company bell canada . for the iptv fiber services offered see bell fibe tv . for internet see bell internet . bell canada formerly called the bell telephone company of canada 1880 1968 type subsidiary industry telecommunications mass media founded april 29 1880 ; montreal quebec canada 1 founder charles fleetford sise headquarters montreal quebec canada key people george cope ceo 2 products fixed line and mobile telephony internet services digital television radio broadcasting print revenue 21.51 billion cad 2015 3 operating income 8.551 billion cad 2015 3 net income 2.730 billion cad 2015 3 number of employees 49 968 2015 3 parent american bell 1880 1899 4 at & t corp. 1899 1975 bce inc. 1983 present subsidiaries bell media maple leaf sports & entertainment 37.5 % bell mobility bell aliant virgin mobile canada solo mobile bell internet bell tv bell fibe tv northwestel website www.bell.ca bell canada commonly referred to as bell is a canadian telecommunications and media company headquartered in montreal quebec . its subsidiaries include bell aliant northwestel t l bec and northerntel it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and dsl internet services in most of canada east of manitoba and in the northern territories and a major competitive local exchange carrier for enterprise customers in the western provinces . its subsidiary bell mobility including solo mobile and virgin mobile canada is one of canada s big three mobile telecommunications providers while bell tv provides direct to home satellite tv service . bell canada s principal competitors are rogers communications in ontario and vid otron in quebec . the solution provider for bell canada was baysquare technology pvt ltd citation needed . the company serves over 13 million phone lines and is headquartered at the campus bell complex in montreal . 5 bell canada is one of the main assets of the conglomerate bce inc. formerly known as bell canada enterprises inc. in addition to its core telecommunications operations bce owns bell media which operates media properties including the ctv television network and significant interests in the montreal canadiens ice hockey club and maple leaf sports & entertainment owner of several toronto professional sports franchises . 6 bce ranked number 262 on the 2011 edition of the forbes global 2000 list . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 inception 1.2 competition and territory reduction 1.2.1 atlantic canada 1.2.2 quebec and ontario 1.2.3 alberta manitoba and saskatchewan 1.2.4 british columbia 1.2.5 northern canada 1.3 divestiture and deregulation 2 criticism 3 services 3.1 voice 3.2 voicemail 3.3 wireless 3.4 television 3.5 internet access 3.6 legacy 4 marketing 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit historically bell canada has been one of canada s most important and most powerful companies and in 1975 was listed as the fifth largest in the country.the company is named after the inventor of the telephone alexander graham bell who also co founded bell telephone company in boston massachusetts . bell canada operated as the canadian subsidiary of the bell system from 1880 to 1975 . however unlike the other regional bell operating companies bell canada had its own research and development labs . inception edit main article bell homestead national historic site canadian bell logo used from 1902 to 1922 . note the usa oriented stars used in other bell system trademarks . a later version used from 1922 to 1940 used maple leaves instead below . the bell telephone company of canada logo with maple leaves 1922 1940 in the mid 1870s alexander graham bell who was scottish born but lived in canada invented an analogue electromagnetic telecommunication device that could simultaneously transmit and receive human speech . in march 1876 he successfully patented his invention in the united states under the title of improvement in telegraphy u.s. patent 174 465 . his device later adopted the name now used worldwide the telephone . bell also patented it in canada and transferred 75 % of the canadian patent rights to his father alexander melville bell with the remaining 25 % of the canadian interest being awarded to boston telephone manufacturer charles williams jr. in exchange for 1 000 telephones to be provided to the canadian market an order that could not be fulfilled due to surging demand in the united states . 8 for a few years the senior bell and his friend and business associate reverend thomas philip henderson collected royalties from the lease of telephones to customers in the limited late 1870s canadian market who either operated their own private telephone lines or subscribed to a third party telecommunications service provider . 9 10 in 1879 bell s father sold his canadian rights to the national bell telephone company formed in boston massachusetts earlier that year by the merger of the bell telephone company and the new england telephone and telegraph company which in 1880 reorganized as the american bell telephone company initiating the bell system . that same year the canadian division was renamed to the bell telephone company of canada ltd. eventually to be headed by u.s. executive charles fleetford sise from chicago who served as its first general manager . 11 12 the first supplier of telephones to bell was a company established by thomas c. cowherd and his son james h. cowherd in a three storey brick building in brantford ontario creating canada s first telephone factory . note 1 thomas and james had been good friends of alexander graham bell providing stovepipe wire with which bell conducted his early telephone experiments from his father s home in tutelo heights ontario and also building some 2 398 telephones to bell s specifications for the canadian market until james cowherd s untimely death from tuberculosis in 1881 . 