Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic hinted the operator could become the latest to move beyond gigabit service plans, noting its network is teed up to deliver multi-gig service.
Speaking on a recent earnings call, Bibic pointed out Bell already offers speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps and said 10G PON upgrades to its fiber backbone are already underway. He added a multi-gig world is “coming and it’s coming soon.” Almost all the necessary puzzle pieces are already in place, he said.
“Our network is multi-gig ready. And when I say multi-gig I mean multi-gig symmetrical up and down. I don't think anyone should underestimate the importance of upload speeds both for consumers and for businesses,” Bibic stated. “We're future-proofed on the capacity in our network. We got no powered field components to maintain. We don't have to recapture spectrum. We don't have to swap out modems in the homes served by a node in order to deliver higher speeds.”
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If Bell Canada does roll out multi-gig speeds it will join a growing number of U.S. operators which have done the same. Verizon made the latest move there, following the likes of AT&T and Ziply Fiber in introducing a 2-gig service tier.
Fellow Canadian operator Telus is also pushing into multi-gig territory as it expands its own fiber footprint. Zainul Mawji, Telus EVP and president of Home Solutions, said during the operator’s earnings call it added 278,000 locations to its PureFibre footprint to end the year with a total of 2.7 million premises covered. “More than half” of those are enabled with its PureFibre X service, which offers symmetrical speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps, she said.
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Bibic’s comments come as Bell Canada presses on with a multi-year initiative to expand its fiber and fixed wireless access footprint. The CEO noted that in 2021, the operator added a total of 1.1 million new locations between the two technologies to end the year with a total of 7.2 million premises reached. Around 6.2 million of those are strictly fiber.
It’s now preparing to undertake what Bibic called its “most aggressive annual fiber build ever” in 2022, aiming to deliver fiber to up to 900,000 additional locations. By the end of this year, it’s aiming to cover a total of 8.1 million locations with fiber or fixed wireless, with around 7.2 million of those being fiber. All told, Bell Canada is aiming to reach 10 million locations by 2025.
Bell Canada’s consolidated revenue of CAD6.2 billion (roughly $4.9 billion) increased 1.8% year on year, with net income down 29.4% to CAD658 million ($516.7 million). The company attributed the swing to a tough Q4 2020 comparison that was buoyed by the sale of its data centers. Wireline revenue was roughly flat at nearly CAD3.1 billion ($2.4 billion). Residential internet net additions rose 7% to 47,618.