Bell clients to access the fastest, largest national wireless network
deployment ever starting next month

    
    - Canada's wireless leadership role enhanced with state-of-the-art HSPA
                               wireless network
        - Serving 93% of Canadians in almost 20,000 cities and towns starting
                                 in November
        - Joins existing 3G EVDO network - already Canada's largest - to
        offer Bell customers maximum worldwide coverage and maximum choice in
                                 smartphones
    

MONTREAL , Oct. 5 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell today announced that it will be ready to launch its much-anticipated new HSPA network in November, months ahead of its original deadline to deliver in time for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver , of which Bell is the exclusive telecommunications partner.

Supporting a range of new smartphones, turbo sticks and other leading-edge mobile devices and access speeds as high as 21 Megabits per second (Mbps), the new network will deliver high-speed mobile access to 93% of the Canadian population across more than a million square kilometres. With almost 20,000 Canadians cities and towns covered, the all-new network will serve rural and remote locations as well as it does urban areas, making mobile Internet access as fast at the farm or cottage as it is in the city.

"Bell announced in October 2008 that we would launch our next-generation network before the Winter Games in February 2010 , and I am proud to say our team has over-delivered. The new network will be ready to roll in November, quickly notching up competition and wireless choice for consumers and businesses across the country and keeping Canada at the forefront of wireless innovation," said George Cope , President and CEO of Bell Canada . "The new HSPA network executes on our strategic imperatives to accelerate wireless in Canada and to invest in next-generation broadband networks - supporting our goal for Bell to be recognized by customers as Canada's leading communications company."

With the busy holiday season ahead - when more wireless phones are sold than at any other time of year - and the coming arrival of new wireless brands and networks, Bell will be ready to compete.

"Bell Mobility is excited to offer Canadians access to the best network experience available anywhere on the globe along with the maximum choice possible of the world's leading-edge mobile devices. We're happy to say that being with Bell just got better," said Wade Oosterman, President of Bell Mobility and Chief Brand Officer for Bell.

"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."

The new HSPA network is the latest evolution of the international GSM/HSPA mobile standard, supporting peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps. While the new network is the broadest HSPA network in Canada by far, what really sets it apart is the 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 (Internet Protocol) architecture for enhanced reliability," said Stephen Howe , Bell Mobility's Chief Technology Officer.

"HSPA also clears the path to super high-speed 4G (fourth generation) LTE wireless in the future. Hats off to the thousands of Bell team members and Bell partners who've worked so hard to build not just Canada's, but indeed the world's, most state-of-the-art wireless network in record time."

The new network has been built with the latest HSPA infrastructure supplied by partners Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies. Bell also recently announced a partnership with AT&T, the largest HSPA operator in the United States , for reciprocal North American roaming coverage. Bell will offer full international roaming capability on GSM, UMTS and HSPA networks in hundreds of countries around the globe at launch.

Bell greatly reduced the cost and time to market for the new network by leveraging its existing national network-sharing agreement with TELUS Corporation. The agreement was originally established in 2001 to ensure fast delivery of and increased competition in national mobile data services, especially in rural and remote areas, and supported earlier launches of 1X and EVDO high-speed national networks.

About Bell

Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing consumers and business with solutions to all their communications needs, including Bell Mobility wireless, high-speed Bell Internet, Bell TV direct-to-home satellite television, Bell Home phone local and long distance, and IP-broadband and information and communications technology (ICT) services. Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). For information on Bell's products and services, please visit bell.ca. For corporate information on BCE, please visit bce.ca.

For further information: For media inquires, please contact: Julie Smithers, Bell Media Relations, [phone], [email protected]