October 6, 2017, FREDERICTON (GNB) — Bell Canada, with support from the provincial government, is establishing a National Service Centre in Fredericton that will create up to 150 full-time jobs over the next five years.
“Bell Canada choosing Fredericton to expand and create its National Service Centre is great news for the New Brunswick economy,” said Premier Brian Gallant. “Fredericton is home to first-class education and training institutions that are going to provide Bell with the highly-skilled workforce it needs to succeed. Bell’s National Service Centre in Fredericton will strengthen our ITC sector which will, in turn, strengthen the New Brunswick economy.”
The creation of up to 150 new full-time jobs over the next five years is expected to generate an estimated $7.5 million in provincial income taxes and contribute $60.3 million to the GDP over that same period.
“Expanding our business in Fredericton and building on our security leadership alongside the experts at the University of New Brunswick’s Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity enhances Bell’s service and technology innovation capabilities,” said Glen LeBlanc, Bell’s chief financial officer and vice-chair of Bell Aliant. “We thank Premier Brian Gallant for his leadership and Opportunities NB for their support of this expansion, and look forward to providing exceptional service to Bell customers from our new National Service Centre here in New Brunswick.”
In support of these jobs, Bell Canada is eligible for up to $3.6 million in support from Opportunities NB, which is a Crown corporation that seeks to attract and support opportunities to grow the economy and create jobs, while providing support services for businesses across New Brunswick.
Opportunities NB is offering support in the form of payroll rebates, which are performance-based and only disbursed to a company once it has created and maintained the jobs for at least one year and provided proof of salary levels and employment.
Bell currently employs more than 1,500 in its operations across the province.
The company is also investing $100,000 in the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity at the University of New Brunswick to collaborate within one of the fastest-growing technology-based industries in the world, expanding upon expertise between the institute and Bell’s network and security professionals.
As part of its broadband innovation and investment strategy, the company will be creating jobs in a number of fields including technical, business and security analysts, quality assurance, developers and project management resources. This will improve Bell’s ability to meet the demand for local support while building a flexible resource pool as technology, customer and market demands evolve.
From left: Opportunities NB CEO Stephen Lund; deputy premier Stephen Horsman; Glen LeBlanc, Bell’s chief financial officer and vice-chair of Bell Aliant; Premier Brian Gallant; Fredericton Mayor Mike O’Brien; and Ali Ghorbani, dean of the University of New Brunswick’s faculty of computer science and director of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity.
MEDIA CONTACT(S):
Eric Lewis, communications, Opportunities NB, 506-866-6938.
