美國電塔 (AMT) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Tower Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Adam Smith, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加美國鐵塔 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。提醒一下，今天的電話會議正在錄音。在準備好的發言之後，我們將開始提問。 （操作員說明）。現在我想將電話轉給東道主投資者關係高級副總裁亞當史密斯 (Adam Smith)。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and thank you for joining American Tower's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. We have posted a presentation, which we will refer to throughout our prepared remarks under the Investor Relations tab of our website, www.americantower.com. On this morning's call, Tom Bartlett, our President and CEO, will discuss current technology trends and how our distributed portfolio of assets is positioned to benefit from ongoing wireless technology evolution.

早安，感謝您參加美國鐵塔 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。我們已經發布了一份演示文稿，我們將在我們網站 www.americantower.com 的「投資者關係」標籤下的整個準備好的評論中引用該簡報。在今天早上的電話會議上，我們的總裁兼執行長 Tom Bartlett 將討論當前的技術趨勢以及我們的分散式資產組合如何定位以從持續的無線技術發展中受益。

And then Rod Smith, our Executive Vice President, CFO and Treasurer, will discuss our Q3 2023 results and revised full year outlook. We are also joined on the call today by Steve Vondran, our current Executive Vice President and President of our U.S. Tower division, who, as announced this morning, will assume the role of Global Chief Operating Officer effective November 1, before assuming the role of our President and Chief Executive Officer on February 1, 2024.

然後，我們的執行副總裁、財務長兼財務主管羅德史密斯 (Rod Smith) 將討論我們 2023 年第三季的業績和修訂後的全年展望。我們現任執行副總裁兼美國鐵塔部門總裁 Steve Vondran 也參加了今天的電話會議，正如今天上午宣布的那樣，他將於 11 月 1 日起擔任全球首席運營官，然後再擔任全球首席運營官。的總裁兼執行長於2024 年2 月1 日就任。

After these comments, we will open up the call for your questions. Before we begin, I'll remind you that our comments will contain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Examples of these statements include our expectations regarding future growth, including our 2023 outlook, capital allocation and future operating performance, our collections expectations associated with Vodafone Idea in India and any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts.

在發表這些意見後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。在開始之前，我要提醒您，我們的評論將包含涉及許多風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述的例子包括我們對未來成長的預期，包括我們的 2023 年展望、資本配置和未來經營業績、我們與印度 Vodafone Idea 相關的收款預期以及有關非歷史事實的任何其他陳述。

You should be aware that certain factors may affect us in the future and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Such factors include the risk factors set forth in this morning's earnings press release, those set forth in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as updated in our Form 10-Q for the 6 months ended June 30, 2023, and in other filings we make with the SEC. We urge you to consider these factors and remind you that we undertake no obligation to update the information contained in this call to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom.

您應該意識到，某些因素可能會在未來影響我們，並可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中表達的結果有重大差異。這些因素包括今天上午的收益新聞稿中列出的風險因素、截至2022年12月31日止年度的10-K表格中列出的風險因素以及截至2023年6月30日止6個月的10 -Q表格中更新的風險因素，以及我們向 SEC 提交的其他文件中。我們敦促您考慮這些因素，並提醒您，我們沒有義務更新本次電話會議中包含的資訊以反映後續事件或情況。這樣，我就把電話轉給湯姆。

Thanks, Adam. Good morning, everyone. And my focus for today's call will be on the technology trends and network investments that drive demand for our leading tower and data center platforms as well as the developments we're seeing at the edge. While my comments will largely be focused on the 5G evolution and the progress we're seeing in the United States, we believe similar trends will prevail across our international footprint as they have historically.

謝謝，亞當。大家早安。我今天電話會議的重點將是技術趨勢和網路投資，這些趨勢和網路投資推動了對我們領先的塔式和資料中心平台的需求，以及我們在邊緣看到的發展。雖然我的評論主要集中在 5G 的演進和我們在美國看到的進展，但我們相信，與歷史上一樣，類似的趨勢將在我們的國際足跡中盛行。

Beginning with our macro tower business, the fundamental factor that drives demand for our global tower portfolio, growth in mobile data consumption continues unabated. This is true both in the United States and across the globe, where mobile network data traffic has almost doubled over the last 2 years alone to a staggering 126 exabytes per month. Looking out over the next 5 years, forecasted growth in data traffic per device remains compelling as more spectrum for 5G networks will be deployed at scale.

從我們的宏塔業務開始，行動數據消費的成長有增無減，這是推動我們全球塔產品組合需求的基本因素。在美國和全球範圍內都是如此，僅在過去 2 年裡，行動網路數據流量就幾乎翻了一番，達到每月 126 艾字節。展望未來 5 年，隨著更多 5G 網路頻譜的大規模部署，每台設備資料流量的預測成長仍然引人注目。

Average monthly data usage per smartphone across our key developed markets like the U.S., Germany and Spain is expected to grow at a healthy compounded annual rate of 18% between 2023 and 2028. And I would note that these estimates have been somewhat conservative historically. So let's spend a moment on where we are in the 5G investment cycle in the U.S. and where we believe we're going over the next several years.

在美國、德國和西班牙等主要已開發市場，每部智慧型手機的平均每月數據使用量預計在2023 年至2028 年間將以18% 的健康複合年增長率增長。歷史上看有些保守。因此，讓我們花點時間了解美國 5G 投資週期的現狀以及我們認為未來幾年的發展方向。

Just as we saw with the 3G and 4G rollouts, we expect the 5G investment cycle to play out in 3 phases that represent discrete business cases for the carriers and these 3 phases will drive 2 peak periods of spend that are bridged by a temporary phase of more moderate activity. The first phase is coverage-driven and aimed at upgrading existing infrastructure with new spectrum bands and radio technology, its competition to provide broad nationwide coverage with the new G ramps up.

正如我們在3G 和4G 推出中看到的那樣，我們預計5G 投資週期將分三個階段進行，這三個階段代表營運商的離散業務案例，這三個階段將推動2 個支出高峰期，並透過臨時階段來橋接。第一階段是覆蓋驅動的，旨在利用新的頻段和無線電技術升級現有基礎設施，隨著新G的到來，其在全國範圍內提供廣泛覆蓋的競爭不斷加劇。

At the same time, carriers are looking to realize the efficiency benefits of their investments in new software, hardware and upgraded user devices. Initial equipment upgrades and new spectrum deployment quickly deliver reduced cost per gigabyte resulting in the ability to maintain margin profiles.

同時，營運商希望實現新軟體、硬體和升級用戶設備投資的效率優勢。初始設備升級和新頻譜部署可快速降低每 GB 成本，從而能夠維持利潤狀況。

Absent this migration, any incremental investments in the prior generation would be expected to result in significantly diminished returns as the additional densification required to sustain increasing network traffic on existing spectrum bands would be cost prohibitive. As the cadence of initial coverage investments begin to moderate from record spend of over $40 billion in 2022, the first peak of the 5G cycle, we retain a high degree of conviction that there's a long tail of network investment to come.

如果沒有這種遷移，上一代的任何增量投資都將導致回報顯著下降，因為維持現有頻段上不斷增加的網路流量所需的額外緻密化成本將過高。隨著初始覆蓋投資的節奏從 2022 年（5G 週期的第一個高峰）超過 400 億美元的創紀錄支出開始放緩，我們仍然堅信網路投資將會出現長尾。

This belief is predicated on several factors, including our experience with past investment cycles, industry forecast for growth in mobile data consumption that apply a necessity for significant incremental coverage and capacity and the visibility into network needs, we get through our contract structures. Today, Phase 1 of the 5G rollout is winding down, and we're heading into a second phase.

這種信念基於幾個因素，包括我們過去投資週期的經驗、對行動數據消費成長的產業預測（這需要顯著增加覆蓋範圍和容量）以及對網路需求的可見性，我們透過我們的合約結構。今天，5G 部署的第一階段即將結束，我們將進入第二階段。

We expect Phase 2 to be characterized by carriers beginning to harvest the network efficiency benefits of their initial investments while moderating spend from the record levels of 2022 and to roughly $35 billion in 2023, which is $5 billion in excess of 4G averages, representing the second highest level of annual spend on record. In this next phase, we will begin to see a seeping in of 5G technology across the wireless and enterprise landscape.

我們預計第二階段的特點是營運商開始收穫其初始投資的網路效率效益，同時將支出從2022 年的創紀錄水準降至2023 年的約350 億美元，比4G 平均高出50 億美元，代表第二階段年度支出有史以來最高水準。在下一階段，我們將開始看到 5G 技術滲透到無線和企業領域。

For example, 5G smartphone penetration has now surpassed the 50% mark in North America, which will ultimately allow for the majority of network traffic to shift over to 5G networks, which we expect to occur in the 2025 time frame. We're also looking forward to the emergence of more ubiquitous accessibility of stand-alone 5G core networks, which will unlock improved 5G network quality, higher speeds and lower latency and provide a platform for the development of innovative services and consumer applications.

例如，北美的 5G 智慧型手機普及率現已超過 50% 大關，這最終將使大部分網路流量轉移到 5G 網絡，我們預計這將在 2025 年發生。我們也期待獨立 5G 核心網路更普遍的出現，這將提高 5G 網路品質、更高的速度和更低的延遲，並為創新服務和消費應用的開發提供平台。

Finally, we anticipate that the arrival of end-to-end 5G capabilities will facilitate additional monetization opportunities at the enterprise level through use cases like private networks, network slicing and other IoT services that are beginning to emerge today. Ultimately, these dynamics will culminate in a third capacity-focused phase aimed at significant densification of 5G networks.

最後，我們預計，端到端 5G 功能的到來將透過專用網路、網路切片和其他當今開始出現的物聯網服務等用例，促進企業層面的額外獲利機會。最終，這些動態將在第三個以容量為中心的階段達到頂峰，旨在實現 5G 網路的顯著緻密化。

We continue to believe that 5G will advance and enable the next generation of mass market consumer use cases. particularly once 3GPP released 17 and 18 are in the market, coupled with 5G cores that provide the true benefits of the end-to-end technology upgrade at scale. That said, meeting industry forecasts for growth in mobile data consumption that will drive the need for substantial network capacity investments seems highly achievable when taking into account the technology we have at our fingertips today. In fact, industry estimates already show that 5G subscribers are consuming 2 to 3x more mobile data than the average 4G subscriber.

我們仍然相信 5G 將推動並實現下一代大眾市場消費者用例。特別是當 3GPP 發布的 17 和 18 投入市場後，再加上 5G 核心，可提供大規模端到端技術升級的真正優勢。也就是說，考慮到我們今天掌握的技術，滿足產業對行動數據消費成長的預測似乎是完全可以實現的，而行動數據消費的成長將推動對大量網路容量投資的需求。事實上，產業估計已經表明，5G 用戶消耗的行動數據量是普通 4G 用戶的 2 到 3 倍。

So let's take the case of mobile video consumption, which has consistently shown to be a dominant use case across subscriber usage types. As you can see on Slide 6, Today, the average smartphone subscriber in North America utilizes roughly 21 gigabytes of mobile data per month, and this is expected to grow to about 48 gigabytes by 2028. Of the 21 gigabytes consumed today, the majority or approximately 19 gigabytes are attributed to video streaming, which corresponds to a little over an hour of daily video usage and 360 and 480 pixel videos currently make up around half of that time. So by simply assuming a modest level of incremental usage towards higher resolution streaming such as 8 minutes of 4K Ultra HD, we see video consumption alone drive usage to the forecasted 48 gigabytes per month or approximately 2.3x the current rate.

因此，讓我們以行動視訊消費為例，它一直被證明是跨訂戶使用類型的主要用例。正如您在投影片 6 中看到的，如今，北美智慧型手機用戶平均每月使用約 21 GB 的行動數據，預計到 2028 年將成長到約 48 GB。大約19 GB 歸因於視訊串流，相當於每日視訊使用時間略多於一個小時，而360 和480 像素視訊目前約佔該時間的一半。因此，透過簡單地假設對更高解析度串流媒體的適度增量使用（例如8 分鐘的4K 超高清），我們發現僅視訊消費就可以將使用量推至預測的每月48 GB 或大約是當前速率的2.3 倍。

Furthermore, the data already shows that 5G is driving increased usage of higher resolution video formats. A recent report from Ericsson found that since 2021, 5G users report a nearly 50% increase in time spent on enhanced video formats. For example, among that user base, usage of new video formats like 360-degree videos and multi-view streaming have increased by an average of 10 minutes and 15 minutes per day, respectively, while time spent streaming videos in standard resolution has decreased by 23 minutes over the same period.

此外，數據已經表明，5G 正在推動更高解析度視訊格式的使用增加。愛立信最近的一份報告發現，自 2021 年以來，5G 用戶花在增強視訊格式的時間增加了近 50%。例如，在該用戶群中，360 度視訊和多視圖串流媒體等新視訊格式的使用時間平均每天分別增加 10 分鐘和 15 分鐘，而標準解析度串流視訊的使用時間則減少了同期23分鐘。

In short, we've already seen 5G adoption linked with a shift in behavior towards using more data-intensive applications, a trend we firmly believe will continue going forward. And while we remain confident that new low-latency, high-bandwidth consumer applications will be born as 5G stand-alone networks are deployed at scale, we see a highly tangible case for densification requirements from where we stand today.

