TELUS Mobility expands next generation wireless network to new centres across Canada
Thursday November 21, 8:30 am ET
Cost-effective 1X expansion accomplished via network buildouts, reciprocal roaming/resale agreement
SCARBOROUGH, ON, Nov. 21 /CNW/ - TELUS Mobility today announced it has expanded its next generation 1X wireless data network throughout Canada via a combination of aggressive network buildouts in Western Canada and the implementation of an enhanced reciprocal roaming/resale agreement with competitor Bell Mobility in Ontario and Québec.
Originally signed in October 2001, the roaming/resale agreement has already allowed for the cost-effective rollout of TELUS Mobility's digital wireless telephone services in smaller urban centres and rural areas in Eastern Canada. The newly implemented 1X amendment to the agreement has now allowed TELUS Mobility to quickly expand its 1X coverage to new centres across Ontario and Québec.
TELUS Mobility introduced national 1X service in June 2002 to Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montréal, Québec City, Ottawa, Southern Ontario, Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (including highways 400, 401 and 404), Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg.
The additional buildout in Alberta and British Columbia, combined with the roaming/resale agreement in Ontario and Québec, provides TELUS Mobility with an additional 4 million potential new clients. Offering clients fast and convenient mobile access to the Internet and other data networks, TELUS Mobility's national 1X voice and data network now covers more than 22 million Canadians, or approximately 70 per cent of the population. TELUS Mobility's total digital network covers 26.6 million Canadians, or about 85 per cent of the Canadian population.
"In addition to our 1X services launched in major centres across Canada in June, TELUS Mobility can now quickly and cost-effectively offer 1X mobile computing capability to clients in smaller centres across our four most populous provinces," said George Cope, TELUS Mobility's President and CEO. "Our reciprocal roaming agreement is also an excellent example of the innovative approaches Canada's wireless industry is taking to ensure rapid growth of next generation wireless services across the country."
New 1X Service Areas
In Alberta, 1X service has now been expanded by more than 40 centres throughout the province reaching as far as Peace River, Banff/Lake Louise, Lac La Biche, Wainwright, Hinton, and the Crowsnest Pass. In British Columbia, 1X service has been expanded to eight larger city centres including Nanaimo, Kimberley, Castelgar, Nelson, Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops and Prince George plus 22 smaller communities across the province.
In Ontario, 1X service has been expanded to Belleville, Brockville, Chatham, Cobourg, Cornwall, Port Hope, Sarnia, Trenton, Woodstock and through the Highway 401, 402 and 417 corridors. In Québec, service is now available in Chicoutimi, Drummondville and through the Highway 20 corridor.
TELUS Mobility plans to expand its 1X coverage into other parts of Canada in 2003.
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