Earnings Call Transcript
BCE INC (BCE)
Earnings Call Transcript - BCE Q3 2022
Operator, Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the BCE Q3 2022 Results Conference Call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Thane Fotopoulos. Please go ahead, Mr. Fotopoulos. Thank you, Deanna, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. With me here today are Mirko Bibic, BCE's President and CEO; and our CFO, Glen LeBlanc. You can find all our Q3 disclosure documents on the Investor Relations page of the bce.ca website, which we posted earlier this morning. Before we begin, I want 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 our assumptions and risks. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mirko.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
Thank you, Thane, and good morning, everyone. The Bell team's commitment to exceptional execution and a customer-focused approach, alongside our leading broadband networks, resulted in a record 401,132 total broadband wireless and wireline net customer activations in Q3. Our careful balance between expanding market share and maintaining financial performance led to a solid consolidated revenue growth of 3.2%, even in the face of an advertising recession impacting media advertising and ongoing challenges in the B2B sector. Adjusted EBITDA rose modestly by 1.2%, as we managed $38 million in extraordinary storm-related costs and inflationary pressures while also funding record subscriber acquisitions. Hurricane Fiona, which severely affected Canada's Atlantic region and Eastern Quebec in late September, was the most significant storm to hit any part of Canada, and our team rose to the challenge. Our preparations ensured that our core networks remained mostly operational, though the damage to our field infrastructure was unprecedented. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our field, network, and wireless operations teams for working tirelessly to keep our customers connected. I also want to recognize every Bell employee who contributed to our storm response, whether by restoring service, handling customer inquiries, or assisting people in our stores. Your dedication to preparing and serving our customers is truly appreciated, and I am immensely proud to be associated with this talented team. This event clearly demonstrates how much Canadians value reliable and fast connections. That’s why Bell is investing in building communications infrastructure that ranks among the best in Canada, if not the world. A recent study by the CWTA highlights that Canada's network operators invested $168 per subscriber in CapEx in 2021, significantly outpacing the G7 and Australia average of $87. We are also not standing still; we have continued our historic CapEx acceleration program, having invested nearly $3.5 billion this year, and we remain on track to reach our $5 billion planned CapEx for 2022. By year-end, we will complete 80% of our mid-term broadband internet build-out plan targeting 10 million residential and business locations, and our 5G service will be accessible to 60% of the addressable population, providing the best data speeds and lowest latency among Canadian network providers. Both PCMag and Ookla have recognized Bell's 5G mobile network as the fastest in Canada in their latest reports. Such recognition reinforces our network leadership and the value of our unmatched generational investments, which will continue to deliver socioeconomic advantages to Canadians and generate significant free cash flow for our investors in the coming years. Moving on to Bell's wireless operating results in Q3, we achieved remarkable performance with a record number of mobile phone net additions, increasing 64% from last year to over 224,000. This led to a robust revenue growth of 7.4% and a 7.8% increase in adjusted EBITDA, reflecting our consistent focus on acquiring higher-value mobile customers and effective management of our customer base and acquisition costs. We achieved these results in a climate of declining wireless prices, even as inflation affects the broader Canadian economy. Recent StatsCan data indicates that the overall price of goods and services has risen by about 7% in the past year and by 11.6% since early 2020, while cellular service costs decreased by 3% and 25.7%, respectively. In residential wireline, we continue to capture significant market share in internet subscriptions, adding 95,036 net fiber customers in Q3, which is a 33% increase over last year and our best result ever, driving strong residential internet revenue growth of 8%. These results highlight the unique advantages of fiber-based internet services that deliver the fastest symmetrical speeds that cable cannot match. By year-end, 5 million homes will have access to symmetrical speeds of at least 3 gigabits, marking the widest multi-gig broadband availability in North America. In September, we also announced an agreement to acquire an internet reseller distributor, which will enhance our competitive position and bolster Bell's internet growth strategy in the residential and SMB sectors. Regarding media, we are observing positive momentum across our streaming distribution