簡而言之，我們已經看到 5G 的採用與使用更多資料密集型應用程式的行為轉變有關，我們堅信這一趨勢將繼續向前發展。儘管我們仍然相信，隨著 5G 獨立網路的大規模部署，新的低延遲、高頻寬消費應用將會誕生，但從我們今天的情況來看，我們看到了一個非常切實的緻密化需求案例。

With that, I'll briefly provide an update on CoreSite in our data center segment before shifting to the progress we're making at the edge. The case remains that demand in CoreSite's interconnection-centric business is exceeding our initial expectations. Our teams delivered record signed new business in 2022, a record we are targeting to exceed in 2023. We've also seen consistent elevated growth in interconnection revenue, mark-to-market pricing increases that exceed our historical averages, low churn and ongoing performance that we believe positions us to deliver compelling results in the segment for many years to come.

接下來，我將簡要介紹我們資料中心領域 CoreSite 的最新情況，然後再轉向我們在邊緣方面取得的進展。事實仍然是，CoreSite 以互連為中心的業務的需求超出了我們最初的預期。我們的團隊在2022 年簽署了創紀錄的新業務，我們的目標是在2023 年超越這項紀錄。客戶流失和持續的業績我們相信，我們能夠在未來的許多年裡在該領域取得令人矚目的成果。

And much like we see in our tower business, the secular trends that underpin the business model like the migration of workloads from on-prem to hybrid multi-cloud environments and the emergence of AI use cases that will drive more demand in our ecosystem continue on a path toward long-term acceleration. For example, findings from our recent 2023 state of the data center report showed that 94% of IT leaders noted that native direct connection between colocation data centers, major cloud providers, which CoreSite provides is essential for improved performance, enhanced security, cost savings and hybrid cloud connectivity.

就像我們在塔式業務中看到的那樣，支撐業務模式的長期趨勢，例如工作負載從本地遷移到混合多雲環境，以及將推動我們生態系統中更多需求的人工智慧用例的出現，將繼續下去一條通往長期加速的道路。例如，我們最近的 2023 年資料中心狀況報告顯示，94% 的 IT 領導者指出，CoreSite 提供的託管資料中心、主要雲端供應商之間的原生直接連接對於提高效能、增強安全性、節省成本和混合雲端連線。

Further, 92% of IT leaders are considering moving critical workloads from public cloud to colocation to accelerate revenue growth and support the increasing need for AI and machine learning applications. In this context, we continue to upgrade our offerings and capabilities within the business to support emerging use cases. For example, earlier this month, we launched new capabilities on our OCX, our pioneering software-defined networking platform, enabling clients to rapidly create higher bandwidth virtual connections to Google Cloud and AWS Direct Connect and between CoreSite data centers, including 50 gigabit services.

此外，92% 的 IT 領導者正在考慮將關鍵工作負載從公有雲轉移到主機託管，以加速收入成長並支持對人工智慧和機器學習應用程式日益增長的需求。在此背景下，我們繼續升級業務內的產品和功能，以支援新興用例。例如，本月早些時候，我們在OCX（我們的開創性軟體定義網路平台）上推出了新功能，使客戶能夠快速創建與Google Cloud 和AWS Direct Connect 以及CoreSite 資料中心之間更高頻寬的虛擬連接，包括50 GB 服務。

These upgrades reduce the time required for organizations to augment network capacity to support high-bandwidth, low-latency hybrid applications like AI, machine learning and digital media production. When it comes to current and future AI and machine learning applications, CoreSite's flexible, purpose-built designed data centers position us to host power-intensive GPU services being used for AI and ML use cases. For example, we're already providing GPU capacity for applications like 3D visualization and rendering and for software development with a niche cloud environment.

這些升級減少了組織增強網路容量以支援人工智慧、機器學習和數位媒體製作等高頻寬、低延遲混合應用程式所需的時間。當涉及當前和未來的人工智慧和機器學習應用程式時，CoreSite 靈活、專門設計的資料中心使我們能夠託管用於人工智慧和機器學習用例的功耗密集型 GPU 服務。例如，我們已經為 3D 視覺化和渲染等應用程式以及利基雲端環境的軟體開發提供 GPU 容量。

Our purpose-built facilities are designed to accommodate liquid cooling with modest development efforts when required. As we've stated previously, in the near term, we continue to believe the majority of today's generative AI workloads will provide hyperscale opportunities that don't meet our investment criteria or fit within the CoreSite ecosystem.

我們的專用設施旨在適應液體冷卻，並在需要時進行適度的開發工作。正如我們之前所說，在短期內，我們仍然相信當今大多數生成式 AI 工作負載將提供不符合我們的投資標準或不適合 CoreSite 生態系統的超大規模機會。

However, as GEN AI evolves, we would expect the balance of workloads to shift from large language model development, intensive training and public prompts to specialized inference-based use cases as productivity gains from the deployment of custom models accelerates. At this stage, when low latency interconnection high-power density and distributed high-performance compute become the priorities, we believe CoreSite and ultimately, our distributed portfolio of franchise real estate assets across the U.S. are going to be optimally positioned to benefit.

然而，隨著 GEN AI 的發展，隨著客製化模型部署加速生產力的提高，我們預計工作負載的平衡將從大型語言模型開發、強化培訓和公共提示轉向專門的基於推理的用例。在現階段，當低延遲互連、高功率密度和分散式高效能運算成為優先事項時，我們相信 CoreSite 以及最終我們遍布美國的分散式特許經營房地產資產組合將處於最佳位置並從中受益。

On that note, we've continued to see progress toward the realization of demand cases that support our initial edge thesis, and we believe we have an opportunity to enable a more efficient exchange of network traffic and support cloud services and peering in a more distributed manner. As a result, we've been working both internally and with external stakeholders to develop an edge model we can execute on as compelling opportunities present themselves.

在這一點上，我們繼續看到在支持我們最初的邊緣論文的需求案例的實現方面取得了進展，並且我們相信我們有機會實現更有效的網路流量交換並支持雲端服務和在更分佈式的情況下對等互連方式。因此，我們一直在內部和外部利害關係人合作，開發一個邊緣模型，我們可以在出現引人注目的機會時執行該模型。

In our initial assumption that through CoreSite, our seat at the table and visibility into the customer demand environment would be materially enhanced is holding true. We're increasingly seeing interest from potential customers looking to extend technologies such as private cloud computing, AI and 5G applications closer to the end device through a more distributed architecture. This is resulting from several key demand cases, including availability of future power requirements, business efficiency, revenue generation opportunities and customer experience.

我們最初的假設是，透過 CoreSite，我們的席位和對客戶需求環境的可見性將得到實質增強，這一假設是正確的。我們越來越多地看到潛在客戶的興趣，他們希望透過更分散的架構將私有雲運算、人工智慧和 5G 應用等技術擴展到更接近終端設備的位置。這是由幾個關鍵需求案例產生的，包括未來電力需求的可用性、業務效率、創收機會和客戶體驗。

When it comes to power, CoreSite has secured significant future power availability and is insulated from expected shortages in markets like Northern Virginia. However, power constraints in general are increasingly in focus in legacy data center markets. In this case, we believe our distributed land footprint in Tier 2 and 3 markets with significant power availability and capability to connect back to CoreSite campuses can serve more distributed power capacity needs while enabling customers to enjoy the interconnection benefits of the CoreSite ecosystem.

在電力方面，CoreSite 已經確保了未來重要的電力供應，並且不會受到北維吉尼亞州等市場預期電力短缺的影響。然而，總體而言，功率限制在傳統資料中心市場中越來越受到關注。在這種情況下，我們相信我們在2 級和3 級市場的分散式土地覆蓋範圍具有顯著的電力可用性和連接回CoreSite 園區的能力，可以滿足更多分散式電力容量需求，同時使客戶能夠享受CoreSite 生態系統的互連優勢。

And its potential customers increasingly focus on new revenue opportunities and customer experience, including through the proliferation of applications like next-generation gaming, AR and devices and wearables that leverage interactive AI. We believe we have a compelling combination of distributed points of presence and interconnection capabilities that could be extended to a broader edge. In addition, by prioritizing our existing owned real estate, which in many cases, is already designated for use as digital infrastructure, we see an opportunity to drive a significant time to market advantage and reduce overall development costs, which could be compelling to customers and enhance returns on investment.

其潛在客戶越來越關注新的收入機會和客戶體驗，包括透過下一代遊戲、AR 以及利用互動式人工智慧的裝置和穿戴式裝置等應用程式的激增。我們相信，我們擁有分散式存取點和互連功能的引人注目的組合，可以擴展到更廣泛的邊緣。此外，透過優先考慮我們現有的自有房地產（在許多情況下，這些房地產已被指定用作數位基礎設施），我們看到了一個機會，可以推動顯著的市場優勢時間並降低整體開發成本，這可能對客戶和提高投資回報。

As a result of these factors, we continue to work towards establishing a repeatable, rapidly deployable design with initial capacity in the 1 megawatt range, which could then be scalable to incremental megawatts with interconnection to multisite campuses as demand dictates. As always, we'll assess potential growth at the edge through the prism of our disciplined capital allocation framework committing capital only if the opportunity meets our investment criteria and aligns with our long-term strategic vision of growing our interconnection ecosystem in a way that maximizes shareholder value.

由於這些因素，我們繼續致力於建立可重複、可快速部署的設計，初始容量在 1 兆瓦範圍內，然後可以根據需求擴展到增量兆瓦，並與多站點園區互連。一如既往，我們將透過嚴格的資本配置框架來評估邊緣的潛在成長，只有當機會符合我們的投資標準並符合我們以最大化的方式發展互連生態系統的長期戰略願景時，我們才會承諾資本。

In closing, the bottom line is that we remain at the relatively early stages of a 5G and network technology evolution that we believe will necessitate continuous incremental investment in existing infrastructure, like towers, data centers and distributed edge infrastructure. We also believe that ongoing technology developments will unlock new capabilities that will drive the next wave of innovative and data-intensive consumer and enterprise devices and applications.

最後，最重要的是，我們仍處於 5G 和網路技術發展的相對早期階段，我們認為這將需要對現有基礎設施（如塔、資料中心和分散式邊緣基礎設施）進行持續增量投資。我們也相信，持續的技術發展將釋放新的功能，推動下一波創新和數據密集型消費者和企業設備和應用程式的發展。

And American Tower, with its leading tower portfolio and real estate footprint combined with a highly interconnected data center ecosystem is in a truly differentiated position to serve the network infrastructure needs of the future.

美國鐵塔憑藉其領先的鐵塔產品組合和房地產佈局以及高度互聯的數據中心生態系統，處於真正的差異化地位，可以滿足未來的網路基礎設施需求。

Before I hand the call over to Rod, I'd like to close my remarks by congratulating Steve Vondran, who effective November 1, will hold the role of Global Chief Operating Officer until February 1 of next year, at which point he'll transition to the position of Chief Executive Officer; and Bud Noel, who will become our new Executive Vice President and President of our U.S. Tower division.

在將電話轉交給 Rod 之前，我想在發言結束時向 Steve Vondran 表示祝賀，他將於 11 月 1 日起擔任全球首席營運官，任期至明年 2 月 1 日，屆時他將完成過渡擔任首席執行官；巴德諾埃爾 (Bud Noel) 將成為我們新任執行副總裁兼美國鐵塔部門總裁。

The Board and I have worked diligently on succession planning weighing the merits of an external search against the talent we have within our organization. Steve joined American Tower in 2000 and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of our U.S. and Canada business, including both towers and data centers. For the past 23 years, Steve has been instrumental to the growth and sustainability of earnings from American Tower and has built tremendous credibility with our global organization, his peers, the Board of Directors, the American Tower investor base and our customers.

董事會和我一直在努力製定繼任計劃，權衡外部搜尋的優點與我們組織內的人才的優點。 Steve 於 2000 年加入美國鐵塔，目前擔任美國和加拿大業務（包括鐵塔和資料中心）的執行副總裁。在過去的23 年裡，史蒂夫對美國鐵塔盈利的成長和可持續性發揮了重要作用，並在我們的全球組織、他的同事、董事會、美國鐵塔投資者群體和我們的客戶中建立了巨大的信譽。

All this to say, Steve is a clear candidate to lead American Tower in its next growth phase. And over the next several months, I'll work closely with Steve, the executive leadership team and the Board to ensure a seamless transition.

綜上所述，史蒂夫是領導美國鐵塔下一個成長階段的明確候選人。在接下來的幾個月裡，我將與史蒂夫、執行領導團隊和董事會密切合作，以確保無縫過渡。

Lastly, I want to thank all of the incredible American Tower employees around the world, both past and present, our customers and investors for their support and confidence you've demonstrated since I joined in 2009. Although this is a difficult decision on my part, I look forward to the time ahead with family and friends and new challenges while watching the company under Steve's leadership, continue to succeed.

