BCE, the holding company of Bell Canada, is laying off 9 percent of its workforce.
The move is part of its “workforce restructuring initiative.” It will impact 4,800 positions, including 750 contractors. The restructuring will save Bell between $150 million and $200 million.
The company implemented a restructuring process in June 2023, but it was not enough to help the company “succeed,” an open letter from CEO Mirko Bibic reads. The layoffs will take place “over the coming weeks.”
“This means organizational changes for our team and streamlining where we can, while finding ways to free up capital and resources to invest in new areas and to better serve our customers,” the letter states.
Bibic further points to the company’s partnership with Best Buy, which will rebrand The Source stores to Best Buy Express, as a “recent accomplishment.” What the letter doesn’t mention is the significant job cuts that come with the partnership. Bell will close 107 The Source retail stores and remove its head office and back office operations.
Furthermore, Bell is selling 45 radio stations across Canada to seven buyers.
The company also announced that it is capping its fibre speeds to 3Gbps as part of its plans to reduce capital expenditures. Bell’s website shows the company has already implemented the change, removing an internet package that offered download and upload speeds up to 8Gbps.
The move is in response to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) order for Bell and Telus to provide competitors with wholesale access to their fibre networks. Bell previously announced it would cut more than $1 billion in capital expenditures for 2024 and 2025. The company recently asked the federal government to overturn the order.
These details were included in the company’s Q4, 2023, financial report that saw the company’s profits drop 23 percent year-over-year. Bell reported $435 million in the fourth quarter, down from the $567 million reported in Q4 2022.
Bell added nearly 129,000 net postpaid mobile subscribers, a 17 percent decrease from Q4, 2022. The company blames the figure on customer churn, which references customers who stopped using the provider’s services. A competitive market and promotional offers from other providers played a role.
Bell added 55,600 new internet net customers over the last quarter, a 12 percent decrease from the 63,000 it added in Q4 2022. The company blamed the figure on “aggressive promotional offers” for cable, fixed, and satellite internet services from competitors.
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