Bell LTE Network to Expand to 7 More Cities Tomorrow, 2011 Q4 Results Announced

Bell has announced its existing LTE network is set to expand tomorrow to hit seven more Canadian cities: Montréal, Québec City, Ottawa, London, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. These cities will join the existing LTE centres of the Greater Toronto Area, Halifax, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Belleville and Yellowknife.

LTE speeds mean customers can get up to 75 Megabits per second in these 14 major urban centres with further plans for expansion later on in 2012. Bell so far has LTE in more cities than Rogers and Telus (which announced today its LTE network will launch tomorrow in 7 cities).

Bell 2011 Q4 Earnings and Subscriber Stats

Bell also announced their results from the 2011 Q4 results that resulted in a slight decline in new subscribers, with smartphones taking almost half of new growth. Bell now sits at just over 7.4 million total wireless subscribers:

• Postpaid gross activations were 389,317 in Q4 compared to a record fourth-quarter total of 399,041 last year. Prepaid gross activations decreased by 31,073 to 122,600. Total gross activations were 511,917 this quarter, 40,797 lower than last year.
• Smartphone users represented 48% of total postpaid subscribers at the end of 2011, compared to 31% one year earlier.
• Postpaid net additions were 131,986 this quarter, compared to 156,708 last year, reflecting aggressive acquisition offers from competitors. The prepaid client base declined by 74,100 this quarter, compared to a customer loss of 39,926 last year, due to higher churn and higher prepaid-to-postpaid migrations.
• The Bell Wireless client base reached 7,427,482 at the end of the quarter, an increase of 2.6% over last year.

Anyone out there using the Bell LTE network right now?