BCE is cutting 9% of its workforce, or about 4,800 jobs, including journalists and other workers at its Bell Media subsidiary.
The company also sells 45 of its 103 regional radio stations. The affected stations are located in Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Ontario and British Columbia.
BCE says in an open letter signed by President and CEO Mirko Bibic that jobs “at all levels of the company” would be cut and that it will use vacancies and natural attrition to minimize as much as possible layoffs.
The company says it may also further reduce its network spending as it remains at odds with the CRTC over what it calls “predetermined” regulatory direction.
Hearings are scheduled next week by the federal telecommunications regulator as part of a review of the rates that smaller Internet competitors pay major carriers for network access.
Thursday’s announcement marks the second wave of major layoffs at the media and telecommunications giant since last spring, when six percent of Bell Media’s jobs were eliminated and nine radio stations were closed or sold.
By announcing these major cuts in its workforce, BCE reports a year-over-year drop of 23.3% in its fourth quarter net profit, which fell from $567 million to $435 million. During the same period, adjusted net income increased from $654 million to $691 million.
Net income per common share increased from $0.58 to $0.42.
For the entire 2023 fiscal year, BCE achieved net income of $2.327 billion, down 20.5% from the $2.926 billion reported in 2022. The decline in adjusted net income was less , by 4.3%, from $3.057 billion to $2.926 billion.
More details to come.