platforms and digital advertising markets, allowing us to gain market share in a TV ad market currently experiencing significant pressures. Increased user engagement with Bell Media's SAM TV advertising sales tool, which doubled bookings in Q3, alongside a 29% rise in direct-to-consumer subscriptions for Crave, facilitated a remarkable 40% growth in digital revenues this quarter. Additionally, I want to provide a brief update on our ESG initiatives. Clean50, a national sustainability organization, recognized Bell as its inaugural GHG reductions champion for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and highlighted our solar cell site initiative as one of the most innovative sustainability projects in Canada over the past two years. Moreover, our science-based targets for GHG emissions have been approved by the science-based targets initiative, affirming Bell's leadership in transitioning to a low-carbon economy. We are actively addressing direct emissions through the electrification of our vehicle fleet while progressively moving away from fossil fuel-based transportation. We have currently installed over 200 EV charging stations to support our growing electric vehicle fleet. Now, I would like to turn to Slide 5 of our presentation to review some key operating metrics. In wireless, we added 167,798 new net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, which is a 46% increase from last year. This record Q3 performance can be attributed to increased foot traffic as retail stores returned to normal operations, ongoing 5G growth, immigration, strong demand from business customers, and our focus on bundling wireless services with residential internet. Additionally, our churn rate improved by 3 basis points from last year, standing at 2.9%. Our ARPU increased by 2.2%, marking our sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. This was supported by higher roaming revenue, now at 114% of pre-COVID levels, which should continue to drive ARPU growth. Beyond roaming, we aim to ensure sustainable ARPU growth through our 5G monetization strategy. With only 35% of postpaid subscribers currently on 5G-supported devices and many opting for premium unlimited data plans, we see substantial growth potential ahead. In terms of mobile connected devices, net additions grew by 49% year-on-year to 49,044, driven by heightened demand for all our IoT solutions. Turning to Bell Wireline, we had an impressive quarter for Bell Internet with 89,652 retail net additions, our best result in 17 years, thanks to our rapidly expanding fiber footprint, strong brand presence, the fastest symmetrical speeds, and network reliability. As previously mentioned, we achieved our best performance for fiber net additions. We also registered 38,093 new IPTV subscribers, a 20.4% increase. This success is attributed to our targeted customer segmentation approach and a more active back-to-school period compared to last year. Overall, total retail residential net customer additions, including satellite and local phone, totaled 56,314 this quarter, a 70% increase or 23,000 higher than last year. This marks our strongest performance since 2005 and truly reflects the Bell team's execution and our extensive network investments. Shifting back to Bell Media, advertiser demand did slow in Q3 due to economic conditions and ongoing supply chain challenges in key consumer goods sectors, impacting traditional TV and radio ad sales. However, thanks to Bell Media's diverse asset mix and consistently high-ranked properties, the year-over-year total advertising decline was limited to just 2%. Despite this backdrop, digital revenues are accelerating, as previously mentioned, growing 40% from last year, now representing 31% of total Bell Media revenue, up from 22% last year. This growth is driven by increases in Crave subscriptions and strong gains in SAM TV bookings. CTV remains Canada’s most-watched conventional network in Q3, increasing its audience market share by 29%. Bell Media's English-language entertainment specialty channels performed strongly, finishing the broadcast year with five of the top ten properties, including the top three for CTV Comedy, CTV Drama, and Discovery. On the French side, Noovo continued to outperform its competitors with a 4% increase in primetime audience market share, while RDS retained its position as the top sports TV channel, benefiting from record viewership for F1 racing and a strong NFL season start. Before I pass the call to Glen for a financial overview of the quarter, I want to express my confidence in our long-term outlook. This confidence is grounded in our investments in long-lasting infrastructure assets that will foster meaningful growth and cost-saving opportunities across the business. The robustness of our products and services, along with the Bell team's consistent and strong execution within our clearly defined strategy, supports this outlook. Although no company is fully insulated from recessionary risks, we maintain a stable and diversified business that consistently generates significant cash flow. Our strong balance sheet and cost discipline position us to weather economic pressures as they emerge. Glen, over to you.
