BCE-led group on verge of buying Q9 Networks-paper

June 1 (Reuters) - Canada's biggest telecommunications company, BCE Inc, leads a consortium of buyers on the verge of buying Internet company Q9 Networks Inc in a deal worth at least $1 billion, The Globe and Mail reported on Friday.

Toronto-based Q9 is one of Canada's largest outsourced data centre operators and is attractive to BCE as it moves into cloud-computing services, the newspaper said.

BCE is teaming up with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan along with Madison Dearborn Partners LLC and Providence Equity Partners LLC to buy the company, the report said.

Bidding on Q9 closed last week, The Globe and Mail reported.

Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp were also potential buyers, the agency said.

No representative of BCE was available for comment outside regular business hours. (Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Gary Hill)