Bell now offers “5G+” coverage to more than 40% of the Canadian population
Canadian carrier Bell is on track to reach 85% of the country’s population with its 5G service by the end of 2023, the company’s President and CEO Mirko Bibic said during a conference call with investors.
“In line with our accelerated capex program for 2023, we spent close to CAD1.1 billion ($825.1 million) in new capital in the first quarter and that keeps us on pace to deliver another 650,000 new direct fiber connections and to grow our 5G service footprint to 85% of the country, and it will also enable Standalone 5G service for almost half of Canadians by the end of the year,” Bibic said.
“Bell has attained a solid financial position with a robust balance sheet, substantial cash flow and pension solvency and all of that helped us accelerate Bell’s capital expenditures to expand our fiber and wireless networks and position us competitively and strategically for years and years to come,” Bibic added.
Bell posted operating revenue of CAD6.05 billion in Q1, up 3.5% over Q1 2022, while net earnings totaled CAD788 million in the period, down 15.6% year-on-year.
Postpaid mobile phone net subscriber activations totaled 43,289, up 26.5% from 34,230 in Q1 2022. Bell’s mobile phone customer base totaled 9.90 billion at the end of Q1 2023, a 4.3% increase over last year.
“In wireless, we grew our base of high-value postpaid subscribers. We increased our cross-sell penetration of wireless and Internet households and we manage customer churn,” Bibic added.
Bell began deploying 3.5 GHz wireless spectrum in the summer of 2022, introducing its “5G+” service to areas across Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Western Canada. Bell now offers 5G+ coverage to more than 40% of the Canadian population, including the availability of peak theoretical download speeds of 3 Gbps in select markets.
Bell announced the launch of its commercial 5G service in the country in June 2020. 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 in 2021, using equipment from Finnish vendor Nokia.
Commenting on the recent approval of the merger between rival operators Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications by the Canadian authorities, Bibic said that Bell is closely watching regulatory developments, adding that the telco will see how that’s going to affect the company’s investment decisions going forward.
Last month, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications announced the completion of their proposed merger after receiving final regulatory approval from the Canadian government.
As part of the commitments included in the conditions for the approval of the transaction, Rogers said it will invest at least CAD2.5 billion to enhance its 5G network in Western Canada and CAD3 billion in additional network service expansion projects.
