Earnings Call Transcript - BCE Q4 2025

Operator, Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the BCE Q4 2025 Results and 2026 Guidance Call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Kris Somers. Please go ahead, Mr. Somers.

Kris Somers, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. My name is Kris Somers, Head of Investor Relations. And with me here today are Mirko Bibic, BCE's President and CEO; and Curtis Millen, our CFO. You can find all our Q4 disclosure documents, including our safe harbor notice concerning forward-looking statements on the Investor Relations page of the bce.ca website. Before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to our safe harbor statement on Slide 2 of the presentation, reminding you that today, 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.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Thanks, Kris, and good morning, everyone. I'm looking forward to walking through our results and outlook with you in a short moment. First, I want to take a moment to frame where we are. In 2025, we had a pivotal year for BCE. It was a year of deliberate change, where we strengthened the balance sheet, we sharpened our capital allocation discipline, and clearly defined our long-term strategy at Investor Day in October of 2025. And over the course of 2025, we aligned the organization around four strategic priorities that leverage our unique and differentiated assets across fiber, wireless, enterprise, and media to deliver the very best for our customers, and we set clear measurable targets for the next phase of growth. So that groundwork is now in place. The strategy is clear. The priorities are set, the company is aligned, and we've begun to execute against that plan. You could see that execution translate into momentum throughout 2025, including the fourth quarter, as we focused on improving customer experience, strengthening fiber and wireless network leadership in Canada, establishing a fiber growth platform in the U.S., accelerating momentum in enterprise and digital media, and positioning the business for sustainable free cash flow growth. And I'd like to start on Slide 3 of our deck with an overview of how we executed last year against those four strategic priorities. So putting the customer first, that remains foundational, and the results are tangible. Postpaid churn improved for the third consecutive quarter with a 17 basis point year-over-year improvement in Q4. Importantly, the magnitude of improvement accelerated throughout the year, demonstrating sustained momentum as our customer-first initiatives take hold. We made important progress in 2025 with the launch of differentiated wireless plan tiers that move beyond traditional data buckets. These plans give customers clearer choices based on the experience they value most, including network performance, video quality, roaming features, device financing, and bundled content. We expanded our lead in distribution with no-name mobile now available in all Maxi stores across Quebec, extending access to affordable contract-free wireless options powered by Bell's network. This reflects our customer-first focus on accessibility and choice across segments while maintaining disciplined brand positioning. We also advanced the customer experience in 2025 with the rollout of our AI-powered voice virtual assistant across Bell, Virgin Plus, and Lucky Mobile. This simplifies interactions at scale and improves service quality. Our customer-first focus is reflected in the latest CCTS report, which showed that Bell continues to have the lowest proportion of complaints among the three largest national carriers. While there's a lot more work to do, the progress made last year reinforces our focus on continued churn improvement and further gains in customer experience metrics such as NPS. In wireless, we continue to build momentum through 2025 with a clear improvement in our underlying ARPU trajectory and strong net new postpaid mobile phone additions on our main Bell brand, and that supports ARPU improvement going forward. We continue to take a disciplined approach to subscriber acquisition with a focus on quality and lifetime value rather than chasing volume. And you can see this in wireless service revenue, where the year-over-year rate of decline improved to just 0.2% in Q4 with consumer wireless service revenue stable in the quarter. Fiber continued to be a key growth driver last year with approximately 200,000 net new subscriber additions, including our U.S. operations. This contributed to Internet revenue growth of 8%. Where we have fiber, we continue to win through superior network performance, higher customer satisfaction, and stronger multiproduct penetration. The acquisition of Ziply Fiber marked a key milestone in our fiber growth strategy, giving us a strong platform for long-term growth in the rapidly expanding U.S. market. In 2025, Ziply's financial results reported in our Bell CTS U.S. segment were comfortably in line with the expectations we outlined at Investor Day. Since closing the acquisition, we've worked closely with the Ziply management team to refine and accelerate their fiber expansion plan. And with the Network FiberCo partnership now in place, the build has been reprioritized toward higher-growth markets with construction set to ramp meaningfully in the second half of 2026 and beyond. So this positions 2026 as an important build year for Ziply, putting us on the path toward our target of approximately 3 million fiber passings by the end of 2028 with a longer-term opportunity to reach up to 8 million locations in a capital-efficient manner. We also made continued progress on product intensity, driven by increased adoption of content subscriptions. With Crave adding more than 1 