Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 25 data centres at 13 sites to US-based multinational interconnection and data centre company Equinix in an all-cash transaction valued at CAD1.04 billion (USD761 million). BCE President and CEO Mirko Bibic announced that the transaction reinforces Bell's strategy to focus investment on its network infrastructure, content and services, while confirming that the deal includes a partnership between Bell Business Markets and the Equinix Platform of global data centre services to ensure 'a seamless customer experience' for Bell's enterprise clients.

Equinix is acquiring 13 sites representing 25 Bell data centre facilities in eight cities across Canada; Bell will continue to own and operate five other data centres that are located in its network central offices in Calgary, Halifax, Saint John, St. John's and Toronto. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020 subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval. As part of the transaction, Bell Business Markets becomes the first Equinix Platinum Partner in Canada, which will provide Bell enterprise clients with full access to the international scale of Equinix's advanced integrated network and cloud solutions.

Thanks to TeleGeography for this industry update