Bell Canada

Canadian telecommunications company

This article is about the communications company Bell Canada. For the IPTV Fibre services offered, see Bell Fibe TV. For Internet, see Bell Internet. For mobile/cellular, see Bell Mobility. For its parent company, see BCE Inc. For other uses, see Bell (disambiguation).

Bell Canada

Formerly| The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Ltd. (1880–1968)
Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Telecommunications
Founded| April 29, 1880; 143 years ago (1880-04-29)[1]
Founder| Alexander Graham Bell
Charles Fleetford Sise
Headquarters| Verdun, Quebec, Canada[2]

Area served

| Canada

Key people

| Mirko Bibic (CEO)[3]
Products| Fixed line and mobile telephony
Internet services
Digital television
Radio broadcasting
Revenue|  C$23.96 billion (2019)[4]

Operating income

|  C$10.106 billion (2019)[4]

Net income

|  C$3.253 billion (2019)[4]: 58

Number of employees

|  52,100 (2019)[4]
Parent| American Bell (1880–1899) [5]
AT&T Corporation
(1899–1975)
BCE Inc. (1983–present)
Subsidiaries| Bell Technical Solutions
Bell Mobility
Bell Aliant
Bell MTS
Virgin Plus
Bell Internet
Bell Satellite TV
Bell Fibe TV
Lucky Mobile
Website| bell.ca

Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell[6] in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; as such, it was a founding member of the Stentor Alliance. It is also a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) for enterprise customers in the western provinces.

Its subsidiary Bell Aliant provides services in the Atlantic provinces. It provides mobile service through its Bell Mobility (including flanker brand Virgin Mobile Canada) subsidiary, and television through its Bell Satellite TV (direct broadcast satellite) and Bell Fibe TV (IPTV) subsidiaries.

Bell Canada's principal competitors are Rogers Communications in Ontario, Telus and Shaw Communications in Western Canada, and Quebecor (Videotron) and Telus in Quebec. The company serves over 13 million phone lines and is headquartered at the Campus Bell complex in the borough of Verdun in Montreal.[7][irrelevant citation]

Bell Canada is one of the main assets of the holding company BCE Inc., formerly known as Bell Canada Enterprises. In addition to the Bell Canada telecommunications properties, BCE also owns Bell Media (which operates mass media properties including the national CTV Television Network) and holds significant interests in the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, owner of several Toronto professional sports franchises.[8][9] BCE ranked number 301 on the 2021 edition of the Forbes Global 2000 list.[10]

## History[edit]

Historically, Bell Canada has been one of Canada's most important and most powerful companies and, in 1975, was listed as the fifth largest in the country. The company is named after the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, who also co-founded Bell Telephone Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Bell Canada operated as the Canadian subsidiary of the Bell System from 1880 to 1975. However, unlike the other regional Bell operating companies, Bell Canada had its own research and development labs.

### Inception[edit]

Main article: Bell Homestead National Historic Site

Canadian Bell logo, 1902–1922. Note the USA-oriented stars used in other Bell System trademarks.

The Bell Telephone Company of Canada logo, 1922–1940. Note the Canada-oriented maple leaves.

In the mid-1870s Alexander Graham Bell, who was Scottish-born but lived in Canada, invented an analogue electromagnetic telecommunication device that could simultaneously transmit and receive human speech. In March 1876 he successfully patented his invention in the United States under the title of "Improvement In Telegraphy" (U.S. Patent 174,465). His device later adopted the name now used worldwide, the telephone. Bell also patented it in Canada and transferred 75% of the Canadian patent rights to his father, Alexander Melville Bell, with the remaining 25% being awarded to Boston telephone manufacturer Charles Williams Jr. in exchange for 1,000 telephones to be provided to the Canadian market. This order could not be fulfilled due to surging demand in the United States.[11]

For a few years, the senior Bell and his friend and business associate Reverend Thomas Philip Henderson collected royalties from the lease of telephones to customers in the limited late-1870s Canadian market, who either operated their own private telephone lines or subscribed to a third party telecommunications service provider.[12][13]

In 1879 Bell's father sold his Canadian rights to the National Bell Telephone Company, formed in Boston, Massachusetts earlier that year by the merger of the Bell Telephone Company and the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, which in 1880 reorganized as the American Bell Telephone Company, initiating the Bell System. That same year the Canadian division was renamed to "The Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd.", eventually to be headed by U.S. executive Charles Fleetford Sise from Chicago who served as its first general manager.[14][15]

The first supplier of telephones to Bell was a company established by Thomas C. Cowherd and his son James H. Cowherd, in a three-storey brick building in Brantford, Ontario, creating Canada's first telephone factory.[Note 1] Thomas and James had been good friends of Alexander Graham Bell, providing stovepipe wire with which Bell conducted his early telephone experiments from his father's home in Tutelo Heights, Ontario, and also building some 2,398 telephones to Bell's specifications for the Canadian market until James Cowherd's untimely death from tuberculosis in 1881.[11][20] With a government-granted monopoly on Canadian long-distance telephone service,[15] The Bell Telephone Company of Canada was serving 237,000 subscribers by 1914.

Since its early years The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Ltd. had been known colloquially as "The Bell" or "Bell Telephone". On March 7, 1968, Canadian federal legislation renamed The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Ltd. to Bell Canada.

### Competition and territory reduction[edit]

The Bell Telephone Building in Montreal was once the head office of Bell Canada.

