BCE Inc. (BCE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the BCE Annual General Meeting. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Gordon Nixon. Please go ahead, sir. [Foreign Language] I'd like to give the floor to Mr. Gordon Nixon. You have the floor, Mr. Nixon.

[Foreign Language] Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of BCE. My name is Gordon Nixon, and I'm pleased to preside over this meeting as Chair of the BCE Board of Directors, and I will now call the meeting to order. I would like to begin today's event by acknowledging that the land that I am on is a traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples and now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis. I encourage everyone to take a moment to acknowledge and honor the indigenous peoples who lived and work where we may reside, an important reminder to all of us of the many connections to this land. This year, again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aligned with our priority to protect the health and safety of our shareholders and team members, we are holding this meeting via webcast only. While circumstances are exceptional, we have made every effort to afford shareholders the same rights that they would have at a physical meeting. We will shortly go over the procedures of the meeting and how shareholders can vote and ask questions during the meeting. The business of the meeting will be conducted in both English and French. Please note that you may choose the language of the proceedings by selecting the English, French or live feed at the top of your screen. If you select the live feed, you will hear the original language spoken without translation. I would now like to introduce the members of the BCE team who are joining me today: Mirko Bibic is our President and Chief Executive Officer; Glen LeBlanc, our Chief Financial Officer; and Martin Cossette, our Vice President of Legal and Corporate Secretary. Also attending today's meeting via webcast are Jacklyn Mercer and Paul Fletcher, representatives of Deloitte, the shareholders' auditors. Members of the Board of Directors as well as senior management of BCE are also listening to the webcast. Before I begin, I would like to ask Martin to take us through the procedures of the meeting.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Voting at today's meeting will be through the online portal only. Starting now, you can register your vote on all items of business for today's meeting. The polls will be closed once the last item submitted to a vote has been considered. As described in the proxy circular, only registered shareholders and nonregistered shareholders who received a control number from our transfer agent, AST, may vote during the meeting. Please note that you do not need to vote at the meeting if you already voted by proxy and you do not wish to change your vote. [Operator Instructions] A shareholder who wishes to address the Chair with respect to an item being discussed may submit a question at the relevant time. If you prefer to wait to ask a question or make a comment or if your question or comment does not relate to an item considered at the meeting, there will be a general question and commentary at the end of the meeting. [Operator Instructions] Note that only BCE shareholders may ask questions. For the good conduct of the meeting, only questions of general interest to all shareholders will be answered. If your question is related to an individual matter, a BCE representative will contact you after the meeting. I'd like now to bring your attention to the notice appearing on the screen. Today's comments will contain forward-looking statements. These are based on several assumptions and are subject to important risks. The notice on screen contains a cautionary statement in this regard and is made on behalf of each speaker whose remarks today will contain forward-looking statements. Finally, I can report that Mr. Bertrand Gely and Mrs. Isabelle Vachon, employees of AST Trust Company (Canada) have been appointed to act as scrutineers at this meeting. Mr. Chair, I'd like to turn the meeting over to you now.

