The transaction creates Canada’s largest dedicated tower company, with more than 5,000 sites, while Bell keeps control, its spectrum and its active network equipment.
The Canadian
Newsroom
October 28, 2026
3 min read
BCE Inc. announced on October 27 that its subsidiary Bell Canada has agreed to sell a 49.9 per cent stake in a newly formed wireless tower company to La Caisse, the Quebec pension investor, for $2.45 billion. The price values the tower business at about $4.91 billion. Bell will keep the remaining 50.1 per cent and continue to consolidate the company in its financial statements.
The new entity, called TowerCo for now, will own and operate Bell’s passive wireless infrastructure — the towers and structures that carry antennas — making it Canada’s largest dedicated tower company, with more than 5,000 sites. It will be headquartered in Montreal and aims to grow through new builds, densifying existing sites and leasing space to other carriers. Bell keeps full ownership of its spectrum, active network equipment and owned land, and will lease capacity back from TowerCo under long-term agreements.
The deal is primarily about the balance sheet. BCE has committed to bringing its net debt leverage ratio down to 3.5 times by the end of 2027, a target set out at its 2025 investor day, while preserving room to invest in growth areas including AI-powered services. Selling a minority stake in infrastructure that generates steady lease income is a common way for telecom companies to raise cash without giving up operational control.
Tower monetizations have become a familiar move internationally, where carriers in Europe and the United States have spun off or sold towers to specialist owners and infrastructure funds. In Canada, the pressure on incumbents has been heightened by price competition in wireless, heavy spending on 5G and fibre, and investor scrutiny that followed BCE’s dividend cut last year. The structure lets Bell crystallize value while TowerCo pursues revenue from rival networks sharing the same sites.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. For customers, Bell says service will be unaffected because it retains its network equipment and access to sites. The broader question for the industry is whether shared tower ownership encourages more colocation and faster rural coverage, or simply moves a growing share of Canada’s wireless backbone into the hands of financial investors.
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