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
Thank you, Mirko, and good morning, everyone. Our Q3 financial results highlight our consistent execution excellence and leading asset mix across all Bell operating segments. Total BCE revenue grew 3.2%, which delivered a 1.2% increase in adjusted EBITDA. Our results this quarter included the cost impact of Hurricane Fiona, as well as ongoing inflationary pressures, particularly on fuel, utility, and labor costs, which in aggregate totaled $38 million. Normalizing for these exceptional costs, adjusted EBITDA growth would have been 2.7%. Despite higher EBITDA, net earnings, and statutory EPS were down year-over-year, but this is mainly due to the non-cash mark-to-market equity derivative losses from a decline in the BCE share price during the quarter. Additionally, as part of our multiyear post-COVID plan to consolidate real estate space that I detailed last quarter, we've recorded a further asset impairment charge this quarter as we continued to vacate some leased properties. However, adjusted EPS was up 7.3%, benefiting from an $80 million tax provision reversal from the resolution of uncertain tax positions related to the MTS acquisition. As a result, we now expect an effective tax rate of 25% for the full year of 2022, down from our previous expectation of 27%. No further tax adjustments are anticipated in Q4. Lastly, despite one $153 million increase in capital expenditure consistent with our broadband acceleration program, free cash flow was up 13.4%, reflecting the timing of cash tax installments and lower pension funding due to our strong solvency position of our defined benefit pension plans. Turning to wireless on Slide 8, another strong quarter and a long line of strong quarters. Service revenue was up 7% driven by our focus on high-value 5G subscriber growth, strong year-over-year mobile connected device growth, and continued recovery in roaming, with the Q3 amount at approximately 114% of pre-COVID 2019 levels. Despite consumer holding on to handsets longer and a sustained high level of pre-owned device activations, equipment revenue increased 8.6% year-over-year, reflecting a higher sales mix of premium mobile phones. Due to the flow-through of high-margin service revenues on our disciplined and targeted response to competitors' promotional offers, wireless EBITDA grew a very healthy 7.8%, which delivered a 20 basis point margin increase to 44.2%. Let's move now to Slide 9. Wireline reported its first quarter of positive top-line growth in almost 2 years, with total revenue up 1%. This was led by residential Internet revenue, which increased 8% on the combined impact of strong subscriber growth, including higher year-over-year business activations and higher ARPU. Although our overall B2B results continue to reflect the effects of the global chip shortages and related spending delays on new services, the year-over-year rate of service revenue decline has stabilized. Total product revenue, however, was up 46%, and this can largely be attributed to the timing of sales to certain large enterprise customers and easier year-over-year comparisons given that the data equipment supply issues began to intensify in Q3 of '21. Notwithstanding the increase in revenue this quarter, wireline EBITDA did decline 1.2%. This was a direct result of $34 million in costs absorbed because of Hurricane Fiona and ongoing inflationary impacts. Normalizing for these cost pressures, underlying EBITDA growth was quite respectable this quarter, increasing 1.4%. Over to media on Slide 10. Despite a weaker advertising market this quarter, total media revenues remained stable year-over-year. As Mirko said in his opening remarks, and it's worth repeating, that it is a testament to our diversified mix of media assets, including a growing contribution from digital platforms and consistently high ratings for all of our TV properties. Advertising revenue was down 2.3%, reflecting softer TV advertiser demand and a slow radio recovery from COVID due to ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, as well as the nonrecurrence of approximately $15 million in related revenue generated last year from the federal election, Euro Cup soccer, and the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The financial impact of these factors was moderated by a strong COVID recovery in our out-of-home further gains in digital advertising, as Mirko mentioned, and a 2.2% increase in subscriber revenue from ongoing Crave streaming growth. Although total media revenue was flat year-over-year, EBITDA was down 15.3%. This result was expected given our higher programming and broadcast rights costs associated with the return this year to regular sports broadcast schedules and the normalization of TV content deliveries. This return to a more typical pre-COVID cost structure and a choppy advertising market are expected to weigh heavily on Bell Media's EBITDA in Q4. That said, advanced advertising for the upcoming FIFA World Cup is exceeding our expectations