[Audio Gap] again for taking the time to participate in our virtual meeting today, which is, in fact, taking place on the 141st anniversary of Bell's founding in Montreal on April 29, 1880. When we gathered last year for our first-ever virtual BCE Annual Meeting, little did we know what the impacts lay ahead and that the ongoing COVID crisis would mean returning to a virtual format again this year. Yet I think we can all agree that 2020 was a year unlike any other with challenges to our home and work lives that were unprecedented during any of our lifetimes. Bell's agile response to the adversities we faced and we delivered for Canadians was a true test of our organization, and I am immensely proud of how the Bell team has stepped up for our customers and for our communities during this crisis. Yet Bell didn't just meet the needs of a country in crisis. Canada's largest communications company continued to drive rapid evolution of our nation's network infrastructure as we delivered the next generation of communication services and content platforms to Canadians everywhere. The foundation of these efforts is clear purpose, summed up in Bell's strategic goal, which is to advance how Canadians connect with each other and with the world. This is the purpose that serves all of our stakeholders; our customers with the fastest connections and most innovative services; our communities with significant investment aligned with leading environmental, social and governance standards; and our shareholders with sustainable dividend growth, as has been the case since 1880, as a key factor in Canada's overall social and economic prosperity. I'm very pleased to announce that your Board's Corporate Governance Committee is now mandated to oversee BCE's performance in delivering on our purpose, a reflection of Bell's ongoing leadership in ESG and overall corporate responsibility. Our networks and services are primary enablers of a clean economy with 5G wireless poised to be a game changer in helping to reduce emissions across a range of industries. Ranked as one of Canada's greenest companies for the fifth consecutive year, Bell became the first communications company in North America to achieve an ISO 5001 (sic) [ ISO 50001 ] certification for our energy management system and recently announced our plan to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2025. In our communities, Bell Let's Talk continues to break new ground in social responsibility with many mental health initiatives. Responding to the new mental health challenges of COVID-19, Bell Let's Talk moved quickly to provide an additional $5 million to support new virtual mental health programs for frontline youth and family. And we moved forward with an accelerated diversity and inclusion initiatives in 2020. Bell Let's Talk launched a new $5 million diversity fund to help address the impact of systemic racism on the mental health of black, indigenous and people of colors communities. Within the company, we are moving forward in building a diverse workplace that offers every team member the opportunity to achieve their full potential, including new targets for BIPOC representation in senior management of 25% by 2025 and a new graduate and student hiring of at least 40%. A member of the 30% Club and a signatory to the Catalyst Accord, Bell has also committed to increase the proportion of women serving on Canadian corporate boards to a minimum of 30% by 2022, and I'm pleased to say that this objective we took by exceeding at today's meeting with women representing 30% of your Director nominees -- 36% of your Director nominees. Despite these achievements, the dramatic reduction in economic activity brought about by COVID-19 significantly impacted operating and financial results through most of last year. That said, diligent, strategic execution by the Bell team delivered consecutive quarterly performance improvements throughout the crisis, ultimately achieving 96% of our 2019 revenue and adjusted EBITDA results and free cash flow of $3.35 billion by the end of the year. Coupled with BCE's strong financial foundation, including $3.8 billion of liquidity at year-end and a fully funded pension plan and ready access to debt financing, these results enable both Bell's unmatched network, service and content investments and returns to you, the shareholders, who have invested in the Bell strategy. We recently announced an acceleration of our network rollout plan with an additional $1 billion to $1.2 billion in investment over the next 2 years, which is in addition to BCE's typical annual expenditures of approximately $4 billion. At the same time, BCE announced a 5.1% increase in our common share dividend to $3.50 effective with the Q1 2001 payment earlier this month. This is the 13th consecutive year that BCE has increased our dividend by 5% or more, providing a total shareholder return over that time frame of 307%. Before we proceed with the meeting, I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work of our Board, but, in particularly, our fellow Board members, Barry Allen, Robert Brown and Paul Weiss, who are retiring from the Board after many years of service; and Tom Richards, who decided not to stand for reelection this year. I offer these distinguished leaders our sincere thanks for their dedication to BCE and their outstanding service to you and to our great company. We also have 2 exceptional new director nominees to our Board today: Jennifer Tory and Cornell Wright. Jennifer was the Chief Administrative Officer of RBC until her retirement in 2019, and previously, she was Group Head of the Personal and Commercial Banking Network of the bank. She serves as Chair of the Toronto International Film Festival, and she is on the Board of the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation. Cornell is currently Chair of the Corporate Department at the law firm of Torys and will take up the position of Executive Vice President at Wittington Investments and become the President of Wittington at the end of the year. Cornell is Chair of the National Ballet of Canada, a trustee of the University Health Network; and an Executive in Residence at the Rotman School of Management. Jennifer, Cornell, we look forward to welcoming you to the BCE Board. As we move forward in a world still struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, it is clear that the quality and reach of Bell's communication network has been critical to Canada's response as we kept the country connected and informed round-the-clock. With our accelerated investment plan, we'll also be there for Canadians as they work through this recovery. I hope you share my pride in how your company performed in 2020 and the excitement we all feel about what the future holds. My thanks go out to everyone at the Bell Group of companies for their determination and hard work to deliver for Canadians when they need it at most. And together, we thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support and your confidence in this great company. The meeting today will proceed as follows. After confirming the establishment of a quorum, we will proceed with the receipt of the 2020 consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report. We will then vote on the election of Directors, the appointment of auditors and the advisory resolution on executive compensation. To facilitate the proceedings in the context of this virtual meeting, I have asked Martin, our Corporate Secretary, to move the 3 motions. We'll also review a withdrawn shareholder proposal. Our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mirko Bibic, will then address the meeting, following which we'll announce the results of the votes. And finally, we will conclude with an open question-and-comment session. So starting with agenda item #1. The scrutineers have provided me with their report on attendance, which will be filed with the records of this meeting. The attendance report, together with the proxies, which I hold, confirm that a minimum shareholders representing at least 25% of the outstanding shares of BCE entitled to vote are in attendance of the meeting. I therefore declare this meeting to be properly constituted for the transaction of such business as may be properly brought before it. The next item on the agenda is item 2. The BCE annual report for the year 2020 contains the consolidated financial statements with the auditor's report thereon. A copy of the 2020 annual report will be filed with the records of this meeting. Attending today, as was mentioned, is Mr. Glen LeBlanc, our Chief Financial Officer as well as representatives of Deloitte, your auditors, and they are available to answer any questions you may have related specifically to our financial statements. Martin, are there any questions on the line related to this particular item of business?

Mr. Chair, there are no questions on this item of business at the time.

