Crown Castle Inc (CCI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Crown Castle's third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kris Hinson, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Crown Castle 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。現在我想將會議交給公司財務副總裁兼財務主管克里斯辛森 (Kris Hinson)。請繼續。

Thank you, Dave, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss our third-quarter 2024 results. With me on the call this afternoon are Steven Moskowitz, Crown Castle's Chief Executive Officer; and Dan Schlanger, Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer. To aid the discussion, we have posted supplemental materials in the Investors section of our website at crowncastle.com that will be referenced throughout the call.

謝謝戴夫，大家下午好。感謝您今天加入我們討論 2024 年第三季業績。今天下午和我一起參加電話會議的是 Crown Castle 執行長 Steven Moskowitz；以及 Crown Castle 財務長 Dan Schlanger。為了幫助討論，我們在 Crowncastle.com 網站的投資者部分發布了補充資料，這些資料將在整個電話會議中引用。

This conference call will contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and actual results may vary materially from those expected. Information about potential factors which could affect our results is available in the press release and the Risk Factors sections of the company's SEC filings. Our statements are made as of today, October 16, 2024, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, today's call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures.

本次電話會議將包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到某些風險、不確定性和假設的影響，實際結果可能與預期有重大差異。有關可能影響我們業績的潛在因素的信息，請參閱新聞稿和公司向 SEC 備案的風險因素部分。我們的聲明截至今天，即 2024 年 10 月 16 日，我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。此外，今天的電話會議還討論了某些非公認會計準則財務措施。

Tables reconciling these non-GAAP financial measures are available in the supplemental information package in the Investors section of the company's website at crowncastle.com. With that, let me turn the call over to Steven.

協調這些非公認會計準則財務指標的表格可在公司網站 Crowncastle.com 投資者部分的補充資訊包中找到。現在，讓我把電話轉給史蒂文。

Thank you, Kris, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to report that for the third quarter, our teams delivered solid operating and financial performance across our towers and fiber businesses, including small cells and fiber solutions, which allows us to reaffirm our full year 2024 outlook for adjusted EBITDA and AFFO. We continue to expect consolidated organic revenue growth of approximately 5% for the full year 2024, which includes growth of 4.5% in towers, 10% in small cells, and 2% in fiber solutions. Our results in this quarter validate our ability to continue to deliver for our customers and shareholders while implementing the significant changes to how we operate and invest in our business that we announced in June.

謝謝克里斯，大家下午好。我很高興地向大家報告，第三季度，我們的團隊在我們的塔和光纖業務（包括小型基地台和光纖解決方案）中實現了穩健的營運和財務業績，這使我們能夠重申2024 年全年調整後EBITDA 和AFFO 的前景。我們仍預期 2024 年全年綜合有機收入將成長約 5%，其中塔式基地台成長 4.5%，小型基地台成長 10%，光纖解決方案成長 2%。我們本季的業績證明了我們有能力繼續為客戶和股東提供服務，同時實施我們 6 月宣布的業務運營和投資方式的重大變革。

Our performance also demonstrates our ability to generate consistent underlying growth through wireless generational upgrade cycles and the ongoing demand for broadband connections. Looking out over the next several years, we continue to be excited about the prospects for continued demand of our assets since mobile devices have become essential tools for communication, information, and entertainment. And we continue to see more data moving than ever before across wireless and wired networks. CTIA, the Cellular Telephone Industry Association, recently reported that US wireless data usage surpassed 100 trillion megabytes in 2023, marking a 36% increase from the prior year. This is the largest year-over-year increase in absolute data usage in the history of the US wireless industry, continuing three decades of robust growth in mobile data traffic.

我們的業績也證明了我們有能力透過無線世代升級週期和對寬頻連線的持續需求來實現持續的潛在成長。展望未來幾年，我們對資產持續需求的前景繼續感到興奮，因為行動裝置已成為通訊、資訊和娛樂的重要工具。我們繼續看到比以往任何時候都更多的資料透過無線和有線網路傳輸。CTIA（蜂窩電話行業協會）最近報告稱，2023 年美國無線數據使用量將超過 100 兆兆字節，比上一年增長 36%。這是美國無線產業史上絕對數據使用量最大的年增幅，延續了行動數據流量三十年來的強勁成長。

With wired networks, broadband usage in the US is also experiencing a continuous surge as businesses embrace heavy data consumption, and fiber optics continues to be firmly established as the leading wired technology to transmit greater amounts of data at the highest possible speeds. With these trends before us and the industry forecasts suggesting that wireless and wired data demand will drive significant network investments by our customers to keep pace, we are confident that our towers, small cells, and fiber assets are positioned well to benefit from these data usage tailwinds. In addition to these demand-oriented drivers, we expect to capitalize on future growth and drive value creation across each of our businesses as we continue to strengthen our own market position and relationships with our leading carrier customers. We believe that our current efforts underway to modify our organization and our strategy will ultimately bolster the long-term strength and stability of our cash flows and enable us to capture incremental revenue growth.

透過有線網絡，隨著企業大量數據消耗，美國的寬頻使用量也持續激增，而光纖繼續牢固地確立為領先的有線技術，以盡可能高的速度傳輸大量數據。鑑於我們面前的這些趨勢以及行業預測表明無線和有線數據需求將推動我們的客戶進行大量網路投資以跟上步伐，我們相信我們的塔、小型基地台和光纖資產處於有利位置，可以從這些數據使用中受益順風。除了這些以需求為導向的驅動因素之外，隨著我們繼續加強自己的市場地位以及與領先營運商客戶的關係，我們預計將利用未來的成長並推動我們每項業務的價值創造。我們相信，我們目前正在努力修改我們的組織和策略，最終將增強我們現金流的長期實力和穩定性，並使我們能夠實現收入的增量成長。

Let me briefly outline some ways that we are evolving. Starting with the tower business, we have recently announced an organizational change that I'm excited about. We're welcoming back Cathy Piche as leader of our tower business. She will succeed Mike Kavanagh, who is retiring after 14 successful years with Crown Castle. On behalf of the Crown Castle team, I want to thank Mike for his many contributions over the years and wish him the best in whatever future endeavors he pursues.

讓我簡要概述一下我們正在發展的一些方式。從鐵塔業務開始，我們最近宣布了一項令我興奮的組織變革。我們歡迎 Cathy Piche 回歸，擔任我們塔式業務的領導者。她將接替邁克·卡瓦納 (Mike Kavanagh)，後者在皇冠城堡 (Crown Castle) 工作了 14 年後取得了成功，即將退休。我謹代表 Crown Castle 團隊感謝 Mike 多年來所做的許多貢獻，並祝福他在未來的事業中一切順利。

With Cathy, she brings significant sector experience, having started in the tower business way back in 2001. And she has deep institutional knowledge and strong relationships within Crown Castle's workforce and among Crown Castle's wireless customer base from her previous 12-year tenure at our company. We have the benefit of having Cathy and Mike work together over the next couple of months to ensure a smooth transition. Looking ahead, we are committed to building on the strengths of our company, particularly in serving wireless carrier customers as a trusted infrastructure partner built on quality service and integrity.

她早在 2001 年就開始涉足鐵塔業務，為 Cathy 帶來了豐富的行業經驗。她在我們公司工作了 12 年，擁有深厚的機構知識和與 Crown Castle 員工以及 Crown Castle 無線客戶群之間的牢固關係。我們受益匪淺的是，凱西和麥克在接下來的幾個月共同努力，以確保順利過渡。展望未來，我們致力於發揮公司的優勢，特別是作為基於優質服務和誠信的值得信賴的基礎設施合作夥伴為無線營運商客戶提供服務。

Recently, I heard from an executive at one of our large national wireless carriers that our teams are recognized for being thoughtful, for being communicative, and for being dedicated to meeting their needs, feedback that reinforces our approach. As we move forward, critically important to our success in towers is revenue growth so we will be even more laser-focused on securing new organic revenue opportunities. One initiative that we are accelerating to help us to achieve our goal is digitizing our tower portfolio. Using the latest in drone technology and enhanced automation of our IT infrastructure, our teams are capturing digital images of our towers, which allows us to visualize marketable space and access reliable data more efficiently.

最近，我從我們一家大型國家無線運營商的一位高管那裡得知，我們的團隊因深思熟慮、善於溝通、致力於滿足他們的需求而受到認可，反饋強化了我們的方法。隨著我們的前進，收入成長對於我們在塔樓業務的成功至關重要，因此我們將更加專注於確保新的有機收入機會。為了幫助我們實現目標，我們正在加速實施的一項舉措是數位化我們的塔樓產品組合。利用最新的無人機技術和 IT 基礎設施的增強自動化，我們的團隊正在捕獲塔樓的數位影像，這使我們能夠可視化可銷售空間並更有效地存取可靠的數據。

We believe this will help us make faster and more informed commercial decisions, make our sites more friendly for colocation, accelerate the customer application to installation cycle time, and speed up the customer construction and installation process while keeping issues at our sites to a minimum. All of this is expected to lead to improved project management capabilities so it is more seamless for our customers to add equipment or colocate on our sites. We're also developing a new state-of-the-art process and software tool that our tower field technicians will use for tracking and expediting customer service requests and site events to operate more effectively and efficiently across our vast footprint. Refining our processes and leveraging technology will make it easier for our employees to deliver better for our customers, all in an effort to be known as a trusted supplier so we can win more business and drive profitability.

