- Approximately 8400 phone lines to convert to IP
- Based on Cisco Systems IP Communications technology and maintenance and network management support provided by IBM

MONTREAL, Quebec, January 11, 2006 - Bell Canada, Canada's largest telecommunications company today announced a large scale IP (Internet Protocol) telephony implementation with RBC Financial Group, Canada's largest financial institution. Bell Canada will work with its partners Cisco SystemsCanada and IBM Canada to implement a fully managed solution for RBC, converting approximately 8,400 of the Bank's phone lines to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

"Bell's Managed IP telephony solution will help increase productivity and efficiency, reduce cost and drive simplicity for RBC," said Isabelle Courville, President, Enterprise Group, Bell Canada. "Providing a fully managed IP-based solution for RBC will deliver value to their clients, employees and shareholders. The agreement, once again demonstrates that Bell's strategy to become the Information Communications and Technology (ICT) leader in Canada is working."

The Managed IP solution will provide RBC with the following benefits:

• A robust and flexible converged IP communications platform that will reduce operational costs;
• Take advantage of the existing infrastructure and network through the layering VoIP as an application into this environment;
• Centralize call control and call routing, which will simplify operation management. This will result in a flexible environment which will significantly reduce the cost of moves, adds and changes.

"We are pleased to be working with Bell on this important initiative," said Dick Swadley, Head of IT Infrastructure, RBC Financial Group. "At RBC, we are continuously identifying innovative solutions that support the growth of our business today and for the future. Managed IP will make a direct contribution to our productivity and will also provide enhanced functionality for employees. This, in turn, will help us enhance the client experience."

"Banking environments are highly mission-critical and require a communications infrastructure that is robust, manageable and highly secure," said Terry Walsh, President Cisco Systems Canada Co., "This strategic deployment will provide RBC Financial Group with productivity benefits and cost savings, demonstrating the strong value proposition of Cisco's IP telephony business solutions."

As RBC's single point of contact, Bell Canada will be responsible for systems integration, planning, design and implementation of the new infrastructure, as well as testing, training, auditing and follow-up and support. Cisco will provide the hardware, software, and technical project and advanced network support. Bell Canada and vendor partner IBM, will provide RBC with IP Telephony support in addition to pro-active network monitoring and management of the IP Telephony infrastructure.

About RBC Financial Group

Royal Bank of Canada (TSX, NYSE: RY) uses the initials RBC as a prefix for its businesses and operating subsidiaries, which operate under the master brand name of RBC Financial Group. Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank as measured by market capitalization and assets, and is one of NorthAmerica's leading diversified financial services companies. It provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, and transaction processing services on a global basis. The company employs approximately 60,000 people who serve morethan 14 million personal, business and public sector clients through offices in North America and some 30 countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.rbc.com .

About Bell Canada

Bell Canada, Canada's national leader in communications, provides connectivity to residential and business customers through wired and wireless voice and data communications, local and long distance phone services, high speed and wireless Internet access, IP-broadband services, e-business solutions and satellite television services. Bell Canada is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For more information please visit www.bell.ca.

For further information: For media inquiries, please contact: MohammedNakhooda, Bell Canada, Media relations, (416) 581-3311, 1-888-482-0809,mohammed.nakhooda@bell.ca