with revenue already up 50% from the 2018 World Cup. This success is a testament to the massive popularity and value advertisers place on premium sporting events. And lastly, I'll finish on Slide 11. With $3.5 billion of available liquidity and a manageable debt leverage ratio of 3.2 times adjusted EBITDA, a historically low after-tax cost of debt of just 2.8% with an average term to maturity of 14 years and a capital structure that has a substantially high portion of fixed-rate debt, BCE's balance sheet is very healthy, helping them mitigate the impact of rising interest rates. Moreover, with a substantial pension solvency surplus totaling $3 billion that has low sensitivity to interest rate movements, approximately $1 billion in U.S. dollar spending that has been economically hedged well into 2024, and a relatively low cyclical cycle for the majority of our revenues, BCE's free cash flow generation is strong, reliable, and well protected from market uncertainty. With 3 quarters of favorable consolidated results already reported, sound industry fundamentals, and a competitive position that is better than ever, we are on track to deliver on our 2022 financial guidance despite some difficult economic conditions that are expected to persist in parts of our business through Q4. And on that, Thane, I'll turn it over to you and the operator to begin Q&A.
Operator, Operator
Great. Thanks, Glen. On that note, Donna, we are ready to take our first question.
Operator, Operator
And the first question is from Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank.
Maher Yaghi, Analyst
I wanted to start by mentioning your impressive Internet loading in the quarter. You recently introduced 8-gig electrical Internet speeds in the market. Are there any services that require such high speeds? Also, in terms of competition, Comcast announced in September that their DOCSIS 4.0 technology can achieve speeds of up to 10 gigs symmetrically. Are you concerned that this technology could allow your cable competitors to close the gap in Canada? Do you think they can implement it in a cost-effective way? Additionally, regarding wireless, there has been strong subscriber growth, likely boosted by immigration and students returning to university. Do you expect this growth to continue? Is it sustainable in your opinion? Lastly, what are your expectations for 2023 and Q4?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
Thank you for your question. Let me begin with the wireline aspect regarding fiber. Our network's value proposition is clearly distinguishing itself and has been particularly prominent in Q3, and we anticipate this trend will continue. It’s evident that multi-gig speeds and network reliability are significant factors in purchase decisions. In September, 62% of consumer fiber-to-the-home activations for Bell were at multi-gig speeds, and this figure is even higher for the Bell brand. This demonstrates a strong demand for multi-gig services, as symmetrical upload and download speeds are important to consumers, who grasp the advantages of fiber. By the end of this year, we expect to have 7 million fiber locations, all capable of providing gigabit symmetrical upload and download speeds, with over 1 million supporting 3 gigs and another million capable of 8 gigs. We’re seeing robust growth across all regions. It’s clear that the traditional telco technology disadvantage has been eliminated and has now transformed into a sustainable advantage that will last for a long time. Meanwhile, cable will need to catch up over the coming years. Regarding the Comcast 8-gig trial, that is just a laboratory test, and we do not see a true symmetrical multi-gig path through DOCSIS. The actual symmetrical DOCSIS path remains ambiguous and will take time to develop. Even then, I doubt they will match our upload speeds, and it will be costly either way, leaving companies to choose between an expensive fiber overlay or an uncertain DOCSIS option. This highlights the long-term fiber advantage. In wireless, our performance has been strong across the industry, with record results, and I expect this growth to continue. Factors like immigration will support this ongoing growth as indicated by federal government projections. In the short term, we’re seeing a boost in consumer roaming and increased network usage. A significant factor is the 5G upgrade cycle, with only 35% of subscribers currently using 5G devices, indicating substantial growth potential. 5G customers typically utilize twice the data and spend more, and we’re witnessing strong performance across all channels. There is still considerable room for momentum in this area. I hope this addresses both questions.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Vince Valentini from TD Securities.
Vince Valentini, Analyst
Hopefully, I can sneak in a clarification before my big question. Glen, the $38 million, any chance you can break that apart between what was actually storm, which is obviously nonrecurring and what was just the inflationary pressures?
