BCE (BCE) 11th Annual Desjardins Conference 2026 summary

Strategic infrastructure and AI partnerships

• Announced a 300MW data center project in partnership with the Government of Saskatchewan, emphasizing a 20% IRR target and a differentiated sovereign AI solution for Canadian clients.

• Focused on securing best-in-class partners like Cerebras and Groq, and building a Canadian alliance with firms such as Coveo and Cohere to deliver unique AI and tech capabilities.

• SAP selected the company for sovereign cloud services in Canada, highlighting the importance of integrated SaaS and compute layers for government and enterprise clients.

• Monetization of secured power assets is prioritized, with a disciplined approach to only pursue projects meeting strict IRR thresholds.

• Go-to-market strength is leveraged through a large B2B sales force and obligations to expand sales capabilities with technology partners.

Risk management and project execution

• Major risks such as chipset, end-customer, and AI ramp-up timing are mitigated through upfront contracts and full facility sell-out at launch.

• Construction and counterparty risks remain, but experience from previous rapid data center builds and strong customer relationships provide confidence.

• The company avoids exposure to volatile GPU investments, focusing on infrastructure and long-term contracts for stability.

• Optionality is maintained by not overcommitting to hardware assets and by structuring repeatable, engineered data hall builds.

Wireless and fiber strategy

• Wireless competition is cyclical, but long-term growth is expected, with ARPU recovery anticipated by 2027 and increased focus on premium bundled services.

• Fiber deployment is seen as a key differentiator, improving customer experience and reducing churn, with market share exceeding 50% in Eastern regions.

• No fixed ceiling is set for fiber market share; continued expansion is expected as long as customer experience and technology leadership are maintained.

• U.S. fiber buildout is viewed as a tailwind, with capital allocation decisions driven by ROI rather than arbitrary targets.