BCE Inc. – 2003 Fourth Quarter Shareholder Report Download the Quarterly Report in Acrobat format. Get Acrobat here.   BCE Inc. 1000, rue de La Gauchetière Ouest Bureau 3700 Montréal (Québec)   H3B 4Y7 www.bce.ca Communications e-mail: bcecomms@bce.ca tel: 1 888 932-6666 fax: (514) 870-4385 This document has been filed by BCE Inc. with Canadian securities commissions and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It can also be found on BCE Inc.’s Web site at www.bce.ca or is available upon request from: Investor Relations e-mail: investor.relations@bce.ca tel: 1 800 339-6353 fax: (514) 786-3970   For further information concerning the Dividend Reinvestment and Stock Purchase Plan (DRP), direct deposit of dividend payments, the elimination of multiple mailings or the receipt of quarterly reports, please contact: Computershare Trust Company of Canada 100 University Avenue, 9th Floor Toronto, Ontario   M5J 2Y1 tel: (514) 982-7555 or 1 800 561-0934 fax: (416) 263-9394 or 1 888 453-0330 e-mail: bce@computershare.com

February 3, 2004

The Year in Review Customer Connections WIRELESS. Our total cellular and PCS subscriber base grew by 514,000 in 2003, or 13.2%, to 4,412,000. HIGH-SPEED INTERNET. Our Digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed Internet subscriber base grew by 372,000 in 2003, or 34%, to 1,482,000. SATELLITE TV. Our direct-to-home television (DTH) service subscriber base grew by 83,000 in 2003, or 6.4%, to 1,387,000. NETWORK ACCESS SERVICES (NAS). Our NAS levels declined by 103,000, or 0.8%, to 13.1 million. Revenues Our 2003 revenues were $19,056 million compared to revenues of $19,186 million in 2002. The change in revenues primarily reflects the sale of our directories business in late November 2002. Excluding the revenues from our directories business in 2002 results and the impact of the Price Cap decision in the first five months of 2003, our 2003 operating revenues would have increased by 2.3%. Operating Income and EBITDA(1) Our operating income this year was $4,052 million, or 18.5% higher than 2002 operating income of $3,419 million. Our 2003 EBITDA was $7,426 million compared to 2002 EBITDA of $7,355 million. Our EBITDA margin grew by 0.7 percentage points to 39.0%. Excluding the EBITDA from our directories business in 2002 results and the impact of the Price Cap decision in the first five months of 2003, our 2003 EBITDA would have increased by 6.3% and our EBITDA margin would have grown by 1.5 percentage points. (1) EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by Canadian GAAP and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures for more details including a reconciliation of EBITDA to operating income. Net Earnings/EPS Net earnings applicable to common shares this year were $1,744 million, or $1.90 per common share. In 2002, net earnings applicable to common shares were $2,342 million, or $2.66 per common share. Net earnings in 2002 were significantly higher than 2003 mainly due to the gain on the sale of our directories business partly offset by restructuring and impairment charges. BCE achieved a Return on Equity (ROE)(2) of 15.1% for the year.  (2) ROE (return on common shareholders’ equity) is calculated as net earnings applicable to common shares as a percentage of average common shareholders’ equity. Capital Expenditures For the full year, capital expenditures of $3,179 million were 14.8% below 2002 levels and as a percentage of revenues improved to 16.7% from 19.4% for 2002.   Cash from Operating Activities and Free Cash Flow(3) Cash from operating activities this year was $6,015 million, a 37% increase over $4,378 million from last year. Free cash flow of $1,626 million this year improved significantly from negative free cash flow of $850 million in 2002, reflecting the increase in cash from operations, tax refunds and lower total dividends, mainly due to Bell Canada no longer paying dividends to SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) following BCE’s repurchase of SBC’s 20% indirect interest in Bell Canada. Our free cash flow improvement contributed to a reduction of our net-debt-to-total-capitalization ratio from 48.4% at December 31, 2002 to 43.8% at December 31, 2003. (3) The term free cash flow does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by Canadian GAAP and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures provided by other issuers. Please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures for more details and flowSummary of Cash Flows for a reconciliation of free cash flow to cash from operating activities. Free cash flow is calculated as cash from operating activities after total dividends, capital expenditures and other investing activities. Executing on our Priorities Setting the Standard in Internet Protocol (IP) The telecommunications industry is currently going through a major transformation as it evolves from multiple service-specific networks to IP-based communications. At BCE’s Business Review Conference in December, we announced our multi-year plan to lead change in the industry and set the standard in the IP world while continuing to deliver on our goals of innovation, simplicity and service, and financial discipline. We will also continue to focus on our previously announced Consumer, Small and Medium business and Enterprise customer segment strategies. Innovation Significant progress was made in 2003 in furthering our innovation goals including: Agreement with Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) on June 16, 2003 to create a co-branded portal and to deliver a unique package of leading edge Microsoft services to customers in the second quarter of 2004 Use of Nortel Networks (Nortel) IP Telephony technology and the creation of a joint Bell-Nortel Innovation Center to accelerate the launch of new IP Telephony and multimedia services announced on September 8, 2003 Agreement with Microsoft on October 9, 2003, to work together to test and deploy standard and high-definition TV channels, on-demand programming and interactivity over Bell’s broadband network through the use of Microsoft’s new IPTV technology  Our October 20, 2003 announcement that we will be using Lucent Technologies’ new high-density DSL remotes in neighbourhoods to expand the Sympatico high-speed Internet footprint; and its IP-based platform to evolve our voice messaging services Our December 16, 2003 announcement regarding the purchase of Nortel Networks’ optical network technology to accelerate the delivery of IP-based services and the creation of an Optical Innovation Center to accelerate the deployment of new IP-oriented optical solutions Our showcasing of working demonstrations of Hosted IP Telephony and Residential Voice over IP (VoIP) services at BCE’s Business Review Conference on December 17, 2003. Hosted IP Telephony service for Enterprise customers is expected to be commercially available in Q3 2004, while residential VoIP is currently undergoing technical trials More recently, on January 19, 2004, Bell Canada and Cisco Systems Canada (Cisco) announced plans to accelerate the creation, commercialization and delivery of a comprehensive suite of IP services that will enable large and medium-sized business customers to reap the full benefits of an integrated data, voice and video IP-based network. As a result of this alliance, Bell will build on its network capability and align its investments towards a single IP/Multi-Protocol Label System (MPLS) service delivery network with a national footprint. Simplicity and Service We made significant progress in simplifying the customer experience in 2003. Initiatives such as our interactive voice-response system “Emily”, specialized call center “Move Queues”, the introduction of One-Bill, and reduced provisioning intervals for business high-speed Internet service have improved customer service. In addition, the launch of new services like Single Number Reach and Business Back-Up have made life simpler for customers. On September 25, 2003, Bell Canada launched The Bell Bundle which combines wireless, Internet and satellite television services into one simple offer for customers taking Bell Canada’s long-distance service. Customer response to The Bell Bundle since its launch has exceeded expectations with over 70,000 sales by December 31, 2003.   The Quarter at a Glance ...