By Adriano Marchese

BCE is gearing up to build a massive artificial intelligence data center in Saskatchewan to boost domestic computing power and said it expects higher growth through 2028 than previously anticipated.

The Canadian telecom company, through its main operating company Bell, said Monday it plans to begin the construction of a new 300-megawatt data center in Sherwood, Saskatchewan, near the city of Regina.

The facility, which is developed in partnership with the provincial government, will act as a regional hub for running large-scale computing, and is expected to bring jobs and economic activity to the province.

Construction is set to begin in the spring, and Bell plans to bring the facility online in stages on a rolling basis, starting in the first half of next year.

The company hasn't disclosed a price tag for the new project but it has increased its expectation for about 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($947.6 million) of incremental capital expenditures in 2026.

It also now expects negative free cash flow, between 28% and 34% which represents C$2.1 billion to C$2.3 billion, instead of growth of 4% to 10% which would be C$3.3 billion to C$3.5 billion.

Looking farther ahead, the company has increased its expectations for the 2025 to 2028 period. Compounded annual growth rate for revenue is now expected between 2.5% and 4.5%, up from a previous 2% to 4%.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the period is also now expected to grow at a rate of 3% to 4%, up from a previous 2% to 3%, with free cash flow growth now set to 8.5% from 7% previously.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 16, 2026 07:51 ET (11:51 GMT)

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