Cogent Communications Holdings Inc (CCOI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Cogent Communications Holdings Fourth Quarter 2022 and Full Year 2022 Earnings conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, and it will be available for replay at www.cogentco.com. A transcript of this conference call will be posted on Cogent's website when it becomes available. Cogent's summary of financial and operational results attached to its press release can be downloaded from the Cogent website. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Dave Schaeffer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cogent Communications Holdings. Please go ahead, sir.

早上好，歡迎來到 Cogent Communications Holdings 2022 年第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。提醒一下，此電話會議正在錄製中，可在 www.cogentco.com 上重播。此電話會議的文字記錄將在可用時發佈在 Cogent 的網站上。可從 Cogent 網站下載其新聞稿所附的 Cogent 財務和運營結果摘要。我現在想把電話轉給 Cogent Communications Holdings 董事長兼首席執行官 Dave Schaeffer 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our fourth quarter 2022 and Full Year 2022 Earnings conference call. I'm Dave Schaeffer, Cogent's CEO and with me on this morning's call is Thad Weed, our Chief Financial Officer. Hopefully, you've had a chance to review our earnings press release. Our press release includes a number of historical quarterly metrics and we present these in a consistent way each quarter.

謝謝大家，早上好。歡迎來到我們的 2022 年第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。我是 Cogent 的首席執行官 Dave Schaeffer，和我一起參加今天上午電話會議的是我們的首席財務官 Thad Weed。希望您有機會閱讀我們的收益新聞稿。我們的新聞稿包括許多歷史季度指標，我們每個季度都以一致的方式呈現這些指標。

Now for a couple of comments on our results. Our revenue growth accelerated this quarter and our corporate revenues increased by 0.3%. Our revenue for the quarter increased sequentially by 1.3% to $152 million, an increase of 3.2% year-over-year. Our revenue increased by 1.7% for full year to $599.6 million. On a constant currency basis, our quarterly revenue grew year-over-year by 5.5%. And for full year, on a constant currency basis, our revenue growth was 3.9%. On a constant currency basis and also adjusting for the negative impact of universal service fee revenues on our revenue quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year on a quarterly basis, our revenues grew by 5.7% and for full year 2022 grew by 4.4%.

現在就我們的結果發表一些評論。本季度我們的收入增長加速，我們的企業收入增長了 0.3%。我們本季度的收入環比增長 1.3% 至 1.52 億美元，同比增長 3.2%。我們全年的收入增長了 1.7%，達到 5.996 億美元。按固定匯率計算，我們的季度收入同比增長 5.5%。全年，按固定匯率計算，我們的收入增長率為 3.9%。在固定匯率的基礎上，並針對普遍服務費收入對我們收入的環比或同比收入的負面影響進行調整，我們的收入增長了 5.7%，2022 年全年增長了 4.4% %。

Our corporate business continues to be influenced by real estate activity in central business district. Key statistics that we look at are building entries as measured by security card swipes in buildings and leasing activities that year-to-date indicate that while the central business district markets have seen some improvement, this improvement continues at a slow pace and is still not at pre-pandemic levels. We continue to remain cautious about the outlook for our corporate revenue growth given the uncertain economic environment and other challenges as a result of emerging from the pandemic.

我們的企業業務繼續受到中央商務區房地產活動的影響。我們關注的主要統計數據是通過建築物安全卡刷卡和租賃活動衡量的建築物條目，這些數據表明，雖然中央商務區市場有所改善，但這種改善仍在緩慢進行，而且仍然沒有處於大流行前的水平。鑑於不確定的經濟環境和大流行帶來的其他挑戰，我們繼續對我們的企業收入增長前景保持謹慎。

Our NetCentric business continues to benefit from accelerating continued growth in video, traffic and streaming. For the quarter, our network traffic was up 11% sequentially and traffic growth accelerated on a full year basis to 25% year-over-year. For full year, our network traffic growth continues to improve. On a U.S. GAAP basis, our NetCentric revenue growth grew sequentially by 2.6% and grew by 9.6% year-over-year. On a constant currency basis, our NetCentric revenue growth for the quarter increased by 15.2% from the fourth quarter of 2021 and for full year 2022 grew by 16.7%.