最後，我要感謝世界各地所有出色的美國鐵塔員工，無論過去還是現在，我們的客戶和投資者自我 2009 年加入以來所表現出的支持和信心。我期待著與家人和朋友一起迎接未來的時光和新的挑戰，同時看著公司在史蒂夫的領導下不斷取得成功。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rod to review our latest results and updated outlook. Rod?

這樣，我將把電話轉給羅德，以審查我們的最新結果和更新的前景。桿？

Thanks, Tom. Good morning, and thank you for joining today's call. In Q3, we continued our trend of strong performance, driven by solid demand for our diverse global portfolio of assets. Against the challenging macroeconomic backdrop, we remain focused on delivering results and creating value by driving organic growth across our existing portfolio and demonstrating global operational efficiency and cost management in support of attractive margin expansion.

謝謝，湯姆。早安，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。第三季度，在對我們多元化的全球資產組合的強勁需求的推動下，我們繼續保持強勁業績的趨勢。在充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟背景下，我們仍然專注於透過推動現有投資組合的有機成長並展示全球營運效率和成本管理來支持有吸引力的利潤率擴張，從而交付成果並創造價值。

At the same time, we are committed to strengthening our balance sheet by enhancing our liquidity, extending our maturities, reducing floating rate debt volatility and making progress towards our leverage target. These efforts coupled with the evolving technological trends highlighted by Tom, remain key drivers of our current performance and give us confidence in our ability to drive sustained growth over the long term.

同時，我們致力於透過增強流動性、延長期限、減少浮動利率債務波動性以及在實現槓桿目標方面取得進展來強化我們的資產負債表。這些努力加上湯姆所強調的不斷發展的技術趨勢，仍然是我們當前業績的關鍵驅動力，並使我們對推動長期持續成長的能力充滿信心。

Before delving into the specifics of our Q3 results and raised outlook, let me touch on a few highlights from the quarter. First, we saw a continuation of solid trends across our global operations, driving consolidated property revenue growth of 7%, consolidated organic tenant billings growth in our tower business exceeded 6% for the third consecutive quarter and was complemented by over 9% revenue growth in our data center business.

在深入研究第三季業績的具體情況和上調的前景之前，讓我先談談該季度的一些亮點。首先，我們的全球業務持續保持穩健的趨勢，推動綜合房地產收入成長 7%，塔樓業務的綜合有機租戶帳單成長連續第三個季度超過 6%，並輔以 9% 以上的收入成長。中心業務。

As a result of this strong performance and visibility extending through the end of 2023, we raised our full year expectations across nearly all segments, which I'll discuss in more detail later.

由於這種強勁的業績和知名度一直持續到 2023 年底，我們提高了幾乎所有細分市場的全年預期，我將在稍後更詳細地討論。

Next, our keen focus on cost management resulted in conversion rates exceeding 100% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of roughly 290 basis points year-over-year and still over 215 basis points when normalized for the prior year VIL revenue reserves, complementing our operational efforts.

接下來，我們對成本管理的高度關注導致轉換率超過100%，調整後的EBITDA 利潤率同比增長約290 個基點，在上一年VIL 收入儲備正常化後仍超過215 個基點，補充了我們的營運工作。

On the balance sheet side, we raised $1.5 billion in senior unsecured notes at a weighted average cost of approximately 5.9%. By utilizing the proceeds to pay down revolver balances, we reduced our floating rate debt exposure to approximately $4 billion or less than 11% of our total outstanding debt as of the end of the third quarter, down from over 22% at the start of the year. Finally, we're making significant progress on the strategic review of our India business.

在資產負債表方面，我們以約 5.9% 的加權平均成本籌集了 15 億美元的優先無擔保票據。透過利用所得款項償還循環餘額，截至第三季末，我們將浮動利率債務風險敞口降至約 40 億美元，佔未償債務總額的 11% 以下，低於年初的 22% 以上。最後，我們在印度業務的策略審查方面取得了重大進展。

As we are in the final stages of this process, we remain committed to communicating the outcome to our shareholders before the end of the year, consistent with our fast messaging. In Q3, we recorded $322 million in goodwill impairment charges associated with our India business. This was prompted by indications of value obtained through the process conducted over the past several months, supported by our own interim goodwill impairment test. We believe this impairment accurately reflects the current market conditions, evolving risk premiums associated with operating in the India market and more generally increases in the cost of capital.

由於我們正處於這一過程的最後階段，我們仍然致力於在年底前向股東傳達結果，這與我們的快速訊息一致。第三季度，我們記錄了與印度業務相關的 3.22 億美元商譽減損費用。這是由過去幾個月進行的過程中獲得的價值跡象促成的，並得到了我們自己的中期商譽減損測試的支持。我們認為，這種減損準確地反映了當前的市場狀況、與印度市場運營相關的不斷變化的風險溢價以及更普遍的資本成本的增加。

With that, please turn to Slide 8, and I'll review our property revenue and organic tenant billings growth for the quarter. As you can see, consolidated property revenue growth was 7% or 8% on an FX-neutral basis. U.S. and Canada property revenue growth was over 5%, which includes a nearly 2% headwind associated with a reduction in straight-line revenue, offset by timing benefits associated with certain nonrecurring onetime items in the quarter.

接下來，請轉到投影片 8，我將回顧本季我們的房地產收入和有機租戶帳單成長。如您所見，在匯率中立的基礎上，綜合房地產收入成長率為 7% 或 8%。美國和加拿大的房地產收入增長超過 5%，其中包括與直線收入減少相關的近 2% 的阻力，但被本季度某些非經常性一次性項目相關的時機優勢所抵消。

International growth was nearly 9% or approximately 11%, excluding the impacts of currency fluctuations, which included a 4% benefit associated with the full collection of VIL billings in India in the quarter as compared to the approximately $48 million revenue reserve in the prior year.

國際成長接近 9% 或約 11%，不包括貨幣波動的影響，其中包括與上一年約 4,800 萬美元的收入儲備相比，本季在印度全額收取 VIL 帳單相關的 4% 收益。

Finally, as I mentioned in my earlier remarks, our data center business revenue increased by over 9% and continues to demonstrate solid outperformance as compared to our initial underwriting plan.

最後，正如我在先前的演講中提到的，我們的資料中心業務收入增長了 9% 以上，並且與我們最初的核保計劃相比，繼續表現出強勁的表現。

As Tom mentioned earlier, we anticipate 2023 to again break the signed new business record just set in 2022, setting up CoreSite to drive sustained attractive levels of growth as the backlog of new business commences over the next several years.

正如 Tom 之前提到的，我們預計 2023 年將再次打破 2022 年剛創下的新業務記錄，隨著未來幾年新業務的積壓開始，建立 CoreSite 來推動持續有吸引力的增長水平。

Moving to the right side of the slide. Strong performance across each of our segments drove consolidated organic tenant billings growth of 6.3%.

移動到幻燈片的右側。我們每個細分市場的強勁表現推動綜合有機租戶帳單成長 6.3%。

Within our U.S. and Canada segment, organic tenant billings growth was 5.3% and greater than 6.5% absent Sprint-related churn, including another quarter of colocation and amendment contributions of nearly $60 million. Our International segment saw outperformance across nearly all reported segments, primarily driven by higher new business in Africa and churn delays in Latin America and APAC, resulting in organic tenant billings growth of 7.9%.

在我們的美國和加拿大業務中，有機租戶帳單成長率為 5.3%，如果不考慮 Sprint 相關的客戶流失，則成長率超過 6.5%，其中包括另外一個季度的託管和近 6000 萬美元的修改捐款。我們的國際部門在幾乎所有報告的部門中都表現出色，這主要是由於非洲新業務的增加以及拉丁美洲和亞太地區的客戶流失延遲所推動，導致有機租戶賬單增長了 7.9%。

Turning to Slide 9. Adjusted EBITDA grew over 10% to $1.8 billion for the quarter or approximately 11% on an FX-neutral basis. As I highlighted in my opening remarks, adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 64.4%, a 290 basis point improvement compared to the previous year, primarily driven by solid organic growth, effective cost management throughout the business and the onetime revenue items I mentioned.

轉向投影片 9。正如我在開場白中強調的那樣，調整後的EBITDA 利潤率擴大至64.4%，比上一年提高了290 個基點，這主要是由穩健的有機增長、整個業務的有效成本管理以及我​​們提到的一次性收入項目推動的。

In fact, despite the current inflationary environment, we have managed to maintain a relatively flat year-over-year cash SG&A profile remaining consistent with the themes from the first half of the year, with cash SG&A as a percent of property revenue standing at approximately 6.5% for the quarter, a nearly 70 basis point improvement versus Q3 of 2022.

事實上，儘管目前存在通膨環境，但我們仍設法保持相對平穩的同比現金SG&A狀況，與上半年的主題保持一致，現金SG&A佔房地產收入的百分比約為本季度增長6.5%，比2022 年第三季度提高近70 個基點。

Moving to the right side of the slide, attributable AFFO and attributable AFFO per share each increased by over 9%, driven by solid cash adjusted EBITDA growth, partially offset by an approximately 5% headwind from financing costs.

移動到幻燈片的右側，受現金調整後 EBITDA 穩健增長的推動，權益 AFFO 和權益 AFFO 每股均增長了 9% 以上，但部分被融資成本約 5% 的不利因素所抵消。

Now shifting focus to our revised full year outlook. I'll start by highlighting a few key items.

現在將焦點轉向我們修訂後的全年展望。我將首先強調幾個關鍵項目。

First, as a result of our strong performance in the third quarter and the momentum taking us through the end of the year, we've raised our guidance for property revenue, adjusted EBITDA, attributable AFFO and attributable AFFO per share. Next, our revised outlook includes a reduction in U.S. services, resulting in a $20 million decrease in gross margin compared to our previous expectations for the year. As we've highlighted in the past, although quarter-to-quarter variations in tower leasing activity have impacted our services revenue in 2023, our leasing revenue remains unaffected, underpinned by the comprehensive master lease agreements currently in place.

首先，由於我們第三季度的強勁表現以及年底的勢頭，我們提高了對房地產收入、調整後 EBITDA、權益 AFFO 和每股權益 AFFO 的指導。接下來，我們修訂後的前景包括美國服務業的減少，導致今年毛利率比我們先前預期的減少 2,000 萬美元。正如我們過去所強調的那樣，儘管塔樓租賃活動的季度變化影響了我們 2023 年的服務收入，但在目前全面的主租賃協議的支撐下，我們的租賃收入並未受到影響。

Finally, the updated midpoints include revised FX assumptions that have resulted in outlook to outlook headwinds of approximately $28 million for property revenue, $14 million for adjusted EBITDA and $5 million for attributable AFFO.

最後，更新的中點包括修訂後的外匯假設，這些假設導致房地產收入前景面臨約 2800 萬美元的逆風，調整後 EBITDA 為 1400 萬美元，歸屬 AFFO 為 500 萬美元。

With that, let's dive into the numbers. Turning to Slide 10. We are increasing our expectations for property revenue by approximately $60 million as compared to our prior outlook.

接下來，讓我們深入研究數字。轉向幻燈片 10。

Our revised expectations are driven by $31 million in core property revenue outperformance, along with approximately $45 million and $12 million in additional pass-through and straight-line revenues, respectively. Our revised guidance includes $10 million in outperformance associated with VIL collections, with roughly half included in our core property revenue and the balance in the pass-through outperformance illustrated. Growth was partially offset by $28 million of negative FX impacts.

我們修訂後的預期是由 3100 萬美元的核心財產收入優異表現以及分別約 4500 萬美元和 1200 萬美元的額外傳遞收入和直線收入推動的。我們修訂後的指導包括與 VIL 系列相關的 1000 萬美元的優異表現，其中大約一半包含在我們的核心財產收入中，其餘部分則包含在所示的傳遞優異表現中。成長被 2800 萬美元的負面外匯影響部分抵消。

Turning to Slide 11. We are increasing our expectations for organic tenant billings growth across nearly all segments. In the U.S. and Canada, we are increasing our guidance to greater than 5% and or approximately 6.5% excluding Sprint churn, now with an expectation for approximately $230 million in colocation and amendment growth contributions. Growth is further benefiting from non-Sprint related churn delays, which we now anticipate occurring in 2024.

轉向幻燈片 11。在美國和加拿大，我們將指導值提高到 5% 以上或約 6.5%（不包括 Sprint 流失），目前預計託管和修正成長貢獻約為 2.3 億美元。成長進一步受益於與 Sprint 無關的客戶流失延遲，我們現在預計這種情況將在 2024 年發生。

In Latin America, we have increased our outlook from approximately 4%, up now to approximately 5%, largely driven by continued delays in anticipated consolidation-related churn. Next, we're increasing our Africa outlook from greater than 11% to approximately 12%, primarily due to a continued uptick in colocation and amendment demand.

在拉丁美洲，我們將預期從目前的約 4% 提高到約 5%，這主要是由於預期的整合相關客戶流失持續延遲。接下來，我們將非洲的前景從 11% 以上提高到約 12%，這主要是由於託管和修改需求的持續上升。

In APAC, we are increasing our guidance from approximately 4% to about 5% supported by a combination of strong new business in delayed churn.