我們相信，這將有助於我們做出更快、更明智的商業決策，使我們的網站更適合主機託管，加快客戶應用程式到安裝的周期時間，並加快客戶的施工和安裝過程，同時將我們站點的問題降至最低。所有這些預計將提高專案管理能力，以便我們的客戶可以更無縫地添加設備或在我們的網站上託管。我們也正在開發一種新的最先進的流程和軟體工具，我們的塔現場技術人員將使用它來追蹤和加快客戶服務請求和現場活動，以便在我們龐大的業務範圍內更有效和高效地運營。完善我們的流程並利用技術將使我們的員工更輕鬆地為客戶提供更好的服務，這一切都是為了成為值得信賴的供應商，以便我們能夠贏得更多業務並提高盈利能力。

In addition to operational improvements, we also plan to continue relying on comprehensive MLAs with our largest customers. By having these agreements in place, we expect to benefit from more stable and predictable revenue growth over time while making it easier for our customers to budget their capital and operating dollars and also making it easier for our customers to access our sites promptly and with fewer hassles. When combined with our operating improvements, we believe these agreements will help us win a greater share of the market going forward. As we shift our focus to our fiber and small cell businesses, I want to reiterate points from our last earnings call.

除了營運改善之外，我們還計劃繼續依賴與最大客戶的全面 MLA。透過簽署這些協議，我們預計隨著時間的推移，將受益於更穩定和可預測的收入成長，同時使我們的客戶更輕鬆地預算其資本和營運資金，並讓我們的客戶更輕鬆地以更少的成本快速訪問我們的網站。結合我們的營運改進，我們相信這些協議將幫助我們贏得未來更大的市場份額。當我們將重點轉向光纖和小型蜂窩業務時，我想重申我們上次財報電話會議的要點。

Our operational review of the fiber segment confirmed that our assets are in excellent strategic locations and equipped with the capacity necessary to support both existing and expanding wireless and broadband customers. Based on the virtues of our fiber footprint, we announced in June that we revised our operating strategy with the goal of maximizing financial returns on our investments. Our revised strategy includes focusing on opportunities to capture market share by selling more new business within and near our existing footprints. We believe this approach positions us to achieve higher returns in both small cells and fiber solutions and drives increased cash flow for our business.

我們對光纖部門的營運審查證實，我們的資產處於優越的戰略位置，並配備了支援現有和不斷擴大的無線和寬頻客戶所需的容量。基於我們光纖足跡的優點，我們在 6 月宣布修改營運策略，目標是實現投資財務回報最大化。我們修訂後的策略包括專注於透過在現有業務範圍內和附近銷售更多新業務來佔領市場份額的機會。我們相信，這種方法使我們能夠在小型基地台和光纖解決方案方面實現更高的回報，並推動我們業務的現金流增加。

To that end, we have completed successful discussions with our customers and identified approximately 7,000 nodes in our contracted backlog that we, along with our customers, have mutually agreed to cancel. These nodes were largely greenfield builds in locations that had countless zoning and permitting delays or in high-cost markets that did not meet our investment parameters and required higher-than-normal capital investment from our customers. By removing these low-yielding anchor nodes from our backlog, we expect to save about $800 million in future capital spend. So after making these changes, our backlog now stands at approximately 40,000 nodes with an improved risk return profile since most of this backlog are colocations, which allows us to add revenue with less capital investment.

為此，我們與客戶成功進行了討論，並在合約積壓中確定了大約 7,000 個節點，我們與客戶共同同意取消這些節點。這些節點主要是綠地建設，位於有無數分區和允許延誤的地點，或位於不符合我們的投資參數且需要客戶高於正常資本投資的高成本市場。透過從我們的待辦事項中刪除這些低收益的錨節點，我們預計未來的資本支出將節省約 8 億美元。因此，在進行這些變更後，我們的積壓訂單現在約為 40,000 個節點，風險回報狀況有所改善，因為大部分積壓訂單都是主機託管，這使我們能夠以更少的資本投資增加收入。

We continue to believe that persistent growth in US mobile data demand will necessitate additional network capacity and densification that macro towers alone cannot provide, particularly in densely populated areas where demand is most concentrated. As carriers continue to deploy their mid-band spectrum, densification will eventually play an increasingly vital role in enhancing network performance. And looking ahead, we remain confident in the market potential for these low-profile fiber-fed cell sites. Moving on, let me provide you with an update on our fiber solutions business, which focuses on delivering high-bandwidth communications connectivity to enterprise customers.

我們仍然認為，美國行動數據需求的持續成長將需要額外的網路容量和密度，而單靠宏塔無法提供，特別是在需求最集中的人口稠密地區。隨著營運商繼續部署中頻頻譜，緻密化最終將在增強網路效能方面發揮越來越重要的作用。展望未來，我們對這些薄型光纖饋電蜂巢式基地台的市場潛力仍然充滿信心。接下來，讓我向您介紹我們的光纖解決方案業務的最新情況，該業務的重點是為企業客戶提供高頻寬通訊連線。

Our primary clients include wireless and wholesale carriers, government entities, health care providers, educational systems, financial institutions, and other large organizations. Like we have done in our small cell business, we have recently made changes to enhance the profitability and efficiency of our fiber solutions offering. We are prioritizing colocation activities within our existing footprint, working closely with our customers to capitalize on what we call on-net and near-net opportunities in and around our networks. This strategy is enabling us to grow revenues with reduced capital investment compared to previous years.

我們的主要客戶包括無線和批發運營商、政府實體、醫療保健提供者、教育系統、金融機構和其他大型組織。就像我們在小型蜂窩業務中所做的那樣，我們最近進行了一些變革，以提高光纖解決方案產品的獲利能力和效率。我們正在優先考慮現有業務範圍內的託管活動，與客戶密切合作，以利用我們網路內部和周圍的網內和近網機會。與前幾年相比，這項策略使我們能夠以減少的資本投資來增加收入。

Since implementing these operational changes in June, we've been encouraged by the early results. In the third quarter, we delivered 2% organic growth, excluding $4 million of prior period revenue adjustments, and we expect to deliver 2% growth for full year 2024, excluding the impact of some Sprint cancellations. Our thesis is driven by emerging trends that indicate promising growth potential. Demand drivers, including from AI, suggest that the need for data transport will continue to rise, and our connection hubs in major cities are well positioned to meet this demand. And our revised operational strategy should drive higher profitability, allowing us to capitalize on these positive demand trends to generate sustainable growth.

自從六月實施這些營運變革以來，我們對早期結果感到鼓舞。第三季度，我們實現了 2% 的有機成長（不包括前期 400 萬美元的收入調整），我們預計 2024 年將全年實現 2% 的成長（不包括一些 Sprint 取消的影響）。我們的論文是由表明有希望的成長潛力的新興趨勢所驅動的。包括人工智慧在內的需求驅動因素表明，對資料傳輸的需求將繼續增長，而我們在主要城市的連接中心能夠很好地滿足這一需求。我們修訂後的營運策略應該會帶來更高的獲利能力，使我們能夠利用這些積極的需求趨勢來實現永續成長。

Lastly, I'd like to provide a very brief update on the ongoing strategic review. As I've mentioned before, this process is active and we are diligently evaluating our options. We are considering various paths, including potential divestitures, continued growth, or partnerships with strategic or financial investors. Our Board of Directors is committed to concluding this evaluation with the goal of unlocking the full value of these businesses.

最後，我想簡單介紹一下正在進行的策略審查的最新情況。正如我之前提到的，這個過程正在積極進行，我們正在努力評估我們的選擇。我們正在考慮各種途徑，包括潛在的資產剝離、持續成長或與策略或財務投資者建立夥伴關係。我們的董事會致力於完成本次評估，目標是釋放這些業務的全部價值。

As I conclude my comments, I want to highlight three points: first, in the business of creating value with long-term assets and long-term contracts with our carrier customers, changes don't occur so quickly. The management team and I recently set some initial goals in motion and are making important decisions to change the trajectory of this company's success. While it will take time, we believe we are on the right track as we reassess our businesses, adjust our capital allocation strategies and improve how we operate. Second, as we continue to implement changes to our operating plans, it's crucial to acknowledge the effort of our employees, the effort that they've put into delivering our third quarter results.

在結束我的評論時，我想強調三點：首先，在利用長期資產和與營運商客戶的長期合約創造價值的業務中，變化不會發生得那麼快。我和管理團隊最近制定了一些初步目標，並正在做出重要決策，以改變公司的成功軌跡。雖然這需要時間，但我們相信，在重新評估我們的業務、調整我們的資本配置策略並改善我們的營運方式時，我們正走在正確的軌道上。其次，當我們繼續對營運計劃進行更改時，承認我們員工的努力以及他們為實現第三季業績而付出的努力至關重要。

Thank you to everyone for your hard work. Lastly, we were also thinking about all of those affected by the devastation and loss from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. And I would like to give a special thanks to many on our Crown Castle team who worked with great urgency through challenging conditions and some dealing with personal impacts. But they stayed safe and they maintained our communications infrastructure which is even more essential in connecting people, communities and emergency services during and after these tragic types of events. Now, I'll turn it over to Dan to walk us through the details of the quarter.

感謝大家的辛勤工作。最後，我們也想到了所有受到颶風海倫和米爾頓的破壞和損失影響的人們。我要特別感謝我們 Crown Castle 團隊中的許多人，他們在充滿挑戰的條件下緊急工作，並處理一些個人影響。但他們保持了安全，並維護了我們的通訊基礎設施，這對於在這些悲劇期間和之後連接人們、社區和緊急服務機構至關重要。現在，我將把它交給 Dan，讓他向我們介紹本季的詳細資訊。

Thanks, Steven, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered third quarter results in line with expectations as we continue to perform well while implementing the meaningful changes in our operating plan announced in June. Demand for our assets remained strong in the third quarter, allowing us to maintain our 2024 outlook for site rental revenues, adjusted EBITDA and AFFO. We did, however, lower our 2024 outlook for net income to reflect the impact of a $125 million to $150 million asset write-off anticipated in the fourth quarter related to reductions in our small cell business.