我們的 NetCentric 業務繼續受益於視頻、流量和流媒體的持續加速增長。本季度，我們的網絡流量環比增長 11%，全年流量增長加速至 25%。全年，我們的網絡流量增長持續改善。根據美國公認會計原則，我們的 NetCentric 收入環比增長 2.6%，同比增長 9.6%。按固定匯率計算，我們本季度的 NetCentric 收入增長比 2021 年第四季度增長了 15.2%，2022 年全年增長了 16.7%。

Our sales force rep productivity was impacted by the rapid expansion of our sales force. Our rep productivity was 3.8 orders installed per full time equivalent per month. We increased the number of sales reps this quarter by 26 or 5%. We ended the quarter with 548 reps and 503 full-time equivalents. This is an increase of 8.2% in full-time equivalent sales reps. For full year 2022, we increased our sales force by a net number of $58 million or 11.8%. Our average rep tenure decline due to this rapid pace of sales force expansion and did have a negative impact on full-time equivalent sales rep productivity.

我們的銷售人員代表生產力受到銷售人員快速擴張的影響。我們的代表生產率是每個全職工作人員每月安裝 3.8 個訂單。本季度我們將銷售代表的數量增加了 26 或 5%。本季度結束時，我們有 548 名代表和 503 名全職代表。全職等效銷售代表增加了 8.2%。 2022 年全年，我們的銷售人員淨增 5800 萬美元或 11.8%。由於銷售隊伍的快速擴張，我們的平均銷售代表任期有所下降，並且確實對全職等效銷售代表的生產率產生了負面影響。

Now I'd like to take a moment and talk about our progress in closing our pending merger for the Sprint T-Mobile wireline business. We are diligently working to close our acquisition of the Sprint Wireline business with T-Mobile. We have received all material approvals from regulatory agencies globally, including in the U.S., the FCC and the California Public Service Commission. We anticipate this acquisition will close in the second quarter of 2023. We did incur approximately $200,000 in professional fees associated with this acquisition in the quarter and for full year 2022, approximately $2.2 million in fees associated with the acquisition.

現在我想花點時間談談我們在完成 Sprint T-Mobile 有線業務的未決合併方面取得的進展。我們正在努力完成與 T-Mobile 對 Sprint Wireline 業務的收購。我們已獲得全球監管機構的所有材料批准，包括美國聯邦通信委員會和加州公共服務委員會。我們預計此次收購將在 2023 年第二季度完成。我們確實在本季度和 2022 年全年產生了與此次收購相關的大約 200,000 美元的專業費用，與收購相關的費用約為 220 萬美元。

We anticipate Sprint wireline revenues at year-end 2021 were $560 million. We also anticipate that the run rate at time of closing will be an annual number of approximately $450 million. We ultimately expect the number of Sprint wireline products to be reduced dramatically from approximately 30 unique products or SKUs today down to four. We have begun to sell the wavelength service this quarter to our customers through a commercial resale agreement with T-Mobile. Over the next three years, we expect to continue to achieve significant cost savings through the integration of our networks, approximately reducing the network expense of the Sprint wireline network in North America by $180 million, achieving approximately $25 million in savings in the rest of the world on the Sprint wireline network; and then finally, achieving $15 million of savings for Cogent in its operation and maintenance expense for its North American network. We anticipate also additional SG&A savings and other cost and revenue synergies over the next several years. With all of the regulatory approvals now in hand, we do feel the transaction is imminent to close in the second quarter of 2023.

我們預計 2021 年底 Sprint 有線收入為 5.6 億美元。我們還預計，關閉時的年運行率約為 4.5 億美元。我們最終預計 Sprint 有線產品的數量將從今天的大約 30 種獨特產品或 SKU 大幅減少到 4 種。本季度我們已開始通過與 T-Mobile 的商業轉售協議向我們的客戶銷售波長服務。在接下來的三年裡，我們預計通過整合我們的網絡繼續實現顯著的成本節約，大約將北美 Sprint 有線網絡的網絡費用減少 1.8 億美元，在其餘地區實現約 2500 萬美元的節省。 Sprint 有線網絡上的世界；最後，Cogent 為其北美網絡的運營和維護費用節省了 1500 萬美元。我們預計未來幾年還會有額外的 SG&A 節省以及其他成本和收入協同效應。現在所有的監管批准都在手，我們確實認為交易即將在 2023 年第二季度完成。

Now for a comment on our dividend and buyback strategy. During the quarter, we returned $44 million to our shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend. And for full year 2022, we returned $169.9 million to shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend payments. Our Board of Directors, which reflected on our strong cash-generating capabilities, investment opportunities and the pending merger with Sprint decided to increase our quarterly dividend yet again by $0.01 sequentially this quarter, raising our quarterly dividend from $0.915 per share to $0.925 per share. This represents the 42nd consecutive sequential quarter of growing our regularly dividend and the annualized growth rate in this dividend is now approximately 4.4%.

