Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the BCE Q4 2024 Results and 2025 Guidance Call. I would like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Thane Fotopoulos. Please go ahead, Mr. Fotopoulos.

Thank you, Matthew, and good morning to everyone on the call. Thank you for joining us. With me here today are Mirko Bibic, BCE’s President and CEO; and our CFO, Curtis Millen. You can find all of our Q4 disclosure documents, including the safe harbor notice concerning forward-looking statements for 2025 and our financial guidance targets for this year on the investor relations page of the bce.ca website, which we posted earlier this morning. We have a lot of material to get through on this call. However, before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to our safe harbor statement on Slide 2, reminding you that today's slide presentation and remarks made during the call will include forward-looking information and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties. Results could differ materially. We disclaim any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law. Please refer to our publicly filed documents for more details on assumptions and risks. With that out of the way, I'll turn the call over to Mirko.

Thank you, Thane, and good morning, everyone. Our financial results in Q4 and in 2024 demonstrate our disciplined execution in an ultra-competitive market as we took the necessary near-term actions to balance growth with profitability and to reduce costs to achieve our target objectives. In terms of overall consolidated financial performance, we achieved all our non-revenue targets for 2024. We were also within our revised revenue guidance objective notwithstanding sustained aggressive wireless pricing in Q4 and continued softness in the traditional media advertising market. Notably, our consolidated EBITDA margin increased 1.2 points to 43.4%, our highest annual margin performance in over 30 years. A few other select operating highlights for 2024, and I'll start with wireless. We delivered positive wireless service revenue growth despite the most pricing-intense market we've ever seen. This is a direct reflection of our focus on premium brand customer loadings and managing our promotional offers responsibly. In fact, all our new postpaid customer net activations in 2024 were on the main Bell brand, which should help improve ARPU going forward. We grew broadband Internet market share and drove higher multi-product penetration. This contributed to internet revenue growth of 3.3% and a 12% increase in households that subscribe to mobility and Internet service bundles where we have fiber. We now have 3 million residential Internet customers on our FTTH network, and that's up 10% in 2024. Our speed advantage and quality gap over cable show in these results, and that will continue to grow over time. Turning to media, we grew digital revenue 19% over last year, helping to offset the secular pressures in traditional media. Digital now comprises 42% of total media revenue and that's up from 35% in 2023. And this strategic shift to digital will be supported going forward with investments we made this past year, including the availability of Crave, TSN, and RDS content on Amazon Prime Video channels in Canada, the newly launched Crave, TSN, and RDS bundles, a new self-serve buying platform for advertisers looking to reach local audiences, Bell Media's multi-year extension of Crave's partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery for HBO and Max content, and the launch of 10 new fast channels. We also made further progress in advancing our BCE transformation agenda by continuing to leverage technology, automation, and simplification to drive meaningful CapEx and meaningful operating cost efficiencies. These transformation initiatives, together with savings realized from our workforce reduction program, delivered well over $200 million in cost savings in 2024. We're also seeing the benefit in terms of lowering CapEx, which declined by $684 million in 2024 to approximately $3.9 billion. And our momentum to advance our position as a tech services leader in the business enterprise space also continued to ramp up in 2024, with strong business solutions services revenue growth of 18%. In summary, our performance in 2024 reflects a focused company in the midst of transformation while at the same time driving day-to-day execution to serve our customers, grow subscribers profitably, and prudently manage costs. I'm now going to turn to Slide 4 of our presentation. Bell is an iconic company that's delivering on its purpose to advance how Canadians connect with each other in the world. At the same time, we're operating in an environment with the lowest pricing we've ever seen, as I mentioned, and with continued macroeconomic and regulatory pressures. This has resulted in revenue declines. In this context, it's incumbent on us to develop a business strategy that will generate revenue growth. And critical to the successful execution of the strategic plan is prudent management of our balance sheet and capital allocation priorities. We've spent considerable time with our shareholders, and we've heard their perspectives. So, let me outline very clearly our plan of action that will carry us for years to come that focuses on our customers and on creating value for shareholders. It plays to our strengths and prioritizes the following core elements: putting the customer first, offering the best Internet and wireless networks and services, business technology services leadership, and fourth, building a digital media and content powerhouse. There's a fifth pillar as well, and that's to continue to transform our business by leveraging technology, automation, and simplification in a way that's more agile, lower touch, and digital to drive even more meaningful CapEx and operating cost efficiencies than we've already delivered. I'll now go through each element of the plan. Let's go to Slide 5. As you can see, it begins and ends with the customer. Customers are our top priority. They're looking to access faster, easier experiences on their terms. We strive to make it easy for our customers to do business with us, whether that's doing what we say we'll do, getting you the right help fast, offering bill accuracy and transparency, making it right if we fall short, or providing the same information, whether you call us, visit us, or go to a store or online. This approach drives significant cost savings and a massively improved customer experience, which results in better customer satisfaction, lower churn, and ultimately revenue growth and higher customer lifetime value. Bell is the first Canadian telecom company to name a dedicated Chief Customer Experience Officer with a mandate to create best-in-class experiences for our customers in every encounter across all channels. The new role is responsible for the entire customer experience from end-to-end sales, installation, billing, support, managing changes to plans and packages, and technology changes. We're prioritizing digital interactions to create smoother and more seamless processes for customers, whether they want to purchase new services, change their plan, or simply get support with a technical or billing issue. And we'll continue to take advantage of the award-winning MyBell app, virtual repair, and self-install tools. But we know that everyone has a different level of comfort with technology. So we'll always provide options to those who prefer to speak to a customer service agent on the phone. Now let's go to Slide 6. As I said, our plan is to create sustained revenue growth that will benefit customers and investors now and well into the future. Our broadband Internet and wireless networks are the foundation of our business. Fiber is the future. It's the winning strategy, offering the fastest Internet technology and providing a more durable alternative to copper, cable, or fixed wireless. We've been transforming ourselves into a fiber-first company, and that is going to continue, and our fiber growth will be supercharged with the acquisition of Ziply Fiber, the largest broadband and fiber net provider in the US Pacific Northwest. This strategic acquisition will grow BCE's position as North America's third largest fiber Internet provider. By year-end 2028, we expect to have approximately 12 million fiber passings in North America. This will accelerate subscriber revenue and EBITDA growth for Bell, generating long-term value for our customers and shareholders. And as we announced previously, we intend to finance the Ziply Fiber deal largely with the net proceeds from the pending sale of MLSE. This is a very strategic redeployment of capital into our core business and a clear indication that we will act on compelling opportunities to monetize non-core assets. Next, we have wireless. It's a tough environment right now in Canada as the industry is going through a period of unprecedented price competition. But as that stabilizes and as we continue to focus on costs and operational