Bell eyes U.S. fibre expansion after closing Ziply deal and boosting internet subs

People walk bast a Bell store in downtown Montreal on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

MONTREAL — The closing of BCE Inc.’s $5-billion purchase of U.S. internet provider Ziply Fiber in August helped boost the telecom giant’s fibre internet subscription base in its latest quarter, as it aims to accelerate its infrastructure build south of the border.

Bell Canada’s parent company said Thursday it added 65,000 net new fibre subscribers in its third quarter, including U.S. operations.

Based in Kirkland, Wash., Ziply Fiber offers fibre internet service in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Ziply added 9,000 net new fibre customers in August and September, its first two months officially under BCE’s ownership.

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Its acquisition by Bell was funded largely though proceeds of BCE’s $4.7-billion sale of its stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to rival Rogers Communications Inc. — a deal that also closed earlier in the quarter.

BCE president and CEO Mirko Bibic said Ziply is now well-positioned to accelerate its fibre build and expand beyond its current four-state footprint.

He told analysts on Bell’s earnings call that fibre line construction is set to ramp up through 2026. Ziply’s fibre network currently passes 1.4 million American homes, which BCE expects to grow to approximately three million by the end of 2028.

Bibic said that in the longer term, BCE plans to expand its U.S. fibre footprint to eight million homes “and we’ll do that in a cost-efficient manner.”

“We’re very pleased with Ziply’s performance and we’re looking forward to continued growth,” he said.

“The key thing is that it continues to perform ahead of our investment case and ... as we ramp the build in 2026, that’s just going to lead to better subscriber revenue.”

Back in Canada, Bell is also seeking to grow its fibre customer base in new provinces, however that comes in the form of reselling rivals’ service through existing infrastructure. Bell announced last month will soon begin offering home internet in Alberta and B.C. — reselling fibre from Telus’ network under the CRTC’s wholesale framework.

Bell chief financial officer Curtis Millen said those rules offer “an opportunity for us,” despite the company having long fought against them unsuccessfully.

“Obviously our position is pretty clear on the rules and we favour regulation that incents investment,” Millen said in a phone interview.

“But the rules are the rules. We have to compete in the environment that is in front of us.”

Bibic said a trial is underway for customers in Kelowna, B.C. and the company expects its full launch in Western Canada by January. He reiterated the offering will initially be available to Bell’s “highest value” mobile customers in those provinces, with special pricing for bundled packages.

In Ottawa, there’s hope that Canadian telecommunications companies will expand their fibre network footprints at home too.

The federal government’s latest budget unveiled Tuesday included an announcement of measures aimed at incentivizing those network builds, as part of the Liberals’ plan to spur investment through increased capital project spending.

The budget mentioned a new “dig once” policy approach to the government’s planned “nation-building projects.” Ottawa said that would encourage telecom companies to co-ordinate when installing fibre optic lines as part of the development of major projects.

The government also teased plans to reduce regulatory hurdles when deploying telecom infrastructure across the country, including by consulting on a streamlined tower-siting process later this year.

Millen said Bell would welcome any opportunity to more closely co-ordinate with the government and agencies that build critical infrastructure. But he cautioned Bell has already “built out a world-class fibre network” in Canada.

“Canada is far more penetrated in terms of access to ... fibre than in other jurisdictions and especially the U.S.,” he said.

“I mean, we’re 75 per cent access to fibre and the U.S. is hovering around 50. I do think our customers appreciate the speed and reliability of our fibre network, and we just have to continue to deliver.”

The company added a net total of 26,111 retail high-speed internet subscribers in its third quarter, including through Ziply Fiber, which contributed to 11.2 per cent internet revenue growth. Net internet subscriptions were down 38.4 per cent from 42,415 in last year’s third quarter.

BCE reported a profit attributable to common shareholders of $4.50 billion or $4.84 per share in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That compared with a loss of $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share in the same quarter last year.

It said its results were boosted by the sale of its minority stake in MLSE, as well as lower impairment charges, partly offset by higher income taxes.

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $6.05 billion, up from $5.97 billion a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE said it earned 79 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 75 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 72 cents per share, according to data provided by LSEG Data & Analytics.

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On the mobile side, BCE had a net gain of 11,511 postpaid phone subscribers in its third quarter, down 65.2 per cent from 33,111 net activations during the same period a year earlier. That continued a trend from recent quarters, which the company has consistently attributed to a “less active market,” slowing population growth because of federal immigration policies, and Bell’s own focus on “higher-value subscriber loadings.”

BCE’s mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.04, down 0.4 per cent from $58.26 a year ago.

It said that decrease was due to “ongoing but abating” competitive pricing pressures and greater discounting, lower data overage revenue from customers subscribing to unlimited or larger capacity data plans, and lower roaming revenue amid Canadian customers’ decreased travel to the United States.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said those wireless metrics were in line with overall expectations, despite somewhat disappointing postpaid subscriber additions.

“The Canadian telco business unsurprisingly continued to exhibit weakish results, but we expect the recent price ups in wireless to begin to support results in 2026,” Yaghi said in a note.

“The first look at Ziply financials and its customer loading looked good. We don’t expect consensus estimates to move much based on results from this quarter.”

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Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2025.

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