現在就我們的股息和回購策略發表評論。本季度，我們通過定期季度股息向股東返還了 4400 萬美元。在 2022 年全年，我們通過定期的季度股息支付向股東返還了 1.699 億美元。我們的董事會反映了我們強大的現金產生能力、投資機會以及與 Sprint 即將進行的合併，決定本季度再次將季度股息連續增加 0.01 美元，將我們的季度股息從每股 0.915 美元提高到每股 0.925 美元。這是我們連續第 42 個連續增加定期股息的季度，該股息的年化增長率現在約為 4.4%。

Now for a couple of expectations about our long-term guidance. Once we have combined with the Sprint wireline businesses, we anticipate an annual revenue growth rate of between 5% and 7% and an annual EBITDA margin expansions on the combined business of approximately 100 basis points per year. Our revenue and EBITDA guidance targets are intended to be multiyear goals and are not intended to be used as quarterly or even annual guidance.

現在對我們的長期指導有一些期望。一旦我們與 Sprint 有線業務合併，我們預計年收入增長率將在 5% 至 7% 之間，合併後業務的年度 EBITDA 利潤率將增加約 100 個基點。我們的收入和 EBITDA 指導目標旨在成為多年目標，不打算用作季度甚至年度指導。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Tad Weed for safe harbor language and provide a further review of some of our operating performance in the quarter. And then I will read the way and following these remarks, we will open the floor for questions and answers. Tad?

現在我想把電話轉給 Tad Weed 以尋求安全港語言，並進一步審查我們在本季度的一些經營業績。然後我將閱讀方式並在這些評論之後，我們將開始提問和回答。泰德？

Yes. Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. This earnings conference call includes forward-looking statements, and these forward-looking statements are based upon our current intent, belief and expectations. These forward-looking statements and all other statements that may be made on this call and are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on the factors that could cause actual results to differ. Cogent undertakes no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements. If we use non-GAAP financial measures during this call, you will find these reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measurement in our earnings releases, which are posted on our website at cogentco.com. Like many companies, we continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and our risks related to COVID-19 and other risk factors are described in more detail in our annual report on Form K for 2022 that will be filed this week, end of this week, and in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

是的。謝謝你，戴夫，大家早上好。本次收益電話會議包括前瞻性陳述，這些前瞻性陳述基於我們當前的意圖、信念和預期。這些前瞻性陳述和所有其他可能在此次電話會議上做出的非歷史事實的陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能存在重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果不同的因素的更多信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。 Cogent 不承擔更新或修改我們的前瞻性陳述的義務。如果我們在本次電話會議期間使用非 GAAP 財務指標，您會發現這些指標與我們發佈在我們網站 cogentco.com 上的收益發布中相應的 GAAP 指標相一致。與許多公司一樣，我們繼續受到 COVID-19 大流行的影響，我們將在本週末提交的 2022 年 Form K 年度報告中更詳細地描述了與 COVID-19 和其他風險因素相關的風險本週，以及我們關於 10-Q 表格的季度報告。

On corporate NetCentric revenue and customer connections, we analyze our revenues based upon network connection type, which are on-net, off-net and noncore, and we also analyze our revenues based upon customer type. We classify all of our customers into two types, NetCentric customers and corporate customers. Our corporate customers buy bandwidth from us in large multi-tenant office buildings or in carrier-neutral data centers. These customers are typically professional services firms, financial services firms and educational institutions located in multi-tenant office buildings or connected to our network through our carrier-neutral data center footprint.

在企業 NetCentric 收入和客戶連接方面，我們根據網絡連接類型（在線、離線和非核心）分析我們的收入，我們還根據客戶類型分析我們的收入。我們將所有客戶分為兩類：NetCentric 客戶和企業客戶。我們的企業客戶在大型多租戶辦公樓或運營商中立的數據中心向我們購買帶寬。這些客戶通常是專業服務公司、金融服務公司和教育機構，位於多租戶辦公樓中或通過我們的運營商中立數據中心足跡連接到我們的網絡。

Our NetCentric customers buy significant amounts of bandwidth from us in carrier-neutral data centers and include streaming companies and content distribution service providers as well as access networks who serve consumer and business customers. Our corporate business represented 56.4% of our revenues this quarter and 57.1% of our revenues for 2022. Our quarterly corporate revenue declined year-over-year by 1.2% to $85.8 million from the fourth quarter of 2021, but as Dave mentioned, increased sequentially by 0.3%.

