Altice USA Inc (ATUS) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Altice USA Second Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Sarah Freedman, Investor Relations. Thank you, Sarah. You may begin.

您好，歡迎參加 Altice USA 2023 年第二季業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係部門的莎拉·弗里德曼 (Sarah Freedman)。謝謝你，莎拉。你可以開始了。

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining. Before we begin, I'm thrilled to share that Nick Brown is currently on parental leave as he and his family have recently welcomed their first baby. Turning to our agenda. We are joined today by Altice USA's Chairman and CEO, Dennis Mathew; and CFO, Marc Sirota, who together will take you through the presentation and then be available for questions about our results.

大家好，感謝您的加入。在我們開始之前，我很高興地告訴大家，尼克布朗目前正在休育嬰假，因為他和他的家人最近迎來了他們的第一個孩子。轉向我們的議程。今天，Altice USA 董事長兼執行長 Dennis Mathew 也加入了我們的行列。財務長 Marc Sirota 將共同帶領您完成演示，然後回答有關我們結果的問題。

Today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements, please read the disclaimer on Slide 2. Dennis, please go ahead.

今天的演示可能包含前瞻性陳述，請閱讀幻燈片 2 上的免責聲明。丹尼斯，請繼續。

Thank you, Sarah. And a big congratulations to Nick. Kicking off on Slide 3. When I joined the company in October of last year, I committed that at Altice USA, we would act with discipline and focus to execute on our mission for Optimum to be the connectivity provider of choice across all the communities that we serve. And today, I'm pleased to share that we're continuing to make great progress in delivering on this strategy with sustainable operational and financial improvements across the business. We're seeing significant achievements across our care, support and broader service experience due to our investments in simplifying customer experiences and improving field operations. Our diligence in this space is leading to higher customer satisfaction metrics, including double-digit growth in NPS and impressive reductions in call volumes, service visits and overall rates. Our focus on creating better experiences for our customers has led to lower operating costs and has resulted in stronger net addition performance in the quarter compared to the prior year.

謝謝你，莎拉。衷心祝賀尼克。從幻燈片 3 開始。當我去年 10 月加入公司時，我承諾在 Altice USA，我們將遵守紀律並專注於執行我們的使命，讓 Optimum 成為所有社區的首選連接提供者。我們服務。今天，我很高興與大家分享，我們在實現這一策略方面繼續取得巨大進展，並在整個企業內實現了可持續的營運和財務改進。由於我們在簡化客戶體驗和改善現場營運方面的投資，我們在關懷、支援和更廣泛的服務體驗方面取得了重大成就。我們在這一領域的努力正在帶來更高的客戶滿意度指標，包括 NPS 兩位數的成長以及呼叫量、服務訪問量和整體費率的顯著減少。我們專注於為客戶創造更好的體驗，從而降低了營運成本，並導致本季的淨增量業績比前一年更強。

This quarter, we strengthened our product portfolio and offers to deliver greater value and experiences to our customers. Notably and earlier than planned in the quarter, we launched ultra fast 8 gig symmetrical fiber Internet to more than 1.7 million passings. Representing the widest availability of 8 gig speeds in the country. The milestone cements Optimum as the nation's largest 8-gig Internet provider and gives us a unique competitive advantage in the marketplace. Finally, we are seeing stabilization in our operating and financial metrics by delivering on better customer experiences and by executing with greater financial discipline. Our strategy to provide the best products, the best network, the best customer experiences and the best employee experiences through operational execution and financial discipline is leading to stronger trends across our residential and B2B businesses. Our work here is not done. But I am optimistic about the achievements in the quarter, which are leading indicators of a return to sustainable broadband and cash flow growth.

本季度，我們加強了產品組合，並致力於為客戶提供更大的價值和體驗。值得注意的是，我們比本季計劃提前推出了超高速 8 GB 對稱光纖互聯網，訪問量超過 170 萬。代表了該國最廣泛的 8 gig 速度。這一里程碑鞏固了 Optimum 作為全國最大的 800 萬網路供應商的地位，並為我們帶來了獨特的市場競爭優勢。最後，透過提供更好的客戶體驗和更嚴格的財務紀律，我們的營運和財務指標趨於穩定。我們透過營運執行和財務紀律提供最佳產品、最佳網路、最佳客戶體驗和最佳員工體驗的策略正在引領我們的住宅和 B2B 業務走向更強勁的趨勢。我們在這裡的工作還沒有完成。但我對本季的成就感到樂觀，這些成就是寬頻和現金流恢復可持續成長的領先指標。

Turning to Slide 4. I'd like to get into these trends in greater detail and revisit our 4 key strategic pillars. First, a moment on our people and our culture. Over the last several months, we've welcomed over 30 new leaders to complement our existing team. We've attracted high-performing executives with significant experience from across the U.S. telecom and cable industries to run finance, sales, product, care, operations and other critical positions at Optimum. Continuing to attract, retain and develop our talent remains a priority for us, so that we can be the best in class in everything that we do. We also recently introduced a new regional market structure that will allow us to be more nimble, responsive and act hyper locally across our footprint in ways that we have not done before. Positioning us to achieve growth and be the connectivity provider of choice in every community that we serve. With this new model, each of our 5 new areas now has an experienced and dedicated general manager who owns the regional P&L, drive sales, leaves competitive response and drives operations. That includes customer experience, employee experience and community engagement. This approach empowers our local teams and will accelerate our ability to deliver go-to-market strategies based on the unique characteristics of each market, recognizing the differences in our markets, while continuing to leverage the benefits of being part of a large national organization will be a competitive advantage for us going forward. I'm confident that we now have the right structure with the right people who bring experience, focus and commitment to our customers and employees.

轉向投影片 4。我想更詳細地了解這些趨勢，並重新審視我們的 4 個關鍵策略支柱。首先，介紹一下我們的人民和文化。在過去的幾個月裡，我們迎來了 30 多名新領導者來補充我們現有的團隊。我們吸引了來自美國電信和有線電視行業擁有豐富經驗的高績效高管在 Optimum 擔任財務、銷售、產品、護理、營運和其他關鍵職位。持續吸引、留住和發展我們的人才仍然是我們的首要任務，這樣我們才能在所做的一切事情上成為同類中最好的。我們最近也推出了新的區域市場結構，這將使我們能夠更加靈活、反應靈敏，並以前所未有的方式在我們的足跡中採取超本地化的行動。使我們能夠實現成長並成為我們所服務的每個社區的首選連接提供者。透過這種新模式，我們的 5 個新區域現在都擁有一位經驗豐富且敬業的總經理，他負責區域損益、推動銷售、留下競爭響應並推動營運。這包括客戶體驗、員工體驗和社區參與。這種方法增強了我們當地團隊的能力，並將加快我們根據每個市場的獨特特徵提供進入市場策略的能力，認識到我們市場的差異，同時繼續利用作為大型國家組織一部分的好處成為我們未來的競爭優勢。我相信，我們現在擁有正確的結構和合適的人員，他們為我們的客戶和員工帶來經驗、關注和承諾。

Turning to our growth pillar. As a reminder, in May, we entered the market with our converged Optimum Complete Internet plus mobile offer, demonstrating the power of our connectivity services inside and outside the home. We're pleased with the results and specifically with the attention, it is bringing to our mobile service as evidenced by our mobile attachment acceleration, we saw impressive early mobile attachment rates for new broadband customers more than doubling since the launch of Optimum Complete and have more room to grow. The Optimum Complete value proposition not only helps accelerate mobile growth, but it translates to better customer stickiness and greater customer lifetime value. We also deployed Optimum stream, our streaming video experience that provides access to our full Optimum TV service, including live TV, DVR, on-demand and more. Alongside any other streaming app available in the Google Play store. The CPE is lightweight and sleek and it gives customers more viewing options and doesn't require a coax connection, allowing for easier self-installation. And we just upgraded the remote to include 10-digit keys in addition to voice capabilities to blend the full experience of linear TV and streaming. Optimum stream creates a better video experience on fiber compared to our legacy boxes, which will help to accelerate fiber customer additions and migration. To that end, it is officially now our marquee video product, and is available to all fiber customers as their primary video solution. It is also available to new HFC customers in select markets and will be fully available across the majority of our markets by the end of this year. In addition, we are identifying opportunities to manage our customer relationships in a more thoughtful way through proactive retention programs and the enhancement of our pricing strategy. We are also exploring ways to deliver greater value with targeted rewards for loyal customers, including gifting speed tier increases. Our goal is to simplify our pricing structure to benefit our customers and top line performance, reinforce the value of our products and experiences and of course, to remain competitive. We will begin rolling out pricing, loyalty and proactive retention programs to select markets, later this year.