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
Sure. The total cost, as I mentioned, $38 million, about $34 million of that impacts our wireline business about $4 million wireless. If I broke it down by storm and inflation, $19 million is storm. The vast, vast majority of that is related to Fiona. And unfortunately, there will probably be additional costs flowing into Q4 as we're still doing tree clearing and cleanup from the devastating storm that hit Atlantic Canada. Of the $19 million that's inflationary, it's really split between fuel and utility is about half of that in labor and about the other half as we've had to put through higher than typical wage increases, and we've had some collective bargaining agreements related to our unionized labor workforce come to an agreement. So that's a pretty good breakdown of how that $38 million.
Vince Valentini, Analyst
No, no, that's more than what I expected, Glen. And just a bigger picture question probably for Mirko. I think you'd admit that your Internet adds in Q3, which were phenomenal, were partially driven by a bit more aggressive promotional activity than we've seen from you guys typically, probably for good reason, leaning in on the good network and the problems that your competitor was facing in the quarter. But I just wondered, are you happy with the blend of sort of ARPU and margins plus volume that you gained so that you just keep up the current pace? Or should we view Q3 as a bit unusual because of the outage and the ability to lean in on promotions?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
I am quite pleased with the balance of all those factors, Vince. I wouldn't solely attribute the record results to our competitors' network outage in early July. The momentum has been building for quite some time. As our footprint expands, you will see that momentum continue. The promotional activity is somewhat higher in Q3, but that’s not unexpected given our market share gains. Regarding margin management, remember that we enjoy a dual benefit from our fiber build. As we enlarge our footprint and gain market share, we also benefit from reduced costs associated with a superior fiber network, which lower support and service expenses. Ultimately, our market share gains do not have to come at the cost of industry profitability, if you consider it.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Stephanie Price from CIBC.
Stephanie Price, Analyst
I was hoping you could comment on the fiber rollout and talk about the competitive environment that you're seeing against cable peers here. Is there any update on how we should be thinking about fiber share gains?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
We're capturing a substantial portion of market growth in all areas where we provide fiber. Specifically, we reported 89,000 new Internet subscribers, which is impressive, with 95,000 coming from fiber. Our fiber offerings continue to see significant growth, while we are experiencing customer losses in areas with copper networks that cannot meet demand. This highlights the importance of speed; both upload and download speeds are critical for our customers. When asked about the demand for higher speeds, like 8 gigs, I want to emphasize that multi-gig speeds are important. It’s not realistic to think about Internet usage as just one user or one session per household. Most homes have multiple family members and numerous devices connected simultaneously. Therefore, these factors are crucial. In summary, our share gains are expected to increase significantly where we have fiber.
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
Just to add to that, Stephanie, we made a decision a number of years ago to accelerate our broadband investment. And I think it's truly paying off. The results speak for themselves. We set a record for the highest fiber Internet adds in our history. And I think that speaks volumes to the strategy that is working where we have fiber, we take share.
Stephanie Price, Analyst
And just a follow-up here on bundling. It looks like wireless and wireline bundling offers have picked up across both Bell and Virgin. Hoping you can share some early learnings from that.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
One of the key drivers of success in the communications industry today is the bundling of mobility with Internet services and vice versa. This focus over the past couple of years is yielding positive results and demonstrates how to compete effectively in this industry. Our emphasis has been on high-quality service, maintaining the Bell brand, whether wireless or wireline. We have made significant investments in digital channels and self-install capabilities. Another important component of our strategy and execution has been cross-selling. If you have a substantial installed base to cross-sell to, whether from one service to another, you are in a strong position. Owning your own networks also contributes to this strength. Therefore, high-quality networks, favorable economic conditions for ownership, and the capacity to cross-sell to an existing customer base are essential factors.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Jerome Dubreuil from Desjardins.
