Formed in 1983 through a corporate reorganization, BCE became parent to over 80 companies previously known as the Bell Group, of which Bell Canada, the country's largest telephone company, had been head. This reorganization was designed to cast off charter restrictions inhibiting certain corporate acquisitions and investments, and removed from detailed regulatory scrutiny many activities and intercorporate dealings. Bell Canada, now a wholly-owned subsidiary telephone company, still accounts for about 40% of the holding company's revenues and for between 60 and 65% of its profits.

Incorporated by act of Parliament in 1880, the Bell Telephone Company of Canada (today Bell Canada) received by its charter the right to construct telephone lines alongside all public rights-of-way in Canada, a most valuable privilege. Since 1906 Bell has been regulated by various federal regulatory tribunals, most recently the CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CRTC). Its service area encompasses most of Ontario and Québec and portions of the NWT.

Other companies in which BCE holds ownership interest include members of STENTOR serving eastern Canada (Newfoundland Telephone Company, Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company, New Brunswick Telephone Company, and the Island Telephone Company), Télébec Ltée, BCE Mobile Communications Inc, Teleglobe Inc, Alouette Communications Inc, Bell Canada International Inc, Tele-Direct Publications Inc, Northern Telecom Ltd (recently renamed Nortel), and Bell-Northern Research Ltd (BNR).

Bell Canada is poised to enter the CABLE TELEVISION industry on account of the federal government's new policy on "convergence." Should this take place, Bell's entry will erase an enduring policy whereby the company and its affiliates have been precluded from holding broadcasting (including cable TV) licenses.