Bell Canada has announced a partnership with artificial intelligence company Cohere to provide full-stack sovereign AI solutions for government and enterprise customers across Canada.
Cohere will make its AI services available through Bell AI Fabric, a project announced by Bell in May to support Canadian businesses' and governments' AI needs.
"Together, Bell Canada and Cohere will offer a turnkey solution for Canadian organizations that want to deploy world-class AI capabilities," the companies said in a press release.
It marks the latest step in Bell's long-stated plan to transform into a tech-first company.
Bell AI Fabric will incorporate Cohere's agentic AI platform North, which will be available to government and enterprise customers. It will enable them to create AI agents and automation solutions without having to manage AI infrastructure.
It will also include software infrastructure such as Cohere's large language models "customized for Bell to offer unique capabilities for the Canadian market, machine learning and cloud software."
"Our partnership with Bell Canada will provide the Canadian government and enterprises with world-class options for sovereign, security-first AI," said Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez in a press release.
"This has the potential to be truly transformative for organizations looking to massively increase their productivity and efficiency without any compromise on data security and privacy."
Bell previously announced its plan to open six AI data centres through the AI Fabric project, which will provide around 500 megawatts of hydroelectric-powered AI compute capacity. AI compute refers to the technology that enables AI systems to perform tasks, such as processing data and training machine-learning models.
It said all elements of the AI Fabric project are "underpinned by leading cybersecurity protections combining physical security, network security, and operational resilience."
"Working together, we will both transform Canadian businesses through cutting edge AI capabilities, while ensuring that the data remains secure and within Canada," said Bell president and CEO Mirko Bibic in a statement.
The Montreal-based telecom company said Bell AI Fabric also relies on its new tech services brand Ateko, which is a cornerstone of its ambition to build a $1-billion tech services business.
Ateko unified tech companies acquired by Bell such as FX Innovation, HGC Technologies and CloudKettle under a single umbrella. The company said Ateko is meant to help businesses streamline operations, cut costs and boost productivity using AI.
Bell said it will also deploy Cohere's North platform internally, enabling employees to build and manage AI agents built on proprietary Bell data to drive efficiencies across the organization.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)
Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press