million subscribers in 2025, we're seeing clear momentum in the number of services per household. Our focus remains on growing the number of services per household through mobility, Internet, and content. We also launched hardware-free Fibe TV, delivering a full-service experience without the need for a set-top box and allowing customers to use devices they already own. This simplifies installation and ongoing service, reduces complexity, and supports higher product intensity while remaining highly scalable and capital efficient. Bell Pure Fibre and 5G wireless were once again recognized by Ookla as Canada's fastest networks with Bell Pure Fibre also recognized as the fastest Internet service in North America. This independent third-party validation reinforces the strength of our network leadership and customer value proposition. Now turning to Slide 4, and our next strategic priority, which is lead in enterprise with AI-powered solutions. In 2025, Bell Business Markets delivered relatively stable revenue and EBITDA performance, which really stands out in an environment where many enterprise telecom businesses continue to face pressure. This reflects the actions we've taken over the past 18 months or so to reshape our enterprise strategy. The three AI-powered solutions businesses we launched in 2025, Ateko, Bell Cyber, and Bell AI Fabric, were key contributors, collectively growing approximately 60% year-over-year to around $700 million in revenue. Each of these is scaling as planned, and each supports our goal of reaching $1.5 billion in AI-powered solutions revenue by 2028. Importantly, this represents largely net new revenue and EBITDA for Bell, which complements rather than replaces our core connectivity and communication services. We continue to strengthen these platforms, including Ateko's recent acquisition of SDK Tek Services, which took place in December of 2025. SDK Tek adds deep data engineering and analytics expertise, helping enterprises and governments organize and use their data effectively, and that's critical to deploy AI at scale. The acquisition improves our full stack AI solution set. Now turning to media. Our digital strategy continued to deliver in 2025 with digital revenues up 6% year-over-year and now representing 44% of total media revenue. And this performance was powered by Crave, which, as I noted earlier, had an outstanding year, ending with 4.6 million subscribers alongside continued growth in connected TV, Crave with ads and FAST channels. Our focus for Bell Media is to deliver consistent annual revenue and EBITDA growth, and we achieved that in 2025 as the business continues to shift toward higher-value digital and subscription revenue streams. We also made a significant transformation to the Crave platform, expanding the content library by more than 10,000 hours and integrating live programming from CTV and Noovo, news, select major sports and premium entertainment events, and an expanded kids' collection, all of this supported by meaningful user experience enhancements. Our focus on original content was another key driver in 2025. Early in the year, Empathie became a major French language success in Canada and gained strong traction in France. More recently, Heated Rivalry has emerged as a global sensation, generating significant media attention and cultural impact and underscoring the strength of our investment in premium Canadian storytelling. From a strategic standpoint, our focus is on delivering premium content to customers through digital platforms and extending its value by monetizing that content more effectively across the full value chain. And looking ahead, Bell Media is off to a strong start in 2026. NFL viewership through the playoffs has been very encouraging, and we're excited about the FIFA World Cup this summer, which presents a significant audience and monetization opportunity. So taken together, Bell Media is contributing meaningfully to growth, churn reduction, and customer lifetime value across the Bell ecosystem. Overall, therefore, across all four priorities, 2025 was about building momentum. So now, I'll turn to Slide 5. I want to touch briefly on capital allocation because this, too, has been a consistent focus for us over the past year. If you go back to our February 2025 call, pretty much exactly a year ago, we were very clear about what we intended to do and that simplify the business, strengthen the balance sheet, focus capital on higher return opportunities, and return capital to shareholders through a sustainable dividend. And we reinforced that roadmap at Investor Day in October of 2025, providing greater transparency around our capital allocation priorities, leverage targets, and investment framework. The roadmap has not changed. Turning to Slide 6. This highlights the early progress we're making against the three-year targets we laid out at Investor Day. These are some of the metrics we'll use to measure progress. They include churn, Bell-branded loadings, product intensity, Internet market share, U.S. fiber expansion, AI-powered solutions growth, and Crave subscriber and digital mix at Bell Media. This scorecard is how we intend to manage the company and how we expect to be measured. We're still early in the execution phase, and we're encouraged by the momentum we're seeing. Taken together, these indicators show that the strategy is translating into disciplined execution. 2025 set the foundation, and in 2026, the dedicated Bell team will continue to execute our way to the 2028 targets with a clear focus on delivering sustainable returns for our shareholders. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Curtis, and Curtis will walk you through our Q4 operating results and the 2026 financial guidance. Thanks for your attention, everyone.

