BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mirko Bibic: Yes. So, on that, we have been €“ I have tried to consistently articulate where we were going with this, right. Starting in February 2021, we said we are going to start elevating CapEx to accelerate fiber and 5G build, and we are doing that. We said 2022 was going to be the peak year, and you can see that $5.1 billion spent in 2022 is $300 million higher than the guidance we are giving you for 2023. So, we did say that each year after 2022 CapEx would start to glide down for €“ €˜23 lower than €˜22, €˜24 lower than €˜23, etcetera, until we get to the end of 2025. And then you will €“ you should expect CapEx to get closer to what you were used to seeing from us in terms of capital intensity ratio prior to COVID. 650,000, the reason we dropped CapEx by $300 million from €˜23 to €˜22 is because we are going from 854,000 locations passed on fiber to 650,000, and that’s the bulk of the reason for the decline.

Stephanie Price: Okay. Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. Following question is from Jérôme Dubreuil from Desjardins. Please go ahead.

Jérôme Dubreuil: Hi. Thanks. Thanks for taking my question. Can you talk a bit about 5G plus? We have in mind that maybe this could mean a bit of dilution for the 5G brand overall, but at the same time I understand you want to maintain a differentiation. And then the second one, I think it’s fair to say that you have been using promotions in a different way than in the past recently, would you say that it’s a new way of doing business overall, or this is more something that is done to rapidly ramp up your market share on newly deployed fiber? Thank you.

Mirko Bibic: I will take the fiber question first. We €“ actually, on the fiber €“ look, what we are doing here is we €“ like I said, we spend €“ we are spending billions of dollars to build the best networks, and we have an undeniable structural product superiority advantage. So, the telco network traditionally was structurally disadvantaged from a technology point of view, with copper in years past. Now, the telco advantage is structurally €“ there is a structural telco advantage with fiber. So, you have a structural technology advantage, you have product superiority and differentiation, and you spend billions of dollars to get that. The next step is to load the network and we are taking share. And frankly, we are resetting the benchmark for what consumers believe broadband should be.

That’s a key thing. It’s a competitive differentiator that’s going to last for a few years, in my view, resetting the benchmark for what consumers believe broadband should be. If you look at our sales in Q4, 70% of our Internet activations on fiber, we are on speeds at a gig or above. And 38% of our fiber Internet base is now in speed of a gig and above. So, we are loading the network, and we are shielding our customer base by resetting that broadband benchmark. And it’s a potent combination, right. You have fiber with symmetrical upload and download speeds that competitors can’t match, a gigabit modem with WiFi 6E, and we have a new Android powered TV service, basically the new evolution of 5TV, which is pretty powerful. On wireless and on 5G, we are just kind of €“ I am really pleased that industry-wide, actually, the 5G pricing structure has remained intact where we were €“ we have delineated, there is clear demarcation between 5G and 5G plus and 4G and other services with the pricing that comes with it.