Bell’s $1-billion plan includes boost for the north

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This article was published 07/07/2016 (3614 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bell and MTS are wasting no time in letting Manitobans know about plans to enhance telecommunications services if Bell’s $3.9-billion acquisition is approved by regulators.

A series of service expansion and enhancement developments in northern Manitoba were revealed Thursday.

Company officials, including Bell Group president and chief brand officer Wade Oosterman, were in Thompson to announce the company will build infrastructure to provide full LTE wireless service along the Highway 6 corridor from Grand Rapids to Thompson, new wireless services to God’s Lake Narrows, Gods River and Red Sucker Lake, and enhanced broadband service to Flin Flon, Easterville and Grand Rapids.

Oosterman would not disclose the total capital investment involved but said it was part of the $1 billion Bell has committed to spend in the province in the next five years if the deal goes through.

Last month, MTS shareholders overwhelmingly approved Bell’s offer of $40 per share, and a Manitoba court signed off on the agreement.

“To me it is crucial for a province or a country to be connected now,” Oosterman said Thursday. “It is a global economy. If you don’t have the right digital infrastructure, you are left behind… A world-class-enabled network enables a world-class economy. That is what we are trying to do here.”

Thompson Mayor Dennis Fenske said the plans work for the entire region.

“A flat tire on the Trans-Canada Highway just outside of Winnipeg is not really a big issue, it’s an inconvenience more than anything. A flat tire on Highway 391 just north of this community is a bigger issue, especially in wintertime at 30 below, so enhanced cellular service is paramount from a safety perspective,” Fenske said at the press conference in Thompson.

“Northern Manitobans always want to be part of the bigger picture, part of the solution, part of bettering themselves,” he said. “This connectivity will lead to that, with educational and job opportunities by being able to connect to the rest of the world.”

Oosterman and Patricia Solman, MTS’s senior vice-president for network and field services, stressed the importance of Bell’s scale and what that will mean to telecommunication services in Manitoba in the future. It is a message the two companies have been making in their efforts to win support from regulators — and consumers — for the deal.

“The Bell MTS broadband service improvements unveiled today will be the largest capital investment in wireless and wire-line networks in northern Manitoba in many years,” Solman said in a statement. “This announcement is another example of how critical Bell’s scale, resources and experience are to ensuring Manitobans everywhere can benefit from the economic and social opportunities offered by investment in state-of-the art broadband communications.”

Thursday’s announcement comes six weeks after Bell said it will build three new cell towers along Highway 75 to close service gaps along the heavily used trade corridor into North Dakota.

Bell and MTS require approvals from the Competition Bureau, the CRTC and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada before the deal can close, which is not expected to occur until the end of this year or in early 2017.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca