BCE (BCE) Q3 2026 Earnings Report

The call was predominantly positive, with management highlighting improved customer retention, stronger pricing quality, growth in enterprise AI solutions and media, continued fiber expansion, progress on Bell AI Fabric, the TowerCo monetization and balance-sheet discipline. The main cautions were lower margins, adjusted EPS and free cash flow, declining wireless ARPU and service revenue, ongoing Ziply build requirements, regulatory challenges and unresolved details around future AI capacity and Northwestel transactions.

Management reconfirmed all of its financial guidance targets for 2026, including approximately $5 billion of total capital expenditures in '26 and the $5.0 billion portfolio guidance, with Q4 expected to be a much heavier CapEx quarter; the commitment to 3.5x net debt leverage by the end of 2027 remains unchanged, the TowerCo deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, and the second Ziply acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Bell AI Fabric remains on track to be an over $500 million EBITDA business, with the first data hall expected to come online in the first half of 2027, the first hall expected by middle of next year and all of the halls up and running by the end of next year; the initial 300 megawatts in Saskatchewan is fully contracted, with up to 900 megawatts of additional capacity creating a potential path to 1.2 gigawatts, while the 2028 plan increased monetized capacity from 73 megawatts to 373 megawatts, including 335 megawatts contracted, and 900 megawatts of additional pipeline in Saskatchewan alone. Ziply’s 3 million footprint by the end of 2028 is still the plan, and management expects wireless service revenue and ARPU growth by mid-2027, perhaps even earlier if things go well; the plan also remains to generate $7 billion of proceeds from noncore divestitures.