Curtis Millen, CFO

Thank you, Mirko, and good morning, everyone. Our strong fourth quarter and full-year 2025 financial results demonstrate the stability of our business and our ability to deliver on the strategic and financial commitments we outlined over the past year, including at Investor Day. On a consolidated basis, we achieved all of our 2025 financial guidance targets, reflecting disciplined execution across the organization. In 2025, service revenue increased 0.6% for the year, supported by contributions from Ziply Fiber and continued resilience in our core businesses. Adjusted EBITDA increased 0.7%, driving a 20 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin to 43.6%, the strongest annual margin result we've delivered in more than 30 years. Adjusted EPS declined 7.9% in '25, consistent with our guidance and primarily reflecting higher depreciation and amortization from ongoing network investment, along with increased interest expense. Capital expenditures declined by $197 million to $3.7 billion, resulting in a capital intensity of 15.1%, in line with guidance and consistent with our longer-term objective to reduce capital intensity. We delivered a 10% increase in free cash flow to $3.2 billion toward the upper end of our guidance range, driven by higher EBITDA, lower CapEx, and improved working capital. Free cash flow after payment of lease liabilities increased 17.5%, an important metric in the three-year financial outlook we shared at Investor Day, where we continue to target approximately 15% CAGR. We're entering 2026 with solid momentum in cash generation. At the segment level, there's clear momentum at Bell Business Markets, reflected in relatively stable revenue and EBITDA in '25, while Bell Media delivered positive revenue and EBITDA growth for the full year, consistent with the execution themes Mirko outlined earlier. Turning to Q4 on Slide 9. I'll begin with a summary of Bell CTS Canada subscriber metrics. Postpaid wireless net adds of 56,124 were essentially stable year-over-year despite a less active market. Consistent with our well-articulated strategy to balance loadings with improved financials and customer experience, we focused on higher-quality margin-accretive subs again this quarter. As a result of this continued disciplined approach, we added a significant number of customers on the premium Bell brand. Postpaid churn improved 17 basis points to 1.49%, marking our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement. This is a direct outcome of our focus on putting the customer first. Mobile phone ARPU declined just 0.8%, significant improvement from the 2.7% decline in Q4 of last year. We also saw a recovery in consumer roaming revenue, which has continued into the early part of Q1 and is encouraging for future ARPU performance. In Wireline, we delivered 43,000 fiber-to-the-home Internet net adds in the quarter, a strong result given the slowdown in our Canadian fiber build and disciplined pricing, reflective of the value we deliver to customers. Let me turn now to Q4 financials for Bell CTS Canada. Internet revenue increased approximately 2%, reflecting the same approach as in wireless, a healthy balance between sub growth and disciplined pricing supported by fiber. In our Enterprise business, AI-powered solutions revenue grew 31%, driven by continued momentum at Ateko and Bell Cyber. We remain focused on scaling these growth vectors as part of our plan to reach $1.5 billion in AI-powered solutions revenue by 2028. Wireless service revenue declined 0.2%, an improvement from the 0.4% decline in Q3 and meaningfully better than the 1.5% decline in Q4 of last year. Importantly, consumer wireless service revenue was stable year-over-year in the quarter, an encouraging sign as we enter 2026. On the product side, revenue declined $170 million year-over-year, driven by a pronounced market shift towards BYOD activity in December, which resulted in a 20% reduction in contracted device sales as well as the timing of certain wireline equipment deals with large enterprise customers. Importantly, the EBITDA impact was limited, as these product revenues are very low margin. Overall, EBITDA performance was in line with plan, and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 130 basis points year-over-year to 44.2%, reflecting strong cost discipline, including a 6.1% reduction in operating costs and margin-accretive subscriber growth. Turning to Bell CTS U.S., which reflects the results of Ziply Fiber's operations. As Mirko mentioned earlier, Ziply's financial performance for 2025 was consistent with the expectations we shared at Investor Day, reflecting solid execution, as we position the business for its next phase of growth. In the fourth quarter, total revenue was $232 million, driven by continued strength of Ziply's fiber platform. Internet revenue grew in the double digits, supported by ongoing expansion of the fiber footprint and strong customer penetration across new and existing markets. Bell CTS U.S. delivered $100 million of EBITDA in Q4, representing a 43.1% margin, demonstrating strong operating leverage in the business. With significant runway ahead, we expect robust revenue and EBITDA growth from Bell CTS U.S., as the management team advances Ziply Fiber's 2028 financial ambition presented at Investor Day. On the subscriber front, Ziply added more than 6,000 net new fiber customers in Q4, supported by footprint expansion and strong penetration in newly built areas. Ziply Fiber build plan has now been reprioritized toward higher-growth markets and is set to accelerate in 2026, putting the business on track to reach approximately 3 million fiber passes by the end of 2028. Turning to Bell Media on Slide 11. As projected, total revenue declined 3.4% in Q4. Despite strong digital video advertising growth, total advertising