Bell Adds 54,883 Fibre Customers as Profit Falls and Crave Tops Five Million Subscribers

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A quarter can look stronger or weaker depending on which number is placed first. BCE’s second-quarter results offered both versions at once: Bell added 54,883 net residential fibre-to-the-home customers, Crave crossed 5.07 million subscriptions, and revenue increased. Yet reported profit declined as depreciation, interest and taxes rose, while heavy spending on fibre and artificial-intelligence infrastructure reduced free cash flow.

The mixed picture captures Bell’s transition from a traditional Canadian telephone company into a broader connectivity, streaming and technology group. Fibre, Ziply Fiber in the United States, Crave and enterprise AI are producing growth, but legacy services, regulatory changes and large capital commitments continue to weigh on the Canadian business.

Fibre Delivers the Quarter’s Clearest Growth Signal

Bell recorded 54,883 net residential fibre-to-the-home Internet additions during the second quarter, a 14.5% increase from 47,920 a year earlier. The figure includes both Bell’s Canadian network and Ziply Fiber, the U.S. broadband company BCE acquired in August 2025. Fibre additions helped drive a 14.2% increase in Internet revenue, making broadband the clearest operating bright spot in the results.

The company ended June with 3.63 million residential fibre subscribers and 4.91 million high-speed Internet customers overall. Those totals matter because fibre customers can support more than a single monthly Internet bill. A household connected to fibre may also purchase television, streaming, home Wi-Fi and mobile services. Bell calls this product intensity, and the strategy is straightforward: the expensive network becomes more valuable when each connection supports a wider bundle of recurring services for the company and its shareholders over many years to come.

Reported Profit Falls, but Adjusted Earnings Move Higher

BCE generated $6.18 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 1.5% from the same period in 2025. Net earnings fell 2.3% to $629 million, while earnings attributable to common shareholders declined 3.6% to $558 million. Statutory earnings per share dropped 4.8% to $0.60, explaining why the headline profit result looked weaker despite modest revenue growth.

The adjusted picture was more favourable. Adjusted net earnings rose 2% to $604 million, adjusted earnings per share increased 3.2% to $0.65, and adjusted EBITDA advanced 1% to $2.70 billion. BCE attributed the gap between reported and adjusted performance mainly to higher depreciation and amortization, interest expense and income taxes. In practical terms, the underlying operations improved slightly, but the cost of financing and depreciating a capital-heavy network continued to press on the accounting profit available to shareholders during the quarter and across coming reporting periods as well.

Fibre Growth Does Not Eliminate the Legacy-Network Drag

The 54,883 fibre additions were not the same as Bell’s total high-speed Internet growth. Once losses from older copper-based services were included, total net Internet additions were 17,733. That was substantially better than 4,612 a year earlier, but it shows how the company is simultaneously adding modern connections and losing customers on technology being replaced.

Within Canada, Bell added 45,271 residential fibre customers, down from 47,920 in the prior-year quarter. BCE linked the softer comparison to a slower pace of new fibre-footprint expansion, limited population growth and competitive promotions. Canadian total high-speed Internet additions nevertheless improved to 11,601 because copper losses became less damaging. For customers, the transition can feel as simple as a technician replacing one connection. For Bell, it involves maintaining old infrastructure while spending billions to build the network intended to replace it across its sprawling service territory nationwide over time.

Ziply Fiber Is Changing BCE’s Growth Profile

Ziply Fiber contributed 9,612 residential fibre additions in the quarter, its strongest quarterly result since BCE completed the acquisition. The U.S. operation reported $234 million in revenue and $95 million in adjusted EBITDA, producing a 40.6% margin. It also ended the period with roughly 378,000 residential fibre subscribers and 446,000 total Internet customers.

That contribution matters because Bell’s Canadian communications revenue declined while the consolidated company still grew. Ziply gives BCE exposure to fibre expansion in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where management expects construction activity and subscriber momentum to accelerate in the second half of 2026. The growth is not free: BCE invested $163 million in the U.S. business during the quarter to expand Ziply’s fibre-to-the-premise network. The acquisition therefore adds customers and earnings, but it also increases near-term spending and execution risk as Bell builds outside its traditional Canadian base today too.