simplification, wireless will remain a key growth vector. We're going to continue to focus on value accretion, delivering better quality margin-accretive subscriber loadings on our main Bell brand and increasing service bundle penetration in multiline sales while managing pricing and churn. The third key area of focus to generate revenue growth is technology solutions leadership in enterprise. We've set an ambitious goal to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Our enterprise customers are transforming their businesses, and they want our help. Bell created a leading IT services and cybersecurity business accelerated by the acquisitions of FX Innovation, HGC Technologies, Stratejm, and CloudKettle. We're going to deliver among the best technology solutions in end-to-end cloud, IT, workflow automation, and security, leveraging our strong partnerships with AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Palo Alto, and others that are complementary to those acquisitions and important to our success going forward. This supports our goal to become the IT systems integrator and managed services provider of choice to key industry verticals. The fourth big opportunity is continuing Bell Media's momentum and pivoting from a traditional broadcaster to a digital media and content powerhouse. That journey is well underway with 42% of our media revenue now coming from digital sources. That's up from just 17% in 2020. And here's something I haven't shared with you before. About half of that $1.3 billion in annual revenue is new digital revenue from products, including direct-to-consumer streaming, Crave with ads, connected TV, and other ad-supported streaming options such as fast channels. Notably, the other half of our digital revenue comes from advertisers buying ads on our traditional platforms and who use Bell Media's digitally enabled sales tools to optimize their ad campaigns. Bell first-party data helps optimize advertising placement on our traditional channels, and Bell Analytics measures the success of that advertising. Importantly, this allows us to protect a large portion of our traditional revenue because of the customer experience and value derived from our digital tools. The fifth key pillar is outlined on Slide 7, sorry, of our presentation. As I mentioned, our execution will continue to be supported by our ongoing business transformation from a traditional telco to a tech company. And what I really mean by that is modernizing and simplifying how we do business and how we operate. Our goal is to generate $1 billion in cost savings by 2028, if not sooner. We have a number of focused initiatives underway, including consolidating our consumer order and billing systems, automating manual back-office functions, deploying cloud-based workflow management and CRM platforms, deploying a cloud-based TV service, prioritizing digital interactions, enabling more self-install, and, of course, migrating customers from copper to fiber, so we can decommission copper. We started this business transformation in 2022. And at the end of 2024, we were halfway towards our stated goal. I'll now turn to Slide 8 and address our balance sheet management and capital allocation strategy. Our approach to capital allocation is to balance long-term investment to generate growth while strengthening the balance sheet and optimizing our cost of capital. We remain focused on maintaining investment-grade credit ratings for our senior debt and lowering our leverage ratio closer to our target policy of three times adjusted EBITDA. Regarding our dividend, we recognize that we have an elevated payout ratio that is outside our policy range. That's reflected in BCE's share price and dividend yield, which we are disappointed with. BCE's dividend and dividend policy will continue to be reviewed by the Board, taking into consideration the competitive macroeconomic and regulatory environments, as well as the progress being made on the initiatives being discussed today. I also want to make clear that the discounted DRP, the DRIP is in place for now. As opportunities arise to monetize non-core assets, access the hybrid debt market, and establish more capital-efficient ways to fund our US fiber build, all of which would drive a lower cost of capital, then we would look to turn off the DRIP program. In terms of capital investment, we continue to lower CapEx and capital intensity while continuing to invest significantly in our business just as we said we would back in 2021 when we first announced our accelerated CapEx program. Last February, we said that our plan was to reduce CapEx by more than $1 billion over the 2024, 2025 timeframe. In fact, we're ahead of plan having achieved nearly 70% of that objective by the end of 2024. However, because of the CRTC's rejection on Monday of a Governor and Council request to reconsider its November 2023 decision, that provided TELUS and other large carriers temporary wholesale tariff access to our FTTH network, we are cutting CapEx by more than we anticipated would be the case for 2025, and with that, our capital intensity ratio will be approximately 14% in 2025. This reduction is clearly greater than what we would have done otherwise. Consequently, we will not be delivering our fiber build-out target of 8.3 million homes by the end of this year. So what originally began as a $9 million deployment plan in 2021 will now be less than $8.3 million. This decrease in our fiber build-out is a direct result of the CRTC's refusal to ban TELUS and other large carriers from reselling the FTTP network we've built. We will revisit our build-out plan if the CRTC reverses its decision. Our position on this issue has been stated many times. The CRTC's decision is, in our view, misguided as it goes against its long-standing facilities-based competition policies, which have clearly encouraged private investment. These policies have enabled our significant network investments that brought fiber to millions of homes and businesses for the benefit of Canadians. Post-2025, BCE's capital intensity ratio, including Ziply Fiber, is projected to be at most 16.5%, while Bell's standalone capital intensity is projected to drop below 14%. Regarding Ziply Fiber, that acquisition allows us to move capital to an asset that will drive significant growth in our core fiber business in a leverage-neutral manner. We forecast very compelling IRRs for the targeted 3.3 million homes to be passed by Ziply Fiber by the end of 2028. We would review other potential opportunities to grow that fiber footprint but only with a build-out structure that would bring third-party capital to invest alongside Bell, effectively reducing BCE's funding requirements. Turning to debt, we appreciate that many shareholders would like us to focus on deleveraging. We're carefully reviewing our non-core assets, and we'll continue to capitalize on opportunities to monetize them where it makes financial and strategic sense. This review process has already resulted in the planned divestitures of Northwestel and MLSE. Additional non-core assets have been identified, and any proceeds from their sale are expected to be used to strengthen our balance sheet, improve our leverage ratio, and optimize our cost of capital. Between Northwestel, MLSE, and potential other non-core asset divestitures, we see up to $7 billion being generated. In addition, there's a significant amount of untapped value that exists in our telecom infrastructure, and we're assessing the best ways to surface that value. Financial advisors have been retained to assist in this regard given the importance of such potential transactions. In conclusion, the strategic and operational roadmap I've shared in detail today will guide our actions for 2025 and beyond. To quickly recap and summarize the main elements of that roadmap, here's what we're going to do: put the customer first in our decisions, continue to execute in a disciplined manner in Canada, focusing on margin-accretive subscriber growth using our fiber and 5G wireless network advantages, work towards building a $1 billion plus revenue technology services business, rapidly accelerate Bell Media's digital revenue mix, generate $500 million in further transformation savings to reach $1 billion by 2028, consider divesting up to $7 billion in non-core assets, inclusive of our pending sales of Northwestel and MLSE, and optimize our cost of capital as we continue to focus on maintaining investment-grade credit ratings for our senior debt. We will share our progress on these various elements with the investment community transparently and regularly. And before I hand it over to Curtis for a review of our Q4 operating results and financial guidance targets for 2025, let me conclude with a couple of thank yous. First, to the entire Bell team for your perseverance, dedication, and resourcefulness in a challenging environment, and second, to Thane, as this is his last analyst call after many years of outstanding service to our company, which we greatly appreciate. And with that, Curtis, over to you.

