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MONTREAL — BCE Inc. reported its first-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue edged higher.

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The parent company of Bell Canada says it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $725 million or 79 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, down from $877 million or 96 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

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Operating revenue totalled $6.05 billion, up from $5.85 billion in the first three months of 2022.

BCE says its adjusted net earnings totalled $772 million, down from $811 million the same period last year. Adjusted profit amounted to 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 89 cents per share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 77 cents per share and $5.99 billion in revenue, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

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The results came as Bell announced a deal to buy FX Innovation, a Montreal-based provider of cloud-based services. Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available.

The company added more than 43,000 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, up 26.5 per cent from around 34,200 last year.

Its monthly churn rate for the category — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — was 0.9 per cent, up from 0.79 per cent during its previous first quarter.

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.15, up 54 cents from the first quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)