Rogers Communications Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Rogers Communications, Inc. 4th Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Paul Carpino, Vice President of Investor Relations with Rogers Communications. Please go ahead, Mr. Carpino.

Thank you, Ariel, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today I'm here with our President and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Staffieri, and our Chief Financial Officer, Glenn Brandt. Today's discussion will include estimates and other forward-looking information from which our actual results could differ. Please review the cautionary language in today's earnings report and in our 2022 annual report regarding the various factors, assumptions, and risks that could cause our actual results to differ. With that, let me turn it over to Tony to begin.

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to report that Rogers delivered another record quarter. This reflects the eighth consecutive quarter of growth and momentum for our company. As I reflect on the year, we delivered industry-leading results, completed an industry-leading merger, and drove industry-leading innovation. And we returned to number one in virtually all key growth metrics. Let me start with our full year results. In 2023, we delivered on our commitments. We met our increased financial guidance and grew service revenue by 27% and adjusted EBITDA by 34%. In a very competitive and growing market, more Canadians chose Rogers over any other competitor for the second year in a row. In 2023, we attracted 674,000 postpaid mobile phone net additions, up an impressive 24%. This was driven by disciplined execution, leading distribution, and attracting new Canadians. Simply put, we've out-executed our competition for two straight years. Over the past two years, we've attracted an impressive 1.4 million Canadians across our mobile and Internet services. This is the best performance in our industry and in our company's history. We achieved this customer growth while maintaining disciplined execution to deliver healthy financial results, and we delivered positive total shareholder returns for the second straight year in a row. In cable, we continue to accelerate market share in the east and west. This quarter, we attracted 20,000 new internet customers, more than double over last year, and we achieved industry-leading margins of 56%. There's more work to do, but we're heading in the right direction. Overall, the team is firing on all cylinders and executing with discipline. Second, we completed our historic merger with Shaw. In April, we closed the largest financial transaction in Canadian telecom history, and we continue to deliver healthy, organic growth. In nine short months, we have largely integrated the two companies and delivered impressive results. We upgraded 450,000 Shaw Mobile customers from the Freedom Network to Canada's largest and best 5G network. Teams across the combined organization, operations, customer service, network and IT are now integrated and our ERP system transition is proceeding as planned. From a customer perspective, we introduced Rogers Internet and TV services in Shaw Footprint and we launched new bundled offers. We rebranded our corporate retail stores and started selling wireless and residential services in our retail channels. We also grew Rogers brand presence in a meaningful way. Today, Alberta and BC are our fastest-growing markets, and we're gaining healthy market share. We said we would increase competition in the West, and we have. We've doubled the size of our cable business and cable footprint overnight. This is a scale business, and the power of scale is starting to show. We're giving customers more choice, and they're responding favorably to the Rogers brand. This discipline execution translated into strong financial performance. In 2023, we realized synergies of $375 million and exited the year with a $750 million annual run rate. This is six months ahead of schedule. We also reduced our debt leverage ratio to 4.7 times at year end. This is down over half a turn in just nine months, driven by synergy cost reductions, earnings growth, and the payback of acquisition-related debt. We're well on our way to deleveraging our balance sheets back to pre-Shaw acquisition levels and doing it ahead of plan. Third, we invested and delivered a number of important innovations. We signed exclusive agreements with SpaceX and Link Global to bring satellite to mobile coverage to Canada. We made the country's first satellite to mobile phone call and we're on track to introduce our satellite services to Canadians this year. This technology is critical to connect rural and remote parts of the country. We invested to bring satellite sensors and AI cameras to better predict and detect wildfires in remote areas. And we're leveraging this technology across the nation to assist with other natural disasters that are on the rise. We acquired BAI Canada and introduced 5G service to all subway riders on the TTC. We invested in digital innovation to drive efficiencies and margin expansion. For example, in Roger's business, we eliminated 70,000 hours of manual work through automation, which accounted for 78% of wireless volume last year. And we were awarded Canada's best wireless network for the fifth year in a row. In 2023, we invested a record $4 billion in network and innovation, and we'll continue this record level of investment in 2024. This morning, we also announced the first network slicing trial in Canada. We tested this new technology with Ericsson across Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver using our standalone 5G core network. This innovation will materially change how our network operates, offering multiple lanes for wireless traffic. We will offer a dedicated lane for first responders, so they will always have priority on the network. and we can separate fixed wireless access traffic. So as we expand our FWA offering across the entire nation, we will not have to worry about congestion for our smartphone customers. This is truly a game changer for Canadians, and we're proud to bring this to Canada first. Looking ahead, we will launch our 10G and DOCSIS IV internet roadmap to deliver the next generation of internet and entertainment services to Canadians. More investment, and more innovation. This is our commitment to Canada and to Canadians. Finally, before I turn it over to Glen, let me touch on guidance. This morning we announced industry leading guidance for 2024. This outlook reflects our clear focus, disciplined execution, and unrelenting ambition to lead the market and be number one. It reflects a third year strong service revenue and EBITDA growth. It reflects record levels of investment, and it reflects strong free cash flow growth. At the same time, we expect to continue deleveraging at the same rapid pace. It was a record-breaking year, and I'm very pleased with our progress. I would like to thank our entire team for their relentless commitment to driving growth and innovation. Let me now turn the call over to Glenn.