我們的 NetCentric 客戶在運營商中立的數據中心從我們這裡購買大量帶寬，包括流媒體公司和內容分發服務提供商以及為消費者和企業客戶提供服務的接入網絡。我們的公司業務佔本季度收入的 56.4%，佔 2022 年收入的 57.1%。從 2021 年第四季度開始，我們的季度公司收入同比下降 1.2% 至 8580 萬美元，但正如 Dave 提到的那樣，環比增長減少 0.3%。

For full year 2022, our corporate revenues declined by 4.4% to $342.6 million. We had 44,844 corporate customer connections on our network at year-end. That was a sequential decrease of 0.7% and a year-over-year decline of 1.3%. Our total revenues and our corporate revenues were negatively impacted by changes in the USF tax rates on a year-over-year basis. For the quarter, the impact of USF on our revenues was flat, but there was a negative year-over-year impact of about $300,000 from the fourth quarter of last year. And for the full year, the negative impact of USF was $3.1 million.

2022 年全年，我們的企業收入下降 4.4% 至 3.426 億美元。年末，我們的網絡上有 44,844 個企業客戶連接。這是連續下降 0.7%，同比下降 1.3%。我們的總收入和公司收入受到 USF 稅率同比變化的負面影響。對於本季度，USF 對我們收入的影響持平，但與去年第四季度相比產生了約 300,000 美元的同比負面影響。對於全年，USF 的負面影響為 310 萬美元。

On a constant currency basis, and if you adjust for the year-over-year decline in USF revenues, our total revenues for the full year increased by 4.4%, substantially better than the comparable 2.4% constant currency in USF tax adjusted revenue growth rate from 2020 to 2021. Our NetCentric business, which represented 43.6% of our revenues this quarter, had another solid quarter and grew by 2.6% to $66.2 million sequentially and by 9.6% year-over-year. For the full year, our NetCentric revenue grew by 11.1% to $257 million. Again, as Dave mentioned, the volatility in foreign exchange primarily impacts our NetCentric revenues -- so on a constant currency basis, our quarterly NetCentric revenue decreased year-over-year by 15.2% and sequentially by 2.5%. And for the full year, NetCentric on a currency basis grew by 16.7%.

在固定匯率的基礎上，如果針對 USF 收入的同比下降進行調整，我們全年的總收入增長了 4.4%，大大好於 USF 稅收調整後收入增長率 2.4% 的可比固定貨幣從 2020 年到 2021 年。我們的 NetCentric 業務佔本季度收入的 43.6%，該季度又是一個穩定的季度，環比增長 2.6% 至 6620 萬美元，同比增長 9.6%。全年，我們的 NetCentric 收入增長了 11.1%，達到 2.57 億美元。同樣，正如 Dave 提到的，外匯波動主要影響我們的 NetCentric 收入——因此在固定匯率的基礎上，我們的季度 NetCentric 收入同比下降 15.2%，環比下降 2.5%。全年，NetCentric 按貨幣計算增長了 16.7%。

We had 51,670 NetCentric customer connections on our network at quarter end. That was a sequential increase of 1% and a year-over-year increase of 7%. Our on-net revenue was $114.9 million for the quarter, a sequential increase of 1.5% and a year-over-year increase of 3.8%. Our on-net revenue increased by 2.2% for the full year to $452.8 million. Our on-net customer connections were 82,620 at year-end. And we serve these on-net customers in our 3,155 total on-net multi-tenant office and carrier-neutral data center buildings. We continue to succeed in selling larger 100 gigabit connections and 400 gigabit connections in selected locations, which has increased our on-net ARPU.

截至季度末，我們的網絡上有 51,670 個 NetCentric 客戶連接。環比增長 1%，同比增長 7%。我們本季度的淨收入為 1.149 億美元，環比增長 1.5%，同比增長 3.8%。我們全年的淨收入增長了 2.2%，達到 4.528 億美元。年末我們的在線客戶連接數為 82,620。我們在總共 3,155 個在線多租戶辦公室和運營商中立的數據中心大樓中為這些在線客戶提供服務。我們繼續成功地在選定地點銷售更大的 100 Gb 連接和 400 Gb 連接，這增加了我們的在線 ARPU。

Our off-net revenue was $36.9 million for the quarter. That was a sequential increase of 0.7% and year-over-year of 1.6%. Our off-net revenues are impacted by incorporated the cost savings we obtained for lower local loop prices into our pricing to our customers. Our off-net customer connections were $13,531 at the end of the year, and we serve these off-net customers in about 8,300 off-net buildings that are primarily in North America. The average price per megabit for our installed base declined sequentially by 2.8% to $0.26 and the year-over-year by 19.6%. However, this annual rate of decline for our installed base was better than our historical long-term average of 21.5%. The average price per megabit for new contracts for the quarter was $0.13, sequential decline of 13.5% and year-over-year of 24%. Selling larger connections results in a change in our connection mix and has the effect of lowering our average price per megabit at a greater rate than changes in our ARPU. Regarding ARPU. Our on-net ARPU for the quarter increased and our off-net ARPU continued to decline but at a modest rate. From the lower pricing, again, we're obtaining for our off-net circuit vendors that we pass on to our off-net customers. Our on-net ARPU, which includes both corporate and NetCentric customers increased sequentially by 1.3% from $458 to $464. Our off-net ARPU, which is predominantly corporate customers, declined sequentially by 0.7% from $920 to $914. Our churn remains strong. Our sequential quarterly churn rates for our on-net and off-net connections were relatively stable and continue to hover around 1%. Our on-net unit churn rate was 1% for the quarter, a slight improvement from 1.1% last quarter and our off-net churn rate was 1.1% for this quarter compared to 1% last quarter.