And operator, are there any questions on the phone related to this item of business? Hearing none, we'll move ahead with the election of Directors. I remind you that the poll for all items submitted to a vote at the meeting are open. Shareholders may vote by clicking the vote button at the top of the screen. Next item of business on the agenda, as I said, is the election of Directors. There are 14 Directors to be elected and 14 eligible candidates that have been nominated. Director nominees at today's meeting are: Mr. Mirko Bibic, Mr. David Denison, Mr. Robert Dexter, Mr. Ian Greenberg, Ms. Katherine Lee, Ms. Monique Leroux, Ms. Sheila Murray, Mr. Louis Pagnutti, Mr. Calin Rovinescu, Ms. Karen Sheriff, Mr. Robert Simmonds, Ms. Jennifer Tory and Mr. Cornell Wright. They, along with me, Gordon Nixon, are the Board nominees. We will now turn to any questions related to this particular item of business. [Operator Instructions] Martin, are there any questions online related to this particular item of business?

No. There are no questions on this item of business, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Thank you. And operator, are there any questions on the phone related to the appointment of Directors?

None at this time.

Thank you, Martin. Could you please move the motion?

[Interpreted] Mr. President, I move that each of the 14 people previously named to be elected as Director of BCE, Inc. until the earlier of the end of the next annual shareholders meeting and the date they cease to hold office, 1 of the 2.

And I remind you that the polls remain open. Martin, are there any questions online related to this item of business?

There are no question on this item of business, Mr. Chairman.

Operator, are there any questions on the phone related to the appointment of auditors?

None at this time, sir.

Okay. Thank you. And Martin, would you please move the motion?

[Interpreted] Mr. Chair, I move that Deloitte LLP be appointed as auditors of BCE until the next annual shareholder meeting.

The agenda is the advisory vote on BCE's approach to executive compensation. Martin, are there any questions on the line with respect to this item of business?

No. There are no question on this item of business, Mr. Chairman.

And operator, are there any questions on the phone?

None at this time.

Okay. Thank you. And Martin, would you please move the motion?

[Interpreted] Mr. Chair, I propose that the advisory resolution on executive compensation be approved.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Martin. [Technical Difficulty] question and comment period. One shareholder proposal was submitted by MÉDAC, but it was withdrawn after discussion with our management team. As a result, there are no proposals submitted for a vote today. However, we're very pleased to have Mr. Willie Gagnon from MÉDAC here to make a brief comment and remarks regarding the withdrawn proposal, the text of which can be found on Page 85 of the management proxy circular, together with the Board comments. Operator, I would now ask you to please open the line for Mr. Gagnon.

[Interpreted] Yes. Mr. President, my name is Willie Gagnon. I'm here for MÉDAC. Can you hear me properly?

[Interpreted] Very well. Thank you. And hello again.

[Interpreted] MÉDAC was presenting a proposal this year. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary. So the proposal that you received was not addressed to you specifically, but rather to all businesses that we hold titles in. It was a proposal that was designed to stress all of the values that we have been defending all these years, a proposal that was called reason for being and commitment, and it read as follows, that we need to show that the reason for being has mandated to make sure that the deployment of the policies and implementation to make this orientation concrete. Obviously, BCE had already had a reason for being, which reads as follows, and you go -- we want to change the way that the Canadians communicate amongst themselves, and the goal of society -- or the company is not just performance, and it's to your honor because good, well-growing world, and in the last paragraph, your response, when the committees' mandates are done with in 2021, the governance committee's mandate will be modified in order to add the surveillance of the reason for being of Bell to the committee's responsibility. And it's exactly what we wanted to have element which is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to ensure that follow-up. But we also wish for committee to take care of it, which would be the company's governance committee. And so we're very happy with the discussions that we were able to have with you this year, and we are happy with the results of the situation, which is the reason why we did not demand vote on this matter, given that we are satisfied. Thank you very much Mr. Chair, and see you next year.

And as you know, you can be rest assured, I think 2022 will be a significant year in terms of purpose and ESG disclosure, and it is a priority, not just for the committee, but for the organization. And as it evolves, we look to be a leader in this area. But we appreciate your continuing pushing the organization and your comments. I would now like to ask Mirko Bibic, our President and Chief Executive Officer, to address the meeting. Mirko?