在亞太地區，我們將指導值從大約 4% 提高到大約 5%，這得益於延遲流失的強勁新業務。

Moving on to Slide 12. We are raising our adjusted EBITDA outlook by $60 million. This reflects the strong conversion of the incremental property revenue highlighted earlier, coupled with prudent cost controls, resulting in an incremental $67 million in cash property gross margin outperformance, along with an additional $14 million in cash, SG&A savings and $30 million of straight line.

轉到投影片 12。這反映了先前強調的增量房地產收入的強勁轉化，加上審慎的成本控制，導致現金房地產毛利率增量增加了6,700 萬美元，另外還有1,400 萬美元的現金、SG&A 節省和3,000 萬美元的直線收益。

This growth was partially offset by a reduction of $20 million associated with our U.S. services business and a negative FX impact of $14 million.

這一增長被我們美國服務業務相關的 2000 萬美元減少和 1400 萬美元的外匯負面影響部分抵消。

Turning to Slide 13. We are raising our expectations for AFFO attributable to common stockholders by $40 million at the midpoint or approximately $0.09 on a per share basis, moving the midpoint to $9.79 per share.

轉向投影片 13。

Our performance was driven by the cash adjusted EBITDA increase of $61 million partially offset by $16 million of other items, including an acceleration of certain maintenance projects in cash taxes, along with incremental minority interest due to outperformance in our JV businesses, partially offset by improvements to net interest. As I noted earlier, FX caused a headwind of approximately $5 million.

我們的業績是由現金調整後的 EBITDA 增加 6,100 萬美元部分抵消的，其他項目包括加速某些現金稅維護項目，以及由於我們合資企業業績出色而增加的少數股東權益，部分被改善所抵消為淨利息。正如我之前指出的，外匯造成了約 500 萬美元的逆風。

Moving on to Slide 14. Let's review our capital allocation plans for the full year. Consistent with the expectations set at the beginning of the year, we are planning to distribute approximately $3 billion in common stock dividends, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 10% on a per share basis, subject to board approval.

前往投影片 14。與年初設定的預期一致，我們計劃分配約 30 億美元的普通股股息，每股成長率為 10%，但須經董事會批准。

Our full year CapEx spend also remains consistent at $1.7 billion, with the acceleration of certain nondiscretionary projects that I mentioned earlier, offset by lower discretionary spend, which includes a reduction in development CapEx associated with lower anticipated new build volumes. As always, our goal is to execute a capital deployment strategy that maximizes total shareholder returns.

我們的全年資本支出也維持在17 億美元不變，我之前提到的某些非全權委託項目的加速，被可自由支配支出的減少所抵消，其中包括與預期新建量降低相關的開發資本支出的減少。一如既往，我們的目標是執行最大化股東總回報的資本配置策略。

In line with my earlier remarks, we're focused on creating incremental value through solid organic growth and quality of earnings optimizing global operational efficiency and expanding cash margins, all while strengthening our financial position by further reducing balance sheet risk and enhancing financial flexibility. As it relates to capital allocation and against the current economic backdrop, we believe it's optimal to prioritize balance sheet strength and keep discretionary spend focused on select capital expenditure projects that yield the best risk-adjusted returns and quality of earnings.

正如我之前的言論，我們致力於透過穩健的有機成長和獲利品質、優化全球營運效率和擴大現金利潤率來創造增量價值，同時透過進一步降低資產負債表風險和增強財務靈活性來加強我們的財務狀況。由於它與資本配置相關，並且在當前的經濟背景下，我們認為，最好優先考慮資產負債表的實力，並將可自由支配支出集中在能夠產生最佳風險調整回報和盈利質量的精選資本支出項目上。

Additionally, decoupled from our current line of sight to its attributable AFFO growth for next year, we anticipate maintaining a dividend per share profile in 2024 that closely aligns with our 2023 expectation of $6.45 per share, resuming growth in a manner supportive of our REIT taxable income thereafter, all subject to Board approval.

此外，從我們目前對其明年歸屬於AFFO 成長的預期來看，我們預計2024 年的每股股息狀況將與我們2023 年每股6.45 美元的預期保持密切一致，以支持我們的REIT 應稅資產的方式恢復成長此後的收入，均須經董事會批准。

By focusing on the above priorities, we believe American Tower is positioned for sustained and compelling total shareholder returns supported through balance sheet strength over the long term. Consistent with our historical practice, we'll discuss our 2024 plans in more detail on our next earnings call.

透過關注上述優先事項，我們相信美國鐵塔能夠透過長期的資產負債表實力獲得持續且引人注目的股東總回報。根據我們的歷史慣例，我們將在下一次財報電話會議上更詳細地討論我們的 2024 年計劃。

Moving to the right side of the slide and as highlighted earlier, as a result of the successful execution of our financing initiatives in the third quarter, we reduced our floating rate debt balance to below 11%, increased our liquidity to $9.7 billion, and our average maturity remains over 6 years. We closed the quarter with net leverage of approximately 5x, which benefits from certain nonrecurring items in the quarter, as I mentioned earlier, and we expect to close the year slightly above 5x.

轉向投影片的右側，如前所述，由於第三季融資計畫的成功執行，我們將浮動利率債務餘額降至 11% 以下，將流動性增加至 97 億美元，並將我們的平均成熟度仍超過6年。正如我之前提到的，我們本季末的淨槓桿率約為 5 倍，這受益於本季度的某些非經常性項目，我們預計今年末的淨槓桿率略高於 5 倍。

Moving forward, we'll remain opportunistic and potentially further accessing the debt capital markets, ensuring continued strength in our balance sheet, reducing risk and enhancing our financial flexibility.

展望未來，我們將保持機會主義，並有可能進一步進入債務資本市場，確保我們的資產負債表持續強勁，降低風險並增強我們的財務靈活性。

Turning to Slide 15 and in summary, our diverse portfolio of global communications assets continue to demonstrate resiliency in the face of a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, producing attractive growth through organic leasing further amplified by exceptional cost management at the margin. Complementing our operational performance, we continue to make progress in strengthening and derisking our balance sheet.

轉向幻燈片15，總而言之，面對充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟背景，我們多元化的全球通訊資產組合繼續表現出彈性，透過有機租賃產生有吸引力的成長，而卓越的邊際成本管理進一步放大了這一增長。為了補充我們的營運業績，我們持續在加強和降低資產負債表風險方面取得進展。

Furthermore, we remain committed to managing our capital structure, sources and uses and capital allocation priorities in a manner that positions American Tower to drive sustained attractive returns for our shareholders over the long term.

此外，我們仍然致力於管理我們的資本結構、來源和用途以及資本分配優先事項，使美國鐵塔能夠長期為我們的股東帶來持續有吸引力的回報。

With that, operator, we can open the line for questions.

有了這個，接線員，我們就可以打開提問線路了。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll go to the line of Simon Flannery with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們將前往摩根士丹利的西蒙·弗蘭納裡（Simon Flannery）的路線。

Tom, all the best for Dutra. It's been great working with you over the years, even back to the Verizon use of cell days. Congratulations and best of luck in the new role. If we could come back to the capital allocation, please. The comments around the dividend and perhaps, Rod, you could just talk about target leverage? Are you thinking about bringing leverage down more aggressively given the rate environment and the uncertain macro environment? Just any color around that would be great or any other drivers of the dividend decision?

湯姆，杜特拉祝你一切順利。多年來與您的合作非常愉快，甚至可以追溯到 Verizon 使用手機的日子。恭喜您並祝您在新職位上好運。請讓我們回到資本分配問題。關於股息的評論，也許羅德，你可以談談目標槓桿？鑑於利率環境和不確定的宏觀環境，您是否考慮更積極地降低槓桿率？周圍的任何顏色都會很棒，或者股息決定的任何其他驅動因素？

And perhaps how are you thinking about M&A more broadly outside of the India process that you referenced earlier? There's a big gap here between public and private markets. Any opportunities there that you see? And what about buybacks? Is that something that could come into your toolbox in the coming quarters here?

也許您如何在您之前提到的印度流程之外更廣泛地考慮併購？公共市場和私人市場之間存在很大差距。您看到了哪些機會？那麼回購呢？在接下來的幾個季度裡，這會出現在你的工具箱中嗎？

Yes, Simon, thanks for joining. I'll hit the leverage piece first, and then Tom will address the dividend more broadly. When you think about the leverage, we've been a little bit higher than our stated range. We've been up in the 5%, 3% range. We did end this quarter at around 5.0% that was benefited from some nonrecurring onetime revenue items. So we do expect that to tick back up towards the end of this year. And we expect to end this year, again, higher than our stated range of 3 to 5x up in the 5.2%, 5.3% range.

是的，西蒙，感謝您的加入。我將首先討論槓桿部分，然後湯姆將更廣泛地討論股息。當你考慮槓桿時，我們的槓桿比我們規定的範圍要高一些。我們的漲幅一直在 5% 至 3% 範圍內。本季末，我們的成長率確實達到了 5.0% 左右，這得益於一些非經常性一次性收入項目。因此，我們確實預計這一數字將在今年年底回升。我們預計今年年底的成長率將再次高於我們設定的 5.2%、5.3% 範圍內的 3 至 5 倍。

It is a priority of ours to bring that leverage down, along with driving organic growth, operational efficiency, expanding margins, controlling the SG&A in the and ultimately, the AFFO and AFFO growth that we can drive. So the target is to get to 5.0% as soon as we can. We'll be working through that diligently next year. And a lot of these operational objectives around organic growth and driving AFFO as well as capital allocation, our capital plan, specifically you'll see a reduction -- you've seen a reduction in our capital plans this year versus last year.

我們的首要任務是降低槓桿率，同時推動有機成長、營運效率、擴大利潤、控制 SG&A，並最終控制我們可以推動的 AFFO 和 AFFO 成長。所以我們的目標是盡快達到 5.0%。明年我們將努力解決這個問題。許多營運目標圍繞著有機成長和推動 AFFO 以及資本配置、我們的資本計劃，特別是你會看到減少——你已經看到我們今年的資本計劃與去年相比有所減少。

And that, again, is all in line with trying to drive down leverage and strengthen our balance sheet. We do think those are important steps to take to drive total shareholder return in the short term and the long term. So that's what it's really all about the dividend holding it flat next year is in line with that. I mean, I'll say we believe that's the best use of capital in terms of strengthening the balance sheet in this time of uncertain rates.

這再次與降低槓桿率和強化資產負債表的努力是一致的。我們確實認為這些是推動短期和長期股東總回報所採取的重要步驟。這就是明年股息保持不變的真正意義。我的意思是，我想說的是，我們相信，在利率不確定的時期，這是加強資產負債表的最佳資本利用方式。

When it comes to M&A, we continue to not see compelling M&A opportunities in our pipeline. So it's not something that's hitting our radar screen in terms of capital allocation this year and certainly as we turn the corner into next year. Then I'll turn it over to Tom to hit the dividend a little bit more directly.

在併購方面，我們仍然沒有看到令人信服的併購機會。因此，就今年的資本配置而言，這並不是我們關注的問題，當然在我們即將進入明年的時候也是如此。然後我會把它交給湯姆，讓他更直接地獲得股息。

First of all, Simon, thanks for your kind words. But maybe with regards to the dividend, it's important just to take -- maybe just take a step back and understand how we really manage this dividend growth since we became a REIT over a decade ago back in 2012. We've always looked to complement AFFO growth with a compelling yield, which we've grown, as you all know, around 20% annually as compared to our AFFO per share growth, which has been closer to 10% over that same time period.

首先，西蒙，感謝您的客氣話。但也許就股息而言，重要的是要退後一步，了解自我們十多年前於 2012 年成為房地產投資信託基金以來，我們如何真正管理股息增長。注目的收益，眾所周知，我們的收益每年增長約20%，而同期AFFO 的每股增長率接近10%。

We've aligned our distribution with REIT taxable income, as you would expect. And within REIT TI, you do have a recurring run rate and more of onetime buckets, consistent of things like earnings and profits, settlements, throwbacks, NOLs, which we used last decade, much of which is discretionary in the planning that are absolutely separate from AFFO.

正如您所期望的那樣，我們已將我們的分配與房地產投資信託基金的應稅收入保持一致。在REIT TI中，你確實有一個經常性的運行率和更多的一次性桶，與收益和利潤、結算、回溯、NOL等內容一致，我們在過去十年中使用過這些內容，其中大部分是在絕對獨立的規劃中自行決定的來自AFFO。

And these tools allow us to manage a more predictable glide path on our dividend. So here we are in 2023, we're committed to a 10% dividend growth rate, which like other years, consisted of certain onetime items to manage the dividend path and ensure alignment between our distribution and REIT TI. And so although our recurring REIT AI bucket was negatively impacted by interest rates, we utilize certain onetime items to manage towards the distribution. And absent those items, like most years, we'd be overdistributed. So as we look ahead to '24, we see an opportunity to accelerate our glide path and reset REIT TI closer to the run rate, which means temporarily relatively flat dividends per share in '24, decoupled from our expectations for AFFO growth based on our line of sight today.