Great. Thank you, Mirko, and good morning, everyone. I will begin on Slide 10 with BCE's consolidated financial results. Adjusted EBITDA was up 1.5%, which drove a 90-point margin improvement to 40.6%. As expected, total revenue was down 0.8%, reflecting the flow-through impact of sustained competitive pricing pressures over the past year and ongoing declines in legacy voice, data, and satellite TV services. Both Q4 net earnings and adjusted EPS were up over last year, reflecting higher EBITDA and some noncash mark-to-market gains on FX hedges and options. CapEx was down $66 million in Q4, bringing total CapEx savings to $684 million this year, which was, as Mirko commented, well ahead of our plan to reduce capital investment by at least $500 million in 2024. Lastly, Q4 free cash flow was in line with our quarterly forecast, reflecting higher interest paid as well as the timing of cash tax installment payments and working capital. Turning to Bell CTS on Slide 11. Postpaid net adds of 56,550 were down versus a very strong Q4 last year. Consistent with our focus on margin-accretive subscriber acquisition, all new customers were on the main Bell brand. While postpaid churn was up and remains higher than we'd like, it did represent a fourth straight quarter of deceleration in the year-over-year rate of increase. Mobile phone ARPU was down 2.7%, and this is a notable improvement versus the 3.4% decline in Q3. In Internet, we delivered over 34,000 total new net retail subscribers. We continue to capture the majority of new growth in our markets because of fiber, even as industry growth is slowing due to high broadband penetration, fewer newcomers, and less new footprint expansion. In TV, we lost 444 net IPTV subscribers in Q4 compared to a net gain of 23,537 a year due to lower Internet volumes and fewer Fibe TV app activations, which can vary quarter-to-quarter. Moving to Bell CTS financials. Total revenue decreased 1.1%, a sequential improvement from the negative 3.3% in Q3. Wireless service revenue was down 1.5%. We expect the rate of decline will improve going forward as ARPU improves, however, the industry will be fueling the effects of the last 18 months of competitive pricing on their service revenue for a while longer. Internet revenue was up 3.4%, a solid result showing we're striking a balance between market growth and disciplined pricing. We also saw continued business solution strength, where revenue grew 14% over last year. This was driven by higher sales of technology services as well as acquisitions made over the past year. When excluding the impact of those acquisitions, business solutions revenue still grew a healthy 6% organically. On the product side, overall revenue was up in Q4, marked a reversal from prior quarters in 2024. This was mainly the result of higher sales of land mobile radio systems to large enterprise customers in the government sector. Lastly, Bell CTS EBITDA was positive, growing 0.7% to yield a strong 42.9% margin. That's an increase of 80 points over last year, driven by our continued focus on cost management as evidenced by a 2.4% decrease in operating cost per quarter. Over to Bell Media on Slide 12. Continued digital momentum and good overall financial performance were marked by a third consecutive quarter of revenue and EBITDA growth. Digital revenues were up 6%, mainly on the back of strong Crave DTC streaming growth, which drove an 18% increase in Crave subscribers to more than 3.6 million subscribers. On the strength of our digital strategy and the contribution of OUTEDGE Media, total advertising revenue increased for a fourth consecutive quarter. The Bell Media team also did a great job managing operating costs, which contributed to EBITDA growth of 14.2% and a 2.3-point increase in margin to 20.3%. That does it for quarterly results. I'll now turn to our 2025 financial outlook starting with revenue and EBITDA on Slide 14. Our consolidated revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025 reflects the latest economic forecasts and industry outlooks. There also remains continued regulatory uncertainty as a result of this week's CRTC decision. The competitive pricing environment has created flow-through revenue pressure in our Bell CTS segment for 2025. A sustained improvement in wireless and broadband Internet pricing will be key in our ability to deliver positive consolidated revenue growth this year. We also expect restrained enterprise customer spending on traditional network products and services and a continued market shift by wireless customers to BYOD mobile phone transactions. Additionally, we estimate a revenue loss in the range of $125 million in 2025, following a $260 million elimination last year due to the timing of the source store closures and transition of Best Buy Express in 2024. As this revenue is largely consumer electronics related, the impact on EBITDA will not be material given low margins for such products. While declines in legacy voice and data revenues will continue to weigh on Bell CTS EBITDA, our fiber, 5G wireless, and B2B solutions business continue to present attractive growth opportunities. Underpinning this expectation is our continued focus on premium mobile phone subscribers as we lean on our 5G network leadership and ongoing market expansion driven by population growth and our progress in the newcomer market, multiple device penetration gains, and multi-product bundling with Internet and Bell Media content. In our wireline B2B operations, our objective is to build on the momentum from 2024 to be the best systems integrator and managed services provider for our customers while also leveraging our broadband fiber footprint to grow share in SMB. At Bell Media, we expect to deliver higher revenue; this reflects continued digital