Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) posted revenues of CAD5.786 billion (USD4.445 billion) for the second quarter of 2018, up 1.7% year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA growth of 2.0% to CAD2.430 billion. Other highlights for the quarter included post-paid mobile subscriber net additions of 122,000 (a 37.8% improvement on performance in 2Q17) – the highest rate since 2000 ─ driving wireless revenue growth of 5.0% for April-June 2018. Bell also recorded total fixed broadband/IPTV three-month net customer additions of more than 31,000 (a 76.5% improvement on the take-up rate a year earlier).
Bell also announced that it is launching a 1.5Gbps fibre internet service this month in Ontario, to be expanded in due course to Quebec, Atlantic Canada and Manitoba. By upping its existing premium peak fibre speed from 1Gbps, Bell will be offering the fastest residential access in Canada. Furthermore, Bell revealed that its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network now covers over 4.2 million homes and businesses in seven Canadian provinces. Bell continues to expand the FTTP footprint, having added Oshawa, Clarington, Orillia, Chatham-Kent and Winkler to the list of all-fibre deployments. It previously set an end-2018 target of covering 4.5 million homes/businesses with FTTP.