Bell Canada Rolling out CDMA2000 1x in late 2001
Canada's Bell Mobility Pledges $100Mil More for PCS
By Mobile Computing
TORONTO, January 11, 2001, 4:45 p.m. EST — Bell Canada's wireless division will spend $100 million to beef
up its digital cellular phone network, with a pledge to make its PCS (personal communication service) service
accessible to 95 percent of the division's operating territory in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Bell Mobility also announced today that it will launch, in the first quarter of 2001, customer trials of wireless
multimedia content using MPEG-4 (Motion Picture Experts Group type 4) technology from PacketVideo Corp. of
San Diego, Calif.
The expanded digital network, using CDMA (code division multiple access) technology and built on hardware
from Nortel Networks Inc. [NYSE:NT][TSE:NT] will operate on the 800 megahertz (MHz) and 1900 MHz bands.
Bell Mobility said it will begin the expansion effort with Nortel's help this month. Currently, digital services are
available only within the wireless network's most populated centers.
"We want to extend (PCS) benefits to more Canadians, from more locations, through more devices that operate
seamlessly on our CDMA network," Pierre Blouin, president and chief executive officer of Bell Mobility, said in a
statement.
As part of Bell Canada, Bell Mobility comes under the umbrella of its parent, communications giant BCE Inc.
[NYSE:BCE][TSE:BCE], which last year moved to buy the country's largest private television network, CTV.
Today, Bell Mobility said its multimedia trials with PacketVideo would include wireless access to news updates
from CTV, served up by Bell Canada's Internet service provider and portal operator, Sympatico.
Participants in the multimedia trial will also be seeing content from PacketVideo's existing partners, playing music
videos and movie trailers on compatible digital phones, handheld computers or laptops.
Bell Mobility also announced that it has recently completed what it called Canada's first successful field trial of
third-generation (3G) wireless technology delivering voice and data speeds of up to 144 kilobits per second
(Kbps) - 10 times the capacity of the current digital technology.
Called 1xRTT - and considered to be the next step in the evolution of CMDA - the technology should eventually
provide data at speeds of between 384 Kbps and two megabits per second. Bell Mobility said it should be able to
roll out the 1xRTT technology across its digital PCS network beginning in late 2001.
"The ease with which our CDMA network enables us to deploy 144 Kbps packet data capability across a greatly
expanded coverage area means we will greatly enhance our customers' wireless experience throughout 2001 -
offering access to services that not only inform but also entertain," Blouin said. |
