Following TELUS, Bell will begin shutting down its CDMA network.
According to an internal doc we received, Bell’s plan is to start shutting down its CDMA EVDO network in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador & Prince Edward Island effective July 1st, 2015. Bell also notes that its CDMA 1xRTT network will see the same shutdown date of July 1st in British Columbia (excluding Fort Nelson), Alberta, and parts of Quebec.
There is no word on how many CDMA customers Bell currently has on its CDMA network, but a couple of years back during an interview a spokesperson noted there were over over 2 million active CDMA subs. That number has surely declined precipitously since then, but there are likely several thousand still running on the older technology.
January 1st, 2017 is the selected date when Bell is aiming to shut down all of its CDMA sites. Over the next couple of years, customers will be transitioned off CDMA and onto Bell’s faster HSPA/LTE networks.
(Thanks tipster!)
