BCE Key Business Developments...KillaDip, I agree with you 100%. Hawk is just bashing and looking for a cheaper price than the current multi-year low for BCE.
How about we concentrate of BCE's Innitiatives they announced in their 4Q 2023 Results. Sure there are headwinds, but they are being addressed. Let's see how, and being that 1Q 2024 is only 1 month away, I'm sure BCE will give further details of the tailwinds:
KEY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS
Workforce restructuring
To position Bell for future success, Bell is taking action to lower its cost structure and align costs to the revenue potential of each business segment. This includes Bell's largest workforce restructuring initiative in nearly 30 years, reducing approximately 4,800 positions, or 9% of all BCE employees in 2024, and driving in-year cost savings of $150 million to $200 million; $250 million annualized.
Reducing capital expenditures and fibre expansion
Bell announced its intention to reduce capital expenditures by over $1 billion in 2024-25, including a minimum of $500 million in 2024, and roll back fibre network expansion as a result of federal government policies and the CRTC's wholesale access rate decision that discourages network investment. Bell will also cap fibre speeds at three-gigabits per second. In Q4 2023, Bell reduced its capital investment by $105 million more than originally planned as a direct result of this decision.
Channel transformation
Bell announced a partnership with Best Buy Canada to operate 165 The Source consumer electronics stores, re-branded Best Buy Express. Bell will be the exclusive telecommunications provider, selling wireless and wireline (in footprint) services from its Bell, Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile brands, as well as remain responsible for store operations and labour. Best Buy will assume responsibility for the consumer electronics assortment and procurement, as well as branding, marketing and e-commerce. With the strengths of Best Buy's buying power and supply chain, Bell will wind down The Source head office and back office operations, as well as close 107 The Source stores.
Innovative partnerships to deliver for our customers
Bell announced a partnership with global endpoint security leader SentinelOne to provide extensive data protection services for Bell's enterprise customers, SentinelOne's first partnership with a major telecommunications company in Canada. Bell also entered into a collaboration with ServiceNow, a digital workflow company, to launch Service Bridge capabilities on the ServiceNow platform, leveraging FX Innovation's deep industry expertise to elevate the end-to-end experience for Bell customers with customized solutions and automation capabilities. In collaboration with Microsoft, Bell expanded its hybrid work solutions for Canadian enterprises with the launch of Bell Operator Connect, pairing Bell's high-quality voice network and Microsoft Teams. Bell is also rolling out Microsoft 365 within its own enterprise IT environment. Bell announced a collaboration with Mila institute in Montral to study and apply deep learning and AI capabilities on Bell systems to improve business performance, customer experience and accelerate AI innovations with cloud computing.
Champion customer experience
Bell continued to lead national telecom service providers in reducing its share of consumer complaints, according to the 2022-2023 Annual Report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS)6. Bell reduced its share of total industry complaints for an eighth consecutive year7, decreasing its share of complaints by 6% over the previous year. Bell Fibe TV customers in the Atlantic can now enjoy next generation capabilities and features including access to the Google Play app catalogue, Cloud PVR, and unlimited simultaneous streams with the Fibe TV app. Bell reached one million digital repair sessions on its self-serve Virtual Repair tool, and enhanced the tool with new features such as Wi-Fi check-up to help customers simplify the repair process.
5G leadership and the fastest Internet speeds
Bell secured the most 5G+ spectrum nationwide in the federal government's 3500 and 3800 MHz spectrum auctions, recently securing the acquisition of 939 licenses for 3800 MHz spectrum to enhance customers' digital experience nationwide. Bell 5G wireless was ranked Canada's fastest and best 5G network by Global Wireless Solutions for the third consecutive year8. GWS also confirmed that Bell 5G+ wireless on 3500 MHz spectrum is the fastest and best in the country8. Additionally, Bell pure fibre was ranked Canada's fastest Internet and Wi-Fi for a second time in a row by Ookla in its Q3-Q4 2023 Speedtest Awards9, and remains Canada's most awarded Internet service provider10.
Delivering the most compelling content
Bell Media announced its intent to divest 45 of its 103 radio stations to seven buyers, subject to CRTC review and other closing conditions. Once these transactions close, it's our intention that the divested stations will remain part of iHeartRadio Canada, helping to transform Bell Media's radio operation to an innovative audio business. To reach more audiences, Crave will soon be available on Amazon Prime Video channels in Canada. 2023 was the most watched year in Crave's streaming history; streams on Crave in Q4 2023 were up 8% year-over-year, and in Qubec up 18% year-over-year. Bell Media's share of Canadian English entertainment specialty channels among A25-54 was its highest on record, increasing 7% over 2022. CTV Comedy Channel is the number one Canadian English entertainment specialty channel with A25-54. The 110th Grey Cup was one of the year's biggest television events in Canada for TSN and RDS, attracting an average audience of 3.7 million viewers. TSN and RDS also announced broadcast and media rights agreements for the Professional Women's Hockey League's inaugural season as well as CONMEBOL Copa America 2024. Bell Media launched its newest campaign, Streets-to-Screens, a multiplatform program that leverages Bell Media's exclusive ad-synching Radio-to-Road program where select roadside digital boards synchronize with advertisements on specific radio stations using Bell First Party Data.