BCE updates 2026 financial guidance targets and 2025-2028 financial outlook
This news release contains forward-looking statements. For a description of the related risk factors and assumptions, please see the section entitled "Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" later in this news release.
REGINA, SK, March 16, 2026 /CNW/ - Bell Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan today announced a transformational step forward for Bell AI Fabric and for Canada's AI future: a new 300 MW data centre in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, Saskatchewan, just outside of Regina. This major investment aligns with Bell's strategic priority to lead in enterprise with AI-powered solutions and will significantly increase Canada's domestic compute capacity while supporting Saskatchewan's long-term economic growth and diversification.
This project is Bell's largest-ever investment in Saskatchewan, an unprecedented commitment to Saskatchewan's technology ecosystem that places the province at the centre of Canada's AI-driven economic growth. Once complete, it will be the largest purpose-built AI data centre development anywhere in Canada.
Over time, the facility is projected to generate economic value of up to $12 billion for the province, including short- and long-term job creation, tax revenues and broader economic benefits. Construction will support at least 800 jobs in the trades and engineering, with a minimum of 80 full-time roles created once the facility is fully operational. Based on industry research, as many as 750 additional community jobs could result from a large data centre deployment of this nature.
Construction is scheduled to begin this spring. The facility will come online in stages, with individual data halls entering service on a rolling basis. The first stage is expected to come online in the first half of 2027.
Importantly, a significant portion of the facility's power will be dedicated to sovereign AI compute, ensuring that government agencies, researchers and enterprises in Canada can access top-tier AI power while guaranteeing their data remains within Canada, meeting strict chain-of-custody and residency requirements.
The facility will be linked to Bell's national fibre backbone through a partnership with SaskTel. Together, Bell and SaskTel will act as go-to-market partners, offering AI-powered products and solutions to SaskTel customers.
The new facility will serve as a regional hub for advanced compute capabilities, expanding Canada's AI ecosystem while generating significant economic benefits for Saskatchewan.
Compute partnerships
Cerebras and CoreWeave are secured as the tenants for the new facility. Cerebras will provide AI Fabric customers access to its revolutionary wafer-scale technology, which will deliver large-scale, high-performance AI inference and training capacity. CoreWeave will deliver cutting-edge, scalable AI compute hosted on NVIDIA GPUs.
Community impact
As part of the partnership with the provincial government, Bell will support strategic AI use cases for Saskatchewan postsecondary institutions, municipalities and the public sector. Bell will also explore opportunities for collaboration with students and faculty from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the University of Regina.
Bell has entered into an agreement with the George Gordon First Nation with a focus on Indigenous procurement participation and workforce development.
Consistent with all Bell AI Fabric data centre builds, the project uses a closed-loop cooling system that does not draw from municipal water resources. Additionally, advanced discussions are underway regarding a district energy system that would enable waste heat reuse on nearby university campuses and in a development project led by George Gordon Developments Ltd., located directly north of the site.
Quotes
"Bell is drawing on its historic roots as a Canadian technology leader and nation builder through ambitious projects like Bell AI Fabric, by building a digital backbone to power the future of the Canadian economy. Today's announcement is an exciting illustration of the impact of Bell's strategic priority to lead in enterprise with AI-powered solutions. Our largest-ever investment in Saskatchewan will deliver the cutting-edge, high-performance compute necessary to innovate at speed, bring major economic benefits to the province and create a competitive advantage for our country. We're thrilled to partner with the Government of Saskatchewan to ensure Canada can compete and win in the AI economy."
- Mirko Bibic, President & CEO, BCE and Bell Canada
"The announcement of this facility is great news for Saskatchewan's economy. This investment by Bell will create jobs, strengthen provincial research capacity, and facilitate the creation of new businesses built on advanced capabilities."
- The Honourable Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan
"AI is becoming foundational national infrastructure. Countries want AI systems that are fast, energy-efficient, and sovereign by design, and partnering with Bell allows us to bring industry-leading AI compute to Canada in a way that aligns with these national priorities."
