Bell TV Canada subscriber base up 2.5% in 2012

248k Fibe TV customers at end of 2012, up 163k in the year

MONTREAL — BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company, today reported BCE and Bell results for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2012.

Bell Wireline

Bell Fibe TV added 48,234 net new customers compared to 27,967 in the fourth quarter of 2011. The Bell Fibe TV footprint expanded by 500,000 households in Q4 to reach 3.3 million at the end of 2012. Satellite TV net additions were negative in the quarter, reflecting aggressive customer conversion offers from cable competitors, the rollout of IPTV by competing service providers, and Bell customer migrations to Fibe TV. Consequently, total TV net additions were 19,218, compared to 27,702 in Q4 2011.

Fibe TV Subscribers:

2010  2011  2012
----  ----  ----
 13k   86k  248k

The Bell TV subscriber base totalled 2,155,983 at the end of Q4, a year-over-year increase of 2.5%.

TV (EOP=End of period)

                                          Q4         Q4                Total      Total  
                                        2012       2011  % change       2012       2011  % change
                                   ---------  ---------  --------  ---------  ---------  --------
Net subscriber activations (2)        19,218     27,702   (30.6%)     69,445     68,221      1.8%
Total subscribers EOP (1) (2) (3)  2,155,983  2,103,579      2.5%

(1) At the beginning of Q3 2012, our high-speed Internet and TV subscriber base were reduced by 8,844 customers and 7,514 customers respectively, to adjust for customer deactivations.
(2) Our TV customer base was increased by 15,260 customers to include the cable operations of Northwestel Inc. at the beginning of 2011.
(3) At the beginning of 2012, our TV subscriber base was reduced by 9,527 customers following our decision to shut down our cable TV business in Montréal in 2012.