這些工具使我們能夠管理更可預測的股息下滑路徑。因此，到 2023 年，我們承諾實現 10% 的股息成長率，與其他年份一樣，其中包括某些一次性項目，用於管理股息路徑並確保我們的分配與 REIT TI 之間的一致性。因此，儘管我們的經常性 REIT AI 桶受到利率的負面影響，但我們利用某些一次性專案來管理分配。如果沒有這些項目，就像大多數年份一樣，我們就會被過度分配。因此，當我們展望24 年時，我們看到了一個加速滑行路徑並將REIT TI 重置為更接近運行率的機會，這意味著24 年每股股息暫時相對持平，與我們基於我們對AFFO 增長的預期脫鉤。

So our priorities that Rod just laid out really remain on maximizing our total shareholder returns. And we see the optimal path to do so, really centered around strengthening and derisking our balance sheet, which means, in part, reducing our debt balance and advancing our pathway to sub 5x net leverage. And with that, more financial flexibility. And we view the levers to accelerate this path through maximizing organic growth, reducing our cost base as we've done in '23 and will continue to do in '24 with disciplined capital allocation that Rod just referred to, together with managing the dividend in a relatively flat basis before resuming growth in line with our recurring retail thereafter.

因此，羅德剛剛提出的我們的首要任務實際上仍然是最大化我們的股東總回報。我們看到了實現這一目標的最佳途徑，真正以加強和降低我們的資產負債表風險為中心，這在一定程度上意味著減少我們的債務餘額並推進我們通往低於5 倍淨槓桿率的道路。隨之而來的是更大的財務彈性。我們認為，透過最大化有機成長、降低我們的成本基礎來加速這條道路，就像我們在23 年所做的那樣，並將在24 年繼續這樣做，透過羅德剛才提到的嚴格的資本配置，以及管理2019 年的股息。

So this isn't a decision we take lightly, as you would expect. But given the current macro volatility, we believe that the balance sheet strength and accelerating financial flexibility for future opportunities, which could include buybacks is the optimal approach from where we sit today. So hopefully, that gives you a little bit of a sense, at least in terms of how we're thinking about it and how it fits into our overall plans for creating value long term.

因此，正如您所期望的那樣，這並不是我們輕易做出的決定。但考慮到當前的宏觀波動，我們認為資產負債表的實力和加速財務靈活性以迎接未來的機會（其中可能包括回購）是我們今天所處的最佳方法。因此，希望這能讓您有所了解，至少在我們如何思考它以及它如何融入我們創造長期價值的整體計劃方面。

Right. Yes, that's very helpful. So just to be clear, the hope would be to resume dividend growth in '25 or into '25?

正確的。是的，這非常有幫助。因此，需要澄清的是，希望在 25 年或進入 25 年後恢復股息成長？

Yes.

是的。

And next, we go to Michael Rollins with Citi.

接下來，我們請來花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯 (Michael Rollins)。

Tom, I also want to express my thanks and best wishes for your upcoming retirement. Congratulations to Steve on your upcoming transition to the CEO role. Just a couple of questions for me -- you're welcome. And again, it's both at Verizon and at AMP. We've been working...

湯姆，我也想對你即將退休表示感謝和最美好的祝福。祝賀史蒂夫即將升任執行長。請教我幾個問題——不客氣。再次強調，Verizon 和 AMP 都是如此。我們一直在工作...

I got a long answer. My hairline is receding more than yours.

我得到了一個很長的答案。我的髮際線比你後退的多。

So a couple of things. So first, on activity levels in the domestic business. Curious if you could just go deeper into what you're seeing as you're looking at the balance of this year and what it means for next year in terms of how that domestic business can grow relative to the long-term annual targets that you set for that business? And if you can -- within that context, also unpack the delays that you're seeing in Sprint-related churn and what that means for that decommissioning pace as we look forward?

有幾件事。首先是國內業務的活動水準。我很好奇，當您查看今年的餘額時，您是否可以更深入地了解您所看到的情況，以及它對明年的意義，即國內業務如何相對於您制定的長期年度目標增長。業務設定？如果可以的話，在這種情況下，還可以解開您在 Sprint 相關的流失中看到的延遲，以及這對我們預期的退休速度意味著什麼？

Sure. I'll take that one. So we're not going to give specific guidance for 2024 at this time, obviously. And I don't want to get into specific care activity levels because I want to leave it to them to talk about the rollout plans. But in general, we have seen activity levels moderate over the last several months from the recent highs.

當然。我會接受那個。因此，顯然我們目前不會給出 2024 年的具體指引。我不想討論具體的護理活動級別，因為我想讓他們來討論推出計劃。但總的來說，我們看到過去幾個月的活動水平從近期高點有所放緩。

However, the visibility that we have into a baseline level of contractually guaranteed growth through these comprehensive MLAs allow us to reiterate our expectation that we're going to achieve an average annual OTBG growth rate of at least 5% in the U.S. and Canada segment between 2023 and 2027.

然而，透過這些全面的 MLA，我們對合約保證成長基線水準的了解使我們能夠重申我們的預期，即我們將在2023 年和 2027 年。

And despite some of the concerns that people have in the market over the recent moderation we have visibility into a level of organic growth in 2024 that's supportive of that average. Now having said that, I want to break down the components a little bit, we do not have visibility into another year of $230 million growth from colocation and amendment activity. That's far away a record from American Tower.

儘管市場上的人們對最近的放緩存在一些擔憂，但我們可以預見 2024 年的有機增長水平將支持這一平均水平。話雖如此，我想稍微分解一下組成部分，我們無法預見到另一年託管和修改活動將帶來 2.3 億美元的成長。這與美國塔的記錄相去甚遠。

But we balance that with an expectation for some moderation in churn following 2023, excluding Sprint. Our MLAs do provide us visibility into a level of colocation and movement contributions that exceeds the average we've seen over the past several years. And again, it's supportive of that at least 5% average OTBG that we've guided to between 2023 and 2027. And to reiterate on our Sprint churn, the annual impacts of our Sprint churn have been $195 million in 2021, $60 million in 2022, $50 million in 2023 and $70 million in 2024 for a total of $375 million. So we're past the peak of that churn, and there's no change to that cadence versus our prior guidance in that respect.

但我們平衡這一點，並預期 2023 年後客戶流失會放緩（不包括 Sprint）。我們的 MLA 確實讓我們能夠了解主機託管和行動貢獻的水平，這超出了我們過去幾年所看到的平均水平。再次強調，它支持我們在 2023 年至 2027 年間指導的至少 5% 的平均 OTBG。 ，2023 年5,000 萬美元，2024 年7,000 萬美元，總計3.75 億美元。因此，我們已經過了流失的高峰期，與我們之前在這方面的指導相比，這種節奏沒有變化。

And Michael, I would just add just to make it clear, the delays in churn that we're seeing in the U.S. is not Sprint related. It's other items that we were planning that could be moved out a bit, as Steve is saying the Sprint cadence has not changed. And when you think about next year 2024 in our long-term guide, it's unlikely that there's going to be material upside based on where we sit today. We do think there's potential for upside in the longer-term growth rates, but that would probably come in '26 and '27 and down the line, not necessarily in '24.

邁克爾，我想補充一點，澄清一下，我們在美國看到的客戶流失延遲與 Sprint 無關。我們計劃的其他項目可能會稍微移出一些，因為史蒂夫說 Sprint 節奏沒有改變。當你在我們的長期指南中考慮明年 2024 年時，根據我們今天的情況，不太可能出現實質的上漲。我們確實認為長期成長率有上升的潛力，但這可能會在 26 年和 27 年以及以後出現，不一定是在 24 年。

And just one quick one. What's the percent that you're seeing in terms of the mid-band upgrades, the percent of sites that have been upgraded for mid-band already versus the amount that might be remaining?

只是一個快速的。您看到的中帶升級百分比是多少？

It's a little over half at this point.

此時已經過半了。

Next, we can go to David Barden with Bank of America.

接下來，我們可以請教美國銀行的 David Barden。

Let me echo Tom, the years we've spent together, it's been great. And congrats to Bud and Steve on the new roles. So I guess, if I could start, just maybe more on the finance side, Rod. Slide 11, you talked about some of the increases we're seeing in some of the non-U.S. regions.

讓我重複湯姆的話，我們一起度過的這些年，真是太棒了。祝賀巴德和史蒂夫擔任新角色。所以我想，如果我可以開始的話，也許更多的是在財務方面，羅德。在幻燈片 11 中，您談到了我們在一些非美國地區看到的一些增長。

Could you break that down into kind of core organic leasing and then some of the inflation-driven escalators? And so is this real growth that we're seeing that could be sustained? Or is it more of an inflation-driven bubble that we need to kind of be conscious of that might reverse? And then second, just on the India situation with the write-down, I think the tactic acknowledgment that maybe some of the lost year valuation ambitions were not there.

您能否將其分解為核心有機租賃，然後是一些通貨膨脹驅動的自動扶梯？那麼我們看到的這種真正的成長能夠持續嗎？或者它更像是一個由通膨驅動的泡沫，我們需要意識到它可能會逆轉？其次，就印度的減記情況而言，我認為策略上承認也許一些失去的年份估值雄心並不存在。

I guess we're all sitting here trying to figure out what kind of dilution we should be baking into 2024? The latest press reports that India suggested kind of a $2 billion valuation, something like a 5x EBITDA multiple. Obviously, it depends on kind of how big a stake you sell and when you sell it. But is there any kind of more color you can shed on the shape of what kind of dilution expectation we should be thinking about for '24?

我想我們都坐在這裡試圖弄清楚 2024 年我們應該進行什麼樣的稀釋？最新的媒體報導稱，印度建議估值為 20 億美元，相當於 EBITDA 的 5 倍。顯然，這取決於您出售的股份有多大以及何時出售。但是，對於我們應該考慮的 24 世紀稀釋預期的形狀，還有什麼更多的色彩可以透露出來嗎？

Yes, David. So let me get the first part of your question. I think I missed a little bit of the second, so I may ask you to repeat that. But when you think about the upside in terms of the growth rates, let me hit it by addressing the organic tenant billings piece first off. So we are seeing increases in organic tenant billings really across the board. So you can see in the chart, they were increasing our overall organic tenant billings for the company to about 6%.

是的，大衛。讓我回答你問題的第一部分。我想我錯過了第二點，所以我可能會請你重複。但是，當您考慮成長率方面的好處時，讓我先解決有機租戶帳單問題。因此，我們看到有機租戶的帳單確實全面增加。所以你可以在圖表中看到，他們將公司的整體有機租戶帳單增加到了 6% 左右。

That's up about 50 basis points from prior. And that kind of -- that theme is consistent across many of the regions. So as Steve just highlighted in the U.S., we're bringing that guide to beyond 5% from what was previously around 5%. International is coming up to greater than 7%. Prior, we were at greater than 6.5%. And then you look at the different parts of the company region by region, LatAm is going up to about 5% versus what was previously a 4%.

這比之前上漲了約 50 個基點。這種主題在許多地區都是一致的。正如史蒂夫剛剛在美國強調的那樣，我們正在將指南從之前的 5% 左右提高到 5% 以上。國際將達7%以上。此前，我們的比率高於 6.5%。然後你按地區查看公司的不同部分，拉丁美洲的比例從之前的 4% 上升到了 5% 左右。

APAC is coming up to about 5%. Previously, it was 4%. Europe was staying around where it was at 8%. And then Africa is also coming up to around 12% from what was prior higher than 11%. A couple of things that I would say in terms of the stay ability or the durability of some of that growth, certainly, in the U.S., it's nice strong performance. There is a little bit of delayed churn, so we can expect to see that hit next year. Other than that, the U.S. is very steady in terms of the demand. Part of that is because of the way the contracts we have work out.

亞太地區將達 5% 左右。此前，該比例為 4%。歐洲保持在 8% 左右。非洲也從先前的 11% 上升到 12% 左右。我想說的幾件事是，就保持能力或某些成長的持久性而言，當然，在美國，這是非常強勁的表現。客戶流失有一點延遲，因此我們預計明年會發生這種情況。除此之外，美國的需求非常穩定。部分原因在於我們簽訂合約的方式。

When you think of Latin America, we do have higher levels of churn this year than we have had in prior years. Some of the outperformance is churn driven. So when you think about the LatAm over performance, it's really a delay in churn and probably not all that durable from that perspective. When you get into APAC, it's a similar situation. The increase there is delayed churn, maybe some delayed discounts.

當你想到拉丁美洲時，你會發現今年的客戶流失率確實比往年更高。一些出色的表現是由客戶流失所驅動的。因此，當你考慮拉丁美洲的表現時，你會發現這實際上是客戶流失的延遲，而且從這個角度來看可能不是那麼持久。當你進入亞太地區時，也會遇到類似的情況。增加的原因是延遲的客戶流失，也許是一些延遲的折扣。

Europe is staying in line. In Africa, we're seeing higher levels of new business activity. So much of that is, in fact, durable and lasting. That's the way I would kind of articulate that. And then maybe on the second question, if you could maybe just repeat the question about the dilution, just so I get it right.