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Gord, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this year's annual meeting and shareholders, and I joined with our Chair. I'm hoping that you and your loved ones have remained safe and healthy throughout the demands of COVID crisis. 2020 was a unique and challenging year, indeed, one in which I was proud to lead the Bell team in stepping up for customers and communities in all the way -- new ways as we work to keep the country fully connected and informed, which also building -- while also building continued momentum in a competitive marketplace. I'd like to start 2020 with a new goal to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the rest of the world. It served us well in responding to the COVID-19 crisis while also enabling us to succeed in the dynamic communication sector. Our goal is underpinning very strong COVID-19 response, our growing leadership in environmental, social and governance standards, a significant expansion in the country's broadband network and serving service capabilities and continued, strong returns for our shareholders. 2020 reinforced the close interconnections between all of Bell's stakeholders, customers, new communities, team members and, of course, our shareholders. Thank you all for your continued support and confidence in our strategy and team. As we confronted the COVID crisis in early 2020, Bell developed a set of clear operating principles to complement our goal and strategy, keep Canadians connected and informed, prioritize the health and safety of the public, our customers and team and support our customers and communities. These principles have resulted in accelerated network deployments, especially to rural and underserved areas; significant investment in network capacity to manage increased usage across our services throughout the crisis; billing relief for hard-hit customers; and complementary TV programming for families staying at home; and community support, including new Bell Let's Talk programs, more than 16,000 wireless devices provided to health care and social agencies; and the donation of 1.5 million masks for frontline workers throughout Canada. Consistent leader in corporate responsibility, committed to the highest environmental, social and governance standards in pursuit of our goal. We believe strong corporate governance practices are inextricably linked to positive social and economic outcomes, supporting superior operating results and building shareholder value. Bell networks and services are important enablers of Canada's clean economy. And within our own operations, we've achieved the first ISO 5001 (sic) [ ISO 50001 ] certification in the North American communications industry and announced our objective to be carbon-neutral in 2025. Through Bell Let's Talk, we support mental health action in communities throughout Canada, partnering with over 1,100 organizations in every region since 2010. We are building a diverse national team and an inclusive workplace through investment, targets and action, eliminating systemic barriers to our team members reaching their full potential. We remain firmly committed to maintaining strict data and information governance and protecting Bell and all our stakeholders from cybersecurity threats. Our networks are at the core of our business and of our ability to lead the way in these ESG standards. Now I'd like to share a brief video with you that highlights the ways that we're connecting Canadians. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] Bell is taking our commitment further still. In February, I was very pleased to announce a capital investment acceleration of between $1 billion and $1.2 billion over 2 years to bring broadband connections to even more Canadians and to support our country's ongoing recovery. It's the most ambitious network investment plan of its kind in Bell's 141-year history and an example of how our networks will always be ready when Canadians need them the most. We remain focused on delivering ongoing value to our shareholders and our competitive momentum, substantial cash flow generation and rock-solid financial foundation enabled us to continue building on a very strong track record. We increased BCE's common share dividend by 5.1% for 2021, representing our 13th consecutive year with a 5% or higher dividend increase. I now would like to take you through a close look at our strategy at work and now -- how have the Bell is executing our imperatives to stay out front in Canadians' communication. Bell networks are the foundation of our business and the backbone for the wireless Internet TV media, business services that keep Canadians connected and informed around the clock. With our capital acceleration program, we'll invest approximately an additional $700 million this year to rollout even more fast wireless home Internet and mobile 5G network connections across the country. We leverage our advanced networks capabilities to deliver leading-edge business, residential and wireless services. Innovative Internet of Things and virtual network and services from Bell business markets make us #1 choice for enterprise business and corporate clients. For residential and small business customers, we offer the fastest Internet speed available and unmatched home and business WiFi capabilities. And the power of mobile 5G is enabling limitless possibilities of content delivery, including the recently launched TSN 5G view and vision 5G RDS platform, which lets Maple Leaf and Canadians fans fully control their game experience directly on their Bell 5G smartphones. Creating and acquiring the best content and delivering it to our customers on any platform they may choose. The viewing preferences of Canadians are changing, and we're innovating to stay right with them by introducing new ways to watch like the Bilingual Crave, Virgin TV, the all-in-one CTV and Noovo video platforms and Bell Streamer, a powerful, new Bell-operated Android TV device. We're also investing in world-leading technology, an example of which we announced just yesterday. Our partnership with Xandr will provide a premier self-serve destination for digital advertisers, making it easier for them to access our unbeatable inventory and reach our customers across a variety of formats and channels. Bell Media remains #1 in English language media, and we see the incredible opportunity to bring that leadership to the French language marketplace. In addition to our 2020 launch of the fully Bilingual Crave offering thousands of hours exclusive Francophone content, we also made a bold new step forward in Quebec with the exciting launch of our Noovo brand. With conventional and digital assets, Noovo is bringing renewed investment to French language content production. This includes popular programming like [indiscernible] and the launch of the Noovo info news service. Its newly launched flagship program, Noovo Le Fil is now delivering the best, diverse authentic and current news programming that brings a much needed new voice to the Quebec media scene. And we're seeing strong progress in service as we champion customer experience with innovative new service and support options. We continue to expand the features available on our popular online self-serve platforms and the award-winning apps that enable Bell, Virgin and Lucky Mobile customers to manage their service experience when and how they want. Bell customer experience teams, including our care, field and retail groups, rapidly adjusted to the challenges of COVID-19. Operating with a strict focus on safety, they found new ways to deliver for our Bell customers, including equipping thousands of at-home agents and launching remote and customer self-installation options. Move Valet is another example of the specialized services we continue to launch. Move Valet ensures a seamless transfer of Internet, TV and phone services when customers move their residence, supporting our objective to both win and retain the household. There's one metric I'd like to highlight that shows the progress we're making. The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services, known as the CCTS, tracks customer complaints for most residential services. CCTS reports have been part of our industry for some time now, and I'm pleased to note that Bell has had the highest reduction in complaints among Canada's major providers for 6 years in a row. This includes in the most recent CCTS midyear report covering the last half of 2020, another 17% reduction for Bell, again, the best performance of the major communications providers. We operate in a fast-changing and highly competitive communications industry, and our team is always working to grow more nimble and more efficient in all that we do. An example is our move to a multichannel universe for sales, service and support, which was an area of heightened focus as we absorbed the challenges of COVID-19. Bell remains Canada's biggest communications retailer with stores and kiosks for Bell, Virgin and Lucky Mobile services as well as the source and other brands like WirelessWave. Our program to build digital tools to expand and enhance the customer experience accelerated throughout 2020, and that continues into 2021. As we ramped up investment in online and app-based sales and support tools, customers responded. Digital platforms accounted for more than half of all customer interactions by the end of 2020. Our performance at all fronts in 2020 underscores that the Bell team is our greatest competitive advantage. We're investing in our team with new learning opportunities like Bell U for technology skill development; in health and wellness, including unmatched workplace mental health support; and in leadership and diversity and inclusion initiatives. Bell is an acknowledged leader in diversity and inclusion in corporate Canada, and we further accelerated this work to create an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace in 2020. As Gord mentioned, we set ambitious new targets for representation at Bell and delivered new resources and training to heighten awareness and action in addressing systemic racism and its impacts. In the community, we've partnered with a range of leaders and voices, including the Onyx initiative, Indigenous Works, Black Professionals in Tech Network, BIPOC TV and film and Ascend Canada, all focused on driving opportunity and promotion for BIPOC talent at Bell and across corporate Canada. And Bell Let's Talk Step Forward 2, creating a special diversity fund and a new advisory committee of experts to support the mental health of racialized Canadians in communities nationwide. Bell Let's Talk has been the key driver of our leadership in workplace mental health, both externally with our Bell's Let's Talk initiative and within Bell as we ramped up mental health and wellness resources available to our team and move to virtual platforms. Bell Let's Talk stepped up quickly when the crisis hit, committing immediate funding for the Red Cross, Kids Help Phone Relief and other organizations to get support to the frontline workers, use families and working with local and national partners to provide virtual care as the country locked down. The focus on mental health was highlighted by a record-setting Bell Let's Talk Day in January. With a theme this year of Now More Than Ever, Canadians and people around the world exchanged more than 159 million messages of support, including across every social media platform and -- at $0.05 per [indiscernible] drove almost $8 million in Bell's funding for mental health programs. We're a decade into our groundbreaking mental health program, and it remains as relevant and necessary as when it launched. We can all be proud of this unique, made in Canada initiative, and I would like to show you a brief video highlighting your support at work. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] The Bell team has shown leadership to keep Canada connected through the challenges of 2020. On behalf of everyone at Bell, I'd like to say that it's an honor to serve you and all of our stakeholders as we advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world. Thank you, again, everyone, and back to you, Gord.