謝謝史蒂文，大家下午好。我們第三季的業績符合預期，因為我們繼續表現良好，同時實施了 6 月宣布的營運計劃的有意義的變化。第三季對我們資產的需求依然強勁，使我們能夠維持 2024 年場地租賃收入、調整後 EBITDA 和 AFFO 的預期。不過，我們確實下調了 2024 年淨利潤預期，以反映第四季度預計因小基地台業務減少而導致 1.25 億至 1.5 億美元資產沖銷的影響。

As part of the changes to our operating plan we announced in June, we have been working with our customers on reducing contracted nodes with higher-than-expected deployment costs that negatively impacted both our customers' economics and our expected returns. Consequently, we have mutually agreed to cancel approximately 7,000 contracted small cell nodes previously in our backlog. These nodes, which were concentrated in a limited number of markets, would have required more than $800 million of anticipated capital expenditures, primarily in 2025 and 2026, that was expected to generate average yields below our previous return threshold of 6% to 7%. After removing these canceled nodes, we now have approximately 40,000 small cells in our backlog, more than 70% of which are colocation nodes.

作為我們六月宣布的營運計畫變更的一部分，我們一直在與客戶合作，減少部署成本高於預期的簽約節點，這些節點對客戶的經濟和我們的預期回報產生了負面影響。因此，我們雙方同意取消先前積壓的大約 7,000 個簽約小型蜂巢節點。這些節點集中在有限數量的市場，預計需要超過 8 億美元的資本支出（主要是在 2025 年和 2026 年），預計產生的平均收益率會低於我們先前 6% 至 7% 的回報門檻。刪除這些取消的節點後，我們的待辦事項中現在有大約 40,000 個小單元，其中超過 70% 是託管節點。

We believe our revised backlog is sufficient to enable us to deliver double-digit organic revenue growth over the next several years while the improved proportion of colocation nodes will generate returns in excess of the returns we have generated historically. Moving on to our results in the quarter and turning to page 4 in our earnings materials, excluding the impact of Sprint cancellations, we delivered 5.2% consolidated organic growth in the third quarter, consisting of 4.3% from towers, 25% from small cells, and 1% from fiber solutions. I want to point out two things that impacted our organic growth in the quarter. First, our small cell growth included $15 million of previously disclosed nonrecurring net revenues primarily related to early termination payments, without which we would have grown the business a little over 11%.

我們相信，修訂後的積壓訂單足以使我們在未來幾年實現兩位數的有機收入成長，而託管節點比例的提高將產生超過我們歷史上產生的回報。轉向我們本季的業績，翻到收益材料的第 4 頁，排除 Sprint 取消的影響，我們在第三季度實現了 5.2% 的綜合有機增長，其中 4.3% 來自塔樓，25% 來自小型基站， 1%來自纖維解決方案。我想指出影響我們本季有機成長的兩件事。首先，我們的小型基地台成長包括先前揭露的 1,500 萬美元的非經常性淨收入，主要與提前終止付款相關，如果沒有這些收入，我們的業務成長將略高於 11%。

And second, our fiber solutions revenues were negatively impacted by $4 million due to adjustments related to prior period revenue. Excluding these out-of-period adjustments, fiber solutions organic growth was 2%, exceeding the expectations outlined when announcing the changes to our operating strategy in June. Adjusted EBITDA increased 3% compared to third quarter 2023 as revenue growth and cost savings related to the reduction in force we implemented as part of our revised operating strategy were partially offset by noncash items and onetime costs, including a $49 million reduction in straight-line revenues and prepaid rent amortization and $6 million of additional advisory fees primarily related to our recent proxy contest. On page 6, our expected organic contribution to full year site rental billings remains unchanged with consolidated organic growth of 5%, excluding the impact from Sprint cancellations.

其次，由於與前期收入相關的調整，我們的光纖解決方案收入受到了 400 萬美元的負面影響。排除這些期外調整，纖維解決方案的有機成長率為 2%，超出了 6 月宣布營運策略變更時概述的預期。與2023 年第三季相比，調整後EBITDA 成長了3%，原因是我們作為修訂後的營運策略的一部分而實施的人員減少相關的收入成長和成本節省被非現金項目和一次性成本部分抵消，其中包括直線費用減少4900 萬美元收入和預付租金攤銷以及 600 萬美元的額外諮詢費主要與我們最近的代理權競賽有關。在第 6 頁，我們對全年網站租金帳單的預期有機貢獻保持不變，綜合有機成長為 5%，不包括 Sprint 取消的影響。

The 5% consolidated organic growth consists of 4.5% from towers compared to 5% in 2023, 15% from small cells as we expect 11,000 to 13,000 new revenue-generating nodes in 2024 compared to 8,000 nodes in 2023, and 2% from fiber solutions compared to flat in 2023. As announced in June, the small cell organic growth of 15% includes a $22 million increase in nonrecurring revenues primarily related to early termination payments. Excluding this impact, small cell organic growth is expected to be 10% this year. Moving to page 7, we continue to expect to deliver $108 million of AFFO growth at the midpoint, excluding the impact of Sprint cancellations and the noncash decrease in amortization of prepaid rent.

5% 的綜合有機成長包括4.5% 來自鐵塔，而2023 年為5%，15% 來自小型基地台，因為我們預計2024 年將有11,000 至13,000 個新的創收節點，而2023 年為8,000 個節點，2 % 來自光纖解決方案與 2023 年持平。正如 6 月宣布的那樣，小型基地台 15% 的有機成長包括主要與提前終止付款相關的非經常性收入增加 2,200 萬美元。排除此影響，今年小電池的有機成長預計為 10%。轉到第 7 頁，我們繼續預計 AFFO 的中位數成長將達到 1.08 億美元，不包括 Sprint 取消的影響和預付租金攤提的非現金減少。

Turning to the balance sheet, in August, we raised $1.25 billion of long-term fixed rate debt, allowing us to end the quarter with an average maturity of seven years, 90% fixed rate debt, and approximately $5.7 billion of availability under our revolving credit facility with only $1.2 billion of debt maturities through 2025. In addition, we ended the third quarter with leverage at 5.5 times net debt to EBITDA, a reduction from 5.9 times in the second quarter of this year. We expect to remain close to this level for the remainder of the year as we continue to benefit from solid organic growth and operating cost reductions. Lastly, our 2024 outlook for discretionary capital remains unchanged at $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion or $900 million to $1 billion, net of $355 million of prepaid rent received.

轉向資產負債表，8 月份，我們籌集了12.5 億美元的長期固定利率債務，使我們能夠在本季度結束時以平均期限為7 年、90% 的固定利率債務以及循環債務下約57 億美元的可用資金到 2025 年，信貸額度僅 12 億美元。此外，第三季結束時，我們的槓桿率為淨債務與 EBITDA 的 5.5 倍，低於今年第二季的 5.9 倍。我們預計在今年剩餘時間內將保持接近這一水平，因為我們將繼續受益於穩健的有機成長和營運成本的降低。最後，我們對 2024 年可自由支配資本的展望保持不變，為 12 億至 13 億美元或 9 億至 10 億美元，扣除已收到的 3.55 億美元預付租金。

To wrap up, the business continues to perform well, delivering solid organic growth and keeping us on track for our full year outlook. We remain encouraged by the early results of the operating plan changes we announced in June and the progress we have made with our customers to prioritize on- and near-net opportunities in small cells and fiber solutions. Specifically, we are on track to deliver $65 million of operating cost reductions compared to the $60 million we had originally forecast. We have been able to generate better-than-expected fiber solutions growth while changing the focus of our fiber sales team to improve the capital efficiency of the business.

總而言之，該業務繼續表現良好，實現了穩健的有機成長，並使我們的全年前景保持在正軌上。我們對 6 月宣布的營運計劃變更的早期結果以及我們與客戶在優先考慮小型基地台和光纖解決方案的網內和近網機會方面取得的進展仍然感到鼓舞。具體來說，與我們最初預測的 6000 萬美元相比，我們預計將實現 6500 萬美元的營運成本削減。我們能夠實現優於預期的光纖解決方案成長，同時改變光纖銷售團隊的重點，以提高業務的資本效率。

We believe we will deliver on our expectation to reduce our 2024 net capital expenditures by $300 million compared to our initial full year 2024 outlook. And we have mutually agreed with our customers to cancel approximately 7,000 contracted nodes, reducing our future capital requirements by approximately $800 million while improving the expected returns in the business. These results are in line with or better than what we had announced in June and are a testament to how dedicated our teams are to deliver for our customers while implementing these meaningful changes. Looking ahead, our focus remains on maximizing shareholder value by continuing to progress the fiber strategic review and delivering operational and financial results across our portfolio of tower, small cell, and fiber solutions assets. With that, Dave, I'd like to open the call for questions.

我們相信，與我們最初的 2024 年全年展望相比，我們將實現 2024 年淨資本支出減少 3 億美元的預期。我們與客戶共同同意取消約 7,000 個簽約節點，從而將我們未來的資本需求減少約 8 億美元，同時提高業務的預期回報。這些結果符合或優於我們在 6 月宣布的結果，並證明了我們的團隊在實施這些有意義的變革的同時，是多麼專注地為客戶提供服務。展望未來，我們的重點仍然是透過繼續推進光纖策略審查並在我們的塔式、小型基地台和光纖解決方案資產組合中提供營運和財務業績，實現股東價值最大化。戴夫，我現在想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Rick Prentiss, Raymond James.

（操作員說明）Rick Prentiss、Raymond James。

Glad to hear your team made it through Helene and Milton okay. Obviously tough storms, Florida-based firm Raymond James, we did, too so we always are thankful for those of us in the Gulf Coast that we made it okay. So glad to hear your team is good. Questions. Thanks for all the detail on the small cell, 7,000 cut for the mostly greenfield stuff.