轉向我們的成長支柱。提醒一下，五月份，我們以融合的 Optimum Complete 互聯網加行動產品進入市場，展示了我們家庭內外連接服務的強大功能。我們對結果感到滿意，特別是關注，它為我們的行動服務帶來了影響，我們的行動連線加速證明了這一點，自推出Optimum Complete 以來，我們看到新寬頻客戶的早期行動連線率令人印象深刻，增加了一倍多，並且更多的成長空間。 Optimum Complete 價值主張不僅有助於加速行動成長，而且可以轉化為更好的客戶黏著度和更大的客戶終身價值。我們還部署了 Optimum Stream，這是我們的串流視訊體驗，可讓您存取我們完整的 Optimum TV 服務，包括直播電視、DVR、點播等。與 Google Play 商店中提供的任何其他串流應用程式一起使用。 CPE 重量輕且時尚，為客戶提供了更多查看選項，並且不需要同軸電纜連接，從而更容易自行安裝。我們剛剛升級了遙控器，除了語音功能外還包括 10 位數按鍵，以融合線性電視和串流媒體的完整體驗。與我們的傳統盒子相比，最佳串流在光纖上創造了更好的視訊體驗，這將有助於加速光纖客戶的增加和遷移。為此，它現在正式成為我們的招牌視訊產品，並可供所有光纖客戶作為其主要視訊解決方案。它還可供特定市場的新 HFC 客戶使用，並將於今年年底在我們的大多數市場全面推出。此外，我們正在尋找機會，透過積極的保留計劃和增強我們的定價策略，以更周到的方式管理我們的客戶關係。我們也正在探索透過有針對性的獎勵為忠實客戶提供更大價值的方法，包括贈送速度等級提升。我們的目標是簡化我們的定價結構，以使我們的客戶和頂級績效受益，增強我們產品和體驗的價值，當然，也要保持競爭力。我們將於今年稍後開始向特定市場推出定價、忠誠度和主動保留計劃。

Shifting gears to B2B. This is an exciting area of opportunity for us. We are renewing our strategy around B2B with an experienced new leadership team as of June, which brings a regimented focus on growing our B2B business through expanding our product portfolio, refining our go-to-market strategy, improving conversion rates through better onboarding and converting business customers to fiber utilization in a more meaningful way. At the end of June, this team was already making progress in expanding our product portfolio, having enabled single-line business hosted voice connections, versus requiring multiple lines, which resulted in an immediate take rate. In addition, we continue to scale our fiber voice capabilities to offer multiline services to customers of all sizes. We are actively working on expanding the availability of voice solutions to B2B customers across the West, and we'll launch a Business Services Optimum Complete bundle later this year, bringing the best value proposition of mobile and broadband services to our business customers. Other areas of opportunity within B2B include the growth we are seeing in fiber circuit sales to Tier 1 and Tier 2 wireless carriers, reinforcing our superior network quality, as a trusted partner to some of the nation's largest wireless carriers. We also saw solid win rates on E-rate bids for the upcoming school year, providing integral connectivity services for local K-12 education segment.

轉向 B2B。這對我們來說是一個令人興奮的機會領域。自6 月起，我們將透過一支經驗豐富的新領導團隊來更新我們的B2B 策略，透過擴大我們的產品組合、完善我們的進入市場策略、透過更好的入職和轉換來提高轉換率，我們將重點放在發展我們的B2B 業務。企業客戶能夠以更有意義的方式利用光纖。六月底，團隊在擴展我們的產品組合方面已經取得了進展，實現了單線業務託管語音連接，而不是需要多條線路，從而立即獲得了採用率。此外，我們持續擴展光纖語音功能，為各種規模的客戶提供多線路服務。我們正在積極致力於向整個西方的 B2B 客戶擴展語音解決方案的可用性，我們將在今年稍後推出 Business Services Optimum Complete 捆綁包，為我們的企業客戶帶來行動和寬頻服務的最佳價值主張。 B2B 中的其他機會領域包括我們看到的向一級和二級無線營運商的光纖電路銷售的成長，這增強了我們作為美國一些最大的無線營運商值得信賴的合作夥伴的卓越網路品質。我們也看到了即將到來的學年電子費率投標的穩定中標率，為當地 K-12 教育領域提供整體連接服務。

Moving to the third pillar, our network. As I mentioned in the quarter, we launched 8 gig symmetrical fiber service available to more than 1.7 million passings, which strengthens our competitive advantage in our fiber markets. Our ability to launch 8 gig symmetrical speeds is because Optimum fiber is deployed using state-of-the-art XGS-PON technology, which enables multi-gigabit speeds. XGS-PON technology is superior to the legacy GPON or older standards used by many other fiber providers today. And from our experience, it would likely require significant capital investment to upgrade to a new network infrastructure that could match our network speeds and performance. In Optimum West, we continue to upgrade the remaining network to DOCSIS 3.1. To bring faster speeds and enable more bandwidth, we upgraded an additional 70,000 passings in Q2. Our teams are also actively innovating and we see a path to deliver multi-gig speeds over DOCSIS 3.1. Using mid split architecture. I'm pleased to share that we successfully tested in our labs up to 2 gigabit download speeds and 200 megabit upload speeds over DOCSIS 3.1. And we'll keep pressing to deliver the best speeds at a great value. Thanks to both our DOCSIS and fiber upgrades, we offer 1 gig speeds in almost 95% of our entire footprint and we boosted our fiber capabilities to multi-gig, all of which gives us tremendous runway to bring customers to faster speeds as broadband usage continues to grow.

轉向第三個支柱，我們的網路。正如我在本季度提到的，我們推出了 8 GB 對稱光纖服務，可供超過 170 萬次通過，這增強了我們在光纖市場的競爭優勢。我們能夠推出 8 GB 對稱速度是因為 Optimum 光纖是使用最先進的 XGS-PON 技術部署的，可實現多千兆速度。 XGS-PON 技術優於當今許多其他光纖供應商使用的傳統 GPON 或舊標準。根據我們的經驗，可能需要大量資本投資才能升級到與我們的網路速度和效能相符的新網路基礎設施。在Optimum West，我們繼續將剩餘網路升級到DOCSIS 3.1。為了帶來更快的速度並提供更多頻寬，我們在第二季額外升級了 70,000 個通道。我們的團隊也在積極創新，我們看到了一條透過 DOCSIS 3.1 提供多千兆速度的途徑。採用中分體架構。我很高興與大家分享，我們在實驗室中成功測試了 DOCSIS 3.1 高達 2 GB 的下載速度和 200 MB 的上傳速度。我們將繼續努力以物超所值的方式提供最佳速度。由於我們的DOCSIS 和光纖升級，我們在整個佔地面積的近95% 中提供了1 GB 速度，並且我們將光纖能力提升到了多GB，所有這些都為我們提供了巨大的跑道，隨著寬頻使用的持續，為客戶帶來更快的速度成長。

Finally, due to all our investments, our broadband services are delivered with 99.9% reliability, which is what we know matters most to our customers. This leads to our fourth pillar, customer experience, which is a priority across every single team at the company. We're finally getting better at bringing digital to the forefront of customer experience. For example, we enabled text message communication for things like appointment confirmations, outages or when payments are due. Simple tools like this have helped drive a decline in the number of inbound calls, which has a direct correlation on cost control. Earlier this year, I committed that we were planning to launch a new customer app as part of the CX and care journey. I'm pleased that last week, we began to roll out this new -- my Optimum app, which offers an enhanced digital service app for Optimum customers to manage their in-home WiFi experience, troubleshoot issues using intelligent systems and make payments and manage their bill, all in one place. Our progress here is significant from improving our onboarding experience to providing tools to help our customers better understand and access our services to offering simplified experiences to meet customer needs. These programs are having a direct impact on our customer experience metrics, which translate into lower cost to serve the customer.

最後，由於我們的所有投資，我們的寬頻服務具有 99.9% 的可靠性，這是我們知道對客戶最重要的一點。這引出了我們的第四個支柱，即客戶體驗，這是公司每個團隊的首要任務。我們終於更好地將數位化帶入客戶體驗的最前線。例如，我們在預約確認、中斷或付款到期時啟用簡訊通訊。像這樣的簡單工具有助於減少呼入電話數量，這與成本控制直接相關。今年早些時候，我承諾我們計劃推出一款新的客戶應用程序，作為客戶體驗和關懷之旅的一部分。我很高興上週我們開始推出這個新的——我的 Optimum 應用程序，它為 Optimum 客戶提供增強的數位服務應用程序，以管理他們的家庭 WiFi 體驗、使用智能係統解決問題以及進行支付和管理他們的帳單都集中在一處。從改善我們的入職體驗到提供工具來幫助我們的客戶更好地理解和存取我們的服務，再到提供簡化的體驗來滿足客戶的需求，我們在這方面取得了重大進展。這些計劃對我們的客戶體驗指標產生直接影響，從而降低服務客戶的成本。

Let's now turn to Slide 5. Mark and I frequently get asked what KPIs we track that give us the optimism that we are successfully executing our strategy and heading toward a return to growth. On this slide, you can see a few of these customer experience metrics. And Mark will later review some financial KPIs, all of which we would expect to turn in the right direction before we get back to customer and financial growth. First, on NPS. Our tNPS, or transactional Net Promoter Score is up 19 points year-over-year in Q2, tNPS measures a customer's willingness to recommend our services across care, field, retail and sales. We've seen increases across a wide range of NPS scores including for our service visits, onboarding experience and fiber services with double-digit point increases in each of these categories. These NPS improvements once again signaled that our dedication to improving and simplifying the customer experience is resonating and making an impact on how our customers feel about Optimum. Another important highlight is how we are easing the onboarding experience with the wider adoption of self-installation and the impact it's having on our business. Self-installation minimizes both cost and time for Optimum customers. And our teams have enhanced our self-install process to make it even clearer, faster and simpler for a customer to connect to our services. We have had great success in accelerating the pace of self-installations, which has grown 49% in Q2 year-over-year, from 22% of qualified gross additions in Q2 of last year, up to 34% and in Q2 this year. This has been a tremendous cross-functional effort with our sales care and field teams partnering to give our customers new and simple solutions at every single touch point. Customers choosing a self-installation over a professional install yields many benefits. Customers enjoy that it is fast, easy and doesn't require an at-home appointment. And for our business, it translates into fewer installation truck rolls. Self-install remains a huge opportunity for us, and we will be leaning into it more in the second half of this year.

