Canadian operator Bell Mobility announced the expansion of its 5G network to 23 new markets across Québec, Ontario and Manitoba.
Bell 5G’s reach has expanded in Manitoba (St. Andrews and Stonewall), Ontario (Barrie, Burlington, Clarington, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, McNab/Braeside, Moravian, Pickering and Waterloo) and Québec (Ascot Corner, Champlain, Magog, Rivière-du-Loup, Saint-Catherine-de Hatley, Saint-Luc-de-Vincennes, Saint-Maurice, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières).
With this latest network expansion, Bell’s 5G technology is now available to approximately 35% of the Canadian population and on track to cover up to 70% by the end of the year.
“As we continue to expand into new cities and towns, more Canadians will benefit from access to the superfast speeds, low latency and next-generation applications enabled by Canada’s most-awarded 5G network, supported by the latest 5G devices and newest unlimited data plans,” said Claire Gillies, president of Bell Mobility.
Earlier this year, Bell announced the biggest capital expenditure plan in its history, with at least CAD1 billion ($828 million) in additional capital investment in new networks over the next two years to support the national economic and employment recovery from COVID-19. This investment is in addition to the more than $4 billion that Bell typically invests annually in next generation wireless and fibre network infrastructure and service development.
Bell announced the launch of its commercial 5G service in the country last June. The carrier’s 5G service was initially available in Montréal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
In 2020, Bell Canada selected Ericsson 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology to support its nationwide 5G mobile and fixed wireless access deployment. The carrier started the construction of its 5G network last year, using equipment from Finnish vendor Nokia.
“Success in 5G and IoT leadership depends on multiple ingredients beyond coverage. It’s about delivering the fastest speeds, the lowest latency, and flexibility that can only be achieved through extensive cell site fiber ideation and slicing of the network and leveraging network points of presence, such as central offices for multi access edge computing, that support product development. Bell is also the largest B2B provider in Canada benefiting from deep relationships with the biggest Canadian companies that we can service almost anywhere in the country,” the company’s CEO Mirki Bibic said in a recent conference call with investors.
“So those are the multiple ingredients ensuring that Bell will be the leader in 5G. Although the full benefits of 5G technology won’t be realized until mid-band spectrum is available, and the partnership ecosystem evolves, we’re already launching new services that are taking full advantage of the unprecedented speed and capacity of 5G now. These include the industry’s first mobile 5G hotspot, and our innovative TSN and RDS 5G view apps that offer new interactive new ways to watch sports,” Bibic said.
