Another component of the Bell MTS plan to invest $1 billion over 5 years to accelerate broadband communications services acrossManitoba, this latest infrastructure project focused on Northern Manitoba will deliver:

• Full LTE and HSPA+ wireless coverage for the Highway 6 corridor to Thompson, Manitoba’s Hub of the North, significantly improving safety and connectivity along this important transportation route.
• New wireless and wireline broadband services for 5 indigenous communities: Easterville, Gods Lake Narrows, Gods River, Grand Rapids and Red Sucker Lake.
• Enhanced broadband service for key mining centre Flin Flon.

Bell MTS will also expand wireless and wireline broadband service in several remote indigenous communities in Northern Manitoba. This includes enhancements in Easterville and Grand Rapids and all-new broadband wireless for the East Lake Winnipeg communities of Gods Lake Narrows, Gods River and Red Sucker Lake.

Wireline network improvements in the city of Flin Flon, the important mining centre on Manitoba’s border with Saskatchewan, will significantly boost Internet speeds from the current maximum of 5 Mbps.

On May 2, Bell announced the acquisition of MTS in a transaction valued at approximately $3.9 billion. At the same time, it also announced a 5-year, $1 billion commitment to expand broadband wireless and fibre services in Manitoba following the closing of the MTS acquisition, expected in late 2024 or early 2024.

The $1 billion Bell MTS investment plan for Manitoba includes:

• Gigabit Fibe Internet service, with average Internet speeds up to 20 times faster than those currently offered to MTS customers.
• Fibe TV, Bell’s fast-growing broadband television service that is the North American leader in video innovation.
• Accelerated expansion of Bell’s award-winning LTE wireless network, offering average data speeds twice as fast as those currently available to MTS customers.
• Integration of the MTS Winnipeg data centre into Bell’s leading national network of data hosting and cloud centres connected by Canada’s most extensive broadband fibre footprint.

Following Bell’s acquisition of MTS, the combined company’s Manitoba operations will be known as Bell MTS. Winnipeg will become headquarters for Bell’s entire Western Canada team, which will grow to 6,900 people in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia with the addition of MTS’s 2,700 Manitoba employees.