Bell Aliant (TSX: BA) on Tuesday revealed that Edmundston, New Brunswick, is the latest city in the region to get access to its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network.
The service provider invested CAD 4.2 million (USD 4.23 million) to extend the service to over 8,400 area homes and businesses.
Edmundston Mayor Cyrille Simard said he believes fiber-based broadband service will draw new residents and businesses.
"It's a feather in our cap--a strong selling point we can use when we work to attract families and businesses here," he said announcing the expansion.
As laid out in its Q2 earnings call, Bell Aliant plans to invest about half a billion dollars on FTTH by the end of 2012 to reach a total of 650,000 homes and businesses. To date, it currently passes 500,000 homes and businesses in the Atlantic region of Canada.
Momentum for FibreOP service continues to grow. In the areas where it currently provides the service, Bell Aliant reported in Q2 that it added 15,200 new FibreOP FTTH customers, bringing total FibreOP Internet customers to 75,500 at the end of June 2012. Interestingly, about one half of the FibreOP Internet net additions during the quarter were customers migrating from DSL and Fiber to the Node (FTTN) networks to the FTTH-based service.
In April, Bell Aliant brought the FTTH service to Sussex, New Brunswick, following a CAD 2 million (USD 2 million) investment in the area. In addition to New Brunswick, the service provider has completed builds in Nova Scotia (including most recently Yarmouth), Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
For more:
- see the release
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