revenue was down 11.1%, reflecting continued softness in traditional advertising, demand for non-sports programming as well as the impact of the divestiture of 45 radio stations, which was completed in the first half of 2025. Subscriber revenue increased 1.5%, driven by continued strength in D2C Crave and sports streaming. Crave's direct streaming subscribers grew 65% year-over-year, supported by market-leading content, including Heated Rivalry, which continues to generate strong domestic and international engagement and underpin subscriber growth. Operating costs declined 1.5%, driven by lower content costs and ongoing operating efficiencies. Importantly, Bell Media delivered positive revenue and EBITDA growth for the full year, consistent with our objective for this business to be a stable and growing contributor to BCE's financial performance. Our focus remains unchanged for Bell Media to consistently deliver annual revenue and EBITDA growth, while contributing meaningful free cash flow to BCE, as the business continues to shift toward higher-value digital and subscription revenue streams. I'll now turn to our 2026 outlook, beginning with revenue and adjusted EBITDA on Slide 13. Our 2026 guidance is fully aligned with the three-year financial outlook we shared at Investor Day and reflects continued momentum in our core growth engines, fiber, wireless, AI-powered enterprise solutions, and digital media, while we continue to diligently manage the declines in higher-margin legacy services. For 2026, we expect consolidated revenue growth of 1% to 5% and adjusted EBITDA growth of 0% to 4%, representing a step-up from 2025 with these ranges consistent with prior years. And I'd note, we remain highly focused on operating efficiencies and continue to expect to deliver $1.5 billion in cost savings by 2028. Over to Slide 14 for a summary of our adjusted EPS outlook. We project adjusted EPS to be in the range of $2.50 to $2.65 per share in 2026 or 5% to 11% lower versus last year. This decline can be largely attributed to an approximate $250 million step-up in depreciation and amortization expense, reflecting continued investment in our broadband networks as well as the impact of the Ziply Fiber acquisition and an estimated $100 million increase in interest expense, driven by a higher level of debt outstanding related to the Ziply Fiber acquisition. In addition, we expect tax adjustments to be around $0.02 per share lower than in 2025, as we are not forecasting any tax adjustments in 2026. Turning to Slide 15. We expect another strong year of free cash flow generation in '26. Free cash flow is projected to grow between 4% and 10%, reflecting strong flow-through from higher EBITDA and lower year-over-year severance payments, partially offset by higher interest paid. Consistent with the outlook we shared at Investor Day, capital expenditures in 2026 are expected to remain relatively stable at approximately $3.7 billion, resulting in a lower capital intensity of 15% or less. Within that stable total CapEx envelope, we'll continue to fund our growth initiatives, supported by efficiencies from prior investments that are reducing ongoing run-the-business capital requirements and creating additional flexibility to allocate capital towards strategic investments and growth opportunities. Our free cash flow outlook also reflects stable to slightly lower cash taxes, largely unchanged working capital position, and essentially flat cash pension funding as we continue to benefit from a full contribution holiday, supported by the strong solvency position of our defined benefit pension plans. With this level of robust and predictable free cash flow generation, we expect BCE's dividend payout ratio to remain comfortably within our target policy range of 40% to 55%. Finally, we remain focused on driving strong free cash flow growth after payment of lease liabilities, supported by lower year-over-year capital lease repayments in '26 and consistent with the approximately 15% CAGR target we outlined at Investor Day through 2028. Turning to Slide 16. As we begin the year, we have $2.5 billion of available liquidity and a pension solvency surplus of $4.4 billion, providing meaningful financial flexibility as we execute our 2026 business plan. Our long-term debt maturity profile remains very manageable. In fact, $750 million of '26 MTN maturities were prefinanced and early redeemed in 2025, further reducing near-term refinancing risk. At the end of 2025, our net debt leverage ratio was approximately 3.8x adjusted EBITDA, unchanged from prior year despite the closing of the Ziply Fiber acquisition. On a pro forma basis, adjusted to include a full 12 months of Ziply Fiber, our net debt leverage ratio would have been approximately 3.7x. It's also worth noting that nominal net debt at year-end was $40.2 billion, slightly lower than the $40.3 billion reported at the end of '24 and notably prior to the closing of the Ziply Fiber acquisition, underscoring our continued focus on balance sheet discipline. Overall, we remain sharply focused on deleveraging with our net debt leverage ratio expected to continue trending down in '26 toward our target of 3.5x by the end of 2027. To conclude, on Slide 17, our 2026 financial targets position BCE to deliver on the 2028 ambitions we set out at Investor Day. The guidance reflects clear progress from 2025 and remains fully aligned with our three-year financial framework. We're guiding higher revenue, higher adjusted EBITDA, improving capital intensity, strong free cash flow growth, and a sustainable dividend. Taken together, these targets reinforce our confidence in the strategy and in our ability to execute and deliver sustainable financial performance over the three-year horizon. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Kris and the operator to begin the Q&A.