很高興聽到你們的團隊順利通過了海倫和米爾頓的考驗。顯然，佛羅裡達州的雷蒙德詹姆斯公司遭遇了嚴峻的風暴，我們也經歷過，所以我們總是感謝墨西哥灣沿岸的人們，讓我們度過了難關。很高興聽到你的團隊很好。問題。感謝小基地台的所有細節，7,000 塊用於大部分未開發的東西。

So it sounds like there's no early termination fee for you guys to cancel it, like there would be if a carrier canceled it because the carriers are going to get some savings, too, where it's like they don't have to pay as much upfront capital reimbursement for building the nodes. Is that kind of the right way to think about why the carriers agreed to this reduction?

所以聽起來你們取消它不需要提前終止費用，就像承運人取消它一樣，因為承運人也會得到一些節省，就像他們不需要預先支付那麼多費用一樣建設節點的資本償還。這是思考營運商為何同意此次降價的正確方式嗎？

It's somewhat difficult for us to get in the head of the carriers and tell you why they did something. But I believe that we wouldn't have been able to mutually agree to a cancellation if it didn't help them and it didn't help us in a way that we both saw value. We did not pay any early termination fees. I can agree to that and say that, that's true. But what I would take away from this is there's going in this case, what we're looking at is in certain areas, the overall cost of getting these nodes built was higher than anybody would have expected, which impacted both our returns, and I would anticipate it impacted their economics as well, which led them to get to the conclusion we got to, which was it was better in all of our interest not to continue with these specific nodes.

對我們來說，了解運營商的想法並告訴您他們為什麼這樣做有些困難。但我相信，如果這對他們沒有幫助，也沒有以我們都認為有價值的方式幫助我們，我們就不可能共同同意取消。我們沒有支付任何提前終止費用。我可以同意這一點並說，這是事實。但我要從中得出的結論是，在這種情況下，我們正在關注的是在某些領域，構建這些節點的總體成本高於任何人的預期，這影響了我們的回報，而且我預計這也會影響他們的經濟，這導致他們得出我們得出的結論，最好不要繼續這些特定節點，這符合我們所有人的利益。

Or they were in places where they've just been taking so long because of the zoning and permitting issues and other issues we were running into that it just didn't make sense to try to pursue these anymore. And I think that, that was the same concept that our customers had as we had. And we just mutually agreed that these were not good things to continue to try to do.

或者，由於分區和許可問題以及我們遇到的其他問題，他們在一些地方花了很長時間，以至於不再嘗試追求這些問題是沒有意義的。我認為，我們的客戶和我們的理念是一樣的。我們只是一致認為這些都不是繼續嘗試做的好事。

Makes sense. And it looks like combined, between the $800 million of avoided CapEx, and I guess that $125 million to $150 million is a lot of probably CapEx that went to work in progress, these nodes might have looked like they were costing like over $130,000 per node. Is that a way of thinking about it if they have been built?

有道理。看起來，在避免的 8 億美元資本支出之間，我猜想 1.25 億美元到 1.5 億美元可能是正在進行中的大部分資本支出，這些節點看起來每個節點的成本可能超過 13 萬美元。如果它們已經建成，這是一種思考方式嗎？

The math that you did is right, yes. And what I would say is, like we mentioned, these were in some pretty high-cost areas so the fact that we've had a really hard time trying to get to an average cost per node. That's a difficult concept across the country, but I would say these are on the high end of what we've experienced to build because they were in high-cost areas. And it led to the conclusion for both us and our customers that these were okay to cancel is because they were such high cost.

你所做的數學是正確的，是的。我想說的是，就像我們提到的，這些都是在一些成本相當高的領域，因此我們很難達到每個節點的平均成本。這在全國範圍內都是一個困難的概念，但我想說這些是我們所經歷過的建設的高端，因為它們位於高成本地區。我們和我們的客戶都得出這樣的結論：這些可以取消，因為它們的成本太高了。

Makes sense. Second question for me is on the strategic review. I know there's not a lot you can talk to there yet, but can you help us understand? Steven, you've been on board, gosh, six months. Seems like forever, I guess, but just 6 months. What are the long poles in the process to getting the strategic review over the finish line? And also, have there been any like major or any conditions that have changed as you guys have looked at the process as it's been almost a year probably in that?

有道理。我的第二個問題是關於策略審查。我知道你能說的還不夠多，但你能幫助我們理解嗎？史蒂文，天哪，你已經加入公司六個月了。我想似乎是永遠，但只有六個月。在完成策略審查的過程中，有哪些長桿？而且，當你們查看這個過程時，是否有任何類似的重大或任何條件發生了變化，因為可能已經有將近一年了？

Certainly. I mean, there's obviously a number of things that have changed over the last year. I mean, first and foremost is, we got a lot of good information from the operational review, and that helped set us up to make some key decisions in the spring and the summer to help drive more profitability to those businesses all along as we were engaged with conversations with potential suitors.

當然。我的意思是，去年顯然有很多事情發生了變化。我的意思是，首先也是最重要的是，我們從營運審查中獲得了很多有用的信息，這有助於我們在春季和夏季做出一些關鍵決策，以幫助我們一直為這些業務帶來更多獲利能力與潛在追求者進行對話。

There's also inflation that started to be reduced a bit. Interest rates have started to subside a little bit. I mentioned the change in our capital strategy. So there were a number of different things that have occurred over the year. And all of that, to some degree, plays in our thought process as we're trying to evaluate the best possible outcome for our shareholders with making final decisions on this process.

通貨膨脹也開始下降。利率已開始略有下降。我提到了我們資本策略的改變。所以這一年發生了很多不同的事情。所有這些，在某種程度上，都在我們的思考過程中發揮作用，因為我們試圖評估股東可能獲得的最佳結果，並在過程中做出最終決定。

Okay. Any other long poles to the town as far as thinking when the review would be something we on the outside we'll get to hear about?

好的。至於我們外面的人何時會聽到評論，還有其他的長桿嗎？

I think there's a lot of poles that we're going through, Rick. This is a very complex situation. And we're just trying to do our best to make sure, again, we make the best possible decision to create the best long-term outlook for our shareholders. I mean, that's the key for all of us. So I really can't provide any type of timing. But we'd like to get this done as everybody in our company would like to get this done as soon as we can.

我認為我們正在經歷很多困難，瑞克。這是一個非常複雜的情況。我們只是盡力再次確保我們做出最佳決策，為股東創造最佳的長期前景。我的意思是，這對我們所有人來說都是關鍵。所以我真的無法提供任何類型的時間安排。但我們希望完成這項工作，因為我們公司的每個人都希望盡快完成這項工作。

Makes sense. I'm glad, again, the team is all well through these natural disasters and appreciate everything they do to keep our networks working.

有道理。我再次很高興團隊在這些自然災害中一切順利，並感謝他們為保持我們的網路正常運作所做的一切。

Thanks, thanks. And you, too.

謝謝，謝謝。還有你。

Simon Flannery, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙‧弗蘭納裡，摩根士丹利。

I was interested in the carrier activity levels. It looked like the services business had picked up some from the first half of the year, and obviously, DISH had got their extension from the FCC. We saw Ericsson calling out some increased spend by AT&T. So how are you thinking about the level of activity this year and then just conversations about continuing to densify and do more on that side?

我對載體活動水平感興趣。看起來服務業務從今年上半年開始有所回升，顯然，DISH 已經獲得了 FCC 的延期。我們看到愛立信呼籲 AT&T 增加一些支出。那麼，您如何看待今年的活動水平，以及如何繼續加強這方面的活動並進行更多工作？

And then, just a housekeeping item. I think, Dan, you said 11,000 to 13,000 new nodes this year. Is that a good run rate from here with that 40,000 backlog or is that impacted by the 7,000 cancellations?

然後，只是一個家務用品。我想，Dan，你說今年有 11,000 到 13,000 個新節點。40,000 件積壓訂單的運作率是否良好，還是受到 7,000 件訂單取消的影響？

Yes. So I'll address the first part of your first question. I'll address your second question, and I'll kick it to Steven over for more of the activity levels. You're right, the services level gross margin did pick up in the third quarter. A lot of that was kind of timing-related, pulling in some things from the fourth quarter into the third quarter.

是的。所以我將解決你的第一個問題的第一部分。我將解決您的第二個問題，並將其交給史蒂文以了解更多的活動級別。你是對的，服務水準毛利率確實在第三季有所回升。其中許多都與時間有關，將一些事情從第四季度拉到了第三季。

We did not change the range of what we thought our services gross margin will be for the year. And what I would say is that happens in that business so we expect kind of a run rate similar to what we've seen in the past. Again, I'll let Steven talk to activity levels in a second. The housekeeping items of the 11,000 to 13,000.

我們沒有改變我們認為今年服務毛利率的範圍。我想說的是，這種情況發生在該業務中，因此我們預計運行率與我們過去看到的類似。我將再次讓史蒂文談談活動水平。家務用品為11,000至13,000。

We still believe that 11,000 to 13,000 is an appropriate goal and outlook for 2024. Can't really speak to what the run rate will be going into 2025, but we'll give guidance in three months and clarify that when we do so for 2025.

我們仍然認為 11,000 至 13,000 是 2024 年合適的目標和展望。無法真正說出 2025 年的運行率，但我們將在三個月內提供指導，並在 2025 年這樣做時澄清這一點。

So a little bit of color, I guess, on demand. I mean, this year, from our perspective, it's playing out, I mean, pretty much as we expected. With active kind of moderate application and leasing volume and it's this type of steady-state activity that is more consistent with what we saw at the second half of last year. Today, we're in the beginning, actually, of our stages of budgeting for next year, so our commercial teams are out speaking with their counterparts at the carriers.