Bell Canada extended lines from Nova Scotia to the foot of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Alberta. However, most of the attention given to meeting demand for service focused on major cities in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces.

#### Atlantic Canada[edit]

During the late 19th century, Bell sold its Atlantic operations in the three Maritime provinces, where many small independent companies also operated and eventually came under the ownership of three provincial companies. Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada with several private companies, and a government operation that was transferred to the control of Canadian National Railways.

Bell acquired interests in all Atlantic companies during the early 1960s, starting with Newfoundland Telephone (which later was organized as NewTel Communications) on July 24, 1962. Bell acquired controlling interest in Maritime Telephone and Telegraph Company, later known as MT&T, which also owned PEI-based Island Telephone, and in Bruncorp, the parent company of NBTel in 1966. The purchase of MT&T was made despite efforts of the Nova Scotia legislature on September 10, 1966, to limit the voting power of any shareholder to 1000 votes. Bell-owned MT&T absorbed some 120 independent companies, most serving fewer than 50 customers each. Bell-owned NewTel purchased the CNR-owned Terra Nova Tel in 1988.

In the late 1990s, Newtel, Bruncorp, MT&T and Island Tel merged into Aliant, now Bell Aliant which owns many services in rural areas of Ontario and Quebec formerly owned by Bell Canada.

On January 1, 2011, Bell acquired xwave from Bell Aliant for $40 million, an information technology company offering sales and services in Atlantic Canada.[21]

#### Quebec and Ontario[edit]

Bell Canada's headquarters located on Nuns' Island in Montreal, Quebec. A Bell Store in The Promenade Shopping Centre, Thornhill, Ontario

Independent companies appeared in many areas of Ontario, Quebec and Maritime provinces without adequate Bell Canada service. During the 20th century Bell acquired most of the independent companies in Ontario and Quebec, most notably the purchase of Nexxlink Technologies, a Montreal-based integrated IT solutions and telecommunications provider founded by Karol Brassard.[22] Alongside the acquisition of Charon Systems, Nexxlink now operates today as Bell Business Solutions—a division of Bell Canada.[23] Quebec, however, still has large swaths of relatively rural areas served by Telus Québec (formerly Québec Telephone, later acquired by Telus) and Télébec (now owned by Bell Canada via Bell Aliant) and by some 20 small independent companies. As of 1980, Ontario still had some 30 independent companies, and Bell has not acquired any; the smaller ones were sold to larger independents with larger capital resources. Cellcom Communications is the largest franchisee of Bell Canada, currently operating 25 Bell stores in both Québec and Ontario regions.[24]

#### Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan[edit]

At separate times, the three Prairie provinces acquired Bell Canada operations and formed provincial utility services, investing to develop proper telephone services throughout those provinces; Bell Canada's investment in the prairies had been scant or insufficient relative to growth, and all three had various local telephone companies. The Alberta government's Alberta Government Telephones Commission and Manitoba Government Telephones purchased the Bell operations of their provinces in 1908. Saskatchewan's Department of Railways, Telegraphs and Telephones, established in June 1908, purchased the Bell operations on October 1, 1909; all three provinces' government operations eventually acquired the independent companies.

Having achieved a high level of development, Manitoba moved to privatize its telephone utility and Alberta privatized Alberta Government Telephones to create Telus in the 1990s. Saskatchewan continues to own SaskTel as a crown corporation. Edmonton was served by a city-owned utility, Edmonton Telephones Corporation, that was sold to Telus in 1995. BCE re-gained ownership of the Manitoba system, now known as Bell MTS, on March 17, 2017.[25]

#### British Columbia[edit]

British Columbia, served today by Telus, was served by numerous small companies that mostly amalgamated to form British Columbia Telephone, later known as BC Tel (the last known acquisition was the Okanagan Telephone Company in the late 1970s), which served the province from the 1960s until its merger with Telus. (The amalgamations produced one anomaly: Atlin is surrounded by the territory of Northwestel, implying that the company that established service there was acquired by a company serving territories further south.)

#### Northern Canada[edit]

Although Bell Canada entered the Northwest Territories (NWT) with an exchange at Iqaluit (then known as Frobisher Bay, in the territory now known as Nunavut) in 1958, Canadian National Telecommunications, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railways (CNR), provided most of the telephone service in Canada's northern territories (specifically, Yukon, northern BC and the western NWT). CNR created Northwestel in 1979, and Bell Canada Enterprises acquired the company in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary. Bell Canada sold its 22 exchanges in the eastern region of the NWT to Northwestel in 1992, and BCE transferred ownership of the company to Bell Canada in 1999. Northwestel's operating area was in 2001 opened to long-distance competition (which has materialized only in the form of prepaid card business, and service to large national customers with some operating locations in the north) and in 2007 to resale of local telephone service (which has not yet occurred).

Northern British Columbia, northeastern Ontario and the James Bay region of northern Quebec were served by independent companies, though Bell Canada eventually provided service in more far-flung reaches of Ontario and Quebec, acquired ownership interests in companies serving large swaths of northwestern Quebec and northeastern Ontario, and in Northwestel.

### Divestiture and deregulation[edit]

The Bell System had two main companies in the telephone industry in Canada: Bell Canada as a regional operating company (affiliated with AT&T, with an ownership stake of approximately 39%)[26] and Northern Electric as an equipment manufacturer (affiliated with Western Electric, with an ownership stake of approximately 44%).[26] The Bell Telephone Company of Canada and Northern Electric were structured similarly in Canada to the analogous portions of the Bell System in the United States; the regional operating company (Bell Canada) sold telephone services as a local exchange carrier, and Western Electric (Northern Electric) designed and manufactured telephone equipment.