Jerome Dubreuil, Analyst
Congratulations on the strong performance in the quarter. However, you mentioned in your prepared remarks that wireless pricing has been a bit challenging. With 5G now available, we will have to see how competition develops in Canada. What do you think might lead to a shift in wireless pricing over the next few quarters?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
I was referencing the StatsCan data, which indicates a continuous decrease in the wireless services basket compared to general inflation in all goods and services in Canada, which are rising significantly. I was not specifically talking about wireless plans; it was the StatsCan data. Currently, we observe strong growth, particularly in 5G pricing, which has remained stable, indicating that we are well-positioned to monetize effectively. We are always in a competitive environment and make adjustments as needed. The promotional activity in wireless has been quite solid, with handset discounts being favorable and rate plan pricing holding steady. These factors are important for sustaining our momentum and effectively monetizing our services.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Bell Ventures.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
What we're doing is always looking to showcase our superior networks, and Canada is globally recognized for its leading networks and infrastructure. We have outstanding networks in Canada, and our approach begins with leveraging and showcasing them. The next part of our strategy is to encourage early-stage and growth companies to drive innovation by utilizing these networks. We aim to form strategic partnerships with them through both direct and indirect investments. Our focus is on direct investments where we will maintain minority equity interests in target companies, as well as making indirect fund investments. Regardless of the method, our goal is to secure strategic partnerships for ourselves and our partners, ultimately highlighting innovation through our networks.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Drew McReynolds from RBC.
Drew McReynolds, Analyst
Two for me. Just first on the economic headwinds, either for you, Glen or Mirko, I don't think anyone should be surprised they're going to persist here into Q4. Just would love to get a better sense of the cadence of the economic headwinds through Q3. Are things still getting worse out there, or is there any stabilization that you see here in real time? And then the second question on 5G monetization, maybe for you, Mirko, as you look into 2023, what are your expectations in terms of how the different buckets will or won't kind of ramp up here as we go through the year?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
On the first question, I'll begin and then Glen can elaborate. Regarding the economic pressures we’re currently experiencing, I refer to our overall perspective rather than specifically Bell. From a macro viewpoint, we see various challenges. However, we are a multi-segment, highly diversified, and resilient communications and media company. Our diversified revenue portfolio significantly supports us in tough economic times. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to generate substantial cash flow, remain disciplined with our costs, and maintain a strong balance sheet. The accelerated capital investments we’ve been making are showing positive results, confirming my belief that it was the right strategy at the time. I am now more convinced than ever of its success. We will continue to pursue that strategy, focusing on growth and cost management. Data usage is so widespread and essential today that managing it isn’t as straightforward as it was a decade or more ago. On the enterprise front, our operations are relatively stable, despite the challenging supply chain situation and potential recession. While the impacts are notable, they are manageable. On the media side, we are facing an advertising recession. Both Glen and I acknowledge this unavoidable reality. However, our diverse asset mix in media is enabling us to capture market share despite these challenges.
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
The only thing I would add is another segment, SMB. We tend to see pullback in spending in recessionary times. But we're not seeing that right now. Actually, I would say the contrary as SMB is still recovering from the pandemic. The final thing that I watch carefully is consumer payment patterns. As of now, there's been no material change. If there's a canary in the coal mine or an area that we're facing the greatest headwind, it's media advertising. But all in all, I'd say we're quite recessionary-proof as we've proven in the past.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
As for wireless and wireless and 5G, here are the 3 things for me. We're going to continue to expand our 5G footprint. So that's good, which is going to continue to create demand for 5G. Secondly, as long as 5G pricing holds, which it has, both of those factors increased subscriptions to 5G and the pricing environment, which allows us to monetize it are the 2 key drivers. I think that's going to hold up well into next year.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Batya Levi from UBS.
Batya Levi, Analyst
With the majority of your residential households on the fiber network right now, can you talk a bit more on the cost efficiencies you can get? Maybe provide some examples where they would come from? And how quickly you can get there? And just a follow-up on advertising. Can you provide a bit more color on the weakness you're seeing? Is it across the board or in certain verticals? And how has that progressed into I think you mentioned digital was still holding up; if you maybe strip out the demand for World Cup. Are you seeing any change there?
