reach the charity’s city-wide Community Hubs initiative, including Access Point on the Danforth, Bathurst-Finch, Dorset Park, Jane Street, Mid-Scarborough, Rexdale Community Hub, Victoria Park Hub, and the planned Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre serving the Steeles L’Amoreaux community.
United Way Community Hubs are focused on building healthy neighbourhoods, and currently host more than 50 community organizations. The Hubs bring together targeted health and social services with essential mixed-use community space under one roof.
Bell matches employee donations to United Way Centraide across Canada. In 2014, the Bell team and Bell Let’s Talk gave more than $1.1 million to United Way Toronto alone, supporting projects such as the United Way mental health crisis response agencies that answer almost 360,000 calls each year. In 2012, George Cope served as Chair of the United Way Toronto Campaign Cabinet, which led that year’s charity campaign to record donations of $117 million.
Canada’s largest Internet service provider, Bell serves approximately 3.3 million total high-speed Internet customers. Bell will make Gigabit Fibe available in other cities across Ontario, Québec, and the Atlantic provinces over the next year, some also as early as this summer. Cities primed for Gigabit Fibe include Québec City, locations in Montréal, Laval, Blainville, Gatineau, Joliette, Saint-Jérôme, Chicoutimi, Sherbrooke, Vaudreuil/Valleyfield, St. John’s, Charlottetown, Halifax, Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Sudbury, North Bay, Peterborough, and Kingston. Gigabit Fibe infrastructure rollouts are underway in even more cities and service availability will be announced over the next year.
In April, Bell unveiled plans to invest $20 billion across the country from 2015 to the end of 2020 to continue expanding its broadband fiber and 4G LTE mobile networks, one of the largest capital projects in any industry in Canada.
Investing more than anyone in Canada’s modern communications infrastructure and R&D, in urban, rural, and remote locations including the North, Bell is dedicated to ensuring Canada remains competitive at the global level in next-generation broadband communications.
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