As part of the consent decree signed in 1956 to resolve the antitrust lawsuit filed in 1949 by the United States Department of Justice, AT&T and the Bell System proper divested itself of Northern Electric in 1956.

In October 1973, AT&T and Bell Canada signed an agreement stating that AT&T would no longer furnish Bell System communications and research to Bell Canada. AT&T's at-the-time chairman John DeButts explained that the main reason for this was because Bell Canada had developed its own research and development lab (Bell-Northern Research), making Bell Canada ready to serve its Canadian landline customers on its own. As a result, AT&T divested Bell Canada on June 30, 1975.

Bell Canada logo used from 1977 until December 7, 1994.

Even though Bell Canada had been divested, it was allowed to participate in Bell System projects which could be completed shortly after its divestiture date.[5][27][28][29]

Northern Electric renamed itself Northern Telecom in 1976, which in turn became Nortel Networks in 1998 with the acquisition of Bay Networks.

Bell Canada acquired 100 percent of Northern Electric in 1964; starting in 1973, Bell's ownership stake in Northern Electric was diminished through public stock offerings, though it retained majority control. In 1983, as a result of deregulation, Bell Canada Enterprises (later shortened to BCE) was formed as the parent company to Bell Canada and Northern Telecom. As a result of the stock transaction used by Northern Telecom to purchase Bay Networks, BCE ceased to be the majority owner of Nortel, and in 2000, BCE spun out its share of Nortel, distributing its holdings to its shareholders.

Between 1980 and 1997, the federal government fully deregulated the telecommunications industry and Bell Canada's monopoly largely ended. Bell Canada currently provides local phone service only in major city centres in Ontario and Quebec.

In July 2006, Bell and former subsidiary Aliant completed a restructuring whereby Aliant, renamed Bell Aliant Regional Communications, took over Bell's wireline operations in much of Ontario and Quebec (while continuing to use the "Bell" name in those regions), as well as its 63% ownership in rural lines operator Bell Nordiq (a publicly traded income trust that controls NorthernTel and Télébec). These are in addition to Bell Aliant's operations in Atlantic Canada. In turn, Bell has assumed responsibility for Bell Aliant's wireless and retail operations. Bell Aliant, now an income trust, is 44% owned by Bell.[30]

On April 30, 2007, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced its decision to allow pay phone rates for Bell Canada, Telus, Bell Aliant, SaskTel, and MTS Allstream to increase from 25 cents to 50 cents, starting as early as June 1. The CRTC also permitted local rural rates to increase by the lesser of the annual rate of inflation or five percent, and removed price caps on optional rural services, such as call display and voicemail.[31] On June 2, 2007, Bell Canada increased the cost of a local pay phone call to 50 cents when paid in cash and one dollar when paid by calling card or credit card,[32] Bell's first increase in pay phone rates since 1981.[31]

In 2009, Bell Canada purchased electronics retailer The Source and all other assets of InterTAN Canada Ltd. from bankrupt Circuit City.[33]

Bell has deployed MPLS on their nationwide fibre ring network to support consumer and enterprise-level IP applications, such as IPTV and VoIP.[citation needed]

On March 17, 2017, BCE Inc. completed its acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services.[25]

## Criticism[edit]

Bell Canada has faced controversy and scandal. In late 2011, Bell Canada admitted to a policy of bandwidth throttling of BitTorrent traffic across its network when it announced it would stop the practice of "traffic shaping" during periods of high demand beginning in March 2012.[34] In November 2011, only a few weeks before, the CRTC issued a ruling that stopped the controversial practice of usage-based billing of smaller internet service providers who purchase space on Bell Canada networks, providing a fee structure based on total capacity needed. Bell Canada had originally wanted to charge providers by how much data each user downloaded.[34]

In May 2017, the email addresses of 1.9 million Bell customers were stolen, along with the name and phone numbers of 1.7 million customers.[35] Then in January 2018, there was another data breach affecting about 100 thousand Bell customers.[36]

Bell Canada's mobile phone services has been criticized for monopolistic practices, including during its acquisition of MTS.[37]

## Services[edit]

A Bell Central Office in Toronto

Bell Canada provides many different types of telecommunications services.

### Voice[edit]

Bell Canada provides standard voice service. It used to offer VoIP to customers, branded as "Digital Voice". Businesses can still obtain VoIP service. It now offers [38] BTC (Bell Total Connect) SIP service as a digital voice package.

### Voicemail[edit]

Bell Home Phone and Bell Mobility provide voicemail service as an optional feature for residences and businesses. Bell Prepaid customers, however, receive a basic voice mail at no additional charge. The complimentary voice mail can store five messages of one minute each, for up to five days.

### Wireless[edit]

Main article: Bell Mobility

Bell Mobility operates a cellular network in all Canadian provinces. It also owns Virgin Mobile Canada as of May 2009[update]. While it created the Solo Mobile brand in 1999, Bell shut down all standalone Solo stores in 2011 while discontinuing third-party sales of all Solo phones in November 2011. The brand continues to be active for its current customers, but there are no incentives to encourage new subscriptions.