advertising and D2C streaming growth as well as the contribution of OUTEDGE Media, which are expected to outpace declines in traditional media and favorable retroactive subscriber revenue adjustments in 2024. We also anticipate absorbing higher year-over-year content costs. Given these segment outlooks, and consistent with 2024 results, we're setting our 2025 guidance growth ranges at minus 3% to positive 1% for total revenue and minus 2% to positive 2% for adjusted EBITDA. We also anticipate a higher year-over-year margin supported by further cost savings from the transformation initiatives that Mirko outlined earlier. And I will qualify that our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges are unaffected by the pending divestitures of Northwestel and exclude the favorable impact of Ziply Fiber. That acquisition is only expected to close in the second half of this year, at which time we will update our financial guidance targets as required. Over to Slide 15 for a summary of our adjusted EPS outlook, which we project to be 8% to 13% lower compared to 2024. This year-over-year decline can be attributed mainly to the same factors as last year, namely a year-over-year step-up in interest expense, higher depreciation and amortization expense, consistent with ongoing, but reduced spending in our broadband networks, and lower gains on the sale of real estate related to our multi-year consolidation and conversion program. Additionally, for 2025, we're forecasting tax adjustments to be around $0.03 per share less than last year, and a higher average number of common shares outstanding because of the discounted DRIPs. Turning to Slide 16. Free cash flow is projected to increase by 11% to 19% in 2025. This marks a return to growth driven by lower CapEx and an improved working capital position, partly offset by higher interest paid. As Mirko stated, given this week's CRTC decision, we are now currently budgeting approximately $3.4 billion in CapEx for 2025, which is $500 million lower than last year. Our free cash flow outlook for 2025 also reflects stable to slightly lower cash taxes compared to last year, a relatively unchanged working capital position, and cash pension funding that remains essentially unchanged as we continue to benefit from a full contribution holiday given the strong solvency position of our defined benefit plans. Severance payments are also anticipated to be relatively the same as 2024 at around $300 million, which remains higher than run rate. But given that a portion of employee departures related to the workforce restructuring initiative we announced last February were only completed in Q4 with associated one-time payments to be made in Q1 of this year. Turning to Slide 17. I want to take a moment to drill down on our expectations for capital intensity over the next several years, both for standalone Bell and on a combined pro forma basis with Ziply Fiber included, given that CapEx is such a critical free cash flow driver. Bell's standalone CapEx spending going forward is now on a declining path given the planned slowdown of our fiber build in Canada, as well as efficiencies from significant prior investments in digital transformation initiatives. As a result, we can operate Bell at a very efficient capital intensity ratio of approximately 14% this year and below 14% beyond 2025. As for Ziply Fiber, they are currently accelerating their fiber build-out like Bell did back in the '21 to '23 timeframe. Therefore, they will be at a peak CapEx spending over the next few years, which will increase BCE's capital intensity ratio more than on a standalone basis. Ziply Fiber's base case in the footprint fiber build-out to approximately 3.3 million locations by the end of 2028 can be fully executed at a pro forma combined company capital intensity level of around 16.5% during which time they are projected to generate double-digit EBITDA growth annually. Turning to Slide 18. We as we begin the year, we have access to $4.5 billion of liquidity, which has been enhanced with a $500 million increase in our committed credit facilities to $4 billion, and a balance sheet with a sizable pension solvency surplus totaling $3.7 billion. All this provides us with the financial flexibility to execute our business plan for 2025. Our net debt leverage ratio at the end of 2024 was approximately 3.8 times adjusted EBITDA. Importantly, the acquisition funding for Ziply Fiber is leverage neutral and has been structured to maintain our senior debt credit ratings at investment grade. We're keenly focused on reducing our leverage ratio, which is projected to begin decreasing this year as we capitalize on opportunities to monetize non-core assets and use the sale proceeds to strengthen our balance sheet and optimize our cost of capital. Furthermore, all of our $2.1 billion of public debt maturities in 2025 have been largely pre-financed, and the Ziply Fiber transaction is being fully funded with the net sale proceeds from MLSE together with cash generated from the discounted DRIP. I'm pleased to report that the initial participation rate has been strong with a 34% enrollment rate for the Q4 common dividend payment in January, which resulted in $308 million of cash being obtained. To conclude on Slide 11, the financial guidance targets we are providing today for 2025 are prudent, given continued competitive pricing pressures and economic and regulatory uncertainty, as we focus on the key strategic priorities that Mirko outlined to drive future growth and undertake a proactive review of BCE's asset portfolio to unlock value. We remain confident in our proven consistent operational execution and cost discipline to deliver under any circumstances. I will now turn the call back over to Thane and the operator to begin Q&A.