Kris Somers, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Curtis. And with that, Matthew, we're ready to take our first question.

Operator, Operator

The first question comes from Tim Casey from BMO Capital Markets.

Tim Casey, Analyst

Could you talk a little bit about your guidance ranges, 1% to 5% and 0% to 4%? There are obviously a few swing factors in there. Could you share what is influencing you? Is it competitive intensity or economic issues? Please walk us through your thinking on the guidance ranges.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Thanks, Tim. I'll start, and then Curtis can add more. The guidance we’re providing for revenue and EBITDA reflects the continued growth in our segments as we anticipated. We must carefully manage the declines from our legacy business, which we outlined transparently last October. On the growth side, indicators include the premium Bell loadings, customer churn, product intensity, and fiber net. We aim to enhance service revenues, including AI-powered solutions revenue both overall and organically, while guiding toward positive Bell Media revenue and EBITDA. There’s also an opportunity in the U.S., along with robust growth in free cash flow that supports strategic initiatives. On the other hand, we may see shifts from wireless penetration gains and general market growth in wireless, as well as pricing dynamics in both wireless and wireline. I previously mentioned managing legacy issues, which include declines in advertising and other legacy areas. The broader economic environment plays a role in our assessment within this range. Lastly, we have good momentum in AI-powered solutions and cost transformation, and achieving even better results could positively impact us depending on the progress we make. Curtis, do you have anything to add?

Curtis Millen, CFO

Yes. I'd just add, it's a detail. We're not targeting to reach the low end of the range. We're targeting higher than that, but it is appropriate to have a range. And I'd just note the spread of the range is consistent with the last couple of years. So again, we think this is the appropriate range and consistent with our past practice.

Tim Casey, Analyst

Just as a follow-up, any comment on what we're seeing in the wireless pricing environment and what usually is a very tepid loading environment and promotional environment? There seems to have been a little more activity than some of us would have expected in January. Just what are your reflections on what's going on in wireless so far in '26?