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
On media advertising, as Marco mentioned in his opening remarks, we're actually seeing pretty good strength and recovery in the out-of-home, and that's really a product of how out-of-home was so significantly impacted during the pandemic, and we're seeing healthy recovery. Mark also mentioned that we're having great success in our digital advertising focus. The areas that are being impacted the most are traditional linear TV advertising and that of radio, as you can expect. When I mentioned in my remarks about one specific property, we are quite excited about the FIFA World Cup and the success we're seeing there on selling advertising. But the overall advertising, TV and radio advertising is where we're seeing the headwinds, and we expect that to persist into Q4 and probably into 2023. I think you've seen it from others in our industry who have reported results recently.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
The typical statistic we share is that where we have fiber, our service and support costs are about 40% lower than they used to be with copper. This is the main point. To elaborate, a better network results in a more stable and reliable system, which leads to fewer customer service calls. This improvement extends throughout the process; for instance, we can increase self-installation, eliminating installation costs. After installation, customers are able to interact with us online through the app, reducing the need for phone calls. Ultimately, all of these factors contribute to reduced service and support costs, and most importantly, a superior network leads to happier customers and lower churn. Additionally, this creates opportunities for increased market share.
David Joyce, Analyst
This kind of follows on an earlier question, but could you help us understand how the very strong mobile phone net adds this quarter alone were possibly approaching half of the Canadian-wide population growth? How much of those net adds are coming from the incremental integration? How much is coming from increased penetration of products their count? And how much is coming from the competition?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
The short answer is that there is definitely growth due to immigration. We're performing well with switchers, as you noted. There is still potential for growth in the industry regarding device penetration in Canada compared to other countries. Assigning a percentage to the mix is challenging. Regarding CapEx, how do you balance your spending with free cash flow generation? This ties into the inflation issue and supply constraints. Are you at your maximum capacity for upgrades? I know you have to manage the seasonality of upgrades, but are there any limitations with your infrastructure? I'm curious about the adjustments you can make to continue accelerating your CapEx and upgrade plans. I'm very pleased with what we've achieved with our accelerated CapEx program this year. This will be our highest spending year in BCE's history, exceeding $5 billion and passing over 900,000 homes as we continue our fiber journey to reach 10 million homes, including about 1 million wireless to the home. The main constraint is the volume of work and the limited construction window in this country. Our teams have worked hard through the summer and fall. Our CapEx guidance remains around $5 billion, and our free cash flow guidance of 2% to 10% is still on track, and we are confident in that. We don't see any product constraints that would hinder our ability to deploy our fiber and 5G strategy.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Simon Flannery from Morgan Stanley.
Diego Barajas, Analyst
Can you just talk about what you're seeing on that front? Is there any update to the product sales translating to services sales cycle, and if that has improved, and any higher-level changes on buying patterns from enterprise customers?
Mirko Bibic, CEO
Can you start going on the second one?
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we're pleased with our balance sheet, the liquidity situation we find ourselves in. with over $3.5 billion available. Our debt leverage ratio stays stable at 3.2x. We have historically low after-tax cost of debt at 2.8%, as I said. What we did was very opportunistic in the low-interest rate environment; we took advantage and did significant term placements. You've watched us do upwards of $6 billion between Canada and the U.S. in the last year or so. That was all opportunistic and preparing us such that in the time of rising interest rates, we could lean on things like commercial paper and to use more of a floating debt structure in order to manage this. So I think we're in great shape. If you look out to 2023 and you look at our towers, we have very little maturing. It's about $600 million in '23. So kudos to our team. I'm very proud of the fact that we've set ourselves up to manage through a rising interest rate environment very well with the placements and the topping the market as opportunistically as we did.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
On enterprise, the update is largely the same update as I gave last quarter. We're still not seeing any cancellation of projects in the enterprise segment, but revenues continue to be delayed for the same reasons as I shared last quarter. We're not losing market share. We don't think. We also still believe that we're poised to capitalize when some of that supply chain disruption eases. For example, just a data point for you, the equipment we're receiving now is for orders that we placed 6 to 12 months ago, which kind of gives you a bit of a sense. Pivoting to the small and mid-segment of the business market, we're seeing continued improvement in SMB, actually seeing volumes up, turn down in the second quarter of revenue improvement. So we're pleased with that.