現在讓我們轉向幻燈片 5。馬克和我經常被問到我們追蹤的 KPI 是什麼，這些 KPI 讓我們樂觀地認為我們正在成功執行我們的策略並走向恢復成長。在此投影片上，您可以看到其中一些客戶體驗指標。馬克稍後將審查一些財務關鍵績效指標，在我們回到客戶和財務成長之前，我們預計所有這些指標都會轉向正確的方向。首先，關於NPS。我們的 tNPS（即交易淨推薦值）在第二季度同比上升了 19 個百分點，tNPS 衡量的是客戶在護理、現場、零售和銷售方面推薦我們服務的意願。我們看到各種 NPS 分數都有所提高，包括我們的服務存取、入職體驗和光纖服務，每個類別都有兩位數的分數成長。這些 NPS 改進再次表明，我們致力於改善和簡化客戶體驗的努力正在引起共鳴，並影響了客戶對 Optimum 的感受。另一個重要的亮點是我們如何透過更廣泛地採用自助安裝來簡化入職體驗及其對我們業務的影響。自行安裝可以最大限度地減少 Optimum 客戶的成本和時間。我們的團隊增強了自助安裝流程，使客戶能夠更清晰、更快、更簡單地連接到我們的服務。我們在加快自主安裝速度方面取得了巨大成功，第二季年增了 49%，從去年第二季合格總增量的 22% 上升到今年第二季的 34%。這是一項巨大的跨職能工作，我們的銷售服務和現場團隊合作，在每個接觸點為我們的客戶提供新的、簡單的解決方案。客戶選擇自行安裝而不是專業安裝可以帶來許多好處。客戶喜歡它快速、簡單且不需要在家預約。對於我們的業務來說，這意味著更少的安裝上門服務。自行安裝對我們來說仍然是一個巨大的機會，我們將在今年下半年更加傾向於它。

Moving to truck roll and service visit trends, higher self-installation adoption is just one piece of our lower overall truck rolls. Combined with improved network and product quality and simplified, effective troubleshooting tools both on the customer side and in our field operations. We've seen 300,000 fewer truck rolls over the last 12 months, supported by a 10% decline in the rate at which a customer acquires a service visit annually. In addition to fewer service visit truck rolls, we are lowering the frequency at which we need to perform network maintenance truck rolls, both through better network quality and improving tools around network repair. Earlier this year, we launched a new tool for proactive network management, which enables us to identify and resolve network issues faster. Traditionally, a ride out is required to find issues such as damaged cables, taps or other equipment. But with the launch of this new advanced tool, our team can now pinpoint the exact location of impaired network, resulting in faster detection lower time to repair, better network experience for our customers and lower OpEx related to fewer truck rolls to physically identify network impairments. Lower overall truck roll volumes and improved service visit rates reflect a huge opportunity for us to continue reducing costs, while delivering a superior service experience. On the same note, we saw 900,000 less inbound calls into our call centers in the last 12 months, thanks to our self-service features, proactive communications and ongoing experience improvements. We see the annual rate at which customers contact us for account questions or technical troubleshooting also continued to decline, improving 7% in Q2 year-over-year. First time right is our motto. When we consider the customer experience and we are laser-focused on getting it right the first time on everything from installations and onboarding to addressing any customer needs. And when we do get a technical or customer care call, we want to ensure that we give each customer thoughtful, tailored and specific solutions that has also solved the very first time around. This attention to customer experience is beginning to improve voluntary churn. Year-over-year voluntary churn in Q2 was relatively flat, despite the incremental competition we have seen over the last 12 months, proving that easing customer pain points and focusing on total customer experience gives us one way to continue to see improvements in voluntary churn trends. Overall, these KPIs are early indicators, which support that we are making progress on our strategy, and we will continue to press hard on these areas to deliver the best customer experience, while structurally reducing operating costs and improving trends.

轉向上門服務和服務訪問趨勢，較高的自助安裝採用率只是我們整體上門服務較低的一部分。結合改進的網路和產品品質以及簡化、有效的故障排除工具，無論是在客戶方面還是在我們的現場操作中。在過去 12 個月裡，我們的上門服務量減少了 30 萬次，這得益於客戶每年獲得服務訪問的比率下降了 10%。除了減少服務上門服務外，我們還透過提高網路品質和改進網路維修工具來降低執行網路維護上門服務的頻率。今年早些時候，我們推出了一款用於主動網路管理的新工具，使我們能夠更快地識別和解決網路問題。傳統上，需要出動才能發現損壞的電纜、水龍頭或其他設備等問題。但隨著這項新的高級工具的推出，我們的團隊現在可以找出受損網路的確切位置，從而實現更快的檢測、縮短修復時間、為我們的客戶提供更好的網路體驗，並降低與實體識別網路受損的上門服務相關的營運成本。整體上門服務量的降低和服務訪問率的提高，為我們提供了繼續降低成本、同時提供卓越服務體驗的巨大機會。同樣，由於我們的自助服務功能、主動溝通和持續的體驗改進，過去 12 個月內我們呼叫中心的呼入電話減少了 90 萬個。我們發現客戶聯絡我們解決帳戶問題或技術故障排除的年率也持續下降，第二季年增了 7%。第一次就成功是我們的座右銘。當我們考慮客戶體驗時，我們會專注於在從安裝和入職到滿足任何客戶需求的所有方面一次就把事情做好。當我們接到技術或客戶服務電話時，我們希望確保為每位客戶提供周到、量身定制和具體的解決方案，而這些解決方案也在第一時間解決了問題。這種對客戶體驗的關注開始改善自願流失。儘管我們在過去12 個月中看到了競爭的加劇，但第二季度的自願流失率同比相對持平，這證明緩解客戶痛點並關注整體客戶體驗為我們提供了一種繼續看到自願流失率改善的方法趨勢。總體而言，這些 KPI 是早期指標，支援我們在策略上取得進展，我們將繼續在這些領域努力提供最佳的客戶體驗，同時從結構上降低營運成本並改善趨勢。

Finally, before turning it over to Mark to review our quarterly business and financial performance, I want to take a moment to address the news you may have seen coming out of Portugal. Last month, the Portuguese authorities identified that Altice Portugal was allegedly defrauded as a result of harmful practices and misconduct of certain individuals and external entities. And that the company was cooperating with the authorities. In response to these circumstances in Portugal, we have made the immediate and prudent decision to launch our own internal investigation at Altice USA. I was appointed Chairman of the Board in addition to my responsibilities as CEO. And we placed our Head of Procurement on leave. Since the commencement of the investigation, we have subsequently separated him and hired a new Chief Procurement Officer. Jennifer Yohe, a 25-year veteran in the U.S. cable procurement industry. Additionally, we're currently reviewing our supplier and vendor relationships and proactively pausing some capital spend until we have completed our investigation, which will impact our fiber construction targets in the short term. In parallel, we are both onboarding new and scaling existing vendors where needed to support our go-forward strategies and operations. We are currently reviewing our full year fiber passings and CapEx targets and using this as an opportunity to ramp up our sales and marketing machine to drive more customers and penetration on this network. Especially given the strong performance metrics, we continue to see from our existing fiber customers.

最後，在交給馬克審查我們的季度業務和財務業績之前，我想花點時間談談您可能已經看到的來自葡萄牙的新聞。上個月，葡萄牙當局認定 AlticePortugal 涉嫌因某些個人和外部實體的有害做法和不當行為而受到詐欺。該公司正在與當局合作。針對葡萄牙的這些情況，我們立即做出了審慎的決定，對 Altice USA 展開內部調查。除了擔任執行長的職責外，我還被任命為董事會主席。我們讓採購主管休假。自調查開始以來，我們隨後解雇了他並聘請了一位新的首席採購官。 Jennifer Yohe，在美國電纜採購行業擁有 25 年經驗的資深人士。此外，我們目前正在審查我們的供應商和供應商關係，並主動暫停一些資本支出，直到我們完成調查，這將在短期內影響我們的光纖建設目標。同時，我們正在根據需要招募新供應商並擴展現有供應商，以支援我們的前進策略和營運。我們目前正在審查全年光纖傳輸量和資本支出目標，並以此為契機加強我們的銷售和行銷機制，以吸引更多客戶並提高該網路的滲透率。特別是考慮到強勁的性能指標，我們繼續從現有的光纖客戶那裡看到。

In summary, we are committed to conducting our business with the highest integrity, and we'll continue to move forward operating with the best interest of our stockholders, customers and employees at the forefront. We appreciate your understanding that we do not have any additional information to share at this time. And of course, if there is anything material to share in the future, we will do so. And now I'll turn it over to Marc.

總而言之，我們致力於以最高的誠信度開展業務，並將繼續以股東、客戶和員工的最佳利益為重，繼續推動經營。感謝您的理解，我們目前沒有其他資訊可以分享。當然，如果將來有任何材料可以分享，我們會這樣做。現在我將把它交給馬克。

Thank you, Dennis. Turning to Slide 7. I'd like to begin with some key highlights demonstrating our commitment to financial and operational discipline and how that is reflected in our Q2 performance. First, we have stabilized broadband losses. And for the first time in 5 quarters, we've improved broadband net adds versus the prior year, a promising indicator of our go-forward customer expectations. Moving on to ARPU. We have continued our path of stabilizing ARPU declines, and I'm excited to highlight that we've sequentially grown residential ARPU in Q2 through disciplined acquisition pricing, broadband speed up tiering and retention segmentation. Our operating costs have come down in Q2, declining sequentially from Q1 and from the peak of our recent OpEx spend in Q4 of 2022. These lower operating costs contributed to improved margin trends, which will come back to momentarily. In addition to OpEx moderation, we brought down capital spend in Q2, stepping down CapEx sequentially versus first quarter by 19%. And last, I want to highlight that we are well positioned in our debt maturity schedule. Following the amend and extend transaction that we did at the end of last year to extend about half of our '25 and '26 term loans out to '28. We raised a new $1 billion senior guaranteed note April 2023. We use the proceeds to repay outstanding borrowings drawn under the revolving credit facility. We ended Q2 with over $1.8 billion in liquidity through a combination of undrawn RCF and ending cash balance, which positions us well to address near-term maturities. As always, we will continue to be opportunistic and proactive in managing our debt maturity profile.