### Television[edit]

A Bell Fibe Van

Formerly known as ExpressVu, Bell Satellite TV is a satellite television service provider. There is also a mobile TV service, Bell Mobile TV, and an locked IPTV service known as Bell Fibe TV and Alt TV. The latter is available in most of Alberta, British Columbia, the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, Montreal, Québec City and Atlantic Canada.

### Internet[edit]

Bell Internet provides high speed DSL and fiber to the home FTTH Internet service in many areas where it offers phone service. DSL is offered in various speeds ranging from 500 kbit/s to 100 Mbit/s download and 256 kbit/s to 10 Mbit/s upload on DSL while up to 8 Gbit/s on fiber optic depending on what the local infrastructure can support.

Bell began offering Fibre-to-the-node Internet access to some subscribers in 2010. Bell markets this service under the name "Fibe".[39] Many urban Fibe regions can access all speeds up to and including 50+mbps down and 15+mbps up but some rural Fibe regions can only obtain 16 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up. Non-Fibe regions are limited to legacy DSL technology, supporting speeds of up to 7 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up. Bell Canada has now rolled out Fibre to the Home services to certain subscribers across Eastern Canada, this service can provide guaranteed download of 3 Gbit/s and upload speeds of 3 Gbit/s. In August 2019, the company announced it would cut roughly 200,000 households from a rural internet expansion program after a federal regulator lowered wholesale broadband prices that major telecom companies can charge smaller internet providers.[40][41]

In a press release issued February 24, 2022, Bell announced that it has acquired Internet service provider EBOX. Bell wishes to keep the brand and the activities of EBOX and let the company continue to operate independently while remaining based in Longueuil.[42]

### Legacy[edit]

Bell previously offered Bell Home Monitoring, also known as Bell Gardium.

Bell Canada also previously offered cable television services in the United Kingdom via Bell Cablemedia plc (a joint venture with Jones Intercable and Cable & Wireless plc)[43] from 1994 until 1997, when Vidéotron first sold its UK operations to Bell Cablemedia, after which Bell Cablemedia and the UK operations of NYNEX Corporation merged with Cable & Wireless plc to form Cable & Wireless Communications.[44]

## Marketing[edit]

Bell Canada created the Frank and Gordon beavers to advertise its products from 2006 to 2008.

Coinciding with its advertising campaign as part of its sponsorship of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bell introduced a new logo and minimalist ad style, with the slogans "Today just got better" (with emphasis on the suffix "er") in English Canada and "La vie est Bell" (a pun on "La vie est Belle" — French: life is beautiful) in French Canada.[45] The font used in Bell's marketing is a custom typeface known as 'Bell Slim', by Canadian typeface designer Ian Brignell.

## Historical financial performance[edit]

The financial performance of the company is reported to shareholders on an annual basis. The unit (except where noted) is millions of Canadian dollars.

Year  | Revenue  | Net Income  | Total Assets  | Employees

|
|
|
|

2010[46] | 18,069  | 2,165  | 39,276  | 50,200
2011[47] | 19,497  | 2,574  | 39,426  | 55,250
2012[48] | 19,975  | 3,053  | 40,968  | 55,500
2013[49] | 20,400  | 2,388  | 45,384  | 55,830
2014[50] | 21,042  | 2,718  | 46,297  | 57,234
2015[51] | 21,514  | 2,730  | 47,993  | 49,968
2016[52] | 21,719  | 3,087  | 50,108  | 48,090
2017[53] | 22,719  | 2,970  | 54,263  | 51,679
2018[54] | 23,468  | 2,973  | 57,100  | 52,790
2019[4] | 23,964  | 3,253  | 60,146  | 52,100

## See also[edit]

* Companies portal
* Telephones portal

* American Telephone & Telegraph, AT&T, an earlier parent and successor to American Bell
* Bell Centre, a hockey arena in Montreal
* Bell Mobility, the division of Bell Canada which sells wireless services in Canada
* Bell System, the Bell Telephone / AT&T-led companies which provided phone services
* Bell Telephone Memorial, a large monument honouring the inventor in Brantford, Ontario
* Bell Tower, an office tower in Edmonton
* International Bell Telephone Company, the Bell Telephone's early European division
* List of largest companies by revenue
* List of public corporations by market capitalization
* List of telephone operating companies
* List of United States telephone companies
* National Bell Telephone Company, the very earliest parent company
* Place Bell, an office tower in Ottawa
* Telephone Pavilion (Expo 67), also known as the Bell Telephone Pavilion
* Thomas Cowherd, who helped establish Canada's first telephone factory

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ Bell had originally asked Boston manufacturer Charles Williams Jr. to provide an initial order of 1,000 telephones for use in Canada in exchange for a 25% interest in the telephone's Canadian patent rights, but Williams' small shop was only able to produce a fraction of that number. Bell then spoke with a Brantford friend, James Cowherd (1849? – Feb. 1881), who established Canada's first telephone factory, producing 2,398 telephones to Bell's specifications by 1881. Cowherd had been sent by Bell to Boston in 1878 to study Williams manufacturing processes for a number of months,[16] and then returned to Brantford to both produce and further develop Bell's telephone models. The Brantford plant's first shipment of 19 telephones to Hamilton was made the same year on December 23, 1878.[16] Among Cowherd's designs was a transmitter fitted with a triple mouthpiece allowing three people to talk, and sing, simultaneously. James Cowherd's untimely early death due to tuberculosis was noted in major technical journals and led to the closure of the Bell Systems' manufacturing supplier in Brantford. Telephone production later resumed in Montreal, eventually leading to the creation of Northern Electric in 1895, later renamed Northern Telecom and then Nortel.[11][17][18]