I would now ask Martin to provide the preliminary results of the scrutineers' tabulation of today's votes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The scrutineers confirm the following preliminary vote results. All Director nominees received at least 95.9% votes for. Approximately 95.1% of votes are favorable to the appointment of Deloitte as auditors. And the advisory resolution on executive compensation is approved by approximately 94.5%. Scrutineer's final report will be available shortly after the meeting.

Thank you very much, Martin. We're now at the point of the meeting where we are prepared to take questions or comments from shareholders. Martin, can I just ask you to remind us of the procedure to ask a question?

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] Note that only BCE shareholders may ask questions. For the good conduct of the meeting, only questions of general interest to all shareholders will be answered. To allow us to respond to as many questions as possible, we will limit each shareholder to one question and ask that it be succinct. If your question is related to an individual matter, a BCE representative will contact you after the meeting.

[Foreign Language] And we will now open it up for questions, and perhaps we can address the first question from the online questions.

All right. I'll read the first question. "At present, the company has proposed a slate of 35% women and 14% visible minorities, a rate that does not reflect Canadian demographics. If the company were listed in the U.K., the company would have as many nonindependent Directors as it has women Directors, owing to 4 Directors having terms in excess of 9 years. The company needs turnover and more diverse representation at the top to reflect a modern version of Canada." Question reads as follows, "When will BCE, Inc. adopt the formal policy on diversity at the Board level as well as term limits to ensure regular and predictable turnover of Board seats?"