- Andrew Feldman, CEO and Co-founder, Cerebras
"Canada has an extraordinary AI ecosystem, and expanding access to advanced compute will help unlock new opportunities for innovation, economic growth and scientific discovery. We're excited to work with Bell AI Fabric to deliver the high-performance AI infrastructure researchers, enterprises and developers need to innovate at scale."
- Sachin Jain, Chief Operating Officer, CoreWeave
"On behalf of George Gordon Developments, the business arm of George Gordon First Nation, we are excited to partner with Bell AI Fabric on this major economic project. George Gordon First Nation has a history of working with industry leaders to ensure long-term mutual benefits that lead to measurable community outcomes while respecting our treaty rights, cultural protocols and environmental stewardship. George Gordon First Nation will support and collaborate directly with Bell Canada to ensure the success of this project for the members of George Gordon First Nation and the Province of Saskatchewan."
- Shawn R. Longman, Chief, George Gordon First Nation
Call with financial analysts
BCE will hold a conference call with the financial community to discuss this announcement today, March 16 at 8:00 a.m. eastern. Media are welcome to participate on a listen-only basis. To participate, please dial toll-free 1-800-990-2777 or 416-855-9085. You will be asked to enter Conference ID 93039. A replay will be available until midnight on April 16, 2026 by dialing 1-888-660-6264 or 289-819-1325 and entering passcode 93039. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on BCE's website at Bell AI Fabric data centre in Saskatchewan conference call.
BCE financial information
Given the material impact of this transformational announcement and its expected positive impact on BCE's financial profile, BCE is updating its 2026 financial guidance targets, as originally provided on February 5, 2026, and its 2025-2028 financial outlook, as originally provided on October 14, 2025, per the tables below. The financial guidance, which has been updated solely to reflect the expected financial impact of the new data centre, reflects BCE's confidence in strong revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow1 growth.
BCE is also increasing its objective for AI-powered solutions revenue2 from approximately $1.5 billion by 2028 to approximately $2.0 billion by 2028.
The construction of this facility will require approximately $1.7 billion of incremental capital expenditures, with approximately $1.3 billion expected to be incurred in 2026, funded through a combination of debt and cash-on-hand. On a run-rate adjusted EBITDA1 basis, the transaction is expected to be leverage-neutral. BCE remains focused on achieving its target net debt1 leverage ratio1 of 3.5x by the end of 2027, falling below 3.5x in 2028, and intends to continue reducing leverage toward its policy level of approximately 3.0x by 2030.
BCE 2026 updated financial guidance targets3
($ millions)
2025 Results
2026 Prior Guidance
2026 Current Guidance
Revenue growth
0.2 %
1% to 5%
No change
Adjusted EBITDA growth
0.7 %
0% to 4%
No change
Capital intensity4
15.1 %
<15%
~20%
(~$1.3B of incremental capital expenditures)
Adjusted EPS1 growth
(7.9 %)
(11%) to (5%)
No change
Free cash flow growth
10.0 %
4% to 10%
$3,300 to $3,500
(34%) to (28%)
$2,100 to $2,300
Annualized common dividend per share
$1.75
$1.75
No change
BCE 2025-2028 updated financial outlook
2028 Prior Outlook
2028 Current Outlook
Revenue CAGR 2025-2028E
2% - 4%
2.5% - 4.5%
Adjusted EBITDA CAGR 2025-2028E
2% - 3%
3% - 4%
Capital intensity
~14%
No change
Free cash flow CAGR 2025-2028E
~ 7%
~ 8.5%
Free cash flow after payment of lease liabilities1 CAGR 2025-2028E
~ 15%
~ 16.5%
Net debt leverage ratio
<3.5x
No change
_______________________
1 Adjusted EBITDA is a total of segments measure. The most directly comparable financial measure for adjusted EBITDA ($10,658 million for 2025) under IFRS Accounting Standards is net earnings ($6,514 million for 2025). Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP ratio. Net debt used in the calculation of the net debt leverage ratio is a non-GAAP financial measure. Net debt leverage ratio is a capital management measure. The most directly comparable financial measures for net debt ($40,234 million for 2025) under IFRS Accounting Standards is long-term debt ($34,904 million for 2025), debt due within one year ($6,155 million for 2025) and cash and cash equivalents ($320 million for 2025). Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure. The most directly comparable financial measure for free cash flow ($3,178 million for 2025) under IFRS Accounting Standards is cash flows from operating activities ($6,993 million for 2025). Free cash flow after payment of lease liabilities is a non-GAAP financial measure. The most directly comparable financial measure for free cash flow after payment of lease liabilities ($2,051 million for 2025) under IFRS Accounting Standards is cash flows from operating activities ($6,993 million for 2025). Refer to the Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures section in this news release for more information on these measures.