我想，一點點顏色是按需的。我的意思是，今年，從我們的角度來看，它的進展，我的意思是，幾乎符合我們的預期。申請量和租賃量較為活躍，這種穩態活動與我們去年下半年看到的情況更加一致。今天，實際上，我們正​​處於明年預算階段的開始，因此我們的商業團隊正在與營運商的同行進行交談。

They're gaining insight about what their capital budgets may look like, in which geographies they may be spending more or less on, the cadence of their 5G overlays. So all that together, by the end of January when we provide guidance, we should be pretty in relatively good shape to provide a range that we have confidence in as we work through 2025. And again, we believe that since most of the carriers still have lots of work to do to complete their 5G overlay cycle with their C-band spectrum, and as I mentioned in my opening remarks, consumers continue to drive significant demand for greater megabits and gigabits, for that matter, of data at faster speeds, it only means more pressure being put on the networks, which gives us continued confidence about the ongoing need for carriers to invest on wireless infrastructure and types of assets that we have to offer.

他們正在深入了解他們的資本預算可能會是什麼樣子、他們可能在哪些地區花費更多或更少、他們的 5G 覆蓋的節奏。因此，總而言之，到 1 月底我們提供指導時，我們應該處於相對良好的狀態，可以提供我們有信心在 2025 年工作的範圍。再次強調，我們相信，由於大多數運營商仍有大量工作要做，才能利用其C 頻段頻譜完成5G 覆蓋週期，正如我在開場白中提到的，消費者將繼續推動對更大兆比特和更高頻寬的巨大需求。的資產類型的需求充滿信心。

And when do you think you can get the benefits from the digitizing the tower portfolio? It sounds like an interesting opportunity, but is that a medium term or can you see some of that next year?

您認為什麼時候可以從塔式投資組合數位化中獲益？這聽起來是一個有趣的機會，但這只是一個中期機會嗎？

I mean, I think there's going to be some quick hits developed out of it, but I think what I've tried to convey to folks is it's going to take time. Any type of business transformation takes a period of quarters or even years for that matter. I mean, we're hoping that by mid-next year, we'll be in a better position to be able to capture the best possible share that we get in the marketplace.

我的意思是，我認為它會引起一些快速的成功，但我認為我試圖向人們傳達的是這需要時間。任何類型的業務轉型都需要幾個季度甚至幾年的時間。我的意思是，我們希望到明年年中，我們將處於更好的位置，能夠獲得我們在市場上獲得的最佳份額。

Michael Rollins, Citi.

麥可羅林斯，花旗銀行。

Just a couple. First, just in terms of small cells. Now, you've had a chance to review the portfolio in more detail with the customers. With the remaining greenfields that are left in that backlog, what should be the expected initial return for those small cells? And can you share a little bit more detail on the marginal returns that you get for the colocation nodes?

只是一對。首先，就小型基地台而言。現在，您有機會與客戶一起更詳細地審查產品組合。考慮到積壓中剩餘的綠地，這些小型基地台的預期初始回報應該是多少？您能否分享更多有關託管節點邊際回報的詳細資訊？

And then just secondly, as you had conversations with these carriers and you walked through some of the optimization of this backlog, as you get a better sense from these customers of when they may want to look at executing another tranche of small cell nodes in terms of their densification needs?

其次，當您與這些運營商進行對話並完成了積壓的一些優化時，您可以從這些客戶那裡更好地了解他們何時可能想要考慮執行另一批小型蜂窩節點他們的緻密化需求？

Mike, on the first point on returns, what we said about the revision to our return threshold is that it's higher than it was. It used to be 6% to 7% and is now higher. And so we're not going to talk about exactly what that is, but you can assume that the greenfield nodes that we have remaining in our backlog meet our new threshold levels of higher than 6% to 7%. And then, on colocation returns, generally speaking, we see, on an incremental basis, in the neighborhood of 20% incremental returns on those businesses. And it can be higher than that but that's a good way to think about it.

麥克，關於回報的第一點，我們所說的關於修改回報門檻的內容是它比以前更高。以前是6%到7%，現在更高了。因此，我們不會具體討論這是什麼，但您可以假設我們積壓中剩餘的未開發節點滿足高於 6% 至 7% 的新閾值水平。然後，就託管回報而言，一般來說，我們看到這些業務的增量回報在增量的基礎上接近 20%。它可能比這個更高，但這是一個很好的思考方式。

So those are the types of returns that we're looking at for our backlog. In the conversations with our customers that we've had over the course of the last several months, we are really focused on trying to get through this process and did not get it didn't give us any more significant insight into the future potential for bookings. But as Steven has been talking about this whole time, the amount of data demand in the US is growing so fast that we still believe that the thesis underlying the small cell business makes sense, that at some point, densification will be required.

這些就是我們正在為積壓訂單尋找的退貨類型。在過去幾個月與客戶的對話中，我們確實專注於嘗試完成這個過程，但沒有得到它，這並沒有讓我們對未來的潛力有任何更重要的了解。但正如史蒂文一直在談論的那樣，美國的數據需求增長如此之快，以至於我們仍然相信小型蜂窩業務的理論是有道理的，即在某些時候，將需要緻密化。

At some point, towers are not sufficient for that densification. And the next technology that we'll utilize is small cells, and we believe that over time, those small cells will come to us as a natural provider of a lower-cost solution because we can share those economics among multiple carriers. The difficulty has always been for us in trying to pinpoint the timing of when things like that happen. That's been a difficulty in the tower business of pinpointing when changes in activity levels will happen.

在某些時候，塔樓不足以實現這種緻密化。我們將利用的下一項技術是小型蜂窩，我們相信隨著時間的推移，這些小型蜂窩將成為我們自然的低成本解決方案提供商，因為我們可以在多個運營商之間共享這些經濟效益。我們一直面臨的困難是試圖確定這類事情發生的時間。精確定位活動水平何時發生變化一直是鐵塔業務的難題。

I believe that's going to be a difficulty for us in the small cell business. But at some point, we believe that there will be significant demand for small cells over time.

我相信這對我們的小型基地台業務來說將是一個困難。但在某個時候，我們相信隨著時間的推移，對小型基地台的需求將會很大。

Yes. I guess, Mike, I would just add that the carriers are focused, first and foremost, on their C-band overlays. And we're hearing projections that they'll be completed with those probably by the end of 2026, beginning of 2027. And we have a very significant backlog of nodes to build so we're very, very busy. It doesn't mean we wouldn't look forward to having a nice new contract, but the fact is we want to execute these first and do them flawlessly and continue to build the trust and respect from these customers.

是的。我想，麥克，我只想補充一點，運營商首先關注的是他們的 C 頻段覆蓋。我們聽到的預測是，這些項目可能會在 2026 年底、2027 年初完成。我們有大量積壓的節點需要構建，所以我們非常非常忙碌。這並不意味著我們不會期待簽訂一份好的新合同，但事實是我們希望首先執行這些合約並完美地完成它們，並繼續建立這些客戶的信任和尊重。

And so our feeling is a year or so from now, we should be well positioned again to be able to go in and negotiate new agreements that fill that backlog for us going into '27, '28, '29.

因此，我們的感覺是，從現在起一年左右，我們應該再次處於有利位置，能夠進入並談判新協議，以填補我們進入“27”、“28”、“29”的積壓。

David Barden, Bank of America.

大衛巴登，美國銀行。

I apologize. Telecom guys are always the ones on mute, and I'm sure you appreciate that. I guess my first question is, Steven, you said something at the beginning about how MLAs are going to be a competitive differentiator for what you're prepared to do. And I think you said it was going to be a share-taking or a win share event. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on your perspective. Because this has been a philosophical question for the industry for a long time ever since back in the day when AT&T did their holistic with AT&T.

我道歉。電信人員總是保持靜音，我相信您會欣賞這一點。我想我的第一個問題是，史蒂文，你在一開始就說過，MLA 將如何成為你準備要做的事情的競爭優勢。我想你說過這將是一次股份收購或共贏活動。我想知道你能否詳細闡述你的觀點。因為自從 AT&T 與 AT&T 進行整體合作以來，這一直是業界長期以來的哲學問題。

And is it a good thing because it stabilizes the outlook or is it a bad thing because it limits your upside opportunities? I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on maybe what you are bringing to the table in this thought process. I think that would be super helpful. And I'm sorry to have to hammer on it, but it seems strange that a year after you've been into the strategic review and months after you finished your operating review, that you went proactively to carry your counterparts and eliminated a meaningful part of your backlog that presumably any counterparty who was engaged in this conversation could have gone ahead and done on their own.

這是一件好事，因為它穩定了前景，還是一件壞事，因為它限制了你的上漲機會？我想知道您是否可以詳細說明一下您在這個思考過程中提出的內容。我認為這會非常有幫助。我很抱歉不得不強調這一點，但奇怪的是，在你進行戰略審查一年後，在完成運營審查幾個月後，你主動去支持你的同行並消除了一個有意義的部分您的積壓工作大概是任何參與這次對話的對手方都可以自行完成的。

And I'm wondering like how you guys came to the determination that this was a thing that Crown should undertake at this juncture. And what does it tell us about where we are in the process?

我想知道你們是如何決定皇冠在此時此刻應該採取行動的。它告訴我們我們在這個過程中處於什麼位置？

Well, I mean, let me start with the question regarding the small cells. I mean, coming in here, I had a number of key priorities and one was a strategic review, one was looking at our capital allocation strategy, one was revenue growth, and one was business transformation, so to speak. So the combination of strategic review, and in determining how we want to spend our capital, from my perspective, was pretty important. So they kind of fit together.