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Yes. Thank you for the follow-up, Tim. I'll start with something that does need to be said, particularly with one of our key priorities being putting customers first. It's pretty clear that over the last, call it, number of years, certainly three years or so, we see consumers getting tremendous value from the wireless services we offer. You got lowering prices, improved network service enhancements, feature enhancements, and basically the benefits of robust competition across the country. So that's important to say. Within that context, I think probably what I'll say, Tim, is that we're continuing at Bell to be disciplined. And that's a function of just sticking to our plan and being diligent in our execution. So for us, and this is not new, we're really focused on the bell loadings because the market is shifting to Tier 1 brand value proposition with 5G, with mobility, Internet, and content. We're trying to improve the service revenue trajectory. We're really dialed in on base management. And if you go back to a year ago, we basically set out ARPU dilutive loadings in January of 2025, and yet, we still delivered strong full-year loadings. It just shows you that the discipline is working. And more recently, in the past month, January of this year, I think you saw some pretty aggressive promotions, the past two weekends, from some of our peers, and we decided to sit that out as well because what we're trying to do is get an appropriate share of wireless nets, profitable transactions, leveraging the premium tier. And we're focused on strong channel execution, both in retail and online and in the call centers.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Stephanie Price from CIBC World Markets.

Stephanie Price, Analyst

In terms of my question, I was hoping you could walk through what's baked into the guide in terms of Ziply, how we should think about growth and margins in that business in '26? And maybe my follow-up is a bit on the U.S. competitive environment and if you're seeing any changes in the Ziply footprint here.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

We're pleased with Ziply's performance in 2025, which aligns closely with our expectations shared during Investor Day. The results are also exceeding our initial investment projections made when we announced the potential transaction in November 2024. Demand for fiber remains strong, driven by customer preferences and the long-term economic benefits that fiber provides. Fiber outperforms cable across various metrics, including speed, reliability, latency, product variety, and overall user experience. This competitive advantage remains intact in the regions where Ziply operates.

Stephanie Price, Analyst

You mentioned a significant increase in the second half of the year regarding the rollout at Ziply. I'm curious about your thoughts on customer interaction and the pace of the fiber rollout in the U.S. business.

Curtis Millen, CFO

Yes. Thanks for the question, Stephanie. And look, I would say we do manage CapEx and capital intensity on a consolidated basis. So we are expecting capital intensity overall to drop, but fixed dollars remaining the same. You're not wrong, though. I would expect CapEx dollars spent in Canada probably go down year-over-year and with an increase in the U.S. But again, we're managing that on a consolidated basis and gives us the ability to reallocate capital towards higher-growth initiatives. So we're happy to have that flexibility, and frankly, that stronger opportunity in front of us.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Jerome Dubreuil from Desjardins Securities.

Jerome Dubreuil, Analyst

I'll just follow up a bit on Tim's questions there. But after seeing what has happened with the wireless landscape over the last few weekends, have you changed your expectations for 2026 or padded the downside a little bit better?

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

So, Jerome, that's incorporated into the guidance ranges we've discussed. If I narrow my focus to ARPU, for instance, after Black Friday in November 2025, we believed it would be feasible to achieve moderate ARPU growth by Q4 2026. However, given the pricing trends in December 2025 and what some peers have done in January, it may be more challenging to reach that target. Nevertheless, we still have 11 months remaining in the year. Overall, I believe there are indications that we can return to the pricing levels we experienced more frequently in October and November, especially while providing significant value to consumers, which I mentioned earlier in my discussion with Tim.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank.

Maher Yaghi, Analyst

Could you share your expectations regarding wireless subscriber growth for the industry in 2026? Additionally, you mentioned ARPU, and considering the pricing trends you've observed in Q1 and late Q4, do you believe a return to positive ARPU growth is unlikely? I share the general market sentiment on this, but I'm curious if the significant discounts we've seen recently have impacted your subscriber growth goals for Q1. I'll ask another question about convergence afterward.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Thank you, Maher. There are a few elements to address. First, regarding market growth, our perspective on the wireless market growth is generally in line with what you heard last week from one of our competitors. We continue to see the market growing at a low single-digit rate, reflecting a more mature market, lower overall volume growth, and increased penetration. As for our operational approach, I don’t want to repeat too much of what I previously mentioned, but what we observed in January, especially during the last two weekends, does not alter our execution towards our goals. We remain committed to our plan and will maintain discipline. Our strategy focuses on Bell loadings, accretive loadings, avoiding ARPU dilutive loadings, and product intensity. We will continue to work towards achieving our appropriate share of market loadings. Regarding ARPU growth, as I noted in the previous discussion with Jerome, there are still 11 months left in the year, providing ample opportunity to meet our objectives by the end of this year.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Sebastiano Petti from JPMorgan.

