Bell expands all-fibre Internet to rural Québec communities

Bell has expanded high-speed Internet services to homes and businesses in the rural Québec communities of Hébertville-Station, Métabetchouan-Lac-à-la-Croix and Saint-Bruno in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

Part of Bell’s accelerated capital investment in national next-generation network infrastructure, the expansion program will bring enhanced broadband access to approximately 6,000 rural locations in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean by the end of 2021.

“Bridging the rural divide is a priority for Bell in our objective to connect more Canadians than ever before,” said Karine Moses, Bell’s Vice Chair, Québec. “Fully funded by Bell, this significant expansion in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean complements the work also being done by the Québec and federal governments to connect people and businesses throughout Québec to fast and reliable Internet.”

“Our government has an ambitious objective: to provide all Quebec households with access to high-speed Internet by September 2022," said Gilles Bélanger, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier of Quebec (High-Speed Internet). We applaud this initiative by Bell, which is investing in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region to provide reliable, high-performance infrastructure to the citizens of Hébertville-Station, Métabetchouan-Lac-à-la-Croix and Saint-Bruno.”

“Our government recognizes the importance of high-speed Internet access and I am pleased with Bell's initiative to improve service in three municipalities in my riding," said Eric Girard, MP for Lac-Saint-Jean and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

This broadband network expansion program will provide fast and high-capacity 100% fibre connections to even more rural residents with Internet download speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps and access to leading Bell services such as Fibe TV.

Bell’s accelerated network investment

Bell has been connecting Canadians in communities large and small for the past 141 years. Earlier this year, Bell announced it will invest an additional $1.7 billion in capital over the next 2 years to accelerate the rollout of broadband fibre, 5G and rural networks, supporting Canada’s recovery from the COVID crisis while driving our continued leadership in broadband investment and innovation.

Enabled by a positive investment climate reflecting government support for infrastructure development, this capital acceleration is in addition to the approximately $4 billion in capital Bell typically invests in broadband network infrastructure and expansion each year.