( BW)(BELL-CANADA)(BC.) Bell Canada Announces Major Investment of $1.5 Billion for High Speed Internet Access
Business Editors
MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2000--Bell Canada (TSE:BC.PRa.) announced today an investment of $1.5 billion over three years to rapidly expand and enhance high speed Internet availability for its residential and business customers. Complementary to BCE's significant investments in national and global connectivity, e-commerce and content, today's announcement confirms Bell's leadership in Canada for communications in the Internet world.
Bell is currently accelerating its high speed Internet connectivity to reach five million, or over 70%, of its residential and business customers by the end of the year. By the end of 2002, over 85% of residential and business customers in Bell's territory will be high speed access capable.
"One of Bell's strengths lies in the 11 million lines we have to our residence and business customers," said Jean C. Monty, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Bell Canada. "High speed access is a critical part of our Internet strategy that is based on connectivity, commerce and content. Up until now the service was not available to the majority of our customers. With this aggressive rollout program, we will remedy that this year. This investment will reinforce our position as the leading provider of a complete bundle of advanced communication services encompassing satellite, wireless and wireline."
Bell will also invest in substantial upgrades to its access network using optical fibre. In major urban centres, starting with Toronto, optical fibre mesh networks will be built using optical cables containing more than 800 fibres each. This will enable, in particular, a rapid expansion of its Optical Ethernet-based Nexxia.LAN(TM) services that provide up to a GigaBit (1000 Mbps) connectivity services for large business customers. Investments will also be made to extend fibre into Bell's residential access network to provide high speed services to neighbourhoods that are currently not served.
Bell's high speed Internet services are enabled by both Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and optical fibre technologies. With DSL, customers can use any phone jack in their homes or businesses and surf the Net at lightning-fast speed. Customers do not need a second line - they can talk on the phone or transmit faxes while they surf the Net across their superfast access line. Bell's DSL technology provides each customer with a private, secure and dedicated connection to the Internet -an essential feature for security- and performance- conscious customers -unlike the cable modem shared service that is widely recognized as being less secure and subject to speed degradation as more customers log on.
Bell's high speed services are available in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Hull, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Brantford, Guelph, Ste-Therese, St-Eustache, Trois-Rivieres and Chicoutimi. During April and May, high speed Internet access will be introduced in the Ontario communities of Barrie, Cornwall, Hamilton, Kingston, North Bay, Peterborough, Port Credit and Windsor, and in the Quebec communities of Legardeur, Levis, Loretteville and Sherbrooke. Additional communities will be announced in the months ahead. The introduction of high speed services will be accompanied by a substantial investment of resources in communications, marketing and service capability.
Bell is the national leader for communications in the world of the Internet:
leading Canadian Internet service provider with over 800,000
Sympatico(TM) subscribers nationally;
host of the most visited portal in Canada, Sympatico, with more than
2.8 million unique visitors each month;
carrier of the vast majority of Canada's Internet traffic on
its state of the art IP/Broadband network;
North American leader in wireless access to Internet through Bell
Mobility's Mobile Browser(TM) and Digital DATA to Go(TM);
provider of Internet service to remote communities and schools
via satellite;
partner with leading companies such as Lycos and BCE Emergis.
Bell Canada provides a full range of communications services, including wired and wireless local and long-distance telephone services, Internet access, high-speed data services and directories. Bell Canada, its telecom partners and subsidiaries provide services through 13.6 million access lines, including 11 million in Quebec and Ontario. Bell Canada also provides wireless service to more than 2.3 million customers through Bell Mobility. Bell Canada is 80 per cent owned by BCE Inc. of Montreal and 20 per cent owned by SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas. Bell Canada's Web site is located at bell.ca. News releases, speeches and background information are in the Newsroom. Our e-mail address is forum@bell.ca.
Further information on the Bell Sympatico High Speed Edition(TM) service is located at hse.sympatico.ca.
Further information on Bell Nexxia's Gigabit Nexxia.LAN services can be found at bellnexxia.com
Mobile Browser & Digital Data are Bell Mobility trade marks. Sympatico is a MediaLinx Interactive, Limited Partnership trade mark. Nexxia.LAN is a trade mark of Bell Nexxia.
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CONTACT: Bell Canada
Irene Shimoda, Bell Canada Media Relations
888/482-0809
416/581-3311
irene.shimoda@bell.ca
or
Marie-Eve Savard, Bell Canada Media Relations
877/391-2007
514/391-2007
marie-eve.savard@bell.ca
KEYWORD: INTERNATIONAL CANADA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TELECOMMUNICATIONS INTERNET E-COMMERCE
NETWORKING
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