謝謝你，丹尼斯。轉向投影片 7。我想先介紹一些關鍵亮點，展示我們對財務和營運紀律的承諾以及如何在我們第二季的業績中體現這一承諾。首先，我們穩定了寬頻損耗。與前一年相比，我們五個季度以來首次提高了寬頻淨增加量，這是我們未來客戶期望的一個有希望的指標。接下來是 ARPU。我們繼續穩定 ARPU 下降的道路，我很高興地強調，我們透過嚴格的收購定價、寬頻加速分層和保留細分，在第二季度連續成長了住宅 ARPU。我們的營運成本在第二季度有所下降，比第一季和 2022 年第四季營運支出的峰值連續下降。這些較低的營運成本有助於改善利潤率趨勢，這一趨勢將暫時恢復。除了營運支出放緩之外，我們還減少了第二季的資本支出，資本支出比第一季連續下降了 19%。最後，我想強調的是，我們在債務到期時間表上處於有利位置。繼去年年底我們進行了修改和延期交易後，我們將大約一半的“25”和“26”定期貸款延長至“28”。我們於 2023 年 4 月籌集了新的 10 億美元優先擔保票據。我們用所得款項來償還根據循環信貸安排提取的未償借款。透過未提取的 RCF 和期末現金餘額，我們在第二季結束時擁有超過 18 億美元的流動性，這使我們能夠很好地解決近期到期問題。一如既往，我們將繼續抓住機會、積極主動地管理我們的債務到期狀況。

Turning to Slide 8. Let's go deeper on quarterly customer trends. As I said earlier, for the first time in 5 quarters, we came in stronger in Q2 compared to the prior year. With net losses of $37,000 compared to $39,000 in Q2 of 2022, an improvement of approximately 3,000 net adds year-over-year. Recall, we typically have a seasonally low point in net additions during the second quarter due to the impact of disconnects in our university footprint, primarily in Optimum West. Still a lot more work to do, but it's a first sign that our Optimum strategy of Dennis review is taking hold. Furthermore, we continue to be impacted by the small housing market and a low move environment. Plus, we have ongoing pressure from both fixed wireless and competitive fiber operators. Despite these headwinds, we do see improved trends in parts of our footprint where we're competing through our fiber network upgrades and improved go-to-market strategies. While much of the macroeconomic industry and competitive trends are out of our control, we remain focused on how we can drive continued improved performance. As an example of this, recall last quarter, we highlighted nonpay trends worsening year-over-year due to macro pressures. In Q2, we reduced those year-over-year declines by nearly 80%. Which we attribute to partly to new programs to proactively notify customers when their bills are due as well as programs who care for the individual needs of our customers. As a result, we saw a significant reduction in customers, who went into collections compared to Q2 last year. Another example of ways that we are enhancing our customer communication and overall experience, leading to improved customer trends.

轉向投影片 8。讓我們更深入地了解季度客戶趨勢。正如我之前所說，與去年相比，我們第二季度的表現在 5 個季度中首次表現強勁。淨虧損為 37,000 美元，而 2022 年第二季為 39,000 美元，年比淨增加約 3,000 人。回想一下，由於我們的大學足跡（主要是在 Optimum West）脫節的影響，我們第二季的淨增數通常會出現季節性低點。還有很多工作要做，但這是我們的丹尼斯審查最佳策略正在紮根的第一個跡象。此外，我們繼續受到小型住房市場和低流動環境的影響。此外，我們還面臨來自固定無線營運商和競爭性光纖營運商的持續壓力。儘管存在這些不利因素，但我們確實看到我們透過光纖網路升級和改進的上市策略進行競爭的部分業務的趨勢有所改善。儘管許多宏觀經濟產業和競爭趨勢超出了我們的控制範圍，但我們仍然專注於如何推動績效持續改善。舉個例子，回顧上個季度，我們強調由於宏觀壓力，非薪資趨勢逐年惡化。第二季度，我們將年減幅減少了近 80%。我們將其部分歸功於新計劃，以在帳單到期時主動通知客戶，以及關心客戶個人需求的計劃。因此，與去年第二季相比，我們發現前來取貨的客戶大幅減少。我們加強客戶溝通和整體體驗、從而改善客戶趨勢的另一個例子。

In addition, we are directly addressing competition by strengthening our marketing and advertising to highlight our network, speed, experience and product superiority ensuring customers know that the quality and value of Optimum is unmatched by new entrants. On the right side, as I mentioned earlier, we are seeing acceleration in Optimum Mobile growth. Adding 16,000 lines in Q2 or plus 35,000 when adjusting to include only paying subscribers. Recall last year, we ran a promotion for free 1 gigabyte mobile data plans for 12 months and expect to begin to close the gap between reported and adjusted mobile lines by next quarter as the majority of the legacy free mobile customers migrate off the free plan. Our positive trends in Optimum Mobile are supported by our Optimum Complete offer, as well as better sales training and incentives to help our employees promote and sell Optimum Mobile through our existing distribution channels. Finally, in light of our converged strategy with Optimum Complete, I'd like to note that we have updated our disclosures around residential revenue and ARPU. Mobile service revenue is now reported in residential and business service revenue lines and mobile equipment revenue sits in other. We have restated revenue and ARPU through 2021 to align with this reporting. This updated disclosure highlights our focus on driving improved average revenue per account, across all of our connectivity solutions.

此外，我們還透過加強行銷和廣告來直接應對競爭，以突顯我們的網路、速度、經驗和產品優勢，確保客戶知道 Optimum 的品質和價值是新進者無法比擬的。在右側，正如我之前提到的，我們看到 Optimum Mobile 成長加速。第二季增加 16,000 條線路，或在調整為僅包含付費訂戶時增加 35,000 條線路。回想一下，去年，我們開展了為期12 個月的免費1 GB 行動數據套餐促銷活動，預計到下個季度，隨著大多數傳統免費行動客戶不再使用免費套餐，我們將開始縮小報告和調整後的移動線路之間的差距。我們在 Optimum Mobile 方面的積極趨勢得到了 Optimum Complete 產品以及更好的銷售培訓和激勵措施的支持，以幫助我們的員工透過我們現有的分銷管道推廣和銷售 Optimum Mobile。最後，根據我們與 Optimum Complete 的整合策略，我想指出的是，我們更新了有關住宅收入和 ARPU 的揭露。行動服務收入現在在住宅和商業服務收入項目中報告，而行動裝置收入則在其他收入項目中報告。我們重述了 2021 年的收入和 ARPU，以與本報告保持一致。此次更新的揭露凸顯了我們致力於提高所有連線解決方案中每個帳戶的平均收入。

Moving to Slide 9, we'll review our fiber progress. We added an additional 287,000 fiber passings in the quarter, which brings us to more than 500,000 new fiber passings year-to-date, ending Q2 with just under 2.7 million fiber passings. We continue to accelerate the pace of new fiber customer additions, adding 40,000 new fiber customers through growth additions and voluntary migrations of existing customers. We ended Q2 at 250,000 fiber customers, and we continue to see performance and satisfaction benefits out of this cohort. First, our broadband product NPS continues trending higher on fiber versus HFC, which reflects our improved customer trends in fiber markets. Second, monthly broadband revenue per customer for new customers taking our fiber product remains consistently higher compared to new HFC customers. And last, we are seeing over a 10% point differential of better survivability after the first 12 months on fiber versus HFC, which indicates a significant churn reduction opportunity. On usage, we continue to see customers taking and wanting faster speeds. Today, our broadband-only customers average over 600 gigabytes of data uses per month, and this continues to trend up. Our fiber plan has the capacity to handle well beyond this level of data usage and can now deliver up to 8 gig symmetrical speeds in the majority of our fiber footprint.

轉到投影片 9，我們將回顧我們的纖維進度。我們在本季額外增加了 287,000 個光纖通道，這使我們今年迄今新增了超過 50 萬個光纖通道，第二季結束時間纖通道數量略低於 270 萬個。我們持續加速新增光纖客戶的步伐，透過現有客戶的成長新增和自願遷移，新增光纖客戶4萬家。第二季末，我們擁有 25 萬名光纖客戶，並且我們繼續看到該群體的性能和滿意度優勢。首先，與 HFC 相比，我們的光纖寬頻產品 NPS 持續走高，這反映了我們在光纖市場中客戶趨勢的改善。其次，與新的 HFC 客戶相比，使用我們光纖產品的新客戶的每位客戶每月寬頻收入始終較高。最後，我們發現光纖在前 12 個月後的生存能力與 HFC 相比有超過 10% 的差異，這表明有顯著的減少客戶流失的機會。在使用方面，我們不斷看到客戶採用並希望更快的速度。如今，我們的純寬頻客戶平均每月數據使用量超過 600 GB，而且這一數字還在持續上升。我們的光纖計劃能夠處理遠遠超出此水平的數據使用量，現在可以在我們的大部分光纖足跡中提供高達 8 GB 的對稱速度。

Looking ahead, as Dennis mentioned, our focus today with respect to our fiber program is to ramp up sales and marketing to more customers onto the new fiber network, as we temporarily pause some capital spend. Our fiber builds to date are focused on the East -- Optimum East footprint with about 46% of the East upgraded to the most advanced fiber technology. We have just under 10% penetration of our 2.7 million fiber passings today, with the backdrop of financial and customer experience benefits on fiber, strong NPS scores, improved churn rates and superior network quality, it makes sense for us to use this as an opportunity to drive more ORI, while strengthening our customer metrics going forward. We know our technology and experience is better than any other service whether it's fixed wireless or legacy fiber company. Our goal is to reinforce our market leadership as the best network to attract the best customer relationships to Optimum.