A Brantford Expositor article later noted of the historic factory building's demise: "[In 1992 Brantford] City officials and heritage committee members... learned that a building that once housed the first telephone factory in the world had been approved for demolition. The embarrassing oversight came to light too late to stop wrecking crews, who were already tearing down the aged building at 32 Wharfe St.... The building, where equipment for Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone was made, had even been pictured and written about in a city-printed brochure about the great inventor. A plaque erected by [the] Telephone Pioneers of America heralding the building's significance had been stripped from the structure in the mid-1980s and given to the Brant County Museum".[19]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Bell Canada Enterprises :: History from Graham Bell until Today » BCE". Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
2. ^ “Contact Us.” Contact Us | BCE Inc. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.bce.ca/contact-us.
3. ^ "George Cope appointed to the boards of directors and as CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada" (Press release). BCE. July 11, 2008. Archived from the original on July 21, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2008.
4. ^ a b c d e "2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved February 3, 2021.
5. ^ a b "Bell Canada (and other Canadian telecommunications companies)". Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
6. ^ "Corporate headquarters". Bell. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
7. ^ "Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
8. ^ [1]Bell, Rogers now official owners of MLSE at the Wayback Machine (archived January 11, 2013)
9. ^ The Canadian Press (December 9, 2011). "Bell to keep Canadiens stake". CBC.ca. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
10. ^ "BCE on the Forbes Global 2000 List". Forbes. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
11. ^ a b c Collins, Larry; Prevey, W. Harry (ed.). Electricity: The Magic Medium, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Canadian Region, 1985, p. 4, ISBN 0-9692316-0-1.
12. ^ Surtees, Lawrence (2000). "Bell, Alexander Graham". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
13. ^ Patten, William; Bell, Alexander Melville. Pioneering the Telephone in Canada, Montreal: William Patten, 1926.
14. ^ "About BCE – History". BCE Inc. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
15. ^ a b Babe, Robert E. Charles Fleetford Sise in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.), University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005.
16. ^ a b Waldie, Jean H. "Factory at Brantford Was World's First Phone Manufacturer", London Free Press, October 3, 1953.
17. ^ Reville, F. Douglas. History of the County of Brant: Illustrated With Fifty Half-Tones Taken From Miniatures And Photographs Archived April 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Brantford, ON: Brant Historical Society, Hurley Printing, 1920, p. 322. Retrieved from Brantford.Library.on.ca on May 4, 2012.
18. ^ Nortel Networks (2008). "Corporate information: Nortel History – 1874 to 1899". Nortel Networks. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
19. ^ Ibbotson, Heather. City Has Lost Many Historic Buildings, Brantford Expositor, April 5, 2012.
20. ^ Sharpe, Robert; Canadian Military Heritage Museum. Soldiers and Warriors: The Early Volunteer Militia of Brant County: 1856–1866 Archived July 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Brantford, ON: Canadian Military Heritage Museum, 1998, pg. 80, ref. citations No. 142 & 143, which in turn cites:
* F.A. Field. "The First Telephone Factory", The Blue Bell, January 1931. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
21. ^ "Bell completes acquisition of xwave". www.bce.ca. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
22. ^ "Bell Canada to Acquire Nexxlink Technologies Inc" (Press release). BCE, Inc. December 9, 2004.
23. ^ "INDUSTRY CENTER – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES". Yahoo! Finance.
24. ^ "Bell Canada Franchisee". Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
25. ^ a b Jackson, Emily (March 17, 2017). "Bell MTS deal closes, kicking off $1-billion investment that brings 4G to Churchill, Manitoba". Financial Post. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
26. ^ a b Rens, Jean-Guy; Roth, Kathe (2001). The Invisible Empire. McGill-Queen's Press — MQUP, 2001. pp. 217–218. ISBN 978-0-7735-2052-3.
27. ^ Todd, Kenneth P. Massey, David (ed.). "A Capsule History of the Bell System". American Telephone & Telegraph Company. Archived from the original on July 11, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
28. ^ The Porticus Centre (2007). "Bell Canada (and other Canadian telecommunications companies)". The Porticus Centre. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
29. ^ Nortel Networks. "Northern Electric — A Brief History". Nortel Networks. Archived from the original on July 12, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
30. ^ Bell Aliant (2010). "Fact Sheet". Bell Aliant. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
31. ^ a b "Hello? The 50-cent pay phone call is coming". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 30, 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2007.
32. ^ "Bell's pay phone price increases to 50 cents Saturday". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. June 1, 2007. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved December 14, 2007.
33. ^ Dana Flavelle; Chris Sorensen (March 3, 2009). "Bell buys 756 electronics stores from The Source". Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
34. ^ a b Rita Trichur (June 16, 2018). "Bell to stop 'throttling' Internet traffic". The Globe and Mail. Phillip Crawley. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
35. ^ Braga, Matthew (May 15, 2017). "1.9 million Bell customer email addresses stolen by 'anonymous hacker'". CBC News. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
36. ^ Omar, Mohamed (January 25, 2018). "Bell Canada Data Breach Could Be 'Stepping Stone' To More Fraud, Espionage: Expert". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
37. ^ Klass, Benjamin; Winseck, Dwayne. "Why Bell's Bid to Buy MTS is Bad News" (PDF).
38. ^ "Phone service | Small Business | Bell Canada".
39. ^ "Bell Fibe". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
40. ^ Bickis, Ian (August 19, 2019). "Bell scales back rural internet plans after CRTC decision on rates". CBC.
41. ^ "Bell Canada cuts FWA rural broadband plan". Mobile World Live. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
42. ^ "Bell acquires Longueuil-based Internet provider EBOX". newswire.ca.
43. ^ "Bell Cablemedia PLC - Overview, Competitors, and Employees".
44. ^ "Cable & Wireless Plans Merger With Nynex, Bell Canada Units". www.wsj.com. October 23, 1996. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
45. ^ "Bell to launch its new national brand tomorrow" (Press release). BCE, Inc. August 7, 2008. Archived from the original on August 10, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
46. ^ "2010 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
47. ^ "2011 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
48. ^ "2012 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
49. ^ "2013 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
50. ^ "2014 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
51. ^ "2015 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
52. ^ "2016 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
53. ^ "2017 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
54. ^ "2018 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved April 28, 2019.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bell Canada.

