Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that the financial guidance provided by BCE Inc. (A/Stable/A-1) on Dec. 18, 2002, does not affect the ratings or outlook on the company, even though the near-term outlook for the telecom industry in general remains challenging. BCE's financial risk profile had weakened in the second half of 2002 due to increased leverage. The ratings, however, had taken into account a modest reduction of capital commitments and the attainment of modest positive free cash flow at the end of 2003 aided by cost rationalization. On track to achieve about C$600 million to C$650 million in productivity improvements in 2002, BCE expects to achieve similar enhancements to EBITDA in 2003 from supply chain automation, billing