展望未來，正如丹尼斯所提到的，我們今天的光纖計劃重點是在新光纖網路上向更多客戶增加銷售和行銷，因為我們暫時暫停了一些資本支出。迄今為止，我們的光纖建設主要集中在東部——最佳東部足跡，約 46% 的東部地區升級到了最先進的光纖技術。如今，我們的270 萬個光纖通道的滲透率略低於10%，在光纖帶來的財務和客戶體驗優勢、強大的NPS 分數、改善的客戶流失率和卓越的網路品質的背景下，我們將此作為一個機會是有意義的推動更多 ORI，同時加強我們未來的客戶指標。我們知道我們的技術和經驗比任何其他服務都要好，無論是固定無線公司還是傳統光纖公司。我們的目標是鞏固我們作為最佳網路的市場領導地位，以吸引最佳客戶關係到 Optimum。

Turning to Slide 10 on revenue and expenses. In Q2, total revenues declined 5.6% year-over-year driven by declines in our residential and news and advertising businesses. Residential revenue was down 5.7% year-over-year, mainly driven by the impact of cumulative video and broadband subscriber losses, we've seen over the last year. Business Services revenues declined 1.9% year-over-year, driven by SMB and other segments declining 2% and LightPath down 1.4%. Although excluding onetime Sprint early termination revenue in the prior period, LightPath would have grown 1.1% and total Business Services would have been down 1.3%. Within other, news and advertising revenues declined 14.8% year-over-year in Q2 or down 8.4%, excluding political revenue. We continue to see macro slowdown in advertising spend could see underlying growth in our direct channels. The quarterly trend on the right-hand side shows revenue stepping up sequentially, representing sequential ARPU growth through disciplined pricing and up-tiering, as well as promotional roll-offs weighted towards Q2. Programming rates continue to increase with more of a step-up in Q1 as usual, but overall programming costs continue to come down due to video customer loss. We continue to also see stabilized operating expenses, excluding share-based compensation, which have declined by $14 million in Q2 sequentially from Q1. Which is $40 million lower or 6% lower than the recent peak in OpEx in Q4 of 2022. The recent improved OpEx trends are a direct result of the improved operational metrics that Dennis highlighted earlier. Fewer trucks, lower call volumes, more self-install along with many other improvements across our operations that structurally reduce operating costs, while enhancing our customer experience.

轉向關於收入和支出的幻燈片 10。第二季度，由於住宅、新聞和廣告業務下降，總收入較去年同期下降 5.6%。住宅收入較去年同期下降 5.7%，主要是受到去年影片和寬頻用戶累積流失的影響。商業服務收入年減 1.9%，其中 SMB 和其他細分市場下降 2%，LightPath 下降 1.4%。儘管不包括上一時期 Sprint 提前終止的收入，LightPath 仍將成長 1.1%，而商業服務總額將下降 1.3%。其中，第二季新聞和廣告收入較去年同期下降 14.8%，若不包括政治收入，則下降 8.4%。我們繼續看到廣告支出的宏觀放緩可能會導致我們的直接管道出現潛在成長。右邊的季度趨勢顯示收入連續上升，代表透過嚴格的定價和升級以及針對第二季度的促銷滾降而實現的連續 ARPU 成長。節目率持續上升，第一季的增幅與往常一樣，但由於視訊客戶流失，整體節目成本繼續下降。我們也繼續看到營運費用穩定，不包括以股票為基礎的薪酬，第二季較第一季連續下降了 1,400 萬美元。這比 2022 年第四季營運支出的近期高峰低了 4,000 萬美元，即低 6%。最近營運支出趨勢的改善是 Dennis 先前強調的營運指標改善的直接結果。更少的卡車、更低的呼叫量、更多的自助安裝以及我們營運中的許多其他改進，從結構上降低了營運成本，同時增強了我們的客戶體驗。

This leads us to Slide 11 on margin trends. In Q2, we saw 180 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion compared to the prior quarter, which is the first quarter of sequential margin expansion in 8 quarters. In Q2, adjusted EBITDA margin was 39.7%, reflecting our disciplined approach to operating expenses and a balance of rate and volume on the revenue side. Operating free cash flow margins increased 690 basis points sequentially to 19.3%, reflecting the moderation in our CapEx spend quarter-over-quarter.

這讓我們看到關於利潤趨勢的幻燈片 11。第二季度，我們看到 EBITDA 利潤率較上一季成長了 180 個基點，這是 8 個季度中利潤率連續成長的第一個季度。第二季度，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 39.7%，反映了我們對營運費用的嚴格控制以及收入方面的比率和數量的平衡。營運自由現金流利潤率較上季成長 690 個基點，達到 19.3%，反映出我們的資本支出較上季放緩。

This brings me to Slide 12 on capital. Q2 capital spend was $473 million, representing capital intensity of over just 20%. Excluding FTTH and new build CapEx, capital intensity would have been 11.4%. Capital spend stepped down $110 million or 19% sequentially in Q2 versus Q1. We remain focused in Q2 on capital investments and growth opportunities in areas where we are reinvesting back into the business. In Q2, we've added 287,000 fiber passings 66,000 new building passings and upgraded 70,000 passings to DOCSIS 3.1. As Dennis noted earlier, you should expect to see a lower level of capital spend and fiber passings completed in the second half and we may come in below our prior CapEx guidance for the full year.

這讓我想到關於資本的幻燈片 12。第二季資本支出為 4.73 億美元，資本密集度僅超過 20%。不包括 FTTH 和新建資本支出，資本密集度將為 11.4%。第二季的資本支出比第一季減少了 1.1 億美元，成長 19%。第二季度，我們仍將重點放在我們重新投資業務領域的資本投資和成長機會。第二季度，我們新增了 287,000 個光纖通道、66,000 個新建築通道，並將 70,000 個通道升級到 DOCSIS 3.1。正如丹尼斯之前指出的那樣，您應該預計下半年的資本支出和光纖傳輸水平會降低，我們可能會低於之前的全年資本支出指導。

And last, Slide 13 is a bridge of our free cash flow. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $35 million, due principally to higher capital spend in the quarter associated with the fiber build and higher cash taxes due to the timing of payments in the second quarter. Without the additional $152 million of capital on our fiber project in Q2, free cash flow would have been a positive $118 million. We continue to expect improved free cash flow in the back half of the year and to be positive for the full year as CapEx continues to step down. In summary, in Q2, we have continued to deliver on many of the commitments, we set out over the last few quarters and remain steadfast on getting back to sustainable customer revenue EBITDA and cash flow growth that will return us to our target leverage levels. And with that, thank you all for your time. We will now take questions and ask that they focus on our business performance. Operator?

最後，幻燈片 13 是我們自由現金流的橋樑。該季度的自由現金流為負 3500 萬美元，主要是由於該季度與光纖建設相關的資本支出增加以及由於第二季度付款時間而導致的現金稅增加。如果沒有第二季我們的光纖專案額外的 1.52 億美元資本，自由現金流將達到 1.18 億美元。我們繼續預計今年下半年自由現金流將有所改善，並且隨著資本支出繼續下降，全年將呈現正值。總而言之，在第二季度，我們繼續履行過去幾季所做的許多承諾，並堅定不移地恢復可持續的客戶收入 EBITDA 和現金流成長，這將使我們回到目標槓桿水平。在此，感謝大家抽出寶貴的時間。我們現在將接受提問並要求他們專注於我們的業務績效。操作員？

We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

我們現在將進行問答環節。 （操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼。

I'll start off here with CapEx. I appreciate you may not have full visibility into how long you're going to be in this reevaluation phase. But, if you can give us any insight as to how much lower capital intensity is going to be while you're going through it, just so we can kind of think through what we're comfortable modeling out for the rest of the year? And then, just is this pause really predominantly about assessing the integrity of the procurement funnel? Or are you actually may be doing a more holistic reassessment of the scope of the fiber upgrade project?

我將從資本來源開始。我很高興您可能無法完全了解自己將處於這個重新評估階段多久。但是，如果您能給我們任何關於在您經歷這一過程時資本密集度會降低多少的見解，以便我們可以思考一下我們在今年剩餘時間裡可以輕鬆構建的模型嗎？那麼，這種暫停真的主要是為了評估採購管道的完整性嗎？或者您實際上可能正在對光纖升級專案的範圍進行更全面的重新評估？

Brett, this is Dennis. I'll comment on the second part of your question, and I'll let Mark talk about the CapEx trajectory here. But as I mentioned, when we learned about the investigation through the media that the Portuguese authorities had begun. We began our own investigation as well, and we're going to conduct a thorough investigation of a number of our vendors, and that includes some of the vendors who are supporting us from a fiber perspective. And so, we feel it's very prudent for us to take a moment and pause as we look at, as we conduct this investigation. And we will continue to drive our fiber strategy and growth strategies, as we continue to learn more. And as we proceed here. But Mark can provide a little bit of guidance on what we're expecting on the CapEx and fiber side.

布雷特，這是丹尼斯。我將評論你問題的第二部分，我將讓馬克在這裡談論資本支出軌跡。但正如我所提到的，當我們透過媒體得知葡萄牙當局已經開始調查時。我們也開始了自己的調查，我們將對一些供應商進行徹底的調查，其中包括一些從光纖角度支持我們的供應商。因此，我們認為在進行這項調查時，我們應該花點時間停下來觀察。隨著我們不斷了解更多信息，我們將繼續推動我們的纖維戰略和成長戰略。當我們繼續這裡時。但馬克可以就我們對資本支出和光纖的預期提供一些指引。

Yes, Brett, as you mentioned, we will have a firmer line of sight as we get deeper into investigation. But given the construction are already in process, committed to and kind of paid for, we are anticipating that we should have completed at least 600,000 passings in total for fiscal 2023. That would imply potentially about $100 million to $200 million or less in the capital intensity than we originally previously disclosed.