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* Official website
* BCE Inc. website
* Bell Telephone Company of Canada – public historical documents
* CRTC chart of Bell Canada's assets
* Bell Canada pixel art ad campaign
* Bell Telephone Company of Canada (from Bell System Memorial)
* Operator. May I help you?: Bell Canada's 125 Years – Bell Canada's origins (illustrated with many early photographs)

* v
* t
* e

BCE Inc.

Corporate directors|

* Mirko Bibic (CEO)
* André Bérard
* Anthony S. Fell
* Ed Lumley
* John H. McArthur
* Jim Pattison
* Michael Sabia
* Paul Tellier
* Richard Currie
* Robert Pozen

Fixed-line
telecommunications|

* Bell Aliant (Atlantic Canada)
* Bell Canada (urban ON & QC)
* Bell Internet (ISP)
* Bell MTS (MB)
* Distributel (ISP)
* DMTS (Dryden, Ontario area)
* EBOX (ISP)
* NorthernTel (northern ON)
* Northwestel (northern Canada)
* Ontera (northern ON)
* Télébec (rural QC)

Mobile
telecommunications|

* Bell Mobility
* Bell MTS Wireless (MB)
* Inukshuk Wireless
* Lucky Mobile
* NorthernTel Mobility
* Northwestel (including Latitude Wireless)
* PC Mobile (prepaid)
* Solo Mobile
* Télébec Mobilité
* Virgin Mobile Canada

Television services|

* Bell Fibe TV (IPTV – urban ON & QC)
* Bell Mobile TV (mobile IPTV)
* Bell Satellite TV (satellite)
* Cablevision (northern QC)
* FibreOP (IPTV – Bell Aliant regions)
* MTS TV (IPTV – MB)

Other properties|

* AlarmForce
* Bell Media 1
* Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (28%)2
* Montreal Canadiens (18%)
* The Source
* Glentel (50%)

Advertising and
sponsorships|

* Bell Centre
* Bell Let's Talk
* Bell MTS Iceplex
* Place Bell
* Frank and Gordon
* Kids Help Phone
* TIFF Bell Lightbox

Related|

* AT&T Corporation
* Nortel
* Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Bell Canada
* Telesat Canada

2An additional 9.5% interest is held by the BCE Master Trust Fund (Bell's pension plan).

* v
* t
* e

Bell Media (and other broadcasting properties of BCE Inc.)

Terrestrial TV
and free streaming|

| CTV (O&O)|

Stations
CIVT-DT Vancouver
CFCN-DT Calgary
CFRN-DT Edmonton
CFQC-DT Saskatoon
CKCK-DT Regina
CICC-TV Yorkton
CIPA-TV Prince Albert
CKY-DT Winnipeg
CTV Northern Ontario

CHBX-TV Sault Ste. Marie
CICI-TV Greater Sudbury
CITO-TV Timmins
CKNY-DT North Bay
CKCO-DT Kitchener
CFTO-DT Toronto
CJOH-DT Ottawa
CFCF-DT Montreal
CTV Atlantic

CKLT-DT Saint John
CKCW-DT Moncton
CJCH-DT Halifax
CJCB-DT Sydney

|

CTV 2 (O&O)|

Stations
CIVI-DT Victoria
CFTK-TV Terrace
CJDC-TV Dawson Creek
CHWI-DT Windsor
CFPL-DT London
CKVR-DT Barrie
CHRO-TV Ottawa

Noovo (O&O)|

Stations
CFJP-DT Montreal
CFKS-DT Sherbrooke
CFKM-DT Trois-Rivières
CFAP-DT Quebec City
CFRS-DT Saguenay

Subscription TV
and streaming|

| CTV 2|

* CTV 2 Alberta
* CTV 2 Atlantic

|

CTV Entertainment|

* CTV Comedy Channel
* CTV Drama Channel
* CTV Life Channel
* CTV Sci-Fi Channel

CTV News|

* BNN Bloomberg
* CP24
* CTV News Channel

CTV Specialty|

* Animal Planet
* Discovery
* Discovery Science
* Discovery Velocity
* ESPN Classic
* RDS
* RDS2
* RDS Info
* TSN
* TSN2