本季度我們的網外收入為 3690 萬美元。環比增長 0.7%，同比增長 1.6%。我們的網外收入受到將我們因降低本地環路價格而獲得的成本節省納入我們對客戶的定價的影響。截至年底，我們的網外客戶連接為 13,531 美元，我們在主要位於北美的大約 8,300 座網外建築中為這些網外客戶提供服務。我們已安裝基礎的每兆比特平均價格環比下降 2.8% 至 0.26 美元，同比下降 19.6%。但是，我們安裝基數的年下降率好於我們 21.5% 的歷史長期平均水平。本季度新合同的每兆平均價格為 0.13 美元，環比下降 13.5%，同比下降 24%。銷售更大的連接會導致我們的連接組合發生變化，並且會以比我們的 ARPU 變化更快的速度降低我們的每兆比特平均價格。關於ARPU。我們本季度的在線 ARPU 有所增加，而我們的離線 ARPU 繼續下降，但下降幅度不大。同樣，我們從較低的價格中為我們的離線電路供應商獲取，我們將其傳遞給我們的離線客戶。我們的在線 ARPU（包括企業和 NetCentric 客戶）從 458 美元連續增長 1.3% 至 464 美元。我們的網外 ARPU（主要是企業客戶）從 920 美元連續下降 0.7% 至 914 美元。我們的客戶流失率仍然很高。我們的在線和離線連接的連續季度流失率相對穩定，並繼續徘徊在 1% 左右。我們本季度的網內單位流失率為 1%，比上一季度的 1.1% 略有改善，本季度我們的網外流失率為 1.1%，而上一季度為 1%。

In order to reduce our customer turnover, we employed a dedicated sales group that works to retain customers who have indicated that they are considering terminating their service with us, we may offer pricing discounts to these customers in order to induce them to reverse their termination decision to purchase additional services from us and/or to extend the term of their contracts with us.

為了減少我們的客戶流失率，我們聘請了一個專門的銷售團隊，致力於留住表示他們正在考慮終止與我們的服務的客戶，我們可能會向這些客戶提供價格折扣，以誘使他們改變終止決定從我們這裡購買額外的服務和/或延長他們與我們的合同期限。

During the quarter, certain of our NetCentric customers took advantage of our volume and contract term discounts and entered into long-term contracts with us for over 2,150 customer connections and that increased their revenue commitment to Cogent by over $20 million. Some comments on EBITDA and EBITDA margin. Again, we reconcile our EBITDA to our cash flow from operations in each of our quarterly earnings press releases. Seasonal factors that typically impact our EBITDA and predominantly our SG&A expenses include the resetting of payroll taxes in the U.S. at the beginning of each year, annual cost of living or CPI increases, seasonal vacation periods, year-end bonuses paid to our employees and the timing and level of audit and tax services and now Sprint acquisition costs and also annual benefit plan cost increases.

在本季度，我們的某些 NetCentric 客戶利用我們的數量和合同期限折扣，與我們就超過 2,150 個客戶聯繫簽訂了長期合同，這使他們對 Cogent 的收入承諾增加了超過 2000 萬美元。關於 EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率的一些評論。同樣，我們在每個季度收益新聞稿中將我們的 EBITDA 與我們的運營現金流量進行核對。通常影響我們的 EBITDA 和主要影響我們的 SG&A 費用的季節性因素包括每年年初美國工資稅的重置、年度生活成本或 CPI 增長、季節性假期、支付給我們員工的年終獎金以及審計和稅務服務的時間安排和水平，現在 Sprint 的收購成本以及年度福利計劃成本增加。

We incurred $2.2 million of Sprint acquisition costs for the full year and about $200,000 in the fourth quarter. Our EBITDA for the quarter, inclusive of the Sprint acquisition costs decreased sequentially by $0.7 million and decreased by $0.3 million year-over-year. Our EBITDA for full year 2022, inclusive of these costs increased sequentially by 1.2% to $230.6 million. Our fourth quarter and full year 2022 EBITDA results were impacted by the increase in our sales rep headcount, increased circuit costs related to our international expansion; and a year and $1.5 million onetime bonus that we granted to our eligible employees to help to offset the impact of inflation.

