Google LLC’s cloud customer acquisition spree continued apace today as the company announced a strategic partnership with BCE Inc., better known as Bell Canada, to power its ongoing digital transformation and enhance its network and information technology infrastructure.

Google said the multiyear partnership will pair its expertise in multicloud, data analytics and artificial intelligence with Bell’s leadership in 5G networks to deliver what it terms superior experiences to customers across Canada.

The partnership will see Bell work with Google Cloud on a number of initiatives, the most important being to shift more critical workloads to the cloud. Google said that by moving critical apps from on-premises servers to Google Cloud, Bell will “drive greater operational efficiencies” and ensure those apps perform better.

Bell also wants to pair its nascent 5G network with Google’s Anthos hybrid application development platform, which is used to build apps that can run across any cloud. That will enable Bell to deliver a more consistent customer experience, Google said, with enhanced flexibility and the ability to scale up according to customer demand. Google added that the resulting higher speed and bandwidth capacity of the Bell 5G network will support applications that can “respond faster and handle greater volumes of data than previous generations of wireless technology.”

Google’s AI and big data services will come into play too, with Bell planning to tap into them to gain more insights through real-time network data analytics, so as to improve service assurance and network capacity planning.

Finally, Google said, it shares a common goal with Bell to run a more sustainable business. To that end, Google will assist Bell as it strives to hit its target of becoming entirely carbon neutral by 2025 at the latest.

Google Cloud Chief Executive Thomas Kurian said the acceleration of 5G networks has created new opportunities for companies such as Bell to create much richer customer experiences.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of big customers wins for Google Cloud. In May it announced an expanded partnership with PayPal Holdings Inc. plus a six-year cloud contract with Vodafone Group PLC. A month prior, the pizza delivery firm Papa John’s International Inc. signed a multiyear deal to use Google Cloud’s infrastructure.

Photo: Bell Canada/Facebook