Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- BCE Inc., Canada’s largest phone company, reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as customers spent a third more to send e-mail messages and surf the Internet from their handsets.

Net income rose to C$558 million ($532 million), or 72 cents a share, from C$248 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier, Montreal-based BCE said today in a statement. Excluding some costs, profit was 84 cents, exceeding analysts’ projections of 68 cents a share on average in a Bloomberg survey.

BCE began offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone in Canada last week through its Bell Mobility wireless unit, breaking the monopoly held by Rogers Communications Inc. Bell, which introduced Palm Inc.’s Pre phone nationwide in August, is using both devices to encourage consumers to spend more on data after the economic slowdown forced cutbacks in long-distance calling.

Chief Executive Officer George Cope is putting the savings from about 5,000 job cuts, or 11 percent of the company’s workforce, since June 2008 into marketing and subsidizing the new smart phones. The company eliminated 1,100 jobs in the third quarter and sees “good headroom” for future cost reductions, he told analysts on a conference call.

BCE rose 5 cents to C$27.14 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares have climbed 8 percent this year.

New Subscribers

Third-quarter revenue increased 0.5 percent to C$4.46 billion. Bell said it added 135,000 wireless subscribers and that average monthly revenue per user was C$52.13 in the quarter.

Greg MacDonald, an analyst at National Bank Financial in Toronto, predicted 127,200 new customers and estimated average revenue per user would be C$51.76. He rates the shares “outperform.”

The company said full-year revenue growth will be at the low end of the 1 percent-to-2 percent range it first gave in August. Per share earnings, excluding some costs, will be at the high end of the earlier target of C$2.40 to C$2.50, BCE said.

(A replay of today’s conference call with analysts will be available for one week by dialing (416) 695-5800 or 1-800-408- 3053 and entering pass code 8037862#).

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 12, 2009 16:21 EST