Premium and PPV|

* Cinépop
* Crave
* Movies \+ HBO
* Starz
* Super Écran
* Vu!1
* Venus1

Maple Leaf Sports
& Entertainment1|

* NBA TV Canada

Other English-language|

* E!
* Investigation Discovery
* MTV
* MTV2
* Much
* TV12

Other French-language|

* Canal D
* Canal Vie
* Investigation
* Z

iHeartRadio Canada|

| AM|

* CFAX
* CFGO
* CFRA
* CFRB
* CFRN
* CFRW
* CFTE
* CFTK
* CHAM
* CHUM
* CIOR
* CJAD
* CJBK
* CJDC
* CJOR
* CKFR
* CKGM
* CKHJ
* CKLW
* CKMX
* CKOC
* CKOR
* CKSL
* CKST
* CKTB
* CKWW

|

FM|

* CFBR-FM
* CFBT-FM
* CFCA-FM
* CFEI-FM
* CFIX-FM
* CFJR-FM
* CFLY-FM
* CFMG-FM
* CFVM-FM
* CFWM-FM
* CFXY-FM
* CFZZ-FM
* CHBD-FM
* CHBE-FM
* CHEY-FM
* CHIK-FM
* CHOM-FM
* CHOR-FM
* CHQM-FM
* CHRD-FM
* CHRE-FM
* CHRX-FM
* CHSU-FM
* CHTK-FM
* CHTZ-FM
* CHUM-FM
* CHVR-FM
* CIBK-FM
* CIBX-FM
* CICF-FM
* CICS-FM
* CICX-FM
* CICZ-FM
* CIDR-FM
* CIGB-FM
* CIKI-FM
* CIKX-FM
* CILK-FM
* CIMF-FM
* CIMO-FM
* CIMX-FM
* CIOO-FM
* CIQM-FM
* CITE-FM
* CITE-FM-1
* CITF-FM
* CJAB-FM
* CJAT-FM
* CJAY-FM
* CJBX-FM
* CJCH-FM
* CJCJ-FM
* CJDM-FM
* CJFM-FM
* CJFW-FM
* CJMG-FM
* CJMJ-FM
* CJMM-FM
* CJMV-FM
* CJOI-FM
* CJOS-FM
* CJPT-FM
* CKBC-FM
* CKFM-FM
* CKGR-FM
* CKKC-FM
* CKKL-FM
* CKKW-FM
* CKLC-FM
* CKLH-FM
* CKLY-FM
* CKMF-FM
* CKMM-FM
* CKNL-FM
* CKPT-FM
* CKQM-FM
* CKRX-FM
* CKTF-FM
* CKTK-FM
* CKTO-FM
* CKTY-FM
* CKX-FM
* CKXA-FM
* CKXR-FM

Networks|

* Boom
* Bounce
* Énergie
* Funny
* iHeartRadio (CA licence)
* Move
* Pure Country
* Rouge FM
* TSN Radio
* Virgin Radio (CA licence)

Broadcasting studios|

* Vancouver
* Toronto
* 9 Channel Nine Court
* 299 Queen Street West
* 250 Richmond Street West

Other BMI assets|

* Astral Out-of-Home
* The Loop

Predecessors|

* Telegram Corporation
* Baton Broadcasting
* Mid-Canada Communications
* Electrohome
* Craig Media
* CHUM Limited
* Access Media Group
* CTVglobemedia
* Astral Media

Former/defunct
properties|

* Baton Broadcast System
* WTSN
* CKX-TV
* CKNX-TV
* Viewers Choice
* GolTV
* Leafs Nation Network
* NHL Network
* M3
* Comedy Gold
* BookTelevision
* Fashion Television
* Vrak
* Bob FM
* EZ Rock

Notes|

1Owned (or part-owned) by BCE separately from its ownership of Bell Media.
2Community channels operated as part of Bell Fibe TV and Bell Aliant Fibe TV; also not part of Bell Media.

* BCE Inc.
* Associated foundations: BravoFACT
* MuchFACT
* Some of the assets listed above are only partially owned by Bell Media. Refer to full asset list for detailed information.

Links to related articles

* v
* t
* e

Spinoffs of American Telephone & Telegraph Company

First generation

| 1929|

* Graybar Electric Company

|

1956|

* Northern Electric (via Western Electric)

1975|

* Bell Canada

1984 Divestiture|

* Ameritech
* Bell Atlantic
* Bell Communications Research
* BellSouth
* NYNEX
* Pacific Telesis
* Southwestern Bell Corporation
* US West

1991–1993|

* Unix System Laboratories

1996|

* Lucent Technologies
* NCR

1997|

* AT&T Submarine Systems
* sold to Tyco International

2001|

* AT&T Wireless Services

2003|

* AT&T Broadband

Second generation spinoffs

| Lucent Technologies|

* Advanced American Telephones (2000)
* Avaya (2000)
* QLT Consumer Lease Services (2000)
* Agere Systems (2002)

|

MediaOne Group
(f/k/a US West)|

* U S WEST (1998)

NCR|

* Teradata (2007)

Pacific Telesis|

* AirTouch (1994)

Qwest|

* Dex Media (2002)

Regional Bells|

* Telcordia Technologies (1997)

SBC Communications / AT&T|

* R.H. Donnelley Publishing and Advertising of Illinois (2004)
* YP Holdings (2012)
* Southern New England Telephone (2014)

Verizon Communications|

* Hawaiian Telcom (2005)
* Idearc (2006)
* Northern New England Telephone Operations (2008)
* New Communications Holdings (2010)
* Frontier California
* Frontier Florida
* Frontier Southwest (2014)

