Bell Canada 4.3 million servable with VDSL, ADSL2+ by 2008

Bell Canada 4.3 million servable with VDSL, ADSL2+ by 2008
~ $250/home, 1 HD at 12 Mbps, 2 SD programs 4 Mbps
Video service over VDSL is working so well in 25,000 Toronto apartments, Michael Sabia expects to expand that to 100,000 in 2005. He'll also expand the ADSL2+ remote deployment with tens of thousands of line-powered units installed within 3,000 to 4,000 feet of most homes. Bell will also pass 1 million homes with ADSL2+ in 2005 and speed that build in later years.

Initial plans for video call for a conservative 12Mbps for HDTV and 4Mbps for SDTV on MPEG4. Glen Campbell at Merrill interprets "this as reflection of its 'real world' experience and customer expectations for picture quality." The 8 mbps Paris HD demo was all pre-encoded; 12 mbps for live hockey is more realistic in 2005. BCE estimates ~300,000 apartment units, 2/3 of the total in large buildings in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, will cost of C$110mn, $300 (U.S.) per unit. Serving 4 million "Fiber to the node" with ADSL2+ remotes is projected at $220 per home.