The layoffs will mostly affect management and follow thousands of cuts in the media industry that has been wrestling with dwindling ad dollars, elevated levels of inflation and the ongoing shift from cable TV to streaming.
The company expects Bell Canada's legacy phone revenue to decline by $250 million each year, while the news operation posts annual operating losses of $40 million.
"Our industry is experiencing a major disruption," said senior executive Wade Oosterman in an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The Canadian telecom industry has over recent years come under pressure from the government to bring down phone bills in a concentrated market.
Affected employees will be informed this week, Bell said, adding that vacant positions were eliminated to minimize the impact on teams.
Persons:
Bell, Wade Oosterman, Chrystia Freeland, Samrhitha Arunasalam, Aditya Soni, Shilpi Majumdar, Shinjini
Organizations:
Bell, Inc, Reuters, Google, Facebook, U.S, CTV, Canadian Finance, Canada, Thomson
Locations:
Canadian, London, Los Angeles, Washington, Ottawa, Bengaluru