好吧，我的意思是，讓我從有關小型基地台的問題開始。我的意思是，來到這裡，我有許多關鍵的優先事項，其中之一是策略審查，一個是我們的資本配置策略，一個是收入成長，一個是業務轉型，可以這麼說。因此，從我的角度來看，策略審查與確定我們如何使用資本的結合非常重要。所以他們有點契合。

And as we evaluated the opportunities with these carrier customers, the discussions that came together, as Dan alluded to, really became kind of best outcomes for both parties. So could we have shifted that responsibility to a potential suitor? Possibly, but we didn't know what the timing was going to be. We didn't know what the outcome was going to be.

當我們評估與這些營運商客戶的機會時，正如丹所提到的，共同的討論確實成為了雙方的最佳結果。那麼我們是否可以將責任轉移給潛在的追求者？有可能，但我們不知道具體時間是什麼。我們不知道結果會是什麼。

And we felt that we needed to be the fiduciary here. We needed to make sure that we were making disciplined decisions in how we spend capital. And a lot of these nodes, as Dan spoke to, were going to be exceptionally expensive propositions, and some of these nodes were in process for the last two or three years. So if we could come to a conclusion with our customers in any situation that creates best outcomes for both parties, then we're going to seize that opportunity.

我們覺得我們需要成為這裡的受託人。我們需要確保我們在如何使用資本方面做出嚴格的決定。正如 Dan 所說，其中許多節點將是極其昂貴的提議，其中一些節點在過去兩三年中一直在進行中。因此，如果我們能夠在任何情況下與客戶達成為雙方創造最佳結果的結論，那麼我們將抓住這個機會。

And that's what we felt was most important was to seize that opportunity, and again, realizing that many of these sites were in development for years. They were going to take a matter of time to complete in the future and they were going to be very expensive. We felt the right thing to do was to negotiate something, which we were able to accomplish and we're pretty satisfied by it. As it relates to MLAs, I mean, we've been able to achieve good growth and create significant shareholder value by negotiating these comprehensive agreements.

我們認為最重要的是抓住這個機會，並再次意識到其中許多網站已經開發多年。未來它們需要時間才能完成，而且成本會非常昂貴。我們認為正確的做法是談判一些事情，我們能夠完成這些事情，並且對此感到非常滿意。我的意思是，就 MLA 而言，透過談判這些全面協議，我們已經能夠實現良好的成長並創造顯著的股東價值。

And we've already articulated that we believe that we're able to realize more guaranteed growth over a multiyear period of time in a way that we think maximizes the value of our assets while providing a pretty good degree of certainty as carriers stop and start their wireless network spending. And that's what typically happens, right? And we've talked about that with the 5G experience. And from a customer's perspective, to try to continue to ingratiate yourself with these customers, these agreements take a lot of the haggling out of the equation for individual lease type of negotiations.

我們已經明確表示，我們相信我們能夠在多年的時間內實現更有保障的成長，我們認為這種方式可以最大限度地提高我們的資產價值，同時在營運商停止和啟動時提供相當好的確定性他們的無線網路支出。這就是通常發生的情況，對吧？我們已經透過 5G 體驗討論了這一點。從客戶的角度來看，為了繼續討好這些客戶，這些協議消除了個人租賃類型談判中的大量討價還價。

And it makes it easier for them to conclude the transaction. It saves them processing time and money and it gets them on air faster. So we've looked at it as being, in many respects, a win-win situation and just realize it doesn't mean that negotiation stops when you have a holistic agreement signed because the holistic agreement usually has a certain amount of terms and conditions within that agreement and it's for a period of time. So as the carriers' demands keep changing, whether it's technology, whether it's adding equipment on towers or in compounds or hardening sites, there are certain things that are included in those agreements, and there are certain things that aren't included in those agreements. So we have the stable contracted revenue, and we have also uncontracted opportunities in the future that we worked hard to try to seize.

這使他們更容易完成交易。它可以節省他們的處理時間和金錢，並且可以更快地播出。因此，我們在許多方面都將其視為雙贏的局面，並且意識到這並不意味著簽署整體協議後談判就會停止，因為整體協議通常有一定數量的條款和條件在該協議內並且持續一段時間。因此，隨著營運商的需求不斷變化，無論是技術，還是在塔樓、庭院或加固場地添加設備，這些協議中包含了某些內容，而這些協議中則沒有包含某些內容。所以我們有穩定的合約收入，也有我們努力抓住的未來未合約的機會。

I appreciate those comments. If I could ask one quick follow-up, which would be you guys have been very careful to kind of couch the strategic review in terms of the strategic review of the fiber business. I just want to make sure that I'm not being too myopic and if we zoom out and say it's been an awful long time. Is the strategic review just about the fiber business or is there some maybe even larger strategic considerations going on?

我很欣賞這些評論。如果我可以問一個快速的後續問題，那就是你們一直非常小心地根據纖維業務的策略審查來進行策略審查。我只是想確保我沒有太短視，如果我們縮小範圍並說這已經是很長一段時間了。策略審查只是針對纖維業務還是有一些可能更大的策略考量？

No, we've been very clear about our intentions as it relates to this, whether it's before I got here or after I got here. I mean, we own some of the best-in-class fiber networks in the US. And it's key for us to determine whether Crown's strategy is aligned with those opportunities, right? And we've been taking the time; we've been obviously engaged with different parties who are interested in these assets.

不，我們已經非常清楚我們的意圖，因為它與此相關，無論是在我到達這裡之前還是在我到達這裡之後。我的意思是，我們擁有美國一些一流的光纖網路。我們必須確定皇冠的策略是否與這些機會保持一致，對吧？我們一直在花時間；我們顯然已經與對這些資產感興趣的不同各方進行了接觸。

And it all comes down from our perspective to generating the most value for the shareholders, whether it's receiving some cash proceeds and redeploying capital, moving towards a tower-only company, keeping the businesses if we feel they can create the most value that way. So it takes time. Maybe it's taken more time than you guys have patience for, but obviously, we'd like to wrap this up also. And hopefully, this, we'll be able to make a decision in time, in time.

從我們的角度來看，這一切都歸結於為股東創造最大價值，無論是獲得一些現金收益和重新部署資本，轉向只有塔樓的公司，還是保留業務（如果我們認為它們可以通過這種方式創造最大價值）。所以需要時間。也許這花費的時間超出了你們的耐心，但顯然，我們也想結束這一切。希望我們能夠及時做出決定。

Good luck with all of it.

祝你一切順利。

Okay, thank you very much.

好的，非常感謝。

Nick Del Deo, MoffettNathanson.

尼克·德爾·迪奧，莫菲特·內森森。

Steven, you described a number of efforts to digitize or streamline your operations, to save money and improve the customer experience. Is it your sense that Crown Castle was behind your peers in these areas, and this is going to kind of allow you to catch up? Or do you think this is more about being better than the peer group on these fronts after you've wrapped up the initiatives?

史蒂文，您描述了為數位化或簡化營運、節省資金和改善客戶體驗所做的一系列努力。您是否感覺 Crown Castle 在這些領域落後於您的同行，而這會讓您迎頭趕上？或者您認為這更多的是在您完成這些舉措後在這些方面比同行做得更好？

So listen, the goal of the company is to be best-in-class in what we do. And this company went through significant growth through 2010 up to 2020, buying significant numbers of assets and building a significant number of assets. And in that growth mode, as I've talked about before, that whenever you're growing to that level, it's difficult to focus not only in growth initiatives but also on kind of the internal infrastructure initiatives of the company. So there has been work done and the company is operating well, but there's opportunities to improve and enhance.

所以聽著，公司的目標是在我們所做的事情上成為一流的。該公司從 2010 年到 2020 年經歷了顯著成長，購買了大量資產並建立了大量資產。在這種成長模式下，正如我之前談到的，每當你成長到這個水平時，就很難不僅關注成長計劃，而且還關注公司的內部基礎設施計劃。因此，工作已經完成，公司運作良好，但仍有改進和提高的機會。

And so that's what I'm talking about is transforming what we have. There has been some element of digitizing the assets, but the drone program that I mentioned started last year. I mean, it didn't start last month. It's been a work in progress. And I think to one of the earlier questions, when are we going to see the fruits of the labor?

這就是我所說的改變我們所擁有的。有一些資產數位化的元素，但我提到的無人機計畫是去年開始的。我的意思是，這不是上個月開始的。這是一項正在進行的工作。我想回答之前的問題之一，我們什麼時候才能看到勞動成果？

And as I said, there's going to be some opportunities for us to use that data. We're using it already to help generate more activity and more knowledge within our organization, which helps as we communicate with customers. It's an evolution. And obviously, I was brought in for a reason, and part of the reason is to make modifications and changes that I think will be healthy and good for this company moving forward.

正如我所說，我們將有一些機會使用這些數據。我們已經在使用它來幫助我們的組織內產生更多的活動和更多的知識，這有助於我們與客戶溝通。這是一種演變。顯然，我被帶進來是有原因的，部分原因是要做出我認為對這家公司的健康發展有利的修改和改變。

That said, the company has always had and continues to have a very strong reputation as being very customer-oriented and very service-oriented. So to your question about kind of catch up or get ahead, I think we are doing a little bit of catch-up in certain areas, but we have every opportunity to really become best-in-class in the US, and that's the goal. Okay, that's great context. Yes, I guess the other thing I wanted to ask about were the node cancellations.

