BCE Cuts Dividend by 56%, Strikes Fiber Deal With PSP

A Bell Canada store in Toronto, Ontario.

Photographer: Christopher Katsarov Luna/Bloomberg
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BCE Inc. cut its dividend for the first time in 17 years and unveiled a deal with a Canadian pension fund to help finance growth in Ziply, the US broadband provider it’s trying to acquire.

Canada’s largest telecom company by revenue lowered its quarterly dividend by 56% to about 44 Canadian cents a share following months of pressure from analysts and investors to improve its balance sheet. The new rate is payable starting July 15.