Bell Canada Enterprises

BCE Inc.

Formerly called	Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (1983–1988)
Type	Public
Traded as	: BCE : BCE S&P/TSX 60 component
Industry	Telecommunications Mass media
Founded	1983
Founder	A. Jean de Grandpré
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people	George Cope (CEO)
Products	Fixed line and mobile telephony Internet services Digital television Radio broadcasting Print
Revenue	$19.49 billion CAD (2014)
Operating income	$3.672 billion CAD (2014)
Net income	$2.159 billion CAD (2014)
Number of employees	55,250 (2014)
Subsidiaries	Bell Canada Bell Media Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (37.5%) Bell Mobility Bell Aliant Virgin Mobile Canada Solo Mobile Bell Internet Bell TV Bell Fibe TV Fibe
Website	BCE.ca

BCE Inc., originally Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a Canadian telecommunications company. It is one of Canada's largest corporations and a publicly-traded holding company for Canada's largest communications network. It has been the parent company in the Bell Canada corporate empire since its creation in 1983 when Bell Canada, Northern Telecom, and other related companies all became subsidiaries of BCE. In addition to its core telecommunications operations that also include Bell Mobility, Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, NorthernTel, Dryden Municipal Telephone Service and the CTV Television network, BCE owns 18% of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, and (together with BCE's pension plan) a 37.5% interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), owner of several Toronto professional sports franchises. It was ranked as Canada's 17th largest corporations by revenue in 2014 and as the ninth-largest by capitalization in 2015.

The Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd. was created by an act of Parliament on 29 April 1880. Later known as Bell Canada, its charter granted it the right to construct telephone lines alongside all public rights-of-way in Canada. Under a licensing agreement with the US-based America Bell Telephone Company, Bell also manufactured telephones and telephone equipment, an activity that would be spun off in a separate company that later became Northern Telecom and then Nortel Networks. In 1983 all the Bell Canada group of companies (also known as the "Bell Group") were placed under a new holding company, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE). This corporate reorganization resulted in Bell Canada and its subsidiaries, including Northern Telecom (later Nortel Networks) and over 80 others, becoming subsidiaries of the new holding company, BCE. Under the new parent, each company was owned directly by BCE, which had the benefit of freeing the manufacturing company, Nortel, and other holdings from the heavily regulated telephone company, Bell Canada. Under a variety of leaders, BCE has embarked on a series of diversifications, consolidations, and corporate strategies. In 1988 Bell Canada Enterprises was renamed BCE Inc.