The most significant restructuring charge taken in 2004  was $985 million associated with our Voluntary Employee  Departure Program. We expect the voluntary departures—  which reduced our workforce by approximately 10 per cent—to  produce annual savings of approximately $390 million. We are successfully executing our plan to reshape  Bell Canada. In 2004, we defined the path for the future and  laid the foundations. In 2005, we will execute our strategy  and deliver improved operating results. By 2006, the company  will be focused on service innovation, steady growth and  increasing returns to shareholders. Because of our progress, I recommended that the Board  increase the common annual share dividend by 10 per cent, or  12 cents a share. The Board did so in December. The dividend  increase is important for two reasons. First, it increases our  yield and provides our shareholders with a greater return on  their investment. Second and more importantly, it sends  a strong signal to our shareholders, to our employees and  to our customers that we are confident in our forward  momentum; our plan has traction.  A clear strategic plan  Our confidence is based on the very real progress we made  in 2004. While Galileo paves the way for better performance,  we also developed a clear strategic framework for making  the world’s first “new telecom.” Our plan rests on three  strategic pillars. These foundations are not new. They are a  clear expression of the strategy we set out two years ago.  And against which we have already made signifi cant progress.  We will accelerate our progress over the next year as all of  us at Bell drive the implementation of this plan. Providing our customers superior product and service experiences  that build loyalty and save time and expense. For them and for us. Our job is to take the power of the most advanced tech- nology and make it simple for our customers to use. So they  can be better informed and entertained. So their businesses  Put simply, we are committed to the IP revolution and its  potential. Let me be absolutely clear: IP is not about delivering  cut-rate voice connectivity over a DSL line or cable connection.  IP is about delivering the promise of true, high-speed band- width over a reliable network that our customers can trust.  Last year, we successfully moved 60 per cent of our core  network traffic onto an IP platform. We also completed IP  migration plans for our entire Enterprise customer group—  our 1,000 largest customers. For our small business and  consumer customers, we began our pioneering rollout of  Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN). This will eventually allow  Bell to deliver all our services—voice, data, video—over a  single high-speed broadband network eight times faster  than today’s current DSL connections. A network that will  reach almost 85 per cent of all households in the Québec  City to Windsor corridor. In last year’s letter, I wrote at length about the promise of  Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity and how it would usher in  a new world of communications. A year later, I can say: it has. Providing our customers with ever-more-capable broadband  connectivity that they can count on. Easy to say, harder to do. Like all organizations, sometimes  we fall short. And sometimes, as with our recent migration  to a new billing system for Bell Mobility, we do not execute  as well as we should: we take a few steps back before moving  forward. But we  will  move forward. Superior customer service  will be the centrepiece of our competitive advantage in the  marketplace. We will succeed. Our response is an approach we call smart contact. This  means we will help our customers adapt and use the latest  technology without adding to the complexity of their lives.  We will face them as one company. Provide them with the  level of service that is at the core of our brand. can be more productive and globally competitive. Our  customers want our products and services to be easy to use,  to work all the time. If there’s a problem they want us  there to support them.  2 . Reliable Bandwidth  1 . Customer Experience Bell Canada Enterprises  2004  Annual Report 6