Sebastiano Petti, Analyst

I want to follow up on Stephanie's question about the U.S. environment. In the U.S., it seems that large fiber operators are more focused on increasing market penetration this year, and they have indicated that ARPU growth may be somewhat subdued. Similarly, cable operators like Comcast and Charter, who are your main competitors in the majority of your Ziply footprint, have suggested that ARPU increases may not be implemented as they concentrate on reducing churn and improving gross additions. While it's still early, you mentioned in your response to Maher's question that much of the growth is likely volume-based. Has there been any change in strategy for Harold and the team in the U.S. given the competitive landscape? That's my first question. For my second question, on Slide 5, you mention ongoing non-core asset sales as part of your balance sheet optimization. Can you provide an update on current work streams or what we might expect in 2026?

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Regarding the Ziply part of your question, there have been no changes to the strategy and execution in the Ziply markets where we have fiber. We are seeing the expected increase in penetration, consistent with Ziply's performance before our acquisition. Everything remains solid. Interestingly, Ziply has not typically been the highest-priced broadband provider in its markets, resulting in a price gap between Ziply and cable, with Ziply's prices generally lower than cable's. What we are signaling is a strategic reset. Before the acquisition closed, Ziply focused primarily on upgrading its existing copper footprint within its ILEC territory. Our long-term plan, in partnership with the Ziply management team, is to expand beyond this territory. With the PSP in the Network FiberCo project, we aim to build both within and outside the ILEC footprint. We will approach this in a sequential and capital disciplined manner, expanding not only within the four core states and the ILEC footprint but also beyond them. After we closed the acquisition, we took some time to reassess the build plan to address a wider geographical area. As we redesign the plan, there may be a short-term slowdown in actual passings, but we expect to ramp up in the second half of this year and into 2027 and beyond. This approach will help us meet our target of passing 3 million locations while focusing on the most attractive markets.

Curtis Millen, CFO

Yes, Sebastiano, regarding your second question about asset sales, we remain committed to our capital allocation discipline. One of our main goals is to strengthen our balance sheet. You may have noticed a slight decrease in net debt even after acquiring Ziply. We will continue to focus on this, and we are on track to achieve our 3.5x net leverage target by 2027. As previously mentioned, asset sales will be a part of this strategy. We currently have deals in progress, and we will share more details with the market as agreements are finalized.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Vince Valentini from TD Securities.

Vince Valentini, Analyst

First, maybe just a clarification. Are we going to get Enterprise segment revenue starting to get disclosed discretely in the first quarter? I thought there was some indication at Investor Day, you'd improve enhanced disclosure. And second, more of a question, employee purchase plans within the wireless segment. I know you've been saying for the last couple of quarters, the vast majority of your postpaid net adds are on the Bell brand, but the Bell brand includes these EPP plans, which sometimes are $35 or $40 for big buckets of data, including roaming in other countries as well. Can you give us any sense, is that a satisfactory level of your loading, Mirko? Do you think that's getting a bit out of control? And do you have good eyeballs and gates on making sure your in-store reps authenticate people to make sure they qualify for these EPP versus just giving it to anybody?

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Thanks for the question, Vince. I’ll handle the second part, and Curtis can address the first. Regarding EPPs, there is a segment in the marketplace for them. In the past, we have lagged in EPP sales due to both functionality and intent. By design, we have been behind. Over time, we have addressed some of the product feature and execution issues related to EPPs, but our strategy remains unchanged. We will engage where necessary, while maintaining our disciplined approach across all core segments. Our emphasis will continue to be on disciplined execution of the most beneficial loadings, while staying competitive as needed in each segment. EPP is just one aspect of this approach, and we have noticed the aggressive pricing moves made by some of our competitors lately. We took similar actions in January 2025. Ultimately, when we review the annual performance in 2025, we captured our fair share of net additions, a result of focusing on executing at the right times throughout the year. This is the direction we will keep pursuing.