也就是說，該公司一直並將繼續享有非常以客戶為導向和以服務為導向的聲譽。因此，對於你關於追趕或領先的問題，我認為我們在某些​​領域正在追趕，但我們有一切機會真正成為美國一流的公司，這就是我們的目標。好的，這是很好的背景。是的，我想我想問的另一件事是節點取消。

I guess during the discussions, were you able to surmise at all what the customers might be planning to do as an alternative, whether just go to other vendors or try to get on macro sites or maybe not do anything at all? It just seems like an interesting situation where the customers seem to have kind of thrown up their hands in a tough area in which to work. I'm curious if you have any clues as to how they plan to address it.

我想在討論過程中，您是否能夠猜測客戶可能計劃做什麼作為替代方案，是直接去找其他供應商還是嘗試訪問巨集站點，或者根本不做任何事情？這似乎是一個有趣的情況，客戶似乎在一個艱難的工作領域中舉起了手。我很好奇你是否有任何關於他們計劃如何解決這個問題的線索。

Again, it's hard for us to opine on what our customers are doing at that level of detail. But what I would say is, generally speaking, the first thing our customers want to look at, as you know, Nick, is try to maximize the tower availability in any given area because it is the cheapest way to deploy a spectrum over large geographies and population areas. And I think if I were to make a guess on your question is that they believe that with the amount of C-band and mid-band spectrum they have, they can cover these areas with towers in the short term. But as we've talked about, at some point that, that is no longer an available option.

同樣，我們很難在如此詳細的層面上對客戶所做的事情發表意見。但我想說的是，一般來說，我們的客戶想要考慮的第一件事，正如你所知，尼克，是嘗試最大限度地提高任何給定區域的塔可用性，因為這是在大範圍內部部署頻譜的最便宜的方式和人口地區。我想如果我要對你的問題做出猜測的話，他們相信憑藉他們擁有的 C 頻段和中頻段頻譜的數量，他們可以在短期內用塔覆蓋這些區域。但正如我們所討論的，在某些時候，這不再是一個可用的選擇。

But at this point, in a lot of these markets we're talking about, which were very high-cost or very long-term projects that just weren't coming to fruition, I think they determined that they could add more to the overall macro network to take care of the demand in these areas.

但目前，在我們談論的許多市場中，這些市場成本非常高，或者是長期項目，只是沒有實現，我認為他們決定可以為整體增加更多宏網絡就照顧到了這些領域的需求。

Yes, I would just also add, these agreements were signed with these customers before the C-band spectrum was auctioned. So the fact of the matter is these cancellations, in totality of our contracts, these cancellations represent just 6% of our total small cell build program. And many of us have been in this industry for a long, long time and have done lots of build-to-suit agreements over the years. Typically, for every 100 search rings you get, 20 to 25 you have canceled and you're left building 60 or 70.

是的，我還要補充一點，這些協議是在拍賣 C 頻段頻譜之前與這些客戶簽署的。因此，事實是這些取消，在我們全部合約中，這些取消僅占我們小型基地台建設計劃總數的 6%。我們中的許多人已經在這個行業工作了很長很長時間，多年來簽訂了許多客製化協議。通常情況下，每獲得 100 個搜尋環，就會有 20 到 25 個被取消，剩下的就是 60 或 70 個。

So the fact that there hasn't been any type of large cancellation of groups of projects or nodes since these contracts were signed is actually amazing to me. So I look at it as a small portion of what the carriers are doing overall. And to Dan's point, they're actively trying to find other ways to solve their network densification or coverage issues.

因此，自從簽署這些合約以來，沒有出現任何類型的專案組或節點的大規模取消，這對我來說實際上是令人驚訝的。因此，我將其視為運營商整體工作的一小部分。對於 Dan 來說，他們正在積極尋找其他方法來解決網路緻密化或覆蓋問題。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆·施奈德，高盛。

I guess if you set aside the 7,000 node cancellations and look forward to what your carriers or customers are telling you about their demand for small cells over the next several years, is there anything that makes you think that the structural case for small cells is in any way unchanged? And specifically with respect to the increased return profile you sort of put on this business now, anything that makes you believe you can achieve your sort of longer-term small cell growth targets at that higher investment return rate?

我想，如果您將取消 7,000 個節點放在一邊，並期待您的運營商或客戶告訴您他們在未來幾年對小型蜂窩的需求，是否有任何事情讓您認為小型蜂窩的結構情況已經存在有什麼辦法不變嗎？特別是關於您現在對該業務增加的回報率，有什麼能讓您相信您可以以更高的投資回報率實現長期小基地台成長目標？

Yes. I mean, I'll start here, Dan. I mean, in terms of future growth, again, we believe this technology has good upside as the carriers, again, as I said, complete their mid-band deployments and consumers and businesses continue to be very data-hungry. We see the overall network structure as getting more densified, more distributed with the lowest latency networks you can find. And so to fill those types of hotspots and locations where macros are not suitable, we see this technology as being a perfect opportunity for the carriers.

是的。我的意思是，我將從這裡開始，丹。我的意思是，就未來的成長而言，我們相信這項技術具有良好的優勢，正如我所說，隨著營運商完成中頻部署，而消費者和企業仍然非常需要數據。我們認為整體網路結構變得更加密集、更加分散，且網路延遲最低。因此，為了填補那些不適合宏的熱點和位置，我們認為這項技術對於營運商來說是一個絕佳的機會。

And so there aren't that many companies that play in this arena on an independent basis. The carriers play in this arena themselves at times. And as we look into the future, we feel that if we set forth reasonable expectations in terms of how we underwrite this type of business, we'll be able to achieve that, particularly if it's a combination of colocations and anchor tenants. And that's obviously, as you guys know, what it's all about for us, it's colocation, right?

因此，獨立參與這個領域的公司並不多。運營商有時也會在這個舞台上發揮自己的作用。當我們展望未來時，我們認為，如果我們對如何承保此類業務提出合理的期望，我們將能夠實現這一目標，特別是如果它是主機代管和主力租戶的組合。顯然，正如你們所知，這對我們來說就是託管，對吧？

We're building in order to get colocations in the future. And if you think about this portfolio, there's been 65,000, 70,000 nodes put on air and the backlog of 40,000, the preponderance is colocation. So it's actually playing out. It's playing out a little longer than everybody thought. It's actually playing out to the point where the overall ROIC on this set of assets down the road is going to be admirable into some of the expectations that we're talking about.

我們正在建設，以便將來獲得主機託管。如果你考慮這個組合，已經有 65,000、70,000 個節點投入使用，積壓的節點有 40,000 個，其中大部分是主機託管。所以它實際上正在上演。它的播放時間比大家想像的還要長。事實上，目前這組資產的整體投資報酬率將令人欽佩，符合我們正在討論的一些期望。

That's helpful. And then maybe just as a follow-up on a different topic. Some of your peers in the enterprise fiber space have announced some deals tied to interconnection of data centers. So I'm wondering, is that any kind of opportunity you feel you would want to address or participate in? And does that kind of change your view on the expectations for the future growth in your fiber business and maybe your expectations around a price in terms of a potential asset build?

這很有幫助。然後也許只是作為另一個主題的後續行動。企業光纖領域的一些同行已經宣布了一些與資料中心互連相關的交易。所以我想知道，這是您認為想要解決或參與的任何機會嗎？這是否會改變您對光纖業務未來成長的預期以及您對潛在資產建設價格的預期？

I think generally, as Steven was talking about in some of the prepared remarks, the increase in demand over networks is positive for our business because we have assets in very good markets that we believe will have good demand over time. Some of the specifics about what you're talking about, I do not believe that our footprint or strategy. So the idea of connecting large AI-focused data centers are being built in more rural locations because land costs are cheap and then connected into the market, into the big markets where people are via fiber, we're not interested in building that type of fiber because we don't see that as supporting our overall strategy of having fiber solutions and small cells together where we think the densest network demand will come. And we don't see it as much as a shared infrastructure model as a build-for-suit infrastructure model, and that's just not what we do.

我認為總的來說，正如史蒂文在一些準備好的發言中所說的那樣，網絡需求的增加對我們的業務是積極的，因為我們在非常好的市場擁有資產，我們相信隨著時間的推移，這些市場將有良好的需求。關於你所說的一些細節，我不相信我們的足跡或策略。因此，連接大型人工智慧資料中心的想法正在更多農村地區建立，因為土地成本便宜，然後連接到市場，連接到人們透過光纖進入的大市場，我們對建造這種類型的資料中心不感興趣。 ，因為我們認為這不能支持我們將光纖解決方案和小基地台結合在一起的整體策略，我們認為網路需求最密集的地方將會出現。我們並不將其視為共享基礎設施模型，而是將其視為量身定制的基礎設施模型，而這並不是我們所做的。

Part of the answer to your question is no, we do not see the same type of outcome for us as we've seen in other companies' announcements recently. Not to say those are bad deals to do or bad businesses, it's just not for us. But we do see a tremendous opportunity ahead of us to connect data centers in metro markets that already exist that we think are going to be extremely valuable because we have a footprint that is very difficult to replicate in dense metro markets. We have lots of fiber under lots of streets already.

您的問題的部分答案是否定的，我們沒有看到與我們最近在其他公司的公告中看到的相同類型的結果。並不是說這些都是糟糕的交易或糟糕的生意，只是不適合我們。但我們確實看到了一個巨大的機會，可以連接已經存在的城域市場中的資料中心，我們認為這將非常有價值，因為我們的足跡很難在密集的城域市場中複製。我們已經在很多街道下面鋪設了很多光纖。

And so connecting into where we can connect each data center to another data center and making a ring, we think we are well positioned for that type of demand. And we think that type of demand or will be part of the growth in traffic going forward because part of the way that we think the networks will expand is for each individual user not to go to one data center but to try to be on-ramped into all sorts of different data centers and on-ramped into the network and into different AI locations. Whatever is the most efficient way to move the data or most efficient way to compute the data is where the people are going to try to find. And we'll allow for that optimization to happen more readily because of where our assets are.