歐洲仍保持一致。在非洲，我們看到新的商業活動水準更高。事實上，其中大部分都是持久的。這就是我表達這一點的方式。然後也許在第二個問題上，您是否可以重複有關稀釋的問題，以便我得到正確的答案。

Yes, Rod. So I think we were just trying to -- that's helpful on the pieces part. The -- just the India write-down would seem to suggest that the bid app spread between what maybe AMT hopes to accomplish from a valuation standpoint and what's been offered has kind of collapsed down to the offer side of the spread. And is that the right interpretation or reading through that write-down? And then obviously, we're all attempting to evaluate what the dilution effect for the sale might be on 2024. Any more color on whether it's a full divestiture or 50% divestiture and kind of timetable would help us kind of do that math.

是的，羅德。所以我認為我們只是在嘗試——這對各個部分很有幫助。僅印度的減記似乎表明，從估值的角度來看，AMT 希望實現的目標與所提供的目標之間的投標應用程式價差已經崩潰到了價差的報價方。這是正確的解釋或閱讀該記錄嗎？顯然，我們都在嘗試評估 2024 年出售可能產生的稀釋效應。

Yes, that's good, David. So we're making good progress with the strategic review that we've set out. In terms of the write-down, we are writing the India business down about $322 million that sets the book value in around $2.2 billion or so. And as I stated in my prepared remarks, it really is based on our internal impairment review analysis, discounted cash flow driven and certainly, cost of capital plays a significant role in that. But also, as I highlighted in my comments, it does also consider indications of value that we've determined throughout the process.

是的，那很好，大衛。因此，我們已經制定的策略審查取得了良好進展。就減記而言，我們將印度業務減記約 3.22 億美元，使帳面價值約為 22 億美元左右。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，這實際上是基於我們的內部減損審查分析、折現現金流驅動的，當然，資本成本在其中發揮著重要作用。而且，正如我在評論中所強調的那樣，它也確實考慮了我們在整個過程中確定的價值跡象。

So I think you can understand what that means, and it will help you kind of think about where things might sit. We've also provided a little bit more breakout on the India financials and some of -- in the back of the presentation, which you'll see. But in terms of revenue, we're a little over $1 billion EBITDA. It's about $355 million, unlevered AFFO is about $290 million. So that gives you a little bit more information to kind of piece through and kind of assume where we may head. I don't want to get into too much direct guidance. We'll certainly lay that out when we complete our strategic review, which -- the good news is we're happy with the way the process is evolving.

所以我認為你可以理解這意味著什麼，這將幫助你思考事情可能會發生在哪裡。我們還在演示文稿的後面提供了有關印度財務狀況的更多突破性信息，您將會看到。但就收入而言，我們的 EBITDA 略高於 10 億美元。約 3.55 億美元，無槓桿的 AFFO 約為 2.9 億美元。因此，這為您提供了更多資訊來進行分析並假設我們可能會走向何方。我不想接受太多直接指導。當我們完成策略審查時，我們肯定會提出這一點，好消息是我們對流程的發展方式感到滿意。

We're confident we'll be concluding it this year just as we've previously mentioned. Once we do, we'll let the investors know exactly what we've concluded and what we plan to do there. We've said that our goal, and we're on track to achieve our goals, which is to sell a majority equity stake to a financial investor.

正如我們之前提到的，我們有信心今年能夠完成這項工作。一旦我們這樣做了，我們將讓投資者確切地知道我們已經得出的結論以及我們計劃在那裡做什麼。我們已經說過我們的目標，我們正在實現我們的目標，即將多數股權出售給金融投資者。

We've said between 51% and 100%, the reality is it's probably going to be a majority stake. We probably will retain a stake, so it will be somewhere between that 61% and 100%. That's where we're kind of directing the process at this point. But again, we are confident that the process will conclude in the next couple of months. And when it does, we'll let the investors know exactly what we've done.

我們說過在 51% 到 100% 之間，但現實是它可能會成為多數股權。我們可能會保留股份，所以比例會在 61% 到 100% 之間。這就是我們目前指導流程的地方。但我們再次有信心這個過程將在未來幾個月內完成。當它發生時，我們會讓投資者確切地知道我們做了什麼。

And next, we'll move to Rick Prentiss with Raymond James.

接下來，我們將邀請里克·普倫蒂斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I'll echo the Bell head. Thanks for the memory, it's great working with you and [I've been watching you] first NAREIT about [14] years ago.

我會回應貝爾頭。感謝您的回憶，與您一起工作真是太棒了，[我一直在關注您]大約[14]年前第一次參加 NAREIT。

You set up the table for us at the NAREIT conference, Rick, I remember that.

Rick，你在 NAREIT 會議上為我們擺好了桌子，我記得。

And Steve, been great working with you in the past, and we look forward to the new role. I want to go back to the dividend question from a couple of different angles as well. Rod, I think you mentioned $6.45 a share approximately current dividend announcing getting paid shortly would imply a little bit higher than that $6.48. Are we thinking it's in that range? Or is the $6.45 more we should be thinking about?

史蒂夫，過去與您合作得很好，我們期待著新的角色。我還想從幾個不同的角度回到股利問題。羅德，我認為您提到當前股息約為每股 6.45 美元，宣布很快收到股息將意味著比 6.48 美元高一點。我們認為它在這個範圍內嗎？或者我們應該考慮多花 6.45 美元嗎？

Yes. I think at this point, think about it being flat year-on-year. So of course, every quarter, we get the dividend approved by the Board. But our intention is to hold the dividend flat annually year-over-year to help support deleveraging balance sheet strength and ultimately, AFFO growth as well as total shareholder returns.

是的。我認為在這一點上，想想它與去年同期持平。當然，每季我們都會得到董事會批准的股利。但我們的目的是保持股息與去年同期持平，以幫助支持去槓桿化的資產負債表實力，並最終支持 AFFO 的成長以及股東總回報。

I appreciate comments that you're trying to kind of decouple from AFFO, make it more related to the REIT taxable income, it sounds like as well. But sort of implicit that I also thought that the India sale is anticipated and that also can kind of affect what the dividend might have been prior thoughts.

我很欣賞您試圖與 AFFO 脫鉤，使其與 REIT 應稅收入更加相關的評論，聽起來也是如此。但有點含蓄的是，我也認為印度的銷售是預期的，這也會影響先前的股利想法。

Yes. I guess, Rick, I would say that's not correct. The India business isn't in our REIT at this point. So it really doesn't drive into the retaxable income issue. I think Tom articulated all the drivers with that, which it's really -- this is a management decision and certainly supported by our Board to prioritize capital, to prioritize deleveraging and balance sheet strength. It's not impacted by the India process at all. And Tom highlighted, there are certain REIT rules that allow onetime items in some pretax earnings to be moved from one period to another.

是的。我想，瑞克，我會說這是不正確的。印度業務目前不在我們的房地產投資信託基金中。所以它確實不會涉及應納稅所得額問題。我認為湯姆闡明了所有驅動因素，這實際上是一項管理決策，當然得到了我們董事會的支持，優先考慮資本、去槓桿化和資產負債表實力。它根本不受印度進程的影響。湯姆強調，某些房地產投資信託基金規則允許某些稅前收益中的一次性項目從一個時期轉移到另一個時期。

So there have been times in the past where we've been over under distributed, and we can move some of that over or under distribution back and forth from year-to-year, which is helpful. So in this case, it really is a decision to drive balance sheet strength and using our capital in the best way we can, again, to drive total shareholder return in the short term and in the long term. And in this market with uncertain interest rates going forward, we think that's prudent. And that's really the driving factor.

因此，過去有時我們會出現分配過多或不足的情況，我們可以逐年調整其中一些分配過多或不足的情況，這很有幫助。因此，在這種情況下，這確實是一個推動資產負債表實力並以最佳方式利用我們資本的決定，再次推動短期和長期股東總回報。在未來利率不確定的市場中，我們認為這是謹慎的做法。這確實是驅動因素。

Okay. And then I said there was a small acquisition from AT&T/SBCs talking about history lesson. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in the marketplace as far as multiples in the U.S., Europe and other places.

好的。然後我說 AT&T/SBC 進行了一次小型收購，談論歷史教訓。您能談談您在美國、歐洲和其他地方的市場上看到的情況嗎？

Yes, Rick, I would -- I mean, let me highlight first that we don't see compelling M&A on our pipeline. I think everyone kind of knows that. I'll just reiterate that. We are seeing some things out there. Certainly, there is a -- not as robust, but there is a market in the U.S. with some smaller portfolios. And I don't want to get into a lot of detail in terms of what we see. I think we still see very high prices, even though they may have pulled back slightly from where they were, let's say, a year ago.

是的，里克，我會——我的意思是，首先讓我強調一下，我們在我們的管道中沒有看到引人注目的併購。我想每個人都知道這一點。我只是重申一下。我們正在看到一些事情。當然，有一個——雖然不那麼強勁，但美國有一個市場，有一些較小的投資組合。我不想詳細介紹我們所看到的情況。我認為我們仍然看到非常高的價格，儘管它們可能比一年前的水平略有回落。

And for that, we still look at the small deals if we can find compelling ways to expand total shareholder return. We have a little flexibility there. We don't see anything major. But we also just see the majority of the deals are probably still priced a little higher than what today's cost of capital would suggest that they should be. The small acquisition you see in our numbers is really just a buyout of a prior SBC sublease, which you'll be familiar with. It was a small tranche.

為此，如果我們能找到令人信服的方法來擴大股東總回報，我們仍然會關注小額交易。我們在那裡有一點靈活性。我們沒有看到任何重大的事情。但我們也看到，大多數交易的定價可能仍略高於當前資本成本所暗示的水平。您在我們的資料中看到的小型收購實際上只是對先前 SBC 轉租的收購，您對此會很熟悉。這是一小部分。

Okay. Okay. Was that some of the final purchase option stuff as well?

好的。好的。這也是最終購買選項的一部分嗎？

Yes, that's exactly what it is. It's not the final one. It's just another tranche, and that will continue for a few more years.

是的，就是這樣。這不是最後的。這只是另一部分，而且這種情況還會持續幾年。

Makes sense. And last one for me then. I think you've mentioned that all assets are coming on the tail we reviewed with India getting closer to this process. Any update as far as what you're looking at on the balance sheet that might be possible to say, it's not where they are where we thought it would be or maybe someone else wants to pay more, given private versus pilot multiples?

有道理。然後是我的最後一張。我想你已經提到，所有資產都在我們與印度一起審查的尾部，越來越接近這一進程。就您在資產負債表上看到的任何更新而言，可能會說，這不是我們想像的那樣，或者考慮到私人與飛行員的倍數，也許其他人想要支付更多費用？

Yes, I would say, Rick, we routinely review the portfolio performance across our business globally. We do that from a couple of perspectives. One is there could be capital recycling opportunities, which we think could be very good for our shareholders over the long term.

是的，我想說，里克，我們會定期檢視我們全球業務的投資組合績效。我們從幾個角度來做到這一點。一是可能存在資本回收機會，我們認為從長遠來看這對我們的股東來說非常有利。

That certainly the decisions we saw driving our exit from the Mexico fiber business. It also is what is driving our consideration around what we're doing in India. So I'll highlight that. I don't want to get into specific other places where we might be looking. But we are looking at our portfolio, and it's something we do constantly.

這當然是我們看到的推動我們退出墨西哥纖維業務的決定。這也是我們考慮在印度所做的事情的原因。所以我會強調這一點。我不想進入我們可能正在尋找的其他具體地方。但我們正在審視我們的投資組合，這是我們不斷在做的事情。

The other thing we do is we constantly look at our capital deployments. And from that perspective, we can throttle those back or up depending on where the opportunities are. We can also reallocate or redistribute that capital to where we feel that investments will most -- will be most aligned with our priorities of driving organic growth in the short term and the long term, quality of earnings and consistent durable industry-leading AFFO growth and ultimately, total shareholder return.

我們做的另一件事是不斷關注我們的資本部署。從這個角度來看，我們可以根據機會所在來減少或增加這些。我們還可以將這些資本重新分配或重新分配到我們認為投資最符合我們推動短期和長期有機增長、盈利質量和持續持久的行業領先 AFFO 增長的優先事項，以及最終，股東總回報。

So I wouldn't just look at whether or not we sell a business here or there, those would be kind of operational decisions as well as recycling capital, but also kind of our CapEx programs, how much are we investing? Where are we investing? What kind of assets? And again, those decisions are made each and every year, really each and every quarter, and they are meant to and do align with our priorities.

因此，我不會只考慮我們是否在這裡或那裡出售業務，這些將是一種營運決策以及回收資本，也是我們的資本支出計劃，我們投資了多少？我們在哪裡投資？什麼樣的資產？再說一次，這些決定每年都會做出，實際上是每個季度都會做出，它們旨在並且確實與我們的優先事項保持一致。

And next -- pardon me next we can go to Matt Niknam with Deutsche Bank.

