Bell Aliant, with a financial boost from the Government of Nova Scotia, has announced a CAN $55 million investment to expand its FibreOP fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, to approximately 160,000 homes and businesses in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
Bell Aliant had previously announced an FTTH network for Nova Scotia last spring with a CAN $15 million investment to launch FibreOP services first in Sydney (see "Bell Aliant to bring FTTH to Nova Scotia"). The new expansion will bring the total FTTH investment in Nova Scotia to over CAN $70 million to serve approximately 190,000 homes and businesses.
“The response to our FibreOP service has been outstanding, and we’re pleased to now expand this network to customers in our largest and most competitive market,” said Karen Sheriff, president and CEO, Bell Aliant.
The Government of Nova Scotia contributed $2 million to the project with the hope that the FTTH network will promote economic development opportunities for Nova Scotia.
“To ensure Nova Scotia's economy continues to grow, the province needs to remain competitive in the global economy," said Premier Darrell Dexter. "That means making sure we have the right telecommunications infrastructure in place, right across the province. This is a significant step forward in achieving that goal."
FibreOP service will be available to customers in Halifax, Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Cole Harbour, Sackville, Hammonds Plains, Waverley, Timberlea, Spryfield, Bedford, St. Margaret’s Bay, and Lake Echo starting in mid-2011. Customers in Sydney and Sydney River currently have FibreOP service, to be followed by Glace Bay, North Sydney, Sydney Mines and New Waterford later this year.
By the end of 2012, Bell Aliant says it will have invested almost half a billion dollars to extend FTTH to over 600,000 homes and businesses.