Thanks, Curtis. So given the volume of information we presented this morning, I'm sensitive to the time we have left. So I'd ask you to please limit yourselves to one question and a brief follow-up, so that we can get to everybody in the queue. With that, Matthew, we're ready to take our first question.

Thank you. The first question is from Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Great. Thank you for taking my question. And please let me join you Mirko with thanking Thane for his help over the years. Thane, you will be greatly missed. A quick question, Mirko, on your prepared remarks. You mentioned in the context of your US fiber footprint expansion, the build-out structures that could include third-party capital. Can you elaborate a little bit on what that means in terms of additional CapEx or investments that BCE is expected to deploy in the US and what could be deployed by third-party capital? And you also referred to non-core asset sales. Does that include Bell Media? And finally, on the dividend, in your November press release, you indicated that the dividend was set until the end of '25. However, in today's press release, you indicate that the dividend could be reassessed if economic conditions change. Does this mean the dividend could be changed even before the end of '25 if conditions change? Thank you.

Thank you, Maher. Let me address your questions. Regarding the non-core assets at Bell Media, I can keep it straightforward. In my earlier comments, I outlined four main elements of our strategic roadmap for revenue growth, one of which is to establish a digital media and content powerhouse. That addresses your question about Bell Media, as the digital pivot is a crucial growth strategy for us. Concerning the US fiber build, our current priority is to complete the acquisition of Ziply Fiber. As I have mentioned previously, this transaction will reallocate capital to an asset that is expected to drive substantial growth in our core fiber business, which focuses on best networks and fiber-first companies. We will pursue this in a leverage-neutral way. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities to expand the Ziply Fiber footprint, including structuring build-outs that attract third-party capital to lessen our funding needs. While I won't provide specific details, it’s worth noting that we have received several inquiries about potential collaboration, highlighting the value and growth potential of the Ziply Fiber asset, as well as the interest from third parties to partner with Bell. Regarding dividends, our approach to capital allocation will prioritize long-term growth while also strengthening our balance sheet and optimizing capital costs to provide value to shareholders. As I mentioned earlier, our current dividend payout ratio is higher than we like and outside our policy range. We are not satisfied with the current share price, so the BCE Board will continuously review the dividend and policy while considering the competitive landscape, macroeconomic factors, regulatory conditions, and our progress on strategic initiatives. To summarize, we are committed to executing our strategy across the key areas I discussed, maintaining our investment-grade rating, reducing leverage, and optimizing capital costs.