8 17 with a government granted monopoly on canadian long distance telephone service 12 the bell telephone company of canada was serving 237 000 subscribers by 1914 . since its early years the bell telephone company of canada ltd. had been known colloquially as the bell or bell telephone . on march 7 1968 canadian federal legislation renamed the bell telephone company of canada ltd. to bell canada . competition and territory reduction edit the bell telephone building in montreal was once the head office of bell canada . bell canada extended lines from nova scotia to the foot of the rocky mountains in what is now alberta . however most of the attention given to meeting demand for service focused on major cities in ontario quebec and the maritime provinces . atlantic canada edit during the late 19th century bell sold its atlantic operations in the three maritime provinces where many small independent companies also operated and eventually came under the ownership of three provincial companies . newfoundland and labrador joined canada with several private companies and a government operation that was transferred to the control of canadian national railways . bell acquired interests in all atlantic companies during the early 1960s starting with newfoundland telephones which later was organized as newtel communications on july 24 1962 . bell acquired controlling interest in maritime telephone and telegraph company later known as mt & t which also owned pei based island telephone and in bruncorp the parent company of nbtel in 1966 . the purchase of mt & t was made despite efforts of the nova scotia legislature on september 10 1966 to limit the voting power of any shareholder to 1000 votes . bell owned mt & t absorbed some 120 independent companies most serving fewer than 50 customers each . bell owned newtel purchased the cnr owned terra nova tel in 1988 . newtel bruncorp mt & t and island tel later merged into aliant now bell aliant which also owns much of what were bell canada s services in more rural areas in ontario and quebec in the late 1990s in which bell continues to own a stake . on january 1 2011 bell purchased the information technology services company xwave which offers information technology sales and services in the atlantic canadian region from bell aliant . quebec and ontario edit bell canada s headquarters located on nuns island in montreal quebec . a bell store in the promenade shopping centre thornhill ontario independent companies appeared in many areas of ontario quebec and the maritime provinces without adequate bell canada service . during the 20th century bell acquired most of the independent companies in ontario and quebec most notably the purchase of nexxlink technologies a montreal based integrated it solutions and telecommunications provider founded by karol brassard . 18 alongside the acquisition of charon systems nexxlink now operates today as bell business solutions a division of bell canada . 19 quebec however still has large swaths of relatively rural areas served by telus qu bec formerly qu bec telephone later acquired by telus and t l bec now owned by bell canada via bell aliant and by some 20 small independent companies . as of 1980 ontario still had some 30 independent companies and bell has not acquired any ; the smaller ones were sold to larger independents with larger capital resources . cellcom communications is the largest franchisee of bell canada currently operating 25 bell stores in both qu bec and ontario regions . 20 alberta manitoba and saskatchewan edit the three prairie provinces at separate times acquired bell canada operations and formed provincial utility services investing to develop proper telephone services throughout those provinces ; bell canada s investment in the prairies had been scant or insufficient relative to growth and all three had various local telephone companies . the alberta government s alberta government telephones commission and manitoba government telephones purchased the bell operations of their provinces in 1908 . saskatchewan s department of railways telegraphs and telephones established in june 1908 purchased the bell operations on october 1 1909 ; all three provinces government operations eventually acquired the independent companies . having achieved a high level of development manitoba moved to privatize its telephone utility and alberta privatized alberta government telephones to create telus in the 1990s . saskatchewan continues to own sasktel as a crown corporation . edmonton was served by a city owned utility edmonton telephones corporation that was sold to telus in 1995 . british columbia edit british columbia served today by telus was served by numerous small companies that mostly amalgamated to form british columbia telephone later known as bc tel the last known acquisition was the okanagan telephone company in the late 1970s which served the province from the 1960s until its merger with telus . the amalgamations produced one anomaly atlin is surrounded by the territory of northwestel implying that the company that established service there was acquired by a company serving territories further south . northern canada edit although bell canada entered the northwest territories nwt with an exchange at iqaluit then known as frobisher bay in the territory now known as nunavut in 1958 canadian national telecommunications a subsidiary of canadian national railways cnr provided most of the telephone service in canada s northern territories specifically yukon northern bc and the western nwt . cnr created northwestel in 1979 and bell canada enterprises acquired the company in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary . bell canada sold its 22 exchanges in the eastern region of the nwt to northwestel in 1992 and bce transferred ownership of the company to bell canada in 1999 . northwestel s operating area was in 2001 opened to long distance competition which has materialized only in the form of prepaid card business and service to large national customers with some operating locations in the north and in 2007 to resale of local telephone service which has not yet occurred . northern british columbia northeastern ontario and the james bay region of northern quebec were served by independent companies though bell canada eventually provided service in more far flung reaches of ontario and quebec acquired ownership interests in companies serving large swaths of northwestern quebec