Share capital (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Disclosure Of Share Capital, Reserves And Other Equity Interest [Abstract]

Summary of principal terms of preference shares and common shares

The following table provides a summary of the principal terms of BCE’s First Preferred Shares as at December 31, 2023. There were no Second Preferred Shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023. BCE’s articles of amalgamation, as amended, describe the terms and conditions of these shares in detail.


	ANNUAL DIVIDEND RATE							STATED CAPITAL
SERIES			CONVERTIBLE INTO	CONVERSION DATE	REDEMPTION DATE	REDEMPTION PRICE	NUMBER OF SHARES ISSUED AND OUTSTANDING	DECEMBER 31, 2023	DECEMBER 31, 2022
Q	floating		Series R	December 1, 2030	At any time	$25.50	—	—	—
R(1)	3.018	%	Series Q	December 1, 2025	December 1, 2025	$25.00	7,764,800	194	200
S	floating		Series T	November 1, 2026	At any time	$25.50	2,054,167	51	53
T(1)	4.99	%	Series S	November 1, 2026	November 1, 2026	$25.00	5,301,633	132	146
Y	floating		Series Z	December 1, 2027	At any time	$25.50	6,451,752	161	175
Z(1)	5.346	%	Series Y	December 1, 2027	December 1, 2027	$25.00	2,708,031	68	74
AA(1)	4.94	%	Series AB	September 1, 2027	September 1, 2027	$25.00	11,482,631	293	312
AB	floating		Series AA	September 1, 2027	At any time	$25.50	6,918,839	176	195
AC(1)	5.08	%	Series AD	March 1, 2028	March 1, 2028	$25.00	6,482,274	165	255
AD	floating		Series AC	March 1, 2028	At any time	$25.50	12,513,726	319	254
AE	floating		Series AF	February 1, 2025	At any time	$25.50	6,022,513	151	162
AF(1)	3.865	%	Series AE	February 1, 2025	February 1, 2025	$25.00	9,076,087	227	237
AG(1)	3.37	%	Series AH	May 1, 2026	May 1, 2026	$25.00	8,442,830	211	223
AH	floating		Series AG	May 1, 2026	At any time	$25.50	4,784,070	120	125
AI(1)	3.39	%	Series AJ	August 1, 2026	August 1, 2026	$25.00	9,246,640	231	237
AJ	floating		Series AI	August 1, 2026	At any time	$25.50	4,118,260	103	111
AK(1)	3.306	%	Series AL	December 31, 2026	December 31, 2026	$25.00	22,303,812	558	578
AL(2)	floating		Series AK	December 31, 2026	At any time		1,755,688	44	45
AM(1)	2.939	%	Series AN	March 31, 2026	March 31, 2026	$25.00	10,183,378	233	239
AN(2)	floating		Series AM	March 31, 2026	At any time		1,035,822	24	24
AO(3)	fixed		Series AP				—	—	—
AP(3)	floating		Series AO				—	—	—
AQ(1)	6.538	%	Series AR	September 30, 2028	September 30, 2028	$25.00	8,303,614	206	225
AR(4)	floating		Series AQ	September 30, 2033	At any time		—	—	—
								3,667	3,870

(1)BCE may redeem each of these series of First Preferred Shares on the applicable redemption date and every five years thereafter.

(2)BCE may redeem Series AL and AN First Preferred Shares at $25.00 per share on December 31, 2026 and March 31, 2026, respectively, and every five years thereafter (each, a Series conversion date). Alternatively, BCE may redeem Series AL or AN First Preferred Shares at $25.50 per share on any date which is not a Series conversion date for the applicable series of First Preferred Shares.

(3)On March 31, 2022, BCE redeemed its 4,600,000 issued and outstanding Series AO First Preferred Shares with a stated capital of $118 million for a total cost of $115 million. The remaining $3 million was recorded to contributed surplus.

(4)If Series AR First Preferred Shares are issued on September 30, 2028, BCE may redeem such shares at $25.00 per share on September 30, 2033 and every five years thereafter (each, a Series conversion date). Alternatively, BCE may redeem Series AR Preferred Shares at $25.50 per share on any date which is not a Series conversion date for such series of First Preferred Shares.

The following table provides details about the outstanding common shares of BCE.


		2023		2022
	NOTE	NUMBER OF SHARES	STATED CAPITAL	NUMBER OF SHARES	STATED CAPITAL
Outstanding, January 1		911,982,866	20,840	909,018,871	20,662
Shares issued under deferred share plan		843	—	11,003	1
Shares issued under employee stock option plan	31	306,139	19	2,952,992	177
Unclaimed shares(1)		(15,303)	—	—	—



Outstanding, December 31		912,274,545	20,859	911,982,866	20,840

(1) Represents unclaimed shares following the expiry of former Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) shareholders' rights to receive BCE common shares in

connection with the acquisition of MTS.