是的，布雷特，正如你所提到的，隨著調查的深入，我們的視線將會更加堅定。但鑑於施工已經在進行中、已投入使用並已支付費用，我們預計 2023 財年我們應該完成至少 60 萬次通行。這意味著資本可能約為 1 億至 2 億美元或更少強度比我們之前披露的要高。

Our next question is from Phil Cusick with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Phil Cusick。

Dennis, you mentioned higher competition year-over-year. Can you talk at all about what you're seeing from fixed wireless and fiber, not just year-over-year but quarter-to-quarter, we've heard of some incremental fiber backing off over the last 6 months from some of your competitors? And then second, if you could talk about the -- your expectations in gross and churn on the wireless side over the next couple of quarters as you start comping those promotions coming off, that would be great as well.

丹尼斯，你提到競爭逐年加劇。您能否談談您對固定無線和光纖的看法，不僅是同比，而且是季度與季度的情況，我們聽說過去 6 個月裡，您的一些光纖增量有所減少。競爭對手？其次，當你開始比較這些促銷活動時，如果你能談談你對未來幾季無線方面的總收入和流失率的期望，那就太好了。

Absolutely, Phil. From a competition perspective, we still see aggressive competition from fixed wireless. As we looked at the data and we look at availability. We do see availability across the footprint. Of course, there's capacity constraints. But we believe that we're very well positioned. That's why, we launched Optimum Complete. It provides a value when you bundle both broadband with mobile. And when you look at other fiber providers, we have a better product and a better value with $300 annual savings. And so, while we see fiber competition, we do -- while we see the fixed wireless competition, we're very comfortable we have the right tools. We're also seeing increased fiber overbuilder competition in the West. As we looked at the data, we do think that it's now grown to 30%, 35% in the West. Which historically has been more in the 25% range. But again, I believe that we have the right tools with Optimum Complete to compete. And I'm very excited about our local management team that we've now put in place. We have VP, GMs that are deployed across our footprint, and they are going to help us compete much more effectively at the local level, as we get into town by town. And as we look at the competitive offerings, we'll be able to be to evolve and be nimble to be able to drive growth at that local level. So we feel really good about that.

當然，菲爾。從競爭的角度來看，我們仍然看到來自固定無線的激烈競爭。當我們查看數據並查看可用性時。我們確實看到了整個足跡的可用性。當然，還有容量限制。但我們相信我們處於有利位置。這就是我們推出 Optimum Complete 的原因。當您將寬頻與行動裝置捆綁在一起時，它會提供價值。當您查看其他光纖供應商時，您會發現我們擁有更好的產品和更高的價值，每年可節省 300 美元。因此，當我們看到光纖競爭時，我們確實——當我們看到固定無線競爭時，我們對擁有合適的工具感到非常滿意。我們也看到西方的光纖過度建設競爭加劇。當我們查看數據時，我們確實認為現在西方已經成長到 30%、35%。從歷史上看，這一比例一直在 25% 的範圍內。但我再次相信，我們擁有 Optimum Complete 的正確工具來競爭。我對我們現在組建的本地管理團隊感到非常興奮。我們在我們的業務範圍內部署了副總裁和總經理，當我們逐個城鎮地開展業務時，他們將幫助我們在當地層面更有效地競爭。當我們專注於有競爭力的產品時，我們將能夠發展並靈活地推動當地的成長。所以我們對此感覺非常好。

On the mobile side, we offered that free promotion through Q2 of last year. We think there's a little bit more that will roll off in Q3. We've been able to convert 60% of those into paying subs. So, we think there's going to be stabilization. We feel really good about the mobile growth that we've seen since the launch of Optimum Complete, we have been able to double our attachment rate of mobile. And so, we view that mobile, we continue -- we're going to see -- continue to see mobile acceleration in the second half.

在行動端，我們從去年第二季開始提供免費促銷。我們認為第三季將會有更多的事情發生。我們已經能夠將其中 60% 轉化為付費訂閱者。因此，我們認為將會穩定下來。自從 Optimum Complete 推出以來，我們對行動裝置的成長感到非常滿意，我們已經能夠將行動裝置的連線率翻倍。因此，我們認為行動領域，我們將繼續——我們將看到——下半年移動領域將繼續加速。

Our next question is from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的本‧斯威本 (Ben Swinburne)。

I guess two questions. You guys talked about kind of ramping up your sales efforts. I couldn't tell, if you're sort of redirecting some of the CapEx savings that you may be seeing this year. I think you talked about $100 million or so into OpEx to try to drive volume. That was sort of a comment in your prepared remarks, so I wanted to get more color on that. And then programming costs, I think per sub were up like 3% -- a little over 3% this quarter, and they've been trending lower. I guess anything onetime this quarter or any help thinking about the programming cost growth on a per customer basis going forward. I'm not sure, if you guys are maybe negotiating better rates or seeing things there.

我猜有兩個問題。你們談到如何加大銷售力道。我無法判斷您是否正在重新調整今年可能會看到的一些資本支出節省。我想您談到了大約 1 億美元的營運支出，以試圖提高銷售量。這是你準備好的評論中的一個評論，所以我想對此有更多的了解。然後，我認為每個訂閱者的程式設計成本上漲了 3%，本季略高於 3%，而且一直呈下降趨勢。我猜想本季的某個時間或任何有助於思考未來每個客戶的程式設計成本成長的事情。我不確定你們是否正在協商更好的價格或在那裡看看東西。

Yes, Ben, I'll take the first part, and then I'll throw it over to Mark on the programming side. On the sales, it's not at all about driving up OpEx. We have stabilized OpEx, and we've built up our channels. It's all about execution and driving execution. We've made some operational fixes and system-level fixes, so that we are more effectively selling fiber in our fiber footprint. We did have circumstances, where we were not offering fiber across the board, and we've made some system level changes to ensure that we are offering fiber in the footprint. There's still some incremental fixes that we need to continue to drive. We've also invested in our retail centers in our door to door, and we're going to continue to drive messaging around fiber in these channels, so that we can more effectively sell from a gross adds perspective. In Q2, we delivered 40,000 fiber adds, which is the best quarter to date. And 50% of that was on the gross add side, 50% of that was on the migration side. So, just through more disciplined operational execution, I believe that we can drive more from a gross adds perspective. On the migration side, there are also some execution challenges that we've had in the past that we've fixed. I talked about stream. We now have a video solution that works on fiber that we're very excited about. As we were migrating folks in the past, we did have -- that had double play. We had some challenges there. And so, now with the new stream solution, we're excited about being able to drive more effective migration as well. And so, this is all about continuing to drive our execution as we go forward. And I'll throw it over to Mark to talk a little bit about the programming costs. .

是的，Ben，我將接受第一部分，然後我會將其交給程式設計方面的 Mark。在銷售方面，這根本不是為了提高營運支出。我們已經穩定了營運支出，並建立了我們的管道。這一切都與執行和推動執行有關。我們進行了一些操作修復和系統級修復，以便我們能夠更有效地銷售光纖足跡中的光纖。我們確實遇到過這樣的情況，即我們沒有全面提供光纖，但我們進行了一些系統層級的更改，以確保我們在佔地面積內提供光纖。我們仍然需要繼續推動一些增量修復。我們也挨家挨戶地投資了零售中心，我們將繼續在這些管道中推動圍繞光纖的訊息傳遞，以便我們可以從總增加的角度更有效地進行銷售。第二季度，我們交付了 40,000 根光纖，這是迄今為止最好的季度。其中 50% 是在總增加方面，其中 50% 是在移民方面。因此，透過更嚴格的營運執行，我相信我們可以從總增加的角度推動更多業務。在遷移方面，我們也解決了過去遇到的一些執行挑戰。我談到了流。我們現在擁有一個可在光纖上運行的視訊解決方案，我們對此感到非常興奮。當我們過去遷移人員時，我們確實有過雙重遊戲。我們在那裡遇到了一些挑戰。因此，現在有了新的串流解決方案，我們也很高興能夠推動更有效的遷移。因此，這一切都是為了在我們前進的過程中繼續推動我們的執行力。我將把它交給馬克來討論一下程式設計成本。 。

Ben, no real significant onetime items reflected in the decline you see on a per customer basis or increase on a per customer basis from a programming perspective. As I mentioned on the previous call, we are very focused on margin improvement and video is a part of that as well, that we're taking a much more disciplined approach around the video business. And in fact, you can see sequentially, we've grown our video margin over 250 basis points. And that partly due to pricing and partly due to tier mix shifts. And so those are some of the things that we're doing to try to drive video profitability up.

Ben，從程式設計的角度來看，您在每個客戶的基礎上看到的下降或每個客戶的成長都沒有反映出真正重要的一次性項目。正如我在上次電話會議中提到的，我們非常關注利潤率的提高，視訊也是其中的一部分，我們正在圍繞視訊業務採取更加嚴格的方法。事實上，您可以依序看到，我們的影片利潤率已成長超過 250 個基點。這部分是由於定價，部分是由於層級組合的變化。這些是我們為提高視訊獲利能力而採取的一些措施。

Our next question is from Craig Moffett with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig Moffett 和 MoffettNathanson。

Two questions, if I could. First, I'm wondering, if you can comment on reports about the possible sale of Cheddar and how you're thinking about that? And then second, my favorite topic, if you could just talk about your broad stand-alone pricing. And if you've updated your thinking at all about how to ensure that your broadband pricing is competitive with Verizon FiOS and competitors in the West.