因此，我們可以將每個資料中心連接到另一個資料中心並形成一個環，我們認為我們已經做好了滿足此類需求的準備。我們認為這種類型的需求或將成為未來流量成長的一部分，因為我們認為網路擴展的部分方式是每個單獨的用戶不去一個資料中心，而是嘗試進入斜坡進入各種不同的資料中心，並進入網路和不同的人工智慧位置。人們將努力尋找行動數據最有效的方法或計算數據的最有效方法。由於我們的資產所在，我們將允許更容易進行最佳化。

So we think there's tremendous opportunity for us from the AI workloads that are coming, just very different than building into data centers built directly for AI in very low-cost areas. And what we see that meaning is whether we believe we are the right owners of this business or whether we think we come to the conclusion that we are moving on and somebody else is a better owner, that demand increases the value of our assets and we're excited about that.

因此，我們認為即將到來的人工智慧工作負載為我們帶來了巨大的機會，這與在成本非常低的地區直接為人工智慧建立資料中心非常不同。我們所看到的含義是，我們是否相信我們是該企業的正確所有者，或者我們是否認為我們得出的結論是我們正在繼續前進，而其他人是更好的所有者，這種需求增加了我們資產的價值，而我們對此感到興奮。

Richard Choe, JPMorgan.

理查崔，摩根大通。

I had a follow-up on the tower business. In terms of gaining more share, do you expect that to come from national players or more regional players? And then regarding the small cell cancellations, of that $800 million that would have hit in 2025 and '26, how should we look at that small cell CapEx? Was that CapEx going to be added on to the existing run rate? Or is potentially some of it was already in the run rate and could be brought down?

我對塔樓業務進行了跟進。在獲得更多份額方面，您預計來自國內企業還是更多地區企業？然後，關於小型蜂窩基地台的取消，在 2025 年和 26 年將達到的 8 億美元中，我們應該如何看待小型蜂窩基地台的資本支出？該資本支出是否會加到現有的運作率中？或者其中一些可能已經在運行率中並且可能會降低？

Want to start with that and I'll go back?

想從那裡開始然後我就回去嗎？

Yes, I'll start with the CapEx question on the small cells. Yes, Richard, it's hard for me to say what would be in or out of run rate because we haven't given long-term guidance of what we think the capital would be. So all I can say is that whatever capital we thought we were going to spend in 2025 and 2026 is lower now than it would have been otherwise. And in trying to relate it to what we've done historically, it's hard to do because both the magnitude, the overall number of nodes that we're constructing and the colocation and anchor build mix has been different over time.

是的，我將從有關小型基地台的資本支出問題開始。是的，理查德，我很難說運行率是多少，因為我們還沒有對我們認為的資本給予長期指導。所以我只能說，無論我們原以為 2025 年和 2026 年要花的資本現在都比原本要低的多。在試圖將其與我們歷史上所做的事情聯繫起來時，這很難做到，因為我們正在構建的節點總數以及託管和錨點構建組合隨著時間的推移而有所不同。

But you can assume that in our past build, we have built a lot of anchor builds; we've talked about that. And therefore, the capital intensity of the business was higher historically than we believe it will be going forward, both because we've cut off this $800 million and because the majority of our backlog now, over 70%, is colocation as opposed to anchor build. So like I said, it's hard to relate to what the run rate would be, but compared to what we've spent to date, we will be more capital efficient going forward.

但你可以假設在我們過去的構建中，我們已經建造了很多錨定構建；我們已經討論過了。因此，從歷史上看，該業務的資本密集度比我們認為的未來更高，這既是因為我們已經削減了這8 億美元，也因為我們現在的大部分積壓（超過70%）是託管而不是錨定建造。正如我所說，很難與運行率聯繫起來，但與我們迄今為止的支出相比，我們未來的資本效率將更高。

Richard, in terms of market share, I would say two things: One, we're trying to get to the position where we continually improve, continually up the ante on customer service and have the large nationwide carriers look to us as being a preferred supplier. And so that's pretty critical to us. And we think, again, part of these comprehensive agreements and part of what we're doing operationally with improvement will probably enable us to get there at some point in the near future. The other area that we need to focus on more is in the vertical area, which is those regional and smaller customers, whether it's government entities, whether it's WISPs, different types of broadcasters.

理查德，就市場份額而言，我想說兩件事：第一，我們正在努力達到不斷改進的地位，不斷提高客戶服務的賭注，並使大型全國性運營商將我們視為首選供應商。所以這對我們來說非常重要。我們再次認為，這些全面協議的一部分以及我們在營運方面所做的改進工作的一部分可能會讓我們在不久的將來的某個時候實現這一目標。我們需要更多關注的另一個領域是垂直領域，也就是那些區域性和小型客戶，無論是政府實體、WISP、不同類型的廣播公司。

So we've had an effort there. We have to do a better job. So I think between a combination of those two things, it should help us be able to maximize share in a little bit better way than we've been doing now.

所以我們已經在這方面做了努力。我們必須做得更好。因此，我認為將這兩件事結合起來，應該可以幫助我們以比現在更好的方式最大化份額。

And Dave, I think we have time for one more question.

戴夫，我想我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Batya Levi, UBS.

巴蒂亞‧萊維，瑞銀集團。

A couple of follow-ups. First, on the 7,000 small cell cancellation. Can you talk about if that's more concentrated in one region? And does that leave you with some maybe fiber assets that will not be utilized now if they could be monetized? And the second question on tower business, how should we think about churn excluding announced churn?

一些後續行動。一是關於7000個小基地台的取消。您能談談這是否更集中在一個地區嗎？這是否會為您留下一些可能現在不會被利用的光纖資產（如果它們可以貨幣化）？關於塔業務的第二個問題，除了已宣布的流失之外，我們該如何考慮流失？

I think you have some higher renewals coming up in the next two years beyond the top three. Are you seeing any change in the competitive environment maybe from private tower companies and kind of like any change in the renewal pricing?

我認為未來兩年​​除了前三名之外，還會有一些更高的續約。您是否看到競爭環境發生任何變化（可能來自私人鐵塔公司）以及續訂定價方面的任何變化？

Yes. Batya, on the 7,000 nodes, there's no one reason I would point to that was concentrated in. There were specific markets but there weren't specific markets in one region. So I would not say that we had one place that is now no longer building small cells. It's more many places but concentrated in those places. And while we have some assets that we built, the reason that we had to take a write-off as part of this process was a lot of the CapEx that had been spent was not on hard assets but on the preparation of a lot of these, like we've said, we've had a hard time getting to actually building stuff and it was costing way too much.

是的。Batya，在 7,000 個節點上，我沒有指出這一點集中在哪一個原因。有特定市場，但某一地區沒有特定市場。因此，我不會說我們有一處地方現在不再建造小型蜂巢式基地台。地方比較多，但是集中在那些地方。雖然我們建造了一些資產，但作為此過程的一部分，我們必須進行沖銷的原因是，已花費的大量資本支出不是用於硬資產，而是用於準備許多這些資產。 ，我們很難真正建造東西，而且成本太高。

So we hadn't made it very far into a lot of the actual build for these things. So there is not a tremendous amount of fiber that is left over that we had built. And to the extent that we did build fiber in these markets, they're generally good markets that we see demand both from fiber solutions and small cells going forward. So I would not call them stranded or underutilized or unutilized assets going forward. We believe we can use some of those assets to deliver services to our customers going forward.

所以我們並沒有在這些東西的實際建構中做太多的工作。因此，我們建造的光纖並沒有剩下太多。就我們確實在這些市場建造光纖而言，它們通常是良好的市場，我們看到光纖解決方案和小型基地台的未來需求。因此，我不會將它們稱為未來擱淺或未充分利用或未利用的資產。我們相信我們可以利用其中一些資產來為我們的客戶提供未來的服務。

About churn?

關於客戶流失？

On the tower churn, what we've said for a long time is we see 1% to 2% churn in the tower business. We've been on the very low end of that when we haven't had much tower churn from spreads to date. But when you exclude the $200 million in 2025, we still believe we'll be on the low end of that range. And we have not seen a significant difference in the competitive profile of our business and it's because of how good the business is.

關於鐵塔流失率，我們長期以來一直說鐵塔業務的流失率為 1% 到 2%。到目前為止，當我們還沒有因利差而出現太多塔樓流失時，我們一直處於非常低的水平。但如果排除 2025 年的 2 億美元，我們仍然相信我們將處於該範圍的低端。我們還沒有看到我們業務的競爭狀況有顯著差異，這是因為業務有多好。

It's very difficult to make a change in a tower company when you already have that thing up on a tower. It costs money to bring it down, it costs money to build a new one. So what we have found is very limited amounts of churn because the underlying business model has been very positive for us and for our peers as well.

當你已經在塔上安裝了這樣的東西時，要在塔公司做出改變是非常困難的。拆掉它需要花錢，建造一個新的也需要花錢。因此，我們發現流失量非常有限，因為潛在的商業模式對我們和我們的同行來說都是非常正面的。

And I think it specifically calls out our asset base, which is urban and suburban. So it's just very difficult to try to replicate any type of site in the suburbs of Greenwich, Connecticut or the outskirts of Washington, DC, or Raleigh, North Carolina. So in these major cities where we have most of our footprint, we feel like we have a real good moat and are well protected against churn.

我認為它特別指出了我們的資產基礎，即城市和郊區。因此，嘗試在康乃狄克州格林威治郊區、華盛頓特區郊區或北卡羅來納州羅利郊區複製任何類型的站點都是非常困難的。因此，在我們足跡最多的這些主要城市，我們感覺自己擁有一條真正良好的護城河，並且得到了很好的保護，免受客戶流失。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。