我們全年發生了 220 萬美元的 Sprint 收購成本，第四季度發生了約 200,000 美元。我們本季度的 EBITDA（包括 Sprint 收購成本）環比下降 70 萬美元，同比下降 30 萬美元。我們 2022 年全年的 EBITDA（包括這些成本）環比增長 1.2% 至 2.306 億美元。我們的第四季度和 2022 年全年 EBITDA 結果受到銷售代表人數增加、與國際擴張相關的電路成本增加的影響；我們向符合條件的員工發放了一年 150 萬美元的一次性獎金，以幫助抵消通貨膨脹的影響。

Our quarterly EBITDA margin inclusive of Sprint costs decreased sequentially by 100 basis points to 37.6% and year-over-year by 140 basis points. For the full year, our EBITDA margin inclusive of Sprint decreased sequentially by 10 basis points to 38.5%. Excluding Sprint acquisition costs, for the full year, our EBITDA increased by 2.2%, and our margin decreased sequentially by 220 basis points to 37.8% for the quarter and year-over-year by 120 basis points. For the full year 2022, our EBITDA margin, excluding Sprint increased sequentially by 20 basis points to 38.8%.

我們的季度 EBITDA 利潤率（包括 Sprint 成本）連續下降 100 個基點至 37.6%，同比下降 140 個基點。全年，我們的 EBITDA 利潤率（包括 Sprint）連續下降 10 個基點至 38.5%。不包括 Sprint 的收購成本，全年我們的 EBITDA 增長了 2.2%，我們的利潤率環比下降 220 個基點至 37.8%，同比下降 120 個基點。 2022 年全年，我們的 EBITDA 利潤率（不包括 Sprint）環比增長 20 個基點至 38.8%。

Comments on foreign currency. Our revenue earned outside of the United States is reported in U.S. dollars and was approximately 25% of our total quarterly revenues this quarter. About 16% of our revenues this quarter were based in Europe and 9% of our revenues were related to our Canadian, Mexican, Asia Pacific, South American and African operations. Our average euro to USD rate so far this quarter is about $1.08 and the Canadian average rate to USD is about $0.75. If these average rates remain for the remainder of the quarter, the first quarter of 2023, the foreign exchange estimated impact on sequential revenues would be positive by $1.4 million, but year-over-year would be negative by the same amount, $1.4 million. We believe that our revenue and customer base is not highly concentrated. Our top 25 customers represented again about 6% of our revenues this quarter.

對外彙的評論。我們在美國境外賺取的收入以美元報告，約佔本季度季度總收入的 25%。本季度我們約 16% 的收入來自歐洲，9% 的收入與我們的加拿大、墨西哥、亞太地區、南美和非洲業務有關。本季度到目前為止，我們的歐元兌美元平均匯率約為 1.08 美元，加拿大兌美元的平均匯率約為 0.75 美元。如果這些平均匯率在本季度的剩餘時間（即 2023 年第一季度）保持不變，則外匯估計對連續收入的影響將增加 140 萬美元，但同比將減少相同的數額，即 140 萬美元。我們認為我們的收入和客戶群並不高度集中。我們的前 25 大客戶再次占我們本季度收入的 6% 左右。

Our quarterly CapEx expenditures decreased sequentially to $19.6 million and were $79 million for the full year. Supply chain uncertainty and purchases in anticipation of the closing of our Sprint acquisition caused us to shift our typical purchasing schedule for network equipment. These anticipatory investments are designed to ensure that we have satisfactory inventory levels of network equipment to accommodate our growth plans, including new wavelength product offerings as a result of the Sprint acquisition and the interconnection of our two networks together in multiple locations to meet our customer needs.

我們的季度資本支出連續下降至 1960 萬美元，全年為 7900 萬美元。供應鏈的不確定性和預期完成對 Sprint 收購的採購導致我們改變了網絡設備的典型採購計劃。這些預期投資旨在確保我們擁有令人滿意的網絡設備庫存水平，以適應我們的增長計劃，包括因收購 Sprint 而提供的新波長產品，以及我們兩個網絡在多個地點的互連，以滿足我們的客戶需求.

Some balance sheet comments. Our finance lease IRU obligations are for long-term dark fiber leases and typically have initial terms of 15 to 20 years or longer and often include multiple renewal options after the initial term. Our longest term lease is for 44 years. Our current IRU finance lease obligations totaled $304.2 million at year-end. We have a very diverse set of IRU suppliers, and we have IRU contracts with a total of 308 different dark fiber suppliers.