如果可以的話，有兩個問題。首先，我想知道您是否可以對可能出售切達乾酪的報導發表評論以及您對此有何看法？第二，我最喜歡的話題，如果你能談談你廣泛的獨立定價。如果您已經更新了關於如何確保您的寬頻定價與 Verizon FiOS 和西方競爭對手相比具有競爭力的想法。

Craig, this is Dennis. As you can understand, we're not going to address rumors or press speculation today on Cheddar, we're very focused on executing and driving our strategy across all of our lines of business. And so that's the focus right now. I talked a little bit about base management and a little bit about how we're thinking about pricing. This is going to be a journey that we're on. We're absolutely focused on driving revenue growth subscriber growth, EBITDA growth. And we want to make sure that we are doing that in a very strategic fashion. And part of that is base management. And part of that is retail pricing. On the base management side, we have not had a relationship with the customers that we are -- there's opportunity there. And so, we're going to start doing things like speed gifting, implementing a loyalty program. And then on the pricing side, we do want to take a look at how do we provide more clarity, simplicity, make sure that we're reducing the number of step-ups and really reduce the gap between promotional pricing and retail pricing. And so, as we look at that, we're going to begin with fiber. Our sub base is a bit smaller there. And so, we can navigate and manage through that first. And then we'll -- we are actively looking at our pricing across the board, across the footprint. And so, more to come on that. We are working on some strategies that I believe will be in market the first half of the year for fiber, and we'll continue to evolve that strategy as we move forward. But we do want to provide simplicity, transparency, less step-ups and close that gap as we move forward, while all the time driving overall top line revenue growth and EBITDA and subscriber growth.

克雷格，這是丹尼斯。如您所知，我們今天不會解決有關切達乾酪的謠言或媒體猜測，我們非常專注於在所有業務領域執行和推動我們的策略。這就是現在的焦點。我談了一些關於基礎管理的問題以及我們如何考慮定價的問題。這將是我們正在進行的旅程。我們絕對專注於推動收入成長、用戶成長和 EBITDA 成長。我們希望確保我們以非常戰略性的方式做到這一點。其中一部分是基礎管理。其中一部分是零售定價。在基礎管理方面，我們還沒有與我們的客戶建立關係——那裡有機會。因此，我們將開始做諸如快速贈送禮物、實施忠誠度計劃之類的事情。然後在定價方面，我們確實想看看如何提供更清晰、更簡單的服務，確保我們減少升級次數，並真正縮小促銷定價和零售定價之間的差距。因此，當我們考慮這個問題時，我們將從纖維開始。我們的基地那裡有點小。因此，我們可以先解決這個問題並進行管理。然後我們會——我們正在積極地全面考慮我們的定價。因此，還有更多內容。我們正在製定一些策略，我相信這些策略將在今年上半年投放到光纖市場，並且隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續發展該策略。但我們確實希望提供簡單性、透明度、更少的升級，並在我們前進的過程中縮小這一差距，同時始終推動整體營收成長、息稅折舊攤銷前利潤 (EBITDA) 和用戶成長。

Is there a sense that you have to be at price parity with competitors with your full rec rates still being quite a bit higher than, say, Verizon FiOS or AT&T in the West?

是否有一種感覺，你必須與競爭對手保持同等價格，而你的完整回收率仍然比西方的 Verizon FiOS 或 AT&T 高很多？

In the West, we have a whole host of tools that we are deploying to be able to win, and we're just starting to really drive that local level competition. We believe Optimum Complete is a great strategy that's going to allow us to win. The speed gifting is a great tool. We're going to deploy that in a whole host of markets later this year, and that's going to really allow us to drive some of our tactics on the base management side. We're going to start to deploy the loyalty program, and we'll provide some more details on that in the next meeting. We believe that as we upgrade DOCSIS 3.1 across the West and take up those 500,000 homes, 200,000 this year. That's also going to continue to improve the customer experience. And so, these are all things that are going to ensure that we can be competitive and win in the West.

在西方，我們正在部署一整套工具來贏得勝利，而我們才剛開始真正推動當地的競爭。我們相信「最佳完成」是一個偉大的策略，它將讓我們獲勝。快速送禮是一個很棒的工具。我們將在今年稍後在許多市場中部署它，這將真正讓我們能夠在基礎管理方面推動我們的一些策略。我們將開始部署忠誠度計劃，我們將在下次會議上提供更多詳細資訊。我們相信，隨著我們在整個西方升級 DOCSIS 3.1 並覆蓋這 500,000 個家庭，今年將覆蓋 200,000 個家庭。這也將繼續改善客戶體驗。因此，所有這些都將確保我們能夠在西方具有競爭力並獲勝。

And by the way, congratulations to Nick, who I'm sure, is listening from home.

順便說一句，祝賀尼克，我確信他正在家裡聆聽。

Yes. We're very excited for Nick and family. .

是的。我們為尼克和家人感到非常興奮。 。

Our next question is from John Hodulik with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 John Hodulik。

Maybe back to the margin question. You showed some nice sequential improvement in margins. Can that continue, as you look into the latter half of the year? Or are there some seasonal issues we need to think about? And then does the stream product or at least the repositioning of the stream product, the sort of the (inaudible) key video product. Does that help from a margin standpoint as we look into the back half of the year? I guess that's number one. But number two, just I don't want to harp on the investigation, but there's a lot of sort of moving parts, but does the slowdown in CapEx for fiber sort of hurt the overall high-speed data sub trends? Or should we think about that as a sort of break on the improvement, as we look into the back half of this year or into '24?

也許回到保證金問題。你們的利潤率取得了一些不錯的連續改善。展望下半年，這種情況還能持續嗎？或者我們需要考慮一些季節性問題嗎？然後進行串流產品或至少重新定位串流產品，即（聽不清楚）關鍵視訊產品的類型。當我們展望今年下半年時，從利潤率的角度來看，這是否有幫助？我想這是第一名。但第二點，我不想喋喋不休地談論調查，但有很多變化的部分，但光纖資本支出的放緩是否會損害整體高速數據子趨勢？或者，當我們展望今年下半年或 24 年時，我們是否應該將其視為改進的突破？

John, I'll kind of go in reverse order here. We're very bullish on our broadband trends, and we are very excited about and optimistic about continuing to drive our strategies. We believe that strategies like Optimum Complete, allow us to compete very effectively against mature fiber providers against fiber overbuilders against fixed wireless. We believe that being able to continue to make the upgrades in 3.1 and all of the enhancements and investments that we've made in customer experience are really allowing us to win the fewer jump balls that are in the marketplace. There's a whole -- and so the local market -- local management team that we've put in place will allow us to compete much more effectively hyper locally. So I do believe that we'll continue to drive broadband very effectively in the second half. .

約翰，我會在這裡以相反的順序進行。我們非常看好我們的寬頻趨勢，並且對繼續推動我們的策略感到非常興奮和樂觀。我們相信，像 Optimum Complete 這樣的策略使我們能夠非常有效地與成熟的光纖供應商、光纖過度建設者以及固定無線網路競爭。我們相信，能夠繼續在 3.1 中進行升級以及我們在客戶體驗方面所做的所有增強和投資確實使我們能夠贏得市場上更少的跳球。我們建立了一個完整的——本地市場——本地管理團隊，這將使我們能夠在本地進行更有效的競爭。因此，我確實相信我們將在下半年繼續非常有效地推動寬頻發展。 。

On the CapEx slowdown, as we said, we've begun the investigation. And so there are a number of vendors that are part of that investigation, which include some that are related to our fiber build. And so, we are going to moderate that for now, and Mark has already provided some of the details that we are able to share at this time. In terms of stream, stream, we're excited about as a video solution and as a product in terms of providing a much better solution, particularly on fiber, where we had some challenges with our video solution historically. So, I think this will also help us from driving broadband and driving video on fiber, as we move forward. From a margin perspective, Mark, I'll throw it over to you.

正如我們所說，關於資本支出放緩，我們已經開始調查。因此，有許多供應商參與了這項調查，其中包括一些與我們的光纖製造相關的供應商。因此，我們現在將對此進行調整，馬克已經提供了我們目前可以分享的一些細節。在串流媒體方面，我們對作為視訊解決方案和產品提供更好的解決方案感到興奮，特別是在光纖方面，我們的視訊解決方案歷史上曾遇到一些挑戰。因此，我認為這也將有助於我們推動寬頻和光纖視訊的發展，並不斷向前發展。從利潤的角度來看，馬克，我會把它交給你。

Yes. I mean we think we're very pleased with the rebound in margins that you've seen here. And we're very focused on not seeing significant increases in OpEx for the full year '23. As I mentioned in my earlier remarks, we could see a slight uptick in the second half just tied to pushing a little harder on marketing. But again, we'll moderate that and take a very balanced approach. I would say, I would expect our margins for the rest of the year and full year to aggregate to be better than the first quarter margins that you saw. So we feel that we're in a good spot now, and we'll continue to take a measured and balanced approach on driving growth.

是的。我的意思是，我們對您在這裡看到的利潤率反彈感到非常滿意。我們非常關注 23 年全年營運支出不會顯著成長。正如我在先前的評論中提到的，我們可以看到下半年的銷售量略有上升，這與加強行銷有關。但我們會再次對此進行調整並採取非常平衡的方法。我想說，我預計我們今年剩餘時間和全年的利潤率總計將優於您所看到的第一季的利潤率。因此，我們認為我們現在處於有利位置，我們將繼續採取審慎和平衡的方法來推動成長。

Our next question is from Jonathan Chaplin with New Street.

我們的下一個問題來自新街的喬納森·卓別林。

So two quick ones, if I may. We saw a big deal for fiber assets priced in the ABS market this week. I'm wondering, if that's a market that you guys have looked at, if there's anything in your capital structure that prevents you from doing something similar with your fiber assets? And then, I'm wondering, if you can give us a little bit of color on the subscriber trends in the East versus the West?

如果可以的話，那麼兩個快速的。本週，我們在 ABS 市場上看到了纖維資產的大宗交易。我想知道，如果這是你們關注的市場，你們的資本結構中是否有任何東西阻止你們對纖維資產做類似的事情？然後，我想知道，您能否為我們介紹一下東方與西方的訂戶趨勢？

Jonathan, I'll throw it over to Mark to talk a little bit about the fiber question you had. .

喬納森，我將把它交給馬克，談談您遇到的纖維問題。 。

Yes, ABS, we did see and that certainly in the news as well. And we're considering all kind of potential sources of financing and certainly one that we are looking at and considering, and we will look to drive as much liquidity in the business as possible, and that may be an alternative for us as well.

