BCE Inc. reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose. The company said its profit attributable to common shareholders totalled $558 million or 60 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended June 30. The result compared with a profit of $579 million or 63 cents per diluted share for the second quarter of 2025. Operating revenue totalled $6.17 billion, up from $6.08 billion a year earlier. The increase came as service revenue totalled $5.5 billion, up 4.3 per cent from a year ago, partially offset by a 16.3 per cent decline in product revenue to $685 million. On an adjusted basis, BCE earned 65 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 63 cents per share in the same quarter last year. The company said business markets revenue — comprised of income from both telecom and AI services — was $1.08 billion in the quarter, down 8.5 per cent from $1.18 billion a year ago. On the telecom side, BCE had a net gain of 41,594 postpaid mobile phone subscribers in its second quarter, down from 44,547 net activations during the same period a year earlier. It said the year-over-year decrease reflected a less active market due to reduced promotions as well as limited population growth in Canada. The company said customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — was 1.02 per cent, an improvement from 1.06 per cent a year ago and Bell’s lowest quarterly level in three years. BCE’s mobile phone average revenue per user was $56.30, down 2.3 per cent from $57.61 a year ago. It said that decrease was due to the non-recurrence of revenues generated last year from the G7 Leaders’ Summit, as well as lower connection fees related to the CRTC’s new rules prohibiting certain customer fees. The regulator’s prohibition on activation, cancellation and modification fees came into effect June 12. However, the new regulations have been met with resistance from Bell, along with Rogers and Telus, which have each introduced fees that the CRTC says could violate the new ban. The regulator launched a review in late June and said that if it determines the companies have violated the rules, they could face monetary penalties of up to $10 million. --- CTV News, BNN Bloomberg, and CP24 are owned by Bell Media, which is a division of BCE. Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2026.