Operator, Operator
The next question is from Aravinda Galappatthige from Canaccord Genuity.
Aravinda Galappatthige, Analyst
I wanted to ask about Internet ARPU growth. Obviously, the Internet revenue numbers are very strong, 8% growth you reported again. It looks like the vast majority, maybe close to 7% of that is subscriber-driven. I know that we're at a point where you're sort of driving forward with your fiber deployment and there's going to be some promotional activity around that. But when you think of sort of the higher quality of services, the speeds and so forth that you're delivering, maybe just touch on the upside to pricing and how the ARPU component can become a bigger piece of that down the road, particularly in the inflationary environment where I think there's some justification for that.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
On that side of things, we are playing a long game. These are long-term investments we're making on fiber, in particular, fiber long-life infrastructure assets, which we plan to monetize for decades to come. So the investments are bearing fruit now, but they're going to bear fruit for decades. We will continue to be patient on that strategy and play the long game as I say. Then in terms of ARPU growth in wireline, the quarterly growth has been pretty consistent all year, and I look at overall Internet revenue growth as a key thing, and that continues to be significantly up 8%. The approach is multi-pronged: new footprint, new subs, right. In the existing footprint, increased penetration, getting customers who are on our network to tier up to higher rate plans. Then of course, there are tactical pricing initiatives that we always put into place at the right time. The last element of the multi-pronged strategy is product intensity. Someone asked me earlier, but I think it was Stephanie, about cross-selling. That's another way to kind of drive the overall revenue performance on the network asset. A little bit different than your specific question, but it is a part of the multi-pronged strategy.
Operator, Operator
Donna, we're running out of time. So this will be our last question that we'll take right now.
Operator, Operator
So the last question will be from Matthew Griffiths from Bank of America.
Matthew Griffiths, Analyst
I just wanted to quickly ask on if you see a lot more runway on roaming. I know that’s been a nice tailwind in the past. But are you seeing that level off? Or do you expect that to continue? And just maybe for Glen, I just want to – we’ve been asking a lot of companies to clarify something on the pensions. Just we see some reporting some kind of liability-backed investments that are – with market volatility and rising rates are creating some pension problems. Is there – I know you mentioned that you're well-funded and the sensitivity is relatively low. I just wanted to double-check that there’s no volatility or interest rate risks that are creeping up in the pension.
Mirko Bibic, CEO
Matthew, actually, this has been quite a journey on pension management for us in my time here. We had many, many years of value and significant deficit position. We've followed a very clear glide path towards immunizing the liabilities by moving to a lower-risk or fixed income weighted portfolio and less on equity. I think it’s proven to play out in times like this. Despite the fact that interest rates and the discount rates have been all over the map and rising at an unprecedented rate, we really never saw any change in our funding position. We bounced around from 113% to 118% during the quarter of our solvency position. Still sitting at $2 billion, $3 billion of a surplus that’s sitting in the pension plan. Do I expect that to continue to change over time? Sure. But the important thing is we don’t see it having an impact on our ability to take contribution holidays in the foreseeable future.
Glen LeBlanc, CFO
On roaming, 114% I mentioned is where we’re at. That’s a product of both volume and rate because there were rate increases; I would say we’re probably in the high 90s right now, and the rest is rate-driven. Most of that has come from consumers returning to travel, although we have not seen as much come back on the business side yet. We do believe tailwinds exist, and we’ll continue to see a bit of that tailwind in the coming quarters ahead, albeit naturally, it’s not going to be at the same level of what we’ve enjoyed the last 4 quarters as we went from virtually nothing in roaming to a recovery to 114%. So thank you, Matthew, for your question, and thank you, everyone, for the morning.
Operator, Operator
Great. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much for your participation and the great questions that you asked. Thanks again. Have a great day.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.