* v
* t
* e

Internet service providers of Canada

Domestic|

| Incumbent|

| Bell|

* Bell Internet
* Bell Mobility
* Bell Aliant
* Cablevision
* DMTS
* Distributel
* Primus Canada
* Zazeen
* EBOX
* MTS
* NorthernTel
* Northwestel
* Ontera
* Télébec

|

Rogers|

* Fido
* Rogers Hi-Speed Internet
* Rogers Telecom
* Seaside Communications
* Source Cable

Telus|

* Koodo Mobile
* Public Mobile
* Telus Internet
* Telus Mobility

Vidéotron|

* Freedom
* VMedia

Other|

* Access Communications
* Cogeco
* Cable Axion
* Dery Telecom
* Eastlink
* SaskTel
* Tbaytel

Independent|

* Chebucto Community Net
* CIKtel
* Comwave
* Execulink Telecom
* MNSi Telecom
* National Capital FreeNet
* Novus
* SSi Canada (Qiniq)
* TekSavvy
* Vancouver Community Network

Defunct|

* Aurora Cable Internet
* Clearnet Communications
* Everus Communications
* Internex Online
* Inukshuk Wireless
* Look Communications
* Mountain Cablevision
* Rush Communications Ltd.
* Shaw

Foreign|

| Active|

* Xplornet

|

Former|

* Verizon (Owned small former stake in Telus)
* AT&T (Sold subsidiary of AT&T Canada)
* Sprint (Sold subsidiary of Sprint Canada)

Related topics|

* Internet in Canada
* Internet censorship
* Telecommunications in Canada

* v
* t
* e

Canadian mobile phone companies

Network
operators|

| National|

* Bell Mobility
* Rogers Wireless
* Telus Mobility

|

Regional|

* Eastlink Wireless
* Freedom Mobile
* Ice Wireless
* SaskTel Mobility
* Tbaytel Mobility
* Vidéotron Mobile
* Xplore Mobile

MVNOs|

| Bell|

* Lucky Mobile
* PC Mobile
* Virgin Plus

|

Rogers|

* Chatr
* Cityfone
* Primus
* Zoomer
* SimplyConnect
* Fido
* Shaw Mobile
* Ztar
* 7-Eleven SpeakOut
* Petro-Canada

Telus|

* Koodo Mobile
* Public Mobile

Vidéotron|

* Fizz Mobile

Defunct|

* Amp'd Mobile
* CityWest Mobility
* Clearnet Communications (1984-2000)
* Clearnet (2011-2012)
* Dryden Mobility
* Inukshuk Wireless
* Latitude Wireless
* Mike
* Mobilicity
* NorthernTel Mobility
* Solo Mobile
* Sprint Canada
* Télébec Mobilité

Related|

* System access fee

* v
* t
* e

Major telecommunications companies

Companies with an annual revenue of over US$10 billion

* América Móvil
* Telmex
* AT&T
* Axiata
* Bell Canada
* Bharti Airtel
* Bharat Sanchar Nigam
* BT Group
* China Mobile
* CMHK
* China Telecommunications Corporation
* China Telecom
* China Unicom
* Chunghwa Telecom
* CK Hutchison Holdings
* Three
* Hutchison Asia Telecom Group
* Comcast
* Deutsche Telekom
* T-Mobile
* Digicel
* Globe
* Jio
* KDDI
* KPN
* KT Corporation
* Liberty Global
* Liberty LA
* Liberty PR
* FLOW
* Lumen Technologies
* Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
* MTN
* MTS
* NTT
* NTT DoCoMo
* Oi
* Ooredoo
* Orange SA
* PCCW
* PLDT
* Rogers
* Singtel
* SK Telecom
* SoftBank Mobile
* Spark
* Swisscom
* Tata Teleservices
* Telefónica
* Movistar
* O2
* Vivo
* Telenor
* Telstra
* Telus
* Telecom Italia
* TPG Telecom
* Trilogy International Partners
* True
* Türk Telekom
* VEON
* Verizon
* Viettel
* Vodafone
* Vodacom

* v
* t
* e

S&P/TSX 60 companies of Canada (June 22, 2020)

* Agnico Eagle
* Algonquin Power & Utilities
* Alimentation Couche-Tard
* AtkinsRéalis
* Bank of Montreal
* Barrick Gold
* Bausch Health
* BCE
* Brookfield Asset Management
* Brookfield Infrastructure Partners
* Brookfield Property Partners
* Cameco
* Canadian Apartment Properties REIT
* Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
* Canadian National
* Canadian Natural Resources
* Canadian Pacific
* Canadian Tire
* Canopy Growth
* CCL Industries
* Cenovus Energy
* CGI
* Constellation Software
* Dollarama
* Emera
* Enbridge
* First Quantum Minerals
* FirstService
* Fortis
* Franco-Nevada
* George Weston
* Gildan
* Imperial Oil
* Kinross Gold
* Kirkland Lake Gold
* Loblaw Companies
* Magna International
* Manulife
* Metro
* National Bank of Canada
* Nutrien
* OpenText
* Pembina Pipeline
* Power Corporation
* Restaurant Brands International
* Rogers Communications
* Royal Bank of Canada
* Saputo
* Scotiabank
* Shaw Communications
* Shopify
* Sun Life Financial
* Suncor Energy
* TC Energy
* Teck
* Telus
* Thomson Reuters
* Toronto-Dominion Bank
* Waste Connections
* Wheaton Precious Metals Corporation

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* IdRef

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