Okay. I will take that question, Martin, and thank you, shareholder, for the question. BCE did adopt a Board diversity policy in 2015, and at the same time, we adopted a 12-year term limit for Directors. In all due respect to the U.K., the difference between 9 and 12 years is really not relevant, at least in my view. And in fact, today, we have 3 Directors who are retiring having reached their term limit of 12 years. I can also assure shareholders that those 3 Directors are as independent today as they step down as they were when they first joined the Board. BCE also, as I mentioned in my comments, is a member of the 30% Club, and we also signed the Catalyst Accord, which aims to increase the percentage of women on Canadian Corporate Boards by a minimum of 30%, and as I mentioned, we currently stand at 36%. That doesn't mean we're resting at those levels, but we certainly are in very good company in terms of our gender diversity on the Board. And as I said, we will continue, hopefully, to move those numbers forward. Our Board diversity policy states that we will strive to include within candidates and individuals that have a diverse background, whether that's gender, ethnicity, age, experience; 2 Directors currently of our Board are visible minority, 14% of the Board. We're very proud of the diversity within the Board and across the organization, and as I said, we'll continue to move that forward. Thank you again for your questions, shareholder.

I'll read the second question online. Question from Mr. Watts, "How can BCE almost double the rates from some of their mobile phone users? What is the justification particularly in the pandemic?"

I'll leave that one to Mirko.

Okay. Thank you, Gord, and thank you for the question. We -- and as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we certainly, during the pandemic, did step up in a number of ways, which I won't repeat, given my detailed remarks, in a number of ways to support our customers and our team members and our communities, and that related also to pricing. More recently, there has been, on the wireless space, a select number of price increases, not for base plans, but for certain add-ons. And that was to bring the prices of those add-ons in line with market rates being charged by our competitors. But more broadly, when we look at the wireless market, the price trend is most definitely down and most definitely down in a significant way. Just to give you just one touch point, Stats Can -- or a couple of touch points, Stats Can has indicated that wireless pricing has gone down over the last 2 years and certainly in a different direction than the Consumer Price Index has gone. And last year, the federal government asked the wireless industry to reduce prices by 25% over 2 years for mid-range wireless plans. And I can tell you that certainly, at our company, we are well on track to doing that by next January, which would be the target date. But again, thank you very much for the question.

Martin, perhaps, you could do one more online question, and then I'll ask the operator if there's anyone on the line who would like to ask a question.

Okay. Next question is from Mr. Bradley. "Bell continues to thank their technicians of their great work that they're doing during this pandemic, but at the same time, they are in negotiations with Unifor for their Bell Craft contract. They have made it clear that they want to terminate employment of technicians, while they continue to contract out testing work to offshore companies and other craft works to outside contractors. So why exactly does Bell feel the need to terminate highly skilled technicians instead of reducing offshoring and subcontracting?"

Mirko?

Okay. Thank you. Yes, I'll take that, Gord. So thank you for that question as well. When I've been speaking quite a fair bit, just even in this last -- during this AGM about how Bell stepped up for our customers and our communities, and that's across the Board. And our technicians and our field team were a very significant part of that. They are the folks who went out there each and every day in the field to connect our customers, and for that, we're very grateful. And when I became CEO and we added an imperative around engaging and investing our people -- in our people, that certainly included our team members who are also members of Unifor. I won't get into the negotiations around a new collective bargaining agreement. However, I will say on the subject of engaging with Unifor team members and subcontracting and the like, most recently, as you know, we did repatriate wireless home Internet installation work in Ontario and Quebec from contractors to Bell technicians, and I think that kind of gives you a sense of how important we view our Unifor team members. So thank you for the work you do each and every day.

Okay. Thank you, Mirko. Operator, are there any questions on the line? I know we have lots -- sorry, we have lots online, but do we have any on the phone?

There are no questions registered at this time, Mr. Nixon.

Okay. Martin, why don't you continue?

The next question comes from Mr. Frank. It goes like this, "Congratulations on your leadership with Let's Talk. What are your plans to take it to the next level?"

Thank you, Mr. Frank. We're very proud. As you can tell from my remarks this morning, we're very proud of Bell Let's Talk and the work it's done over more than 10 years, including, and in particular, during COVID-19. Initially, I mean at the highest level, initially, the -- when Bell Let's Talk was launched, I mean one of the key tenets of the program was to raise awareness about -- around mental health and to break the stigma associated with mental illness, and it's done great work over the years in that. And we're going to continue doing that. We're going to continue to use Bell Let's Talk in order to raise awareness and break stigma. But we're going to go even further and give you a couple of examples. I did mention in my remarks, stepping up during COVID with mental health services for particular organizations across the country. We launched the Bell Let's Talk Diversity Fund, which I also mentioned in my opening remarks, to support racialized Canadians. And what we're going to do over and above that is start to also shift to talking about access to mental health care. So that's how we're going to take it to the next level. I really do appreciate the question, and thank you for your support.

