BCE Tumbles to 12-Year Low After $3.6 Billion Ziply Deal (3)

BCE Inc. will pause dividend growth next year as it makes an unexpected push into the US with the purchase of an internet provider in the Pacific Northwest, a move that sent the company’s shares tumbling to a 12-year low.

Canada’s largest telecommunications company will pay C$5 billion ($3.6 billion) for Northwest Fiber LLC, which does business as Ziply Fiber and has 1.3 million locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, with plans to expand to more than 3 million in the next four years, according to a statement Monday.

The announcement comes less than two months after BCE ...