BCE Inc.

BCE reported Q2 revenue of 1.5% year-over-year growth, adjusted EBITDA up 1%, adjusted EBITDA margin essentially flat at 43.8%, and adjusted EPS of $0.65, up $0.02 year-over-year. Free cash flow was over $1 billion in the quarter, though down year-over-year because CapEx increased by $317 million. Net debt leverage improved to approximately 3.7x, and BCE said it is reconfirming all 2026 financial guidance targets and remains on track for a 3.5x leverage target by the end of 2027. On the operating side, postpaid churn improved 4 basis points to 1.02%, Canada FTTH net adds were 45,271, Ziply residential net adds were 9,600, and Bell Media revenue grew 8.9% with Crave subscribers reaching 5.1 million.

Mirko Bibic framed the quarter as evidence BCE is executing the strategy laid out at Investor Day: disciplined core telecom execution, growth investment in fiber and AI infrastructure, and stronger digital media monetization. He emphasized better wireless pricing, the lowest postpaid churn in 3 years, strong fiber wins where BCE has network reach, and progress from Bell AI Fabric and Bell Media. His tone was confident and repeated that BCE is doing “exactly” what it said it would do.

Curtis Millen highlighted the financial bridge: revenue up 1.5%, adjusted EBITDA up 1%, margin stable at 43.8%, adjusted EPS at $0.65, and free cash flow over $1 billion. He noted CapEx was higher by $317 million because of Ziply’s U.S. fiber build and Bell AI Fabric, while Canadian telco CapEx declined year-over-year. He also said BCE ended Q2 with $4.6 billion of available liquidity, had about $4.9 billion of pension solvency surplus, received its first tenant payment on Saskatchewan, and took debt actions totaling $2.5 billion in June to support deleveraging.

Analysts focused on three main issues: the timing of Saskatchewan AI Fabric CapEx, whether Ziply’s build ramp will translate into revenue growth, and the outlook for wireless ARPU and pricing. Management said Saskatchewan timing has not changed operationally; CapEx is simply being recorded later as cash is spent, and the project remains on track. On Ziply, they said the company is now in a growth-phase build-out, permit submissions are up more than fourfold from April to June, and where fiber exists, subscriber gains are tracking the business case; on wireless, they said pricing has improved, the market has normalized over recent weeks, and net adds were helped by an enterprise contract but were otherwise in line with peers.