Bell Canada Q4 2022: Revenues Up 7.7%, Profits Drop 13.8%

Bell Canada today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

For its wireless business, Bell reported $2.666 billion in operating revenue for Q4, an increase of 7.7% year-over-year. The company also beat its Q3 2022 wireless revenue of $2.466 billion. For 2022 as a whole, Bell reported wireless revenue of $9.588 billion, up 6.5% from 2021.

Bell’s solid quarterly revenue in the wireless segment was driven by strong growth in both service and product income. Service revenue was up 5.8% to $1.747 billion in Q4, while wireless product revenue was up 11.7% to $919 million. In 2022 as a whole, service revenue was up 7.3% to $6.865 billion, while product revenue was up 4.8% to $2.723 billion.

Bell’s quarterly net prepaid and postpaid phone subscriber additions jumped 11.8% year-over-year to 122,621 in Q4, and a whopping 66.2% to 489,901 for the full year. The company’s mobile phone customer base totalled 9,949,086 at the end of 2022, a 5.2% increase from 2021.

For the same quarter, rival Rogers today reported net mobile phone subscriber additions of 634,000.

Bell’s blended average revenue per user (ARPU) grew 0.5% to $58.88 in Q4. Adjusted EBITDA for the company’s wireless business increased 4.1% to $990 million in Q4, and 7.4% to $4.137 billion in 2022 as a whole. Bell also saw its annual wireless margin grow from 42.8% in 2021 to 43.1% in 2022.

Wireline operating revenue, meanwhile, experienced a more modest rise of 0.5% to $3.094 billion in Q4, with adjusted EBITDA dipping 0.6% to $1.318 billion. For the full year, the segment declined 0.2% to $12.148 billion, with annual adjusted EBITDA going up slightly from $5.315 billion in 2021 to $5.317 billion in 2022.

Bell also installed an all-time high 854,000 new direct fibre connections in 2022, leading to retail Internet net activations of 201,762, up 32.5% year-over-year and the company’s best results in 16 years. 2022 also marked the completion of 80% of Bell’s broadband Internet buildout program.

“Bell’s accomplishments in Q4 and throughout 2022 reflect consistently strong execution by the Bell team on our strategic initiatives and our customer-first approach,” said Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada.

“Looking ahead to 2023, we’ll continue to deliver on the strategic initiatives that we laid out three years ago. We’ll expand our fibre footprint to another 650,000 locations, and we’ll continue investing in and expanding our 5G and 5G+ networks. I am so pleased with how far we’ve come in such a short period of time to competitively position ourselves for future success.”

Across all of its business segments, Bell posted operating revenues of $6.439 billion for Q4, up 3.7% year-over-year, and $24.174 billion for 2022, up 3.1%. Bell’s consolidated adjusted EBITDA grew 0.3% to $2.437 billion in the quarter, while its annual consolidated adjusted EBITDA went up 3.1% to $10.199 billion.

Net income was down 13.8% to $567 million in Q4, but up 1.2% to $2.926 billion in the full year. Furthermore, net income per common share (EPS) dipped 15.9% to $0.58 in Q4, and 0.3% to $2.98 in 2022.

“We capped off 2022 with another quarter of consistent and disciplined execution that drove a strong 3.7% increase in total revenue in Q4. We also delivered positive adjusted EBITDA growth, despite unprecedented cost pressures from inflation and record storms, an expensive and highly competitive Black Friday, and media advertising softness, which is a testament to our ability to execute under any condition,” said Glen LeBlanc, CFO of BCE and Bell Canada.

Bell achieved all of its financial guidance targets for 2022, and the company has issued a healthy outlook for 2023. This year, the telecom giant is expecting 1-5% revenue growth and 2-5% adjusted EBITDA growth.

BCE has increased its annual dividend for common shareholders by 5.2%, or $0.19, per share, to $3.87.

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