Thank you, Mirko.

Thank you. Our next question is from Drew McReynolds from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thanks very much. Good morning. Maybe I'll just also echo congrats, Thane, and then we'll definitely miss you. So, first question, just on leverage. You ended the year at 3.8 times. And, Mirko, in your prepared remarks, obviously pretty extensive kind of blueprint that you outlined. Just to give you additional financial flexibility, like, where would you like to see leverage by the end of 2025 and beyond 2025? What does that kind of pace and timeline look like? And related to that, can you talk to your expectation of closing additional non-core assets or some of the infrastructure options you may have in 2025, and then I'll have a follow-up after that. Thank you.

Hi, Drew, thanks for the question. It's Curtis. So, I’d say we're focused on maintaining our strong investment-grade credit rating, and we are focused on reducing our net leverage ratio, as you say. So, continued focus on driving free cash flow growth, the asset review process, as Mirko mentioned, it's resulted in the planned divestitures of MLSE and Northwestel, and there are a number of other incremental initiatives on the go, each of which would actually help strengthen our balance sheet, optimize the cost of capital, and reduce leverage. Don't have more details in terms of those initiatives; when they're ready to be announced, we will do so. And of course, we'll keep everyone informed on a transparent manner as we progress.

Okay. I have a follow-up regarding the revenue growth guidance range of negative 3% to positive 1%. I believe I heard Curtis mention that achieving the positive 1% is contingent on a favorable competitive environment. More generally, you've pointed out macroeconomic, regulatory, and competitive factors. Regarding the macro aspect, there seems to be a potential tariff situation for Canada that remains uncertain. What were your assumptions surrounding that? Secondly, concerning regulatory issues, is it true that the ultimate framework surrounding the TPIA with its restrictions is still pending? This appears to be crucial for the revenue growth guidance range. To put it another way, if we have favorable macro, regulatory, and competitive outcomes, do you feel confident about achieving growth from flat to positive 1% instead of the lower end of the range? Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for the question, Drew. And look, I think on the tariff side of the world, it's a little early to know what the actual impact would be. As of this date, there are no tariffs, so we'll obviously be looking at that closely. It shouldn't be a material impact, but again, let's wait for details and see how that plays out. In terms of regulatory, kind of a similar question. I mean, it's the status quo at this point, and unfortunately the CRTC kind of pushed the decision down the line. We don't think it's conducive to driving innovation and investment in Canada, especially in our networks, but again, we'll have to wait for a final decision. And then ultimately, as you know and as the market knows, I mean revenue growth is dependent on pricing in market, and right now it's a very competitive pricing environment. We've seen certain green shoots and improvements in certain areas over the last few weeks. But again, it's a matter of how long those pricing increases will be sustained.

I would add, quite frankly, we’re not in the business of building fiber for TELUS’s benefit, which is what the current CRTC policy is compelling us to do. It makes no sense that the CRTC is enforcing incumbent resale at a time when Canadian productivity is already falling behind, and we are discussing how to enhance the Canadian economy and improve productivity. I do not understand why a regulator would implement policies that discourage investment, jeopardize jobs, and threaten the development of essential infrastructure. This approach seems misguided, especially now. We know that Canada’s world-leading communications infrastructure was established based on a long-standing policy of facilities-based competition that has served this country well for many years.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from Sebastiano Petti from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking my question. I also want to extend my congratulations to Thane, who will be missed. I have a couple of follow-up questions regarding the macro outlook that relates to Drew's earlier question. Curtis, you mentioned some decision-making and implied enterprise spending in your prepared remarks. Have your discussions with large enterprises, small and medium businesses, and advertisers changed in any significant way over the past few months? Is there more predictability or uncertainty reflected in the guidance as we consider the macro outlook, in light of Mirko's recent comments as well? Additionally, regarding your US fiber strategy and its convergence and partnerships, bundling is essential in the Canadian telecom market, and it's becoming a significant theme in the US as well, particularly among the big three wireless carriers. As these wireless incumbents intensify their focus on fiber and bundling in the coming years, do you feel it's necessary to partner with a wireless operator or establish an MVNO to compete effectively in this converging US market, considering Ziply's scale compared to other recent announcements in the US telecom sector? Thank you.

