MONTREAL – Bell is launching its new HSPA network next month, months ahead of its original deadline to deliver in time for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the company announced late Monday.
Supporting a range of new smart phones, turbo sticks and other mobile devices, (and rumour has it that the Apple iPhone is one), the new network will deliver high-speed mobile access to 93% of the Canadian population across more than a million square kilometers at access speeds as high as 21 Mbps.
"Together with our existing EVDO 3G network – already Canada’s largest – HSPA will allow Bell to offer Canadians the best of all wireless worlds: the international reach of HSPA supporting full global roaming, the superior North American coverage offered by EVDO and the unique mobile products produced for each network technology," said Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility and chief brand officer for Bell, in the announcement.
The communications giant said that what really sets the network apart is its underlying architecture.
"Bell is maximizing our HSPA network advantage by building out the vast majority of our next-generation network with high-speed fibre – enough fibre to wrap halfway around the globe in fact – and an all-IP architecture for enhanced reliability," said Stephen Howe, Bell Mobility’s chief technology officer.
Bell will offer full international roaming capability on GSM, UMTS and HSPA networks in hundreds of countries at launch. It recently signed a partnership with AT&T, the largest HSPA operator in the U.S., for reciprocal North American roaming coverage.