2 AI-powered solutions revenue is comprised of revenues from Ateko, Bell Cyber and Bell AI Fabric.
3 The guidance ranges above are unaffected by the pending divestiture of Northwestel.
4 Capital intensity is defined as capital expenditures divided by operating revenues. Refer to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) section in this news release for more information on capital intensity.
Please see the section entitled "Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" later in this news release for a description of the principal assumptions on which BCE's 2026 and 2028 financial guidance targets are based, as well as the principal related risk factors.
About Bell
Bell is Canada's largest communications company5, leading the way in advanced fibre and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media. By delivering next-generation technology that leverages cloud-based and AI-driven solutions, we're keeping customers connected, informed and entertained while enabling businesses to compete on the world stage. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.
5 Based on total revenue and total combined customer connections.
Media inquiries: Adam Austen[email protected]
Investor inquiries: Kris Somers[email protected]
NON-GAAP AND OTHER FINANCIAL MEASURES
BCE uses various financial measures to assess its business performance. Certain of these measures are calculated in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS or GAAP) while certain other measures do not have a standardized meaning under GAAP. We believe that our GAAP financial measures, read together with adjusted non-GAAP and other financial measures, provide readers with a better understanding of how management assesses BCE's performance.
National Instrument 52-112, Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures Disclosure (NI 52-112), prescribes disclosure requirements that apply to the following specified financial measures:
Non-GAAP financial measures;
Non-GAAP ratios;
Total of segments measures;
Capital management measures; and
Supplementary financial measures.
This section provides a description and classification of the specified financial measures contemplated by NI 52-112 that we use in this news release to explain our financial results except that, for supplementary financial measures, an explanation of such measures is provided where they are first referred to in this news release if the supplementary financial measures' labelling is not sufficiently descriptive.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
A non-GAAP financial measure is a financial measure used to depict our historical or expected future financial performance, financial position or cash flow and, with respect to its composition, either excludes an amount that is included in, or includes an amount that is excluded from, the composition of the most directly comparable financial measure disclosed in BCE's consolidated primary financial statements. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures are reflective of our on-going operating results and provide readers with an understanding of management's perspective on and analysis of our performance.
Below are descriptions of the non-GAAP financial measures that we use in this news release to explain our results as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable financial measures under IFRS Accounting Standards.
Adjusted net earnings, Adjusted net earnings is a non-GAAP financial measure and it does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS Accounting Standards. Therefore, it is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.
We define adjusted net earnings as net earnings attributable to common shareholders before severance, acquisition and other costs, net mark-to-market losses (gains) on derivatives used to economically hedge equity settled share-based compensation plans, net equity losses (gains) on investments in associates and joint ventures, net losses (gains) on investments, early debt redemption costs (gains), impairment of assets and discontinued operations, net of tax and NCI.
We use adjusted net earnings and we believe that certain investors and analysts use this measure, among other ones, to assess the performance of our businesses without the effects of severance, acquisition and other costs, net mark-to-market losses (gains) on derivatives used to economically hedge equity settled share-based compensation plans, net equity losses (gains) on investments in associates and joint ventures, net losses (gains) on investments, early debt redemption costs (gains), impairment of assets and discontinued operations, net of tax and NCI. We exclude these items because they affect the comparability of our financial results and could potentially distort the analysis of trends in business performance. Excluding these items does not imply they are non-recurring.
The most directly comparable financial measure under IFRS Accounting Standards is net earnings attributable to common shareholders.
The following table is a reconciliation of net earnings attributable to common shareholders to adjusted net earnings on a consolidated basis.
