Desjardins Group announced on Tuesday that it is renewing its service agreement with Bell Canada on Tuesday.

The new agreement, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2007, states that Bell will continue to provide Desjardins with communications services, payment services and call centre services until Dec. 31, 2014. The contract is valued at approximately $670 million.

Bell has provided Desjardins with its various information, communication and technology needs since 2001. For example, IP technology, which allows voice, data and image services to converge on a single infrastructure, is already deployed for some aspects of Desjardins’ operations.

“We are delighted to be entering into an agreement of this kind with a partner of Bell’s prestige and reputation,” stated Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec president and chief operating officer, Bertrand Laferrière. “With this new agreement, we can be sure that our telecommunications platform will consistently remain both highly powerful and on the leading edge of technology. This is essential, given that telecommunications are critical to our daily operations.”