MONTREAL — While last Thursday’s third-party Internet access (TPIA) decision (in which the CRTC chose not to uphold its August 2019 decision to lower wholesale Internet rates) may have independent ISPs like TekSavvy wondering about their ability to invest, Bell Canada today announced its accelerated capital investment plan announced earlier this year will now increase by up to $1.7 billion over the next two years.
In February, Bell said it was adding between $1 billion to $1.2 billion in accelerated capital investment over the next two years, so today’s announcement represents up to $500 million more in accelerated expenditures in the 2021-22 timeframe by the company.
Bell’s press release cites “greater regulatory certainty and positive investment climate” as supporting reasons for its increased network infrastructure investments.
“With the CRTC’s recent decision and ongoing government policy support for facilities-based competition and investment, Bell has now increased the amount of accelerated funding to $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. This investment will significantly increase the number of wireline and wireless connections in Canada’s rural and urban centres alike over the next two years, including significantly expanded plans for all-fibre connections, while creating additional employment as network construction activity speeds up,” reads Bell’s press release.
Bell’s accelerated capital investments for 2021 and 2022 are in addition to the approximately $4 billion the company typically invests each year in network expansion, says the press release.
“With an additional $200 million also invested in capacity and coverage in 2020 to respond to the unprecedented usage demands of the Covid crisis, Bell’s total capital investment from 2020-2022 will be as high as $14 billion,” says the release.
Some of this capital acceleration, observers will point out, is a re-acceleration from an expenditure cut Bell announced in August 2019 immediately following the CRTC’s original TPIA decision to slash wholesale Internet rates.
For more on today’s announcement from Bell, please click here.
