Bell announced on Thursday it will “accelerate” the rollout of high-speed internet to “everyone in Quebec” by September 2022.
The company says it is also “fully prepared to respond quickly” to service providers seeking access to the company’s poles and other support structures, in anticipation of demand.
“Bell has put everything in place to enable Internet service providers to connect as many Quebecers as possible to high-speed Internet as quickly as possible,” said Karine Moses, Bell’s Vice Chair, Québec, in a statement.
“I am very proud of the Bell team’s collaboration with Hydro-Québec and our other partners to build a task force to meet the expected demand for access in the coming months. This is a huge project for Québec and Bell is ready to make a very significant contribution to its success,” added Moses.
The move comes over a dispute between Quebec-based Videotron and Bell, over access to the latter’s poles. Last month, Videotron said “Bell’s actions jeopardize the deployment of high-speed Internet in Quebec and, in the end, all Quebecers are at risk of suffering the consequences,” according to Le Soleil (via Google Translate).
Back in November, Cogeco Connexion, Maskicom and Videotron jointly announced the telephone pole dispute would slow rural high-speed internet access, calling Bell’s actions anti-competitive and unfair, noting of the 300 projects awaiting permission from the latter, only 13% had the right to go ahead, based on Bell’s easement requirements.
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