Canada’s Core Telecom Business Remains Under Pressure

Bell Communication and Technology Services Canada posted revenue of $5.12 billion, down 4% year over year. Service revenue fell 1.7%, while product revenue dropped 16.3%. BCE pointed to lower wireless-device sales, the non-recurrence of revenue tied to the 2025 G7 summit and federal election, legacy voice and television declines, divested security assets and regulatory adjustments affecting Internet and connection fees.

Despite the revenue decline, the segment’s adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 46.1% from 45.7%. Operating costs fell 4.7%, helped by lower device costs, the absence of prior-year event expenses and continuing cost reductions. That combination tells a familiar telecom story: management protected profitability by spending less even as sales weakened. It is a useful defence, but not a complete growth strategy. Bell still needs fibre, AI services, media and U.S. expansion to offset Canadian products that are shrinking or becoming increasingly price-sensitive today.

Wireless Retention Improves as Subscriber Growth Slows

Bell added 41,594 postpaid mobile-phone customers during the quarter, 6.6% fewer than a year earlier. The company said gross additions were affected by less market activity, reduced promotions and limited population growth. Prepaid additions fell more sharply to 16,033 from 49,932, with BCE also citing fewer international students, migration toward postpaid plans and higher prepaid churn.

The encouraging figure was postpaid churn, which improved by four basis points to 1.02%, its lowest quarterly level in three years. Lower churn means fewer existing customers cancelled service, reducing the costly need to replace them. Bell ended the quarter with 10.38 million mobile-phone subscribers, including 9.61 million postpaid users. However, blended average revenue per user declined 2.3% to $56.30, partly because of the absence of G7-related revenue and lower connection fees. Bell retained customers better, but converting that loyalty into stronger revenue remains difficult.

Crave Crosses Five Million and Strengthens Bell Media

Crave ended the quarter with 5.07 million subscriptions, up 23% from a year earlier, while direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers increased 49%. The milestone extends a rapid climb from approximately 4.6 million subscriptions at the end of 2025. It also suggests that Crave’s growth is becoming less dependent on traditional television distribution and more connected to customers signing up directly.

Bell Media revenue rose 8.9% to $918 million, supported by Crave, sports streaming, the FIFA World Cup, the Canadian Grand Prix and program sales. Advertising revenue increased 5.3%, subscriber revenue rose 6.7%, and digital revenue advanced 5.8%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 3.8% to $244 million, although the margin narrowed as content, event and acquired-business costs increased. For a media division facing long-term pressure on conventional television and radio, Crave now serves as both a growth engine and a direct customer relationship Bell can expand further still.

AI Ambitions Are Raising Both Growth Hopes and Spending

Bell’s enterprise strategy increasingly centres on Ateko, Bell Cyber and Bell AI Fabric. Combined revenue from Ateko and Bell Cyber rose 29% year over year in the second quarter. BCE is also advancing data-centre projects in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, including a planned 300-megawatt facility in Saskatchewan and capacity intended for sovereign Canadian AI workloads.

The opportunity is to sell businesses more than connectivity. Bell wants to combine networks, cybersecurity, cloud operations, computing capacity and AI infrastructure into larger enterprise relationships. That could create a new source of growth as traditional telecom services mature. The challenge is timing: data centres require substantial construction spending before they generate meaningful recurring revenue. BCE expects most of roughly $1.3 billion in 2026 Saskatchewan project spending to occur in the second half. The strategy therefore asks investors to accept weaker near-term cash flow in exchange for a potentially broader technology business later.

Higher Capital Spending Pulls Down Free Cash Flow

BCE spent $1.08 billion on capital projects during the quarter, 41.5% more than a year earlier. The increase reflected Ziply’s fibre build and Bell AI Fabric data centres. Capital intensity rose to 17.5% of revenue from 12.5%, and management expects the full-year ratio to reach about 20% as Saskatchewan construction accelerates.

Operating cash flow improved 11% to $2.16 billion, but free cash flow fell 9.5% to $1.04 billion because capital expenditures absorbed more cash. BCE nevertheless reaffirmed its 2026 targets: revenue growth of 1% to 5%, adjusted EBITDA growth of zero to 4%, free cash flow of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion and an annualized common dividend of $1.75 per share. The quarter’s central trade-off is clear. Bell is funding assets that may support future growth, while current shareholders experience lower reported profit and less cash remaining after major investment.

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