Bell Canada is facing renewed scrutiny after establishing a subsidiary under its control in India to outsource Canadian jobs while awarding top executives more than $5 million in bonuses following widespread layoffs.
The new entity, BCE Global Technology Centre Private Limited, is headquartered in Bangalore, India, and is actively recruiting for over 130 technology positions.
The move comes amid massive domestic job cuts. In less than two years, Bell has laid off approximately 7,000 Canadian workers, including 4,800 jobs eliminated in 2024 in what the company described as a restructuring effort.
That included 1,000 layoffs at The Source, 120 at Expertech, and 50 at Bell Media, with an additional 100 Bell Media workers let go more recently. Another voluntary separation package was offered to 1,200 union workers earlier this year.
A spokesperson confirmed to MobileSyrup that the company has recently conducted further layoffs as part of a shift to prioritize its EBOX internet brand, acknowledging a “small number” of job reductions.
Amid these cuts, Unifor Canada’s largest private-sector union revealed in April that BCE executives awarded themselves more than $5 million in bonuses, including $2.4 million to CEO Mirko Bibic, even as Bell’s stock dropped by 30 per cent and thousands of employees were terminated.
“This announcement dropped on April Fool’s Day, but sadly, this is no joke,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “The company laid off thousands, its stock went down by 30 per cent, and yet, the richest and most powerful continue to profit off the back of our members.”
Unifor launched its “Shame on Bell” campaign in March 2024 after BCE’s announcement that it would cut 4,800 jobs, its largest reduction in three decades, including 800 Unifor members across telecom and media.
In February 2025, the union said another round of reductions could affect as many as 1,200 more telecom workers.
The union, which represents more than 19,000 telecommunications workers at BCE and 2,100 members at Bell Media, also criticized Bell for failing to justify the layoffs before a scheduled House of Commons Heritage Committee appearance last year.
Bibic eventually appeared in April 2024 but did not explain how the company could increase dividends to a record-high $3.7 billion in 2023 while simultaneously terminating nine per cent of its workforce.
“Bell didn’t just cut jobs. They created an entire company in India—BCE Global Tech—to replace Canadian workers,” reads a viral tweet. “This isn’t cost-cutting. It’s corporate abandonment dressed up in globalization.”
BCE Global Tech, located in Bangalore’s Cyber Park, lists cutting-edge goals in 5G, smart home, network infrastructure, and cloud-native architecture but does not mention any commitments to preserving Canadian employment.
“Amidst this trade war, we need major Canadian companies to invest in good jobs at home, and Bell continues to fall short,” said Payne.