The next question is coming from Mr. [ Gagnon ]. [Interpreted] The CRTC recently gave its -- a decision regarding the responsibility of Bell for virtual wireless service. What will be the impact on the returns of your company? What is the cost also for all of the similar obligations that Bell has? It would be important to give a detail of the weight of all of this -- all of these extra costs. This practice would allow you to inform the shareholders about the risks in this matter.

[Interpreted] Thank you for that question. Regarding the recent decision of the CRTC, it has just been rendered, and we're not yet -- at the end of the process, we have to submit our rates regarding the way the competitors have access to our network. So it's too soon to evaluate the impact of that ruling. But despite the fact that the access was mandated, the decision supports the major investments that we are making into the network. And we hope that the federal government and their public policy and the decision of the CRTC will continue to make decisions that will support our investments. Thank you, Mr. [ Gagnon ], for your question.

Mr. [ Flanagan, ] "Interesting, BCE is committed to ESG. How about E2SG, an extra E for economic in addition to environment, social and governance since Bell Canada enterprises is a business to provide telecommunication services and earn a profit to continue to invest in the business and pay dividends to shareholders. So for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to commit to E2SG?"

Perhaps, Mirko, I will take that one. It is a governance question, and thank you, Mr. [ Ferguson ], for your question. I would say that the economic addition to ESG is necessary for a couple of reasons, the first and foremost of which is the fact that companies that are leaders in ESG generally perform better in terms of their economic performance than companies that are not committed to ESG. And I think even equally important, if you look at what is happening in the marketplace, a significant valuation premium is placed on companies that are leaders in ESG and, of course, a discount on those that are falling behind in terms of their ESG policies, procedures and disclosure. So there is a direct correlation. It's evident in the marketplace, and certainly, a number of institutional investors, including the Canadian pension funds have spoken out about the relationship between performance and ESG. So you can be rest assured that the E standing for economic is a big part of our strategy. And I would just say, in terms of our performance, I think as we talk about our purpose being to service all stakeholders, of course, one of the most important stakeholders are our shareholders. We are committed to a dividend growth model, which has generated consecutive -- 13 years of consecutive 5% increases in the dividend, and that continues to be a major component of our strategy going forward. So we're very comfortable that the E for economics is well represented in our ESG strategies going forward.

The next question comes from Mr. [ Snair ]. "How will the purchase of Shaw buy Rogers impact BCE?"

Mirko?

Thank you, Gord. Look, we're very, very pleased with the asset mix we have because it -- allows us to be a formidable competitor in the marketplace today, and that will continue to be the case. We are, for example, just pointing to the accelerated capital program that I discussed in my remarks, the additional $1 billion to $1.2 billion in investment over and above our normal kind of CapEx envelope in past years. It's going to allow us to build more fiber Internet. It's going to allow us to build more wireless home Internet to rural areas and more 5G. And those are the essential -- having those leading networks is the essential building blocks of being able to offer attractive and innovative services on top of those networks, all to say that, that's going to position us extremely well to compete against anyone in the marketplace, including the 2 parties that you mentioned, should their merger proceed. Thank you.

Next question from [ Faheem Sheik. ] "How does Bell see the competition from Tesla Starlink satellites? And how does Bell plan to compete?"

Thank you. And again, building off of the last answer, we just start with our aggressive wireless home Internet build-out plan. So wireless home Internet is an innovative new home residential services that leverages our wireless network and the fiber that we've built to wireless cell sites in rural areas. And it offers -- we have a target footprint of making the service available to 1 million homes from Manitoba to Newfoundland, which is really our incumbent operating territory. And with this service, we can go into rural areas that haven't had the benefit of broadband before or have had low speed broadband and offer home-based Internet services with speeds up to 50 megs download and 10 megs upload. Those speeds will be upgradable with 5G in the years to come. And so that's quite an attractive offering for rural Canadians, and I stand that up against Starlink or other LEO competitors any day. And I would just end with this. If you look at our ability to compete, it comes with our early lead in the wireless home Internet footprint. It comes with the speeds that we're going to offer on that service, including unlimited Internet plans; the Bell brand associated with that service and the awareness of the Bell brand. And one key differentiator that we have over competitors like those mentioned in the question is our technicians are -- go into the community and install the services for our customers and go to repair the service should there ever be an issue. And the competitors refer to the consumers left to, for example, climb their -- climb on to their roof and install the dishes themselves. So a big differentiator for us there that puts us in a competitively good position. Thank you.

Mirko, I just might add, too. The Board and our management team spend a lot of time on competitive and technology threats to our business model and to our businesses generally. And we did have a specific presentation to the Board from management on Starlink quite recently. So a lot of attention is paid, not just by management, but by the Board as well in terms of not just Starlink, but competitive threats generally.

A question from Mr. [ Flant ]. "When will Bell improve the Internet access to more rural areas of the country?"