接下來——請原諒，接下來我們可以去德意志銀行的 Matt Niknam 那裡。

Just 2 related to the U.S. Maybe first on services. So it was a pretty sizable drop off, maybe less surprising in terms of what's going on in the industry, but services revenue looks like they dropped off in third quarter. Just wondering if you can share any color in terms of whether this is broad-based or related to 1 or 2 customers in particular and how to think about sort of forward trajectory into 4Q. And then maybe on a somewhat related note, in terms of colo and amendment activity in the U.S., so 3Q held in relatively stable to what you saw in the first half.

只有 2 個與美國相關，也許首先是服務業。因此，這是一個相當大的下降，也許就行業正在發生的情況而言並不令人驚訝，但服務收入看起來在第三季度有所下降。只是想知道您是否可以分享任何顏色，無論是廣泛的基礎還是與 1 或 2 個客戶相關，以及如何思考第四季度的前進軌跡。然後也許在某種程度上相關的是，就美國的託管和修訂活動而言，第三季與上半年的情況相對穩定。

I think the implied number for 4Q is around $53 million. Just wondering whether that's sort of an appropriate run rate to consider into next year or whether we should anticipate sort of incremental moderations by virtue of just a broader low in the industry?

我認為第四季的隱含數字約為 5,300 萬美元。只是想知道這是否是明年考慮的適當運行率，或者我們是否應該憑藉行業更廣泛的低點來預期某種增量調整？

Sure. I'll start out and then if you want to jump in, Rod. In terms of our service business, it's inherently a non-run rate business, and that makes it difficult to predict. And you saw that in 2021 when we raised our guide materially over a couple of quarters, we're seeing that this year as we've seen a moderation of activity.

當然。我先開始，然後如果你想加入的話，羅德。就我們的服務業務而言，它本質上是一個非運行率業務，這使得它很難預測。你看到，2021 年我們在幾個季度內大幅提高了指南，今年我們也看到了這一點，因為我們看到了活動的放緩。

What I would say is because of our conference of MLAs, that's not a direct read across to our property revenue, because we are somewhat insulated from the peaks and valleys of activity with the customers on that. And it's too early to be giving guidance for 2024 and where we see the activity levels going there. What I would just reiterate is this is consistent with what we've seen in other Gs of activity.

我想說的是，由於我們的 MLA 會議，這並不是對我們的財產收入的直接解讀，因為我們在某種程度上與客戶活動的高峰和低谷隔絕了。現在給出 2024 年的指導以及我們看到的活動水平還為時過早。我想重申的是，這與我們在其他 G 活動中看到的情況是一致的。

And the carriers have an initial build phase that starts out with kind of a (inaudible) activity, and you'll see that moderate a little bit. We are seeing the capital spend moderate a bit, but it's still settling at levels higher than it was in 4G. And even with our reduced expectations this year for our services business, it's still higher than it was at the same point in 4G.

運營商有一個初始構建階段，從某種（聽不清楚）活動開始，你會發現它有點溫和。我們看到資本支出有所放緩，但仍穩定在高於 4G 的水平。即使我們今年降低了對服務業務的預期，它仍然高於 4G 同期的水平。

So we're very optimistic that our customers will continue to build throughout the cadence of this 5G build. There will be a restart of that activity. We don't know exactly when that's going to happen and we'll give better guidance on that in February as we get more visibility into 2024, what those activity levels are going to be.

因此，我們非常樂觀地認為，我們的客戶將在整個 5G 建設節奏中繼續建立。活動將重新啟動。我們不知道具體什麼時候會發生，隨著我們對 2024 年的活動水平有更多的了解，我們將在 2 月提供更好的指導。

And Matt, I'll just add a couple of data points. When you think about the co-location amendment additions, this year, we're anticipating a number of around $230 million for the U.S. You recall last year, we were around $150 million, we're at about $58 million this quarter and our guide anticipates a further reduction, but still a number that's greater than $50 million in Q4. I wouldn't just take that Q4 number and annualize it.

馬特，我將添加幾個數據點。當您想到今年的主機託管修正案時，我們預計美國的金額約為 2.3 億美元。進一步減少，但數字仍超過5000 萬美元。我不會僅僅採用第四季度的數字並將其年化。

I think you're better off and we won't give guidance, as Steve suggest until next year. But for modeling purposes, if you look at this year and last year and you split the difference, that's probably a safer place to put in your models today. And then, of course, we'll guide in February, and we'll be able to update that number. The only other thing I would say on services is the $140 million number is still higher than the historical average for services, and we're continuing to maintain a very nice gross margin in that business at all levels.

我認為你的情況會更好，我們不會像史蒂夫建議的那樣提供指導，直到明年。但出於建模目的，如果您查看今年和去年並區分差異，那麼今天放置模型的位置可能會更安全。當然，我們將在二月提供指導，並且我們將能夠更新該數字。關於服務，我要說的唯一一件事是，1.4 億美元的數字仍然高於服務的歷史平均水平，而且我們將繼續在該業務的各個層面上保持非常好的毛利率。

So when we saw that go up to about $270 million, we were still in the 50s, low 50s, 53%, 54% margins as it tapered off a little bit to $140 million, we are able to drive up the margins based on the mix of the revenue and the way we service that revenue. So with a lower revenue, we're still able to mitigate some of that with higher margins in the upper 50s at this point.

因此，當我們看到這一數字上升到約2.7 億美元時，我們的利潤率仍處於50 年代、50 年代的低點、53%、54%，隨著它逐漸減少到1.4 億美元，我們能夠根據收入和我們服務該收入的方式的組合。因此，儘管收入較低，但我們目前仍能夠透過 50 多美元的較高利潤率來緩解部分影響。

And next, we'll go to Eric Luebchow with Wells Fargo.

接下來，我們將前往富國銀行的 Eric Luebchow。

Great. Just a couple on capital allocation. So given the recent increases in interest rates and cost of capital, I mean, to influence at all as you look into next year, kind of your build-to-suit ambitions internationally or -- is there any kind of valuation of maybe slowing that to reinvest in other areas and that could potentially be data centers where it seems like you've had really strong performance year-to-date? It seems like growth continues to ramp and maybe you need to allocate more capital to your data center business and how you kind of balance that versus other forms of shareholder return? That would be very helpful.

偉大的。只是關於資本配置的幾​​個問題。因此，考慮到最近利率和資本成本的上升，我的意思是，當你展望明年時，你的國際化雄心壯志會受到影響，或者——是否有任何一種估值可能會減緩這一趨勢對其他領域進行再投資，這可能是資料中心，今年迄今為止，您的業績似乎非常強勁？看起來成長仍在繼續，也許您需要為資料中心業務分配更多資本，您如何平衡這一點與其他形式的股東回報？這將非常有幫助。

Absolutely, all those issues are on the table. We look at our capital allocation every year, certainly, and I would say, even more frequently than that in the idea and the approach is to make the best decisions we can to support long-term total shareholder return. With the increase in cost of capital, the increase in interest rates as well as other factors affecting our markets around the globe, those all play into how much capital we will be deploying, how many build-to-suits will be executing on and where those will be.

當然，所有這些問題都擺在桌面上。當然，我們每年都會審視我們的資本配置，我想說，我們的想法和方法甚至比我們更頻繁地審視我們的資本配置，那就是我們能夠做出最佳決策來支持長期股東總回報。隨著資本成本的增加、利率的上升以及影響我們全球市場的其他因素，這些因素都會影響我們將部署多少資本、將執行多少定制項目以及在何處執行那些將會是。

So that certainly comes into play. I won't get into a lot of detail in terms of decision-making there. I would just maybe highlight again that capital this year is lower than it was last year. And the environment in interest rates, in particular, there's still a fair amount of uncertainty. So we will be continuing to kind of look at that capital plan to decide if putting the capital into build-to-suits around the globe is better than some of the other options we have and a continuation of capital reductions is probably what you'll end up seeing in this environment. That's kind of where we're looking at it.

所以這肯定會發揮作用。我不會詳細介紹決策方面的細節。我可能會再次強調，今年的資本低於去年。尤其是利率環境，仍存在相當大的不確定性。因此，我們將繼續研究該資本計劃，以確定將資本投入全球範圍內的定制化建設是否比我們擁有的其他一些選擇更好，並且您可能會繼續削減資本最終在這個環境中看到。這就是我們正在研究的地方。

The other part of your question is absolutely, we look at putting capital into places that primarily or specifically drive and align with our priorities. So when you think about us focused on organic growth over the long term, we're focused on quality of earnings. We're focused on operational efficiencies and driving balance sheet strength, all of the different ways that we can execute on achieving those goals are in play. If that means allocating more capital to higher-quality markets versus emerging markets or vice versa, if it means putting less into CapEx and more into debt reduction, if it means reducing the growth of the dividend and putting more towards balance sheet and debt reduction. We think about those things all the time and it plays into our capital allocation and it will next year as well, and we'll lay out what that will mean in February.

你問題的另一部分是絕對的，我們考慮將資金投入主要或專門推動並與我們的優先事項保持一致的地方。因此，當你想到我們專注於長期有機成長時，我們就會專注於獲利品質。我們專注於營運效率和推動資產負債表實力，我們為實現這些目標而採取的所有不同方式都在發揮作用。如果這意味著將更多的資本配置到更高品質的市場而不是新興市場，反之亦然，如果這意味著減少資本支出，增加債務削減，如果這意味著減少股息的成長並更多地投入資產負債表和債務削減。我們一直在考慮這些事情，它會影響我們的資本配置，明年也會如此，我們將在二月闡述這意味著什麼。

Great. And just one follow-up question. Latin America, you've talked about some delayed churn in that business. So maybe you could just kind of walk us through the cadence of when that you expect that churn to kind of layer through and when you may be on the other side of it. And then, obviously, it seems like given a pretty big reduction in inflation in some of those markets like Brazil would seem to seem like the CPI-linked escalators will be a bit of a headwind at least into next year. So maybe just talk about some of the some of the moving pieces and the growth outlook there.

偉大的。還有一個後續問題。拉丁美洲，您談到了該行業的一些延遲流失。因此，也許您可以向我們介紹一下您期望這種流失會逐漸發生的節奏，以及您可能處於其另一邊的節奏。然後，顯然，考慮到巴西等一些市場的通膨大幅下降，與 CPI 相關的自動扶梯似乎至少在明年會遇到一些阻力。所以也許只是談談一些令人感動的事情和那裡的成長前景。

Yes. A couple of things that I highlight relative to the LATAM market. I mean in 2022, we had roughly 5% churn that was part of embedded in our organic tenant billings growth. In Q3 here, it was 5.2%, so pretty consistent. For the full year of '23, we're projecting that to be around 6%. So that's what's driving. When we say elevated churn, that's exactly kind of what we're seeing there.

是的。我強調了與拉丁美洲市場相關的幾件事。我的意思是，到 2022 年，我們的流失率約為 5%，這是我們有機租戶帳單成長的一部分。第三季為 5.2%，非常穩定。對於 23 年全年，我們預計該比例約為 6%。這就是驅動力。當我們說客戶流失率上升時，這正是我們所看到的。

We are seeing delays in churn. Much of that is tied to the Oi churn that we're experiencing and will continue to experience down in Brazil. We also see churn from Telefonica up in Mexico. Those are kind of the 2 primary places where we see churn. We've laid out a lot of the different pieces of the Oi churn. I won't do that again here. But I would say we do expect elevated churn to continue into next year.

我們看到客戶流失出現延遲。其中大部分與我們正在經歷並將繼續在巴西經歷的 Oi 流失有關。我們也看到墨西哥 Telefonica 的流失。這些是我們看到客戶流失的兩個主要地方。我們已經列出了 Oi 攪拌機的許多不同部分。我不會再在這裡這樣做了。但我想說的是，我們確實預期客戶流失率將持續到明年。

I think you're absolutely right in terms of when inflation moderates in some of these markets, that will potentially lower the organic tenant billings growth from that perspective as well. So we'll be watching all of those issues. I think when it comes to LatAm, we'll be watching the churn as we go into next year.

我認為，當其中一些市場的通膨放緩時，您的說法絕對正確，從這個角度來看，這也可能會降低有機租戶的帳單成長。所以我們將關注所有這些問題。我認為，就拉丁美洲而言，我們將在進入明年時觀察其流失。

I can't tell you yet that we're beyond the peak here because of this churn that was delayed and potentially pushed into next year. But over the next couple of years, LatAm -- because of the reduction in inflation that could happen and the elevated churn, we could be in the low single digits in terms of organic tenant billings growth as we head into next year.

我還不能告訴你，我們已經超越了峰值，因為這種流失被推遲了，並可能被推遲到明年。但在接下來的幾年裡，拉丁美洲——由於可能發生的通貨膨脹減少和客戶流失率上升，當我們進入明年時，我們的有機租戶帳單成長可能會處於低個位數。

And next, we can go to Nick Del Deo with MoffettNathanson.

接下來，我們可以和 MoffettNathanson 一起去尼克·德爾·迪奧 (Nick Del Deo) 採訪。

And first of all, I want to echo others' comments and congratulate both Tom and Steve on the upcoming changes. Tom, just following up on the technology outlook you shared, is there any reason to believe that -- call it, the combination of the volume of spectrum that the carriers have been able to deploy and the capacity improvements enabled by 5G and massive MIMO, are going to allow them to stretch out their 5G upgrades over a longer period of time than may have been the case in the past? I think what you call the harvest phase of the 5G deployment. Or do you think those -- the impact of those improvements are just comparable to what we've seen in the past with other technology upgrades?

