Bell set to reduce planned network investment by over $1B

Bell has announced its intention to reduce capital expenditures by over $1 billion in 2024-25, including a minimum of $500 to $600 million in 2024, money the company had planned to invest in bringing high-speed fibre Internet to hundreds of thousands of additional homes and businesses in rural, suburban and urban communities.

This reduction is in addition to Bell decreasing its 2023 capital expenditure budget by $100 million in anticipation of the CRTC decision to unrelentingly pursue wholesale access at the expense of critical network investment.

Bell's fibre network is now available to over seven million homes and businesses. Prior to the CRTC's decision, Bell's near-term plan was to build high-speed fibre to nine million locations by the end of 2025. Bell will now re-consider pending builds in all communities where it had planned to expand, and will reduce its 2025 build target from nine million to 8.3 million locations.

Rolling back fibre network expansion is a direct result of the CRTC's decision. Today's decision forces Bell to open up its fibre network in Ontario and Quebec but does not mandate access to fibre-to-the-premises networks in western Canada where there are over three million fibre locations passed. If the intent of the decision is to benefit consumers then it is arbitrary and capricious to leave western Canadian consumers behind. When Bell enters a community with high-speed fibre Internet, it increases competition, and customers benefit from better service, better value and lower prices.

"When others scaled back investment at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bell leaned in and accelerated our annual capital expenditures to historic levels to provide Canadians with the reliable connectivity that they needed. Since 2020, we have invested over $18 billion in our networks and expanded high-speed fibre Internet to over three million homes and businesses across Québec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Manitoba. When public policy conditions in telecommunications support major investments and job creation, Canadians in small and large communities benefit directly from the best network technology available," said, Mirko Bibic, President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE and Bell Canada.

Bell's network expansion over the past four years has brought high-speed fibre Internet to hundreds of communities in Québec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Manitoba. Despite this industry-leading investment, more than five million locations on Bell's roadmap still do not have access to fibre technology. Today's CRTC decision jeopardizes Bell's fibre network expansion to many of these households and businesses.

Bell's fibre network delivers the world's fastest Internet technology and helps bridge the digital divide, enabling people and businesses in communities small and large to thrive. These private sector investments in connectivity depend on the right public policy conditions. By encouraging investment, the federal government could provide more households and businesses of all sizes access to high-speed Internet services and address placed-based disparities (opens in new window) that currently exist in this country.