一些資產負債表評論。我們的融資租賃 IRU 義務適用於長期暗光纖租賃，初始期限通常為 15 至 20 年或更長時間，並且通常包括初始期限後的多次續約選擇。我們最長的租約是 44 年。截至年底，我們目前的 IRU 融資租賃義務總計 3.042 億美元。我們有一組非常多樣化的 IRU 供應商，我們與總共 308 家不同的暗光纖供應商簽訂了 IRU 合同。

At quarter end, our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash was $275.9 million. $52.1 million of restricted cash is tied to the estimated fair value of our interest rate swap agreement. Our cash flow from operations was $36.3 million for the quarter and $173.7 million for the year. Our total gross debt at par, including IRU obligations, was $1.3 billion at year-end, and our net debt was $978.3 million. Our total gross debt to trailing last 12 months EBITDA adjusted for Sprint costs, the ratio was 5.39x at quarter end, and our net debt was $4.2 million. Our consolidated leverage ratio, as calculated under our indentures, slightly different, 5.32% and our secured leverage ratio was 3.41%, and our fixed coverage ratio as calculated under the indentures was 3.49.

在季度末，我們的現金和現金等價物以及受限制的現金為 2.759 億美元。 5210 萬美元的受限現金與我們的利率掉期協議的估計公允價值掛鉤。我們本季度的運營現金流為 3630 萬美元，全年為 1.737 億美元。截至年底，我們的總債務總額（包括 IRU 債務）為 13 億美元，淨債務為 9.783 億美元。我們的總債務與過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 根據 Sprint 成本進行了調整，該比率在季度末為 5.39 倍，我們的淨債務為 420 萬美元。根據我們的契約計算，我們的綜合槓桿率略有不同，為 5.32%，我們的擔保槓桿率為 3.41%，根據契約計算的固定覆蓋率為 3.49。

We are party to an interest rate swap agreement that modifies our fixed interest rate obligation with our $500 million 2026 notes to a variable interest rate obligation based on the secured overnight financing rate for the remaining term of these notes. We record the estimated fair value of the swap agreement at the end of each reporting period, and we incur corresponding noncash gains or losses due to changes in market interest rates. At quarter end, the fair value of the swap agreement decreased from last quarter by $2.6 million to $52.1 million. We are required to maintain a restricted cash balance with the counterparty equal to the liability, the settlement payments under the swap agreement are made each November and May. Under our initial payment made in November 2021, we achieved a net cash savings, interest savings of $0.6 million and for the next payment for the period of August 21 to October 2021. The next payment, I'm sorry, under the payment that we made in May 2022 was additional savings of $1.2 million for the period for November 21 to April 30, 22. The -- and under the previous settlement payment that we made in November 22, we had a net cash cost of $3.4 million for the period from May to October 2022.

我們簽署了一項利率互換協議，該協議將我們的 5 億美元 2026 年票據的固定利率義務修改為基於這些票據剩餘期限的擔保隔夜融資利率的可變利率義務。我們在每個報告期末記錄掉期協議的估計公允價值，並且由於市場利率的變化而產生相應的非現金收益或損失。季度末，掉期協議的公允價值較上一季度減少 260 萬美元至 5210 萬美元。我們需要與交易對手保持與負債相等的受限現金餘額，掉期協議項下的結算付款於每年 11 月和 5 月進行。根據我們在 2021 年 11 月進行的首筆付款，我們實現了 60 萬美元的淨現金儲蓄和 60 萬美元的利息儲蓄，以及下一次付款時間為 8 月 21 日至 2021 年 10 月。對不起，下一次付款是我們支付的款項2022 年 5 月支付的款項為 11 月 21 日至 22 年 4 月 30 日期間額外節省了 120 萬美元。根據我們在 11 月 22 日支付的上一筆結算款項，我們在此期間的淨現金成本為 340 萬美元從 2022 年 5 月到 10 月。

Finally, some comments on bad debt and day sales, which were excellent for the year and for the quarter. Our bad debt expense was only 0.5% of our revenues for the quarter and 0.4% of our revenues for the year. That was an improvement of 0.6% of our revenues from last year. Our days sales outstanding is very consistent and excellent at 22 days at year-end. We want to thank and recognize as always, our worldwide billing and collections team members for continuing to do just a fantastic job in serving our customers and collecting from these customers.

最後，對壞賬和日間銷售的一些評論，這些評論在當年和本季度都非常出色。我們的壞賬費用僅佔本季度收入的 0.5% 和全年收入的 0.4%。與去年相比，我們的收入增長了 0.6%。我們的銷售天數非常穩定，年底時為 22 天。我們要一如既往地感謝和認可我們的全球計費和收款團隊成員，他們繼續出色地為我們的客戶提供服務並向這些客戶收款。

And with that, I will turn the call back over to Dave.