首先，我想回應其他人的評論，並對湯姆和史蒂夫即將發生的變化表示祝賀。 Tom，剛剛跟進您分享的技術前景，是否有任何理由相信——稱之為，運營商能夠部署的頻譜量與 5G 和大規模 MIMO 實現的容量改進的結合，是否會讓他們將5G 升級的時間延長到比過去更長的時間？我認為你所說的5G部署的收穫階段。或者您認為這些改進的影響與我們過去看到的其他技術升級的影響相當嗎？

My sense is that they're more comparable with what we've seen in prior upgrades. Yes, there are bigger swaps of spectrum in the market today that all of our customers are deploying, particularly in the mid-band. But the demand is disproportionate to what we've seen in the past. So my sense is that given the demand and the additional kind of usage that we would expect over the next several years, it will be very -- really very, very consistent.

我的感覺是它們與我們在之前的升級中看到的更具可比性。是的，當今市場上有更大的頻譜交換，我們所有的客戶都在部署，特別是在中頻段。但需求與我們過去看到的不成比例。所以我的感覺是，考慮到未來幾年我們預期的需求和額外的使用方式，它將非常非常非常一致。

The data intensity that I even talked about with regards to adding certain levels of video usage is really going to eat into a lot of that spectrum capacity that is out there. So as I said, there is definitely more spectrum out there, definitely more in the mid-band, but I would expect that the usage that we will see and experience over the next several years, we'll put it on the same path as what we've seen in 3G and 4G.

我甚至談到了關於增加一定水平的視訊使用的數據強度確實會消耗掉大量的頻譜容量。正如我所說，肯定有更多的頻譜，在中頻段肯定有更多的頻譜，但我預計我們將在未來幾年看到和體驗到的使用情況，我們將把它放在與我們在3G和4G 中看到的情況。

Okay. Okay. And then maybe for Rod kind of a follow-up question on the dividend outlook. You noted that coming 2025, we should start to see the dividend grow at kind of in line with taxable income. I think historically, you had outlined sort of a 10% expectation. Should we think of your likely taxable income growth as being in that zone. Or is it going to be sort of a different level? Or is it just too early to say?

好的。好的。然後也許羅德會問一個有關股息前景的後續問題。您指出，到 2025 年，我們應該開始看到股息的成長與應稅收入保持一致。我認為從歷史上看，您已經概述了 10% 的期望。我們是否應該認為您可能的應稅收入成長處於該區域？或者它會是一個不同的層次？還是現在說還太早？

I think, Nick, it -- we'll have to watch kind of the trajectory of the REIT taxable income. But in general, I think it's probably safe for you to assume that, that will be in line with all material respects, with our AFFO growth and AFFO per share growth. That's probably a safe way to kind of think about it. It may not be exact all the time. But given the fact that we can't predict the future certain -- and certainly, we're not going to be guiding long term on that.

我認為，尼克，我們必須關注房地產投資信託基金應稅收入的軌跡。但總的來說，我認為您可以放心地假設，這將與所有實質方面、我們的 AFFO 增長和 AFFO 每股增長一致。這可能是一種安全的思考方式。它可能並不總是準確的。但考慮到我們無法預測未來——當然，我們不會對此進行長期指導。

If you think about where our AFFO and AFFO per share growth is going to be and you think about that being probably consistent with where retaxable income might be and where the dividend growth could be, that's probably the safest bet. I'd just highlight again, we do have a requirement to dividend out 90% of our REIT taxable income.

如果您考慮我們的 AFFO 和 AFFO 每股成長情況，並且您認為這可能與應納稅收入和股息成長一致，那麼這可能是最安全的選擇。我想再次強調，我們確實需要分紅 90% 的 REIT 應稅所得。

We typically dividend out closer to 100% because we think that's most beneficial to our shareholders from a tax perspective. So that's important to notice. But then, as Tom mentioned, there are other ways that we manage the dividend payout relative to REIT taxable income, and that's where there is a little bit more discretion on our end to try to match it up to AFFO growth.

我們通常發放接近 100% 的股息，因為我們認為從稅收角度來看這對我們的股東最有利。所以注意這一點很重要。但是，正如 Tom 所提到的，我們還有其他方法來管理相對於 REIT 應稅收入的股息支付，這就是我們有更多自由裁量權來嘗試將其與 AFFO 增長相匹配的地方。

So that's probably the way to think about it. Think about what our AFFO growth is going to be over the long term, what our AFFO per share growth is going to be and a dividend growth very well may align with that. But with that said, we will be considering capital allocation and the best uses of capital for our shareholders each and every year and each and every quarter. And the dividend specifically, is approved by our Board each year in each quarter.

所以這可能就是思考這個問題的方式。想想我們的 AFFO 長期成長將是多少，我們的 AFFO 每股成長將是多少，股息成長很可能與之相符。但話雖如此，我們每年和每季都會為股東考慮資本配置和資本的最佳利用。具體來說，股息是由我們的董事會每年每季批准的。

Okay. Okay. That's great. And can I just -- one quick clarification on the onetime revenue benefits you called out. It looks like other was elevated in the U.S. in the quarter. I think that's really the split payments. And any other one-timers that you would call out or be able to describe to us?

好的。好的。那太棒了。我可以簡單地澄清一下您提到的一次性收入福利嗎？本季度美國的其他收入似乎有所上升。我認為這確實是分期付款。還有其他您會提到或能夠向我們描述的一次性者嗎？

The only thing it's really in the settlement area. I mean, we had about -- I think it was about $50 million in settlements this quarter. Last year, same quarter, it was much lower, more in the $15 million range. There's a customer equipment removal settlement in the U.S. that was pulled forward from the fourth quarter into the third quarter, that was probably in the range of $25 million or so. But those are really the items. It's the onetime items, it's settlement fees.

唯一的事情是它確實在定居點區域。我的意思是，我們本季的和解金額約為 5000 萬美元。去年同一季度，這一數字要低得多，更多地在 1500 萬美元的範圍內。美國有一項客戶設備拆除和解協議從第四季度推遲到第三季度，金額可能在 2,500 萬美元左右。但這些確實是物品。這是一次性物品，是結算費用。

We get some small settlement fees throughout our other international markets and the timing of those can be somewhat bumpy. One thing you'll see from our guide is those settlement fees, those onetime items do drop off pretty substantially in Q4. So that's one of the things you can think about when you look at the bridge from Q3 to Q4 in terms of our AFFO, there will be a nonrecurrence of close to $40 million, $45 million of those onetime items.

我們在其他國際市場上會收取一些小額結算費用，而這些費用的時間可能會有些坎坷。您將從我們的指南中看到的一件事是這些結算費用，這些一次性項目在第四季度確實大幅下降。因此，當您根據我們的AFFO 查看從第三季度到第四季度的橋樑時，您可以考慮的事情之一是，將不會再出現近4000 萬美元的一次性項目，其中4500 萬美元是一次性項目。

And next, we go to Batya Levi with UBS.

接下來，我們將與瑞銀一起前往巴蒂亞利維 (Batya Levi)。

Tom ad Steve, I wish you all the best as well. Just a couple of quick follow-ups. Rod, you mentioned that we'll end leverage at about 5.2%, 5.3% at year-end. Where do you want that to be over the next year or 2? And we will give specific guidance next year. But just directionally, do you expect AFFO to grow in '24, assuming India is sold at year-end?

湯姆和史蒂夫，我也祝你們一切順利。只需幾個快速跟進。 Rod，您提到我們將在年底將槓桿率控制在 5.2%、5.3% 左右。您希望未來一兩年的發展如何？明年我們將給予具體指導。但就方向而言，假設印度在年底銷售，您預計 AFFO 在 24 年會成長嗎？

Yes, so we ended the quarter with 5.0 leverage. It's going to be a little higher than that at the end of the year, primarily driven because of those onetime items on the EBITDA side. But our clear focus is to delever to reduce debt as well as reduce our exposure to floating rate debt by driving the percentage of our debt that is exposed to floating rates, and we got that down to about 11% or so.

是的，所以本季結束時我們的槓桿率為 5.0。它將比年底略高，主要是由於 EBITDA 方面的那些一次性項目所致。但我們明確的重點是去槓桿化，減少債務，並透過提高浮動利率債務的比例來減少浮動利率債務的風險敞口，我們將其降至 11% 左右。

Our goal is to get to 5x really as soon as we can. And that's what we're focused on, and that's what's driving a lot of our capital allocation decisions is driving balance sheet strength and reducing leverage getting to that 5.0 as soon as we can. So that is clearly the goal. The goal will also -- the goal -- and it's specifically for 2024, that's where we hope to get to.

我們的目標是盡快達到 5 倍。這就是我們關注的重點，也是推動我們做出許多資本配置決策的原因，即推動資產負債表實力並降低槓桿率，盡快達到 5.0。這顯然是我們的目標。這個目標也將是——這個目標——而且是專門針對 2024 年的，這就是我們希望達到的目標。

And we're looking for all the opportunities we can find to drive that. And that could include reducing the capital program a little bit next year. That certainly is in line with the dividend decision that you heard us articulate today. You'll see that our SG&A is being held flat year-over-year. You'll see that our margins are expanding, that's the result of a lot of global initiatives around operational efficiency to drive additional EBITDA and AFFO. Not only is that good for everyone, it also helps us get our leverage numbers down a little bit. It provides a little bit more cash flow to reduce the debt. So those are all the pieces that we're focused on.

我們正在尋找所有能找到的機會來推動這一目標。這可能包括明年稍微減少資本計劃。這當然符合您今天聽到我們闡述的股利決定。您會發現我們的銷售、一般費用與去年同期持平。您會發現我們的利潤正在擴大，這是圍繞營運效率的許多全球措施的結果，以推動額外的 EBITDA 和 AFFO。這不僅對每個人都有好處，還可以幫助我們稍微降低槓桿。它提供了更多的現金流來減少債務。這些都是我們關注的部分。

The short answer is 5x as soon as possible. 5x in 2024 would be great. That's possible, and we're driving towards that and we'll see if we can achieve it.

簡而言之，答案是盡快 5 倍。 2024 年成長 5 倍就太好了。這是可能的，我們正在朝著這個目標努力，我們會看看是否能實現它。

And then with AFFO, I would absolutely say, our portfolio, consistent with the way we've explained this for years, is really well positioned for durable AFFO per share growth. This year, that was interrupted, primarily because of financing cost headwinds, driven by interest rates, additional shares that we issued for some of our prior acquisitions and some minority interest that we have because of some of the private capital that we raised in certain parts of our business.

然後，對於 AFFO，我絕對會說，我們的投資組合與我們多年來解釋這一點的方式一致，確實處於 AFFO 每股持久增長的有利地位。今年，這種情況被中斷，主要是由於利率、我們為之前的一些收購發行的額外股票以及我們因在某些部分籌集的一些私人資本而擁有的一些少數股權所驅動的融資成本逆風我們的業務。

With our new AFFO per share outlook of around $9.79, we're pretty much flat with where we were prior year. So we've been able to convert a 1% to 2% reduction in AFFO, AFFO per share up to closer to flat, which is good. But when you think about that number being flat and an 8% headwind from financing being embedded in it as well as a 2% headwind from VIL short payments or, let's say, the VIL reserve of $75 million we made, you adjust for those things, the underlying core operating performance of the assets that we own around the globe are driving double-digit growth without those headwinds.

我們新的 AFFO 每股展望約為 9.79 美元，與去年持平。因此，我們已經能夠將 AFFO 的 1% 到 2% 的減少轉化為每股 AFFO 接近持平，這很好。但是，當你考慮到這個數字是持平的，並且嵌入融資帶來8% 的阻力，以及VIL 短期付款帶來2% 的阻力，或者比方說，我們做了7500 萬美元的VIL 準備金，你就會對這些事情進行調整，我們在全球擁有的資產的基本核心營運績效正在推動兩位數的成長，而沒有這些阻力。

So we absolutely believe this business can drive growth over the long term and in 2024. The things that we'll be watching that are potential interrupters would be any material volatility in FX. We don't know where rates will go. Rate uncertainty is something that we watch. But absent those sorts of items, we think the portfolio is well positioned to grow next year and over the long term.

因此，我們絕對相信這項業務可以在長期和 2024 年推動成長。我們不知道利率會走向何方。利率的不確定性是我們所關注的。但如果沒有這些類型的項目，我們認為該投資組合將在明年和長期內實現成長。

And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our Q&A session for today. I'll hand the call back over to our team.

女士們先生們，今天的問答環節到此結束。我會將電話轉回給我們的團隊。

Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me here at the Investor Relations team. Have a great day.

偉大的。謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如果您有任何其他問題，請隨時與我的投資者關係團隊聯繫。祝你有美好的一天。

And that does conclude the call for today. Thanks for your participation and for using AT&T Teleconference. You may now disconnect.

今天的呼籲就到此結束。感謝您的參與和使用 AT&T 電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。