Bell Canada yesterday announced the official first-phase launch of its 1Gbps-capable direct fibre-based broadband service Gigabit Fibe, available to approximately 1.3 million homes in locations across Quebec and Ontario, enabling access to speed tiers of 15Mbps, 25Mbps, 50Mbps, 150Mbps, 300Mbps and 940Mbps. Bell’s CTO Stephen Howe announced in a press release that Gigabit Fibe will be made available to a further 650,000 premises in the Atlantic provinces in September, and to 250,000 more in Quebec and Ontario during this year; by the beginning of 2016 the telco intends to cover around 2.2 million homes in its Gigabit fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network footprint. Bell Fibe customers in Ontario and Quebec who subscribe to a multi-service bundle can upgrade to Gigabit Fibe speeds for an additional CAD10 (USD7.62) a month.

In Ontario, Gigabit Fibe is available in parts of Brampton, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, Milton, Ottawa, Peterborough and some neighbourhoods in Toronto. In June, Bell announced a CAD1.14 billion investment to roll out fibre to more than one million homes and businesses across the City of Toronto, creating 2,400 direct jobs. Today, Gigabit Fibe is available to approximately 50,000 homes in the Toronto neighbourhoods of Regent Park, the Distillery District, Harbourfront and Willowdale.

The Gigabit Fibe footprint also covers homes in communities across Quebec, including Bell Canada’s first fully-covered fibre city, Quebec City (where it commercially launched FTTH services in March 2012), as well as locations in Beloeil, Blainville, Chambly, Chateauguay, Gatineau, Joliette, La Prairie, Laval, Levis, Magog, Repentigny, Saint-Constant, Saint-Eustache, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Jerome, Saint-Luc, Sherbrooke, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Sorel-Tracy, Terrebonne, Vaudreuil-Dorion and more than 85,000 homes in Montreal.

Thanks to TeleGeography for the article.