Yes, on that -- that is top of mind for the management team and for me as well. And we're doing a number of things to connect as many homes in our operating footprint with the very best Internet services. And speaking of rural, in particular, we continue to expand our fiber footprint. For example, again, our accelerated investment program that I've mentioned will allow us to pass an extra 850,000 to 900,000 locations this year with a combination of fiber and wireless home Internet. So that's one. Wireless home Internet is the second prong of that, I've already mentioned. We have a target footprint of 1 million locations passed, and that's entirely in rural areas. And at the end of 2020, we had essentially made the service available to almost 500,000 rural homes. And the third thing we're doing is we are partnering with governments at all levels, working together with them, particularly with regard to government subsidy programs, to kind of leverage our private capital with government subsidies so that we can do more faster in rural areas. Thank you.

Next question from Mr. [ Duquet ]. "Following the Shaw saga, there's been [Foreign Language]

On commercial or other strategic initiatives with competitors or otherwise. But I would reiterate my answer to the earlier question around the pending mergers that we're competitively very well positioned to continue to deliver for our customers and, of course, our shareholders.

Thank you. Another one from Mr. [ Chang ]. "What is the detailed plan in that which area to reach carbon-neutral in 2025?"

Thank you. I mean this is an area, as Gord has mentioned, that's going to be a particular focus of the management team and the Board through the guidance of the Corporate Governance Committee and builds on the intervention from M. Gagnon. We are doing a number of things in ESG and on the kind of terms of environmental, in particular, as you mentioned, and thank you for the question. We will -- our goal is to be carbon-neutral by 2025. And it comes with a lot of things, taking stock and tracking our greenhouse gas emissions and the greenhouse gas emissions used by customers from -- avoided by customers using our services; reducing greenhouse gas intensity of all our operations, and we've done a great job in that regard since 2014, in fact, an 86% reduction. And it's looking at things like energy-saving techniques within our operations and within our facilities. Thank you for the question. We will continue to track our progress on these initiatives and disclose them in our shareholder materials as time goes on.

Martin, I see we have a few more online questions, but perhaps, we could just ask the operator first before we go to those whether there are any live questions on the phone. Operator?

There are no questions registered at this time, Mr. Nixon.

Okay. Why don't we keep going then, Martin, with the online questions?

Okay. The next one is coming from [ Jeff Boyer ]. "I would like to understand how we are regulating received funds from Bell Let's Talk. In my experience and understanding, many communities have their hands out, but what are we doing to ensure these funds are being spent efficiently and effectively?"

Yes. Thank you. We have an internal committee that oversees how those funds are allocated. And we have different prongs to our program. We have smaller community donations, and then community organizations, grassroots organizations apply and our counsel and our committee reviews the applications and determines what -- which applications are the best fit for the objectives of our program. And of course, we have the larger donations that we make, and we follow the same process. And as it relates to the new aspect on the Bell Diversity Fund is we have an expert group that is helping us and advising us with respect to how to allocate the Bell Diversity Funds allocation. Thank you.

The next question is from Mr. [ Wiesenthal. ] It's regarding security of Bell Networks. "What steps in the company -- is the company undertaking to address security concerns?"

Yes, this is an important issue and a great question. And we -- our approach to address security is multifaceted and multilayered. Of course, it starts with the work that our IT and network teams are doing to make sure that we have the very best cybersecurity technologies in place. It also extends to making sure that we're investing in proper life cycle management of our assets. And then above that, it -- our corporate security team engages in internal and third-party penetration testing, for example, and all the way up to the oversight by myself and by our Board. Our risk -- and our Risk Committee, of course, is mandated with providing overall guidance and making sure that management is monitoring this closely and allocating proper resources to it.

Mr. Chairman, that was the last question online.

Okay.

I just got one more coming in last minute. "Living in the rural environment in Ontario, 2 weeks ago, Bell installed a dish on a personally installed pole and took us from a modern -- from a modem in the house and sporadic coverage to about 2,000 receiver and our home fully able to participate in WiFi and Internet services. What Bell spoke of, we are proof and pleased with the efforts of Bell." It's just a comment. It's not a question.

What a great comment to finish on, Martin. Thank you very much, Mr. [ Louis ], I'm glad that you're pleased with our service in the rural communities. Operator, are there any questions on the line before we wrap up?

There are no questions registered at this time, Mr. Nixon.

Okay. There being no further, I believe, Martin, we are prepared now to close the meeting. Is that correct?

That's correct, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. I would, once again, like to thank everyone for their participation. The unusual circumstances will hopefully be over next year, and we will review the process and the best way to move forward with our AGM. But we appreciate your participation on the phone or through webcast at our annual meeting. We also appreciate your confidence and support of the organization. And I would conclude by, once again, thanking our Board and particularly those who are stepping down after a terrific service to the organization, and thank you, our shareholders, for your support, both in the past and going forward. With that, I would conclude the meeting. Thank you very much. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]