Bell Canada’s parent company is working to smooth over tensions related to the expanded buildout of its planned data centre in Saskatchewan, its chief executive said Thursday while touting the economic benefits of the project for the surrounding community.
Speaking to analysts as BCE Inc. reported its third-quarter earnings, Mirko Bibic said the $50-billion project just south of Regina is providing an economic boost thanks to it bringing more than 1,100 workers to the site. But he also acknowledged opposition from some local communities.
“We can’t lose sight of the broader endorsement of this project and at the same time, we do have to address the concerns that are arising in some segments,” Bibic said.
“I fully understand that and we try to address as best we can what those concerns are, but more broadly speaking the community in and around Regina and the Regional Municipality of Sherwood are very supportive actually.”
In September, Bell announced it would quadruple the size of the project, potentially increasing its planned capacity to 1.2 gigawatts. The announcement was made alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe during an event at Canada’s first-ever investment summit.
Bell said at the time the completed project could create up to 600 permanent operations and management roles, and support 3,000 additional off-site and community jobs.
Construction of its initial 300 megawatts of capacity is ongoing and the first data hall is expected to come online in the first half of 2027.
Meanwhile, environmental concerns have been raised by the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation, located around 75 kilometres northeast of Regina. Chief Rodger Redman said in a letter to the company last month that the campus was being built on its unceded traditional territory, and requested Bell provide technical reports and approval records so the First Nation could conduct its own review.
A response from Bell, published online by the First Nation, provided information on the data centre’s potential environmental impacts ranging from water use and cooling systems to power generation, while inviting Redman to meet further. It also said Bell had already carried out consultations asked of it by the province. Redman has said the details he requested remain incomplete.
Bibic noted the project is supported by the George Gordon First Nation north of Regina and is working “in partnership with them to make sure that the community there benefits directly as well through employment and other co-development ideas.”
He added Bell has adopted both the federal and provincial governments’ principles for responsible AI data centre development.
“We signed on to them and we plan to continue to respect them in how we operate and how we build and how we manage environmental issues,” Bibic said.
The project is core to Bell’s pivot toward tech services, which includes a heavy emphasis on AI-powered solutions.
BCE reported business markets revenue — comprised of income from both telecom and AI services — was $1.12 billion in its latest quarter, up 9.2 per cent from $1.03 billion a year ago. It said that encompassed 41 per cent growth of AI-powered solutions revenue, driven by strong demand for its Ateko and Bell Cyber brands.
BCE’s Northwestel deal faces hurdles
BCE reported an overall third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of $630 million, or 67 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of $4.50 billion or $4.84 per share a year ago when the company sold its minority stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to rival Rogers Communications Inc.
On an adjusted basis, BCE said it earned 74 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 79 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue totalled $6.18 billion, up from $6.05 billion a year earlier.
Last month, BCE announced a deal to sell a 49.9 per cent stake of a new company that will own and operate its wireless towers to Quebec investment manager La Caisse for $2.45 billion.
The deal, expected to close in early 2027, should support balance-sheet flexibility and contribute to AI deployment in Saskatchewan, Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said in a note.
“Capital recycling continues in full force as we expect proceeds from wireless/tower asset divestitures to support additional data centre capacity, creating a potential path to 1.2 gigawatts,” he said.
Yaghi added that two other pending transactions are expected to aid those efforts, including Bell Mobility’s sale of its land mobile radio networks services business to a division of Motorola Solutions for $675 million. That deal, announced in March and now expected to close in the first half of next year, is part of BCE’s plan to sell $7 billion in assets to help pay down debt.
The other is the potential sale of northern telecom provider Northwestel Inc. to a consortium of northern Indigenous communities known as Sixty North Unity — a $1-billion deal announced in 2024. However, BCE now says the parties are working “on an alternative transaction structure” that could alter the deal’s terms and timing for completion.
“There is still the distinct possibility of a transaction to be done, although at this stage it’s looking like it might take a different form,” Bibic said.
“It’s unlikely to be the sale of the entire asset, but there is a transaction to be done. If it proceeds, and I think it will, expect it to have the exact same … deleveraging impact as the original transaction that we announced a couple of years ago would have had.”
CEO criticizes regulator
On the telecom side, BCE had a net gain of 24,110 postpaid mobile phone subscribers in its third quarter, up from 11,511 net activations during the same period a year earlier. It said the year-over-year gain reflected more customers transitioning from prepaid service, new subscribers from reaching a long-term government-sector mobile services contract, and lower customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service.
Postpaid customer churn was 1.06 per cent, an improvement from 1.13 per cent a year ago and Bell’s lowest level for the third quarter in four years. Bell cited lower market activity and its continued focus on customer service and retention.
BCE’s mobile phone average revenue per user was $57.07, down 1.7 per cent from $58.04 a year ago. It said that decrease was due to multiple factors, including the CRTC’s prohibition on certain customer fees, which took effect in June.
The regulator’s ban on activation, cancellation and modification fees has been met with resistance from Bell, along with Rogers and Telus, which have each introduced fees that the CRTC said could violate the new ban. The CRTC is in the midst of a review and said that if it determines the companies have violated the rules, they could face monetary penalties of up to $10 million.
But Bibic said the regulatory framework is hurting the ability of major carriers to invest in their networks.
“It’s unfortunate because you are seeing the tremendous impacts those decisions over the last several years have had on the direct investments that the larger players have been making. They’ve shrunk dramatically,” he said.
Bell also cited lower overage revenue from customers subscribing to unlimited and larger capacity data plans, along with lower international roaming revenue as customers both travel less and increasingly subscribe to plans that include U.S. and international roaming.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2026.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)
