Bell in Canada

Bell’s figures here come from BCE’s annual information forms filed with the SEC, from the spectrum auction results of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), from the CRTC and from Bell’s own network page, each with its date.

4G and 5G on Bell

Bell put 4G LTE into service in the Greater Toronto Area in September 2011, with typical speeds of 12 to 25 Mbps at the time. By the end of that year it also had LTE in Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Belleville, Yellowknife and Halifax-Dartmouth, and seven more centres followed in February 2012, Montréal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver among them. Bell launched 5G in June 2020, after announcing its first 5G network equipment agreement, with Nokia, earlier that year. In July 2022 it began deploying 3500 MHz spectrum, which let it launch 5G+, starting in southern Ontario.

How far Bell reaches

At 31 December 2025 Bell’s LTE reached more than 99% of Canada’s population, LTE Advanced 96%, 5G 89% and 5G+ 65%. The 5G figure was 26% at the end of 2020. Its older HSPA+ network, launched nationally in November 2009, still covered 99% at the end of 2025. On 12 January 2026 Bell switched HSPA+ off in Manitoba, and its reach fell to 95.4% of the population.

Spectrum from ISED

In ISED’s 3500 MHz auction, with results of 29 July 2021, Bell Mobility Inc. won 271 licences for $2.07 billion, with a total population covered of 34,269,028. In the 3800 MHz auction it won 939 licences for $518 million, and BCE says it paid the balance and took the licences on 29 May 2024. BCE puts its combined 3500 and 3800 MHz holdings at 3.5 billion MHz-pops. In ISED’s 2026 auction of residual licences, with provisional results of 6 February 2026, Bell Mobility secured 63 more licences for $13.5 million. Bell’s network page says 5G+ Advanced, on 3800 MHz and a 5G standalone core, is rolling out across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, and that 3800 MHz has come to 17 communities, Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton and Brampton among them.

Who owns Bell

Bell Mobility Inc. belongs to BCE Inc., which held all of its voting securities at 31 December 2025 through Bell Canada and Bell Mobility Holdings Inc. BCE counted 10,451,584 mobile phone subscribers at that date, and 3,359,565 mobile connected devices besides.

Satellites and coverage data

On 2 October 2025 Bell and AST SpaceMobile announced a test in which a standard, unmodified smartphone made a VoLTE call and a video call and streamed video over a satellite link. The CRTC already collects data from the networks about where they reach, and ISED uses it for the National Broadband Map. On 15 January 2026 the CRTC opened a consultation on a standard way to collect and report where cellphone service is available, with comments due by 16 March 2026.

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