有了這個，我會把電話轉回給戴夫。

Thanks, Tad. I'd like to highlight a couple of strengths of our network, our customer base and our sales force. We've achieved excellent revenue growth in our NetCentric business. We are a direct beneficiary of increased over-the-top video and streaming services, particularly in international markets. At quarter's end, we are on net in 1,458 carrier-neutral data centers. We also have 54 Cogent-owned data centers, bringing our total on-net data center footprint to 1,512 data centers, more than any other carrier globally is measured by independent third-party research. The breadth of this coverage enables our NetCentric customers to better optimize their networks and reduce latency. We expect to continue to widen this lead over the market as we project to connect an additional 100 carrier-neutral data centers per year to our network over the next several years, and we will be also adding approximately 45 Sprint data centers to our network footprint.

謝謝，泰德。我想強調一下我們網絡、客戶群和銷售團隊的幾個優勢。我們的 NetCentric 業務實現了出色的收入增長。我們是日益增長的頂級視頻和流媒體服務的直接受益者，尤其是在國際市場上。在本季度末，我們在 1,458 個運營商中立的數據中心上線。我們還擁有 54 個 Cogent 擁有的數據中心，使我們的在線數據中心總數達到 1,512 個數據中心，超過獨立第三方研究衡量的全球任何其他運營商。這種覆蓋範圍的廣度使我們的 NetCentric 客戶能夠更好地優化他們的網絡並減少延遲。我們預計在未來幾年內每年將額外的 100 個運營商中立數據中心連接到我們的網絡，並且我們還將在我們的網絡足跡中增加大約 45 個 Sprint 數據中心，因此我們希望繼續擴大在市場上的領先優勢.

At quarter end, we directly connect to 7,792 unique networks. The collection of ISP's, telephone companies, cable systems, mobile operators and other carriers give us direct access to the vast majority of the world's broadband subscribers and mobile phone users. At quarter end, we had a sales force of 216 professionals who focus solely on this NetCentric market. We believe this group of professionals is the largest and most sophisticated sales team focused on this market segment. This sales force will also primarily be responsible for the sale of our wavelength products as we close the Sprint transaction.

在季度末，我們直接連接到 7,792 個獨特的網絡。 ISP、電話公司、有線電視系統、移動運營商和其他運營商的集合使我們能夠直接訪問世界上絕大多數的寬帶用戶和移動電話用戶。在季度末，我們擁有一支由 216 名專業人員組成的銷售隊伍，他們只專注於這個 NetCentric 市場。我們相信這群專業人士是專注於該細分市場的最大、最成熟的銷售團隊。在我們完成 Sprint 交易時，該銷售團隊還將主要負責我們波長產品的銷售。

Now for a couple of comments on the corporate market segment. We are seeing positive trends in our corporate business as work from home environment becomes established as part of the way in which people work in an office. We believe our corporate customers will continue to look to upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to larger capacity connections and more diverse connections. Our corporate customers are aggressively integrating some of the new applications that became part of the work-from-home environment, such as video conferencing. This usage will require high bandwidth connections both inside and outside of the premise. Our aggressive push to lower bandwidth costs and provide greater coverage has begun to boost corporate demand for our robust bidirectional symmetric 1 gig and 10 gigabit ports. Corporate customers are increasingly buying connections in carrier-neutral data centers for redundancy and to support the ad hoc VPNs that their hybrid workforce requires.

現在就企業細分市場發表一些評論。隨著在家工作環境成為人們在辦公室工作方式的一部分，我們在公司業務中看到了積極的趨勢。我們相信我們的企業客戶將繼續尋求升級他們的互聯網接入基礎設施，以獲得更大容量的連接和更多樣化的連接。我們的企業客戶正在積極集成一些成為在家工作環境一部分的新應用程序，例如視頻會議。這種用法將需要場所內外的高帶寬連接。我們積極推動降低帶寬成本和提供更大的覆蓋範圍，這已經開始推動企業對我們強大的雙向對稱 1 gig 和 10 gb 端口的需求。企業客戶越來越多地購買運營商中立數據中心的連接以實現冗餘並支持其混合員工所需的臨時 VPN。

We remain focused in our sales force productivity and sales force growth and continue to improve our sales training programs and manage out underperforming sales reps. On a sequential basis, our total sales rep headcount increased by a net of 26 or 5% sequentially and by 11.8% year-over-year to 548 quota-bearing reps. Our number of full-time equivalent reps, those reps that have been in the seat for more than three months increased to 503 from 465. Our sales force turnover rate improved again to 4.7% per month from last quarter