Curtis Millen, CFO

And Vince, just on your first question, the answer is yes. So starting Q1, we'll provide more detail in and around the enterprise segment.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Batya Levi from UBS.

Batya Levi, Analyst

Great. I have a couple of follow-up questions. First, can you provide details on the build plan for this year in the U.S.? What other opportunities are available to accelerate the fiber plan in the U.S., perhaps including some smaller projects? Additionally, convergence is a key theme; do you believe that adding an MVNO will be important for boosting subscriber growth in the U.S.? Lastly, could you discuss the TPIA activity in broadband in Canada?

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Thank you, Batya. Regarding M&A opportunities, we are always open to exploring ways to enhance shareholder value in both the U.S. and Canada. However, any potential opportunities must align with our capital market objectives and debt reduction targets. I'll keep it brief on M&A in the U.S. For convergence, currently, Ziply does not require a converged offering in the U.S. to improve our fiber penetration. Nevertheless, we acknowledge there may come a time when this becomes necessary, and we are evaluating several options. More updates will follow as we progress. Regarding TPIA, our main goal is to prioritize customer needs by providing additional fiber options to Western consumers, especially for those interested in multiple products from us. However, progress has been slow due to challenges in obtaining a satisfactory level of service from the fiber operator in the West. Some of the installation timelines have been excessively long, far exceeding what we offer to resellers on our Eastern fiber network, which is unacceptable. Consumers in the West deserve just as much competition as others, especially since ARPUs for Internet services are higher there than in the East. Therefore, we are seeking an adequate level of service from the network owner in the West, and once achieved, we can proceed with execution as discussed on Investor Day. That's traditionally been the case. There has always been more resale in the East than in the West for many years. This difference was due to the regulatory rules being asymmetrical until recently; there was no fiber mandate in the West, while the East had a fiber resale mandate. It's somewhat inexplicable, but it's the reality. These rules have now changed to establish a fiber resale mandate nationwide. However, we need adequate service delivery to offer an experience to customers in the West that meets their expectations and aligns with what we aim to provide. Ultimately, the most important aspect for me is the experience we deliver to our customers.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from Matthew Griffiths from Bank of America.

Matthew Griffiths, Analyst

I wanted to ask about the guidance. Following the Investor Day, my understanding is that the expectation was for EBITDA growth to increase sequentially within the three-year guidance window. Is that still true as we look at the 2026 guidance in relation to the three-year plan?

Curtis Millen, CFO

Matthew, it's Curtis. Yes, nothing's changed in our view there. We expect as our growth businesses ramp up, as Ziply Fiber continues to expand their footprint and drive penetration, as our AI-powered solutions businesses ramp up, we continue to expect EBITDA to progressively improve over that three-year horizon.

Matthew Griffiths, Analyst

Within the guidance range for 2024 of 0% to 4% for 2026, it appears that the higher end of that range suggests a decline in growth for the following year. Can you explain how these two aspects connect? Is there a potential event or factor that could impact 2026 and shift to 2027? I would appreciate your insights on this.

Curtis Millen, CFO

Yes, it's a valid question, Matthew. The trend is upward, but it's not a straight line. As Mirko mentioned earlier, there are timing fluctuations, particularly in our enterprise sector, influenced by the timing of the advertising recovery and service launches. So over a three-year period, we see a consistent upward trend. However, within any specific reporting period, there will still be a variety of outcomes. That first point remains accurate.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO

Yes. So, roaming trends actually improved sequentially in Q4. It was still a decline, but it was a low single-digit decline. So we saw a healthy recovery in consumer roaming revenue in Q4, which is, I'd say, encouraging for future ARPU performance if that continues to hold.

Operator, Operator

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

Kris Somers, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Curtis. Thank you again, everyone, for your participation on the call this morning. Richard and I will be available throughout the day for follow-up questions or clarifications. Thanks again, and have a great day.

Curtis Millen, CFO

Thanks, everyone. Have a good day.

Operator, Operator

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