Montreal-based diversified telecom and media service provider BCE Inc. appears well-positioned to improve its adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 2.5x or lower by year-end 2015, in our opinion. As a result, we are affirming our 'BBB+' long-term corporate credit rating on BCE and its 100%-owned operating subsidiary, Bell Canada. At the same time, we are raising our Canada scale commercial paper (CP) program rating on Bell Canada to 'A-1(Low)' from 'A-2'; we are also affirming our 'A-2' short-term and global scale CP ratings on Bell Canada. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that BCE will deleverage to 2.5x or lower by year-end 2015 from debt reduction and modest EBITDA growth that support our "intermediate" financial risk profile assessment of the company.
