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BCE Inc. just turned up the speed in the battle over internet customers in the busy back-to-school shopping season.

Bell announced Monday that Ontario customers directly connected to its fibre-to-the-premises network can now access download speeds of 1.5 gigabits per second (Gbps), a speed that’s 50 per cent faster than industry-leading offerings of 1 Gpbs from Bell and its top competitor, Rogers Communications Inc. The new speed tier advertises upload speeds of 940 Mbps.

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The service will first be available in cities including Toronto and Ottawa and will roll out to 1.5 million premises in Ontario by the end of the year, said Shawn Omstead, Bell’s vice president of residential product management. Bell will eventually offer the speed in Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and Manitoba.

“We always want to be the one delivering the fastest access speed. We just want to show off fibre,” Omstead said.