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

And so far, frankly, that’s held. And as I mentioned in my opening remarks, 41% of our subscriber base is on 5G devices. 5G customers continue to use more and spend more and there is room for growth there. And then I might add on both our wireless loadings and our market share gains on fiber, we are doing that despite some promotional intensity, we are doing that while maintaining margins stable, which is quite an accomplishment. And the reason we are able to do that, one of the big reasons is with the fiber scale, our cost structure comes down.

Jérôme Dubreuil: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Following question is from Tim Casey from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Tim Casey: Thanks Mirko. Can we follow-up on that discussion on your fiber leadership and talk about what you are seeing in the marketplace? And you have mentioned that your €“ you have the ability to match costs. I am just wondering how that plays out in the wireline market. And with respect to your €“ as you say, the competitive advantage you have with products. Could you just talk a little bit about the dynamics you are seeing in the marketplace there? Thanks.

Mirko Bibic: Yes. So, we are seeing €“ I mean essentially, the short story, Tim, is you see I mean you see the pretty €“ our loadings are quite strong, right. And we are at best TV results in 7 years on overall wireline, our consumer RGUs, best results in 2005. And best Internet, and that’s in 18 years. I think again, those €“ so when we talk about the fiber advantage, but they are just not idle words because you are seeing the results follow what we are seeing, right. And just to give you another data point, so we had 63,500 Internet nets or thereabouts, but we had 78,000 Internet nets and fiber territory. So, I mean I have been pretty transparent about this too. We do lose Internet customers where we don’t have fiber, we are gaining big share where we do have fiber.

And I think that’s the key thing. 80% of our target broadband build is done, we will be at 85% done. I have shared in my opening remarks, the vast footprint that we will have that has 3 gigabit or 8 gigabit speeds, like those are phenomenal speeds. And as we reset what the benchmark is for acceptable broadband and we reset the bar to a gig or above, that becomes a powerful competitive proposition.

Glen LeBlanc: Yes. And Tim and as you have heard us say time and time again, the gift that keeps on giving is fiber, not only does it allow us to deliver a superior product to our customers, a superior product over our competitors, but it’s a network that allows €“ it’s cheaper to operate. And it’s reducing our cost of operating, which €“ you see in our margins, despite the challenges I spoke about earlier, we are maintaining stable margins and a big part of that is the cost advantage that fiber gives us.

Tim Casey: Thank you.

Mirko Bibic: Thanks Tim.

Operator: Thank you. Following question is from Batya Levi from UBS. Please go ahead.

Batya Levi: Great. Thank you. As you look at your new reporting structure, do you anticipate more cost rationalization when you combine the wireline and wireless expense buckets, or has that already been aligned last year? And from here on, it will be more business as usual cost efficiencies? And you did mention some incremental spending this year. Is there a way to quantify them or the timing on when they will show up? Thank you.