Bell Canada/Mobility

Parent Company: BCE, Inc.

Brand Value: $13,318 million

Headquarter City: Montreal

Industry: Telecom providers

Year Formed: 1880

The inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell was Scottish-born but did much of the work for the invention of the telephone at his home in Brantford, Ontario. After patenting the invention—a saga in its own right—he created the Bell System, of which Bell Canada was part. The subsequent, extremely complex history of expansion reflects Canada’s diverse geography, but its parent company today is Canada’s largest communications company, offering phone, mobile, fiber, and Internet services across the country. It is currently expanding its fiber network rapidly with annual investments of $4 billion. On its softer side, Bell is known for Bell Let’s Talk, a wide-ranging effort to bring awareness, acceptance, and treatment of people suffering with mental illness.