是的，ABS，我們確實看到了，而且新聞中也肯定看到了。我們正在考慮各種潛在的融資來源，當然還有我們正在考慮和考慮的融資來源，我們將尋求盡可能多的業務流動性，這也可能是我們的一種選擇。

Yes. On the subscriber trends, as I've mentioned before, Q2 is typically seasonally more challenging than Q1. That being said, we did see some year-over-year improvement. We've got a number of headwinds, as Mark alluded to in terms of the slowdown in move certain months, 20% less moves across the board as well as some of the macroeconomic challenges. That being said, we did see some improvement in the East year-over-year by about 2,000 subscribers. We're seeing some nice improvement on the voluntary side with all the investments that we're making from a customer experience perspective. As I think about Q3 -- pre-pandemic, Q3 was typically seasonally better. Post pandemic, Q3 was -- is typically a seasonally -- has been seasonally worse I do think that we -- with the momentum that we have, will be better year-over-year. Given all of the investments that we're making in customer experience, leveraging and having a couple more months of Optimum Complete under our belts and continuing to drive that, having the local management teams that we've put in place. And so, I'm optimistic about the subscriber trends as we move forward.

是的。在訂戶趨勢方面，正如我之前提到的，第二季度通常比第一季更具季節性挑戰。話雖這麼說，我們確實看到了一些同比改善。正如馬克所提到的，我們面臨許多阻力，包括某些月份的走勢放緩、全面走勢減少 20% 以及一些宏觀經濟挑戰。話雖如此，我們確實看到東部地區的訂戶數量同比有所改善，增加了約 2,000 名。透過我們從客戶體驗角度進行的所有投資，我們看到自願方面取得了一些不錯的進步。當我想到大流行前的第三季時，第三季通常季節性更好。大流行後，第三季度——通常是季節性的——季節性更糟，我確實認為我們——憑藉我們所擁有的勢頭，將同比更好。考慮到我們在客戶體驗方面所做的所有投資，我們利用並擁有了幾個月的 Optimum Complete 服務，並繼續推動這一目標，並建立了本地管理團隊。因此，我對我們前進的訂閱者趨勢持樂觀態度。

Just a follow-up for Mark, quickly, if I could. Is there anything in your newly negotiated debt deals that were sort of complicate doing an ABS deal or prevent you from doing a structure like that? .

如果可以的話，只是馬克的後續行動，盡快。在你們新談判的債務交易中，是否有任何事情使 ABS 交易變得複雜或阻止你們進行類似的結構？ 。

I guess, Jonathan, there is not anything that would preclude us from doing a ABS deal. .

喬納森，我想沒有任何事情會阻止我們進行資產支持證券交易。 。

Our next question is from Kutkal Maral with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Kutkal Maral。

One on broadband ARPU and one on the balance sheet. So, if I could just first follow up on the broadband ARPU discussion. You're consistently adding on faster broadband speed tiers perhaps more so than your peers last year, you began rolling out 2 gig and 5 gig fiber. Now you have 8 gig available across nearly 2 million passings. When do we start to see the benefits in broadband speed up tiering drive a more positive inflection and trajectory with broadband ARPU.

一份在寬頻 ARPU 上，一份在資產負債表上。那麼，我能否先跟進一下寬頻 ARPU 的討論。您一直在增加更快的寬頻速度，去年您開始推出 2 GB 和 5 GB 光纖，這可能比您的同行還要多。現在，您有 8 場演出，近 200 萬次通行。我們什麼時候開始看到寬頻加速分層的好處推動了寬頻 ARPU 的更積極的變化和軌跡。

Dennis, your commentary earlier about maybe starting with tweaking the pricing on fiber in the first half of next year suggests maybe any meaningful improvement may not occur, until the back half of 2024. I know you're not guiding to anything, but is that the right way to think about it? And on the balance sheet, net leverage is elevated free cash flow remains pressured. I think you have about $750 million of debt coming due next year and $1.6 billion in 2025. I know you've been proactive with extending some of your maturities and have a decent amount of liquidity, but can you expand on how you're thinking about the balance sheet at this point? What's your comfort level operating at these levels? And are there any levers you might be looking at to strengthen the overall position.

丹尼斯，您之前關於可能從明年上半年調整光纖定價開始的評論表明，直到 2024 年下半年，可能不會出現任何有意義的改進。我知道您沒有任何指導意義，但這就是嗎？正確的思考方式是什麼？而在資產負債表上，淨槓桿率上升，自由現金流仍面臨壓力。我認為您明年將有大約7.5 億美元的債務到期，2025 年將有16 億美元的債務到期。我知道您一直在積極主動地延長部分債務期限，並且擁有相當數量的流動性，但您能否詳細說明一下您的想法關於此時的資產負債表？您在這些級別上操作的舒適程度如何？您是否可以考慮使用任何槓桿來加強整體地位。

Thank you for the question. On the broadband ARPU piece, we're just getting our feet under us in terms of starting to sell gig and multi-gig in a more meaningful way. Optimum Complete is helping us in that regard. From a 1 gig sell-in perspective, in Q2, we were at 29%. And on fiber, it was 34%. When you talk about 2 and 5, it was still in the single digits in terms of mix. And so, we are just -- I feel like we're just getting started. We're working with the teams on really starting to improve from -- in terms of channel performance, yield, productivity, providing the training, providing the tools, being able to sell the value and helping our teams understand how to most effectively sell the value of gig and multi-gig. And we're starting to see the improvement as we look at it quarter-over-quarter. And we're not going to provide guidance on specifically some of those elements, but we're very optimistic about the momentum, and we're going to continue to build on that. .

感謝你的提問。在寬頻 ARPU 方面，我們剛開始以更有意義的方式銷售演出和多演出。 Optimum Complete 在這方面正在幫助我們。從 1 場演出的銷售角度來看，第二季我們的銷售率為 29%。而纖維方面，這一比例為 34%。當你談論2和5時，就混合而言，它仍然是個位數。所以，我覺得我們才剛開始。我們正在與團隊合作，真正開始改進——在通路績效、產量、生產力方面，提供培訓，提供工具，能夠銷售價值，並幫助我們的團隊了解如何最有效地銷售產品。零工和多重零工的價值。當我們逐季度觀察時，我們開始看到這種改善。我們不會專門針對其中一些要素提供指導，但我們對這一勢頭非常樂觀，我們將繼續在此基礎上繼續發展。 。

Mark here, just to add to that, Dennis. Although we are down year-over-year on broadband implied ARPU, I do turn your attention to the sequential improvement. So, we have as you saw in the first quarter, moderated our ARPU loss in the second quarter here, we've actually accelerated. We're up almost over $1 in ARPU expansion. So I think, some of the things that Dennis just mentioned, is helping us drive a better outcome on the ARPU side. As it relates to liquidity and the debt, as I mentioned earlier, we have $1.8 billion of liquidity. Right now, we feel like we're in a very good spot to address our upcoming maturities. But as Jonathan asked, we are certainly looking at all options around different vehicles to help our deadline.

在這裡標記一下，只是為了補充一點，丹尼斯。儘管我們的寬頻隱含 ARPU 逐年下降，但我確實將您的注意力轉向了連續的改善。因此，正如您在第一季看到的那樣，我們在第二季度的 ARPU 損失有所緩解，實際上我們已經加速了。我們的 ARPU 成長幾乎超過 1 美元。所以我認為，丹尼斯剛才提到的一些事情正在幫助我們在 ARPU 方面取得更好的結果。由於它與流動性和債務有關，正如我之前提到的，我們有 18 億美元的流動性。現在，我們覺得我們處於一個非常好的位置來解決即將到來的到期問題。但正如喬納森所問的那樣，我們當然正在考慮不同車輛的所有選擇，以幫助我們在最後期限內完成任務。

Our next question is from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Bryan Kraft。

I had a couple, I guess, for Mark. Mark, can you help us to think through the outlook for CapEx beyond '23? In other words, maybe '24, '25 and '26, just in broad strokes. And any time period in mind for returning to your target leverage range? And maybe just one more. With all the progress that you guys have been making to improve really every aspect of the business, do you feel that you've got visibility yet into when you might be able to stabilize EBITDA?

我想，我有一些是給馬克的。 Mark，您能幫助我們思考 23 年後資本支出的前景嗎？換句話說，大概是「24」、「25」和「26」。是否有考慮返回目標槓桿範圍的時間？也許還有一個。你們在改善業務的各個方面都取得了巨大進步，您是否認為自己已經清楚何時能夠穩定 EBITDA？

Thanks, Bryan. Yes, we're not going to specifically give guidance on '24 or beyond that on specific targets around capital, EBITDA or exactly when we're going to hit our targeted ratios. What I will tell you is, and we're very optimistic around the progress we've made but there still work to be done.

謝謝，布萊恩。是的，我們不會在 24 日或之後就資本、EBITDA 的具體目標或我們何時達到目標比率提供具體指引。我要告訴你的是，我們對所取得的進展非常樂觀，但仍有工作要做。

And we're very much focused on returning to consistent revenue, customer and EBITDA and free cash flow growth. And that's really where we're focused. But unfortunately, we're not going to give specific time lines around that.

我們非常注重恢復穩定的收入、客戶和 EBITDA 以及自由現金流成長。這確實是我們關注的焦點。但不幸的是，我們不會給出具體的時間表。

Anything directionally though, on CapEx for the next couple of years?

不過，未來幾年的資本支出有什麼方向性的嗎？

Yes. As we mentioned earlier, we will assess our capital deployment needs annually. And we will update you at the appropriate time.

是的。正如我們之前提到的，我們將每年評估我們的資本部署需求。我們會在適當的時候向您更新。

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to the company for any closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將其轉回公司以徵求任何結束意見。

Great. Thank you all, and have a good evening. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝大家，祝大家晚上愉快。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。