Thank you. It's Mirko. I'll take the second one first. The structure, as you know, is different in the US, the industry structure, than it is in Canada, certainly at this point in time. And then I would point out, really important to point out, in the Pacific Northwest, it's a highly attractive, high-growth market. And Ziply Fiber’s footprint is basically either Ziply with its fiber or one cable company. So Ziply Fiber and its footprint isn't competing with integrated providers. And without the wireless offering at this point in time, the management team there has executed extremely well and continues to take significant and impressive subscriber growth, revenue growth, and EBITDA growth, and we expect that to continue especially as we proceed on its build-out plans in its current incumbent footprint. On the macro side of things, I think the best way to kind of address the larger macro question, Sebastiano, is can I link it back to the pillars of growth that I outlined? If you think about our best networks proposition and what we've delivered and what we continue to think we're going to deliver, we continue to take the majority of internet net ad growth in the market, and we expect that to continue in 2025. The percentage of customers we have on the higher speeds is impressive, and we can expect that to continue. Our multi-product penetration in Canada is continuing at pace. And you see that in our results and in our Internet revenue growth results. And our wireless loadings are all on the premium Bell brand, which is something that we focus on all the time. So, while the market isn't growing as fast in internet or wireless as it had before, it's still growing, and we're going to execute on these things as we have in the past. Again, to macro, go back to now media and digital media in particular, that's continuing, the pivot to digital is continuing at pace, and we expect that to continue quite strongly. On business, whether or not it's small, medium, or large, the big focus on business solutions, we got to be mindful of what the macro environment will bring to budgets of our enterprise customers, but our business solutions revenue is going to continue to grow. And of course, we've got to manage the overall environment, so cost will continue to be front and center. So, all these things are going really well. Now pricing, Curtis mentioned green shoots on market pricing, both on broadband and wireless. So, hopefully, the green shoots that we're seeing in the early days of 2025 sustain themselves through the entire year. I would hope so, particularly when you think about the tremendous value that the industry provides to consumers and enterprises, and particularly Bell. But those new pricing levels really do need to stick.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from Vince Valentini from TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. There's a lot of valuable information here, and it requires some unpacking. First, Thane, I want to wish you all the best. I must say, you are the best Investor Relations person I've encountered in my 30 years, so your absence will be greatly felt. Best wishes for your retirement. Now, to clarify the revenue guidance, Curtis, it seems you implied that reaching the higher end is feasible if the recent pricing changes hold. I just want to confirm if that's correct, or if you mean we need additional measures beyond what was announced in January regarding broadband price increases from nearly everyone. If those prices remain stable, is that sufficient to reach the higher end, or is more needed? I'll also add another question now to make sure Thane doesn't cut me off. Regarding the $7 billion target, I want to ensure I understand it correctly. You've already communicated $5.7 billion of the $7 billion from MLSE and Northwestel, which leaves $1.3 billion as new initiatives for this year. Is that how we should interpret the $7 billion target? Can you also clarify whether this involves selling non-core assets that you don’t need, or are you considering potential sale and leaseback transactions that could impact EBITDA? Essentially, is it a straightforward net $1.3 billion for debt repayment, or could there be offsets based on some of the deals you’re exploring? Thank you.

Hi Vince, it's Curtis, thanks for the questions. I'll address the second question first. You're correct that we're implying $1.3 billion from other asset sales, which I would describe as non-core. These are not intended to be sale leasebacks that would include a capital lease afterwards. There might be some EBITDA sales involved, but all of this will contribute to de-leveraging and enhancing the balance sheet. You're approaching it correctly. Regarding the first question about revenue and our ability to reach the high end, various factors impact our revenue performance. Higher pricing in the market, and if the recent price increases hold, will definitely help. If prices increase slightly more, it will benefit us even further. It's a bit early to identify a single factor, but market pricing is certainly a significant driver.

Very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from Aravinda Galappatthige from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I want to start by extending my best wishes to Thane. You've been a tremendous source of support and integrity during my time covering Bell. I have two questions: first, Mirko, you mentioned in your comments that regarding the US fiber expansion, you're open to third-party investments. Would you consider creating a separate entity that may not be under Bell's control or consolidation to keep it off balance sheet? I know that's a speculative question, but I’m interested in your general thoughts on it. Secondly, concerning your Internet revenue growth of 3.3%, we've noticed that number fluctuating between low and mid-single digits. Is it fair to say that moving forward, price increases will be the main factor keeping that growth in the mid-single-digit range given the competitive pressures on subscriber share? Thank you.

Regarding your second question about Internet revenue growth, pricing will be a crucial factor, especially since we continue to capture the majority of net ad growth. This trend will persist, making pricing a key driver. In response to your first question about potential structures in the US, I can only say that we are exploring opportunities to expand our fiber footprint, but we will only consider build-out structures that lessen our funding requirements. The main way to address your question at this time is that as we pursue this, we will stay focused on maintaining our investment grade ratings for senior debt. This is a key point I want to emphasize, along with our commitment to executing in the market to drive revenue growth, focusing on our investment grade rating, reducing leverage, as Curtis pointed out in response to Vince, and optimizing our cost of capital.

Okay. Thank you, Mirko.

Thank you. Our next question is from Jerome Dubreuil from Desjardins Securities. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Two on CapEx. Maybe you want to clarify the comments made on the decision with regards to the CRTC earlier this week. You said the reduction is related to the CRTC decision this week, but at the same time, basically they’re just punting the decision later this year. So, do you intend to increase CapEx again this year if the CRTC blocks incumbent resale of fiber? So that is question number one. And question number two is a bit more of a long-term CapEx neutral level. At the AT&T Investor Day, we saw them announce a way to get rid of expensive copper through more usage of fixed wireless, where there's no business case for fiber. Is this something that you would consider and that would have regulatory support in Canada and maybe if you can talk about the potential savings that this could bring longer term, just trying to figure out if there's ways to reduce CapEx further even if fiber builds come to a halt. Thanks.

For the first question, our capital expenditures guidance for the year remains as we discussed this morning. The regulatory decision will play a crucial role in determining how we distribute our capital within that guidance range. We're planning our CapEx budget, and our investment decisions for this year and the coming years will heavily depend on that regulatory outcome. This means we could either scale back or ramp up our fiber building efforts, but it will stay aligned with the intensity ratio we've set. However, based on this week's decision, it seems unlikely that we will meet the target of 8.3 million homes that we announced over a year ago. Now, I'll pass it over to Curtis for the second question.

Yes, the second question is a good one. There's not much clarity in the near term. However, long term, we agree that there is an overall benefit to reducing legacy technologies and networks. The transition is dependent on regulatory factors, so we don't have complete control over it. In the US, there's a bit more willingness to retire legacy networks and adopt newer technologies. Hopefully, that will be true here as well. I believe this could lead to significant efficiencies in maintenance costs as well as opportunities to sell copper and properties of central offices. You're on the right track, but it's hard to determine the timeline or scale at this moment. Ultimately, it will be a win for everyone in the end.

Thanks, and congrats, Thane, as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from David Barden from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking my question. It feels like a privilege to be here for the last chance we have to honor Thane. I understand I can ask one question and one follow-up, so thank you for everything, Thane. Mirko, could you clarify your statement about not pursuing your original fiber investment goal due to the regulatory environment? This seems like a stronger stance compared to last year's comments, suggesting that you view the Canadian fiber broadband sector as un-investable and would prefer to invest in the US instead. If the CRTC continues on this track, what negative outcomes do you foresee? We haven't discussed what those potential negative outcomes might entail. What are your concerns if TELUS begins reselling your fiber, and what prospects do you see for reselling fiber in other markets in the future? I would like to understand the scenario that is so concerning it is impacting your outlook on potential capital investments in the Canadian market. As a follow-up, are towers considered a non-core asset, and do you see opportunities to monetize them as you work on the balance sheet? Thank you.

On your second question, I want to emphasize what I mentioned earlier about the significant untapped value in our telecom infrastructure. We are exploring ways to realize that value, which is why we've engaged financial advisors for assistance. However, this effort will not be included in the $7 billion that was previously discussed. Regarding your first point, I want to clarify that the most sustainable competition comes from companies that invest in their own infrastructure. We prefer to compete based on networks we own. This captures the essence of your first question. We aim to build and compete against other well-capitalized firms that also establish their infrastructure, both in Canada and in the US where we see growth opportunities. Looking ahead, I want to make clear that we are not halting our construction efforts in Canada; however, we will not reach the $8.3 billion target, indicating a significant slowdown in our building pace. In greenfield areas, as new housing developments arise, we will evaluate opportunities that offer suitable returns for infrastructure investment. Therefore, we will be building at a much slower pace in Canada than we might have otherwise anticipated, focusing on the best allocation of our next incremental capital and fiber investment. This broader perspective extends to the comparison between brownfield areas in Canada with legacy copper, greenfield areas in Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. The fact we are discussing this highlights how inappropriate the recent CRTC decision was. I understand a final ruling is expected later this year, but the cabinet had requested a decision from the CRTC by this week, which has not been fulfilled.

Appreciate it, Mirko. Thank you.

Thank you. Next question.

Thank you. Our next question is from Patrick Ho from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Hello, good morning. Patrick Ho on the line from Morgan Stanley. Also want to echo my congrats to Thane. Thanks for all the help over the last few years. Just a couple of questions for me. Firstly, on the DRIP program, when exactly are you looking to turn this off? And are you guys targeting a specific payout ratio or leverage level or simply the closing of Ziply in order to decide to turn it off? And then I guess, secondly, just wanted to ask about your current backlog as it relates to wireless. How much of this has been repriced to reflect the current pricing environment right now? Thank you.

Thanks, Patrick. It's Curtis. I'll address the first one. So, look, as Mirko said a few times here, our intention is always to optimize cost of capital. So, we recognize that issuing equity at these levels is expensive. So, the DRIP is not something we intend to keep in place long term. There's not a specific date I can give you, but ultimately the balance sheet actions and benefits that we've talked about throughout this call, prepared remarks, and Q&A that we've outlined, obviously that's going to accelerate the turning off of that DRIP. And in terms of the backlog, our key priority is to get churned down. So customers that are with us, we want to have them stay with us. That's how I'd answer the backlog.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you. There are no further questions registered at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Fotopoulos.

Thank you, Matthew. So, I just want to take a quick second to say thank you to Mirko for his kind words and to all the analysts who have reached out to me in the past few months with their good wishes. And you've challenged me, as has the investment community. And I've been very privileged and honored to have been part of such a great company for the past 20 years and the industry for the past 27, well over 110 quarters. It's been an honor to be part of such an amazing company. I've witnessed the transformation of Bell from what it was to what it is now, and the best is yet to come, and we have the best team and leaders in place to do that, to take Bell to the next level. And I'll be watching from the sidelines very keenly. And thank you to everybody, and I wish everybody the best. On that, that said, as usual, Richard and I will be available throughout the day for any follow-up questions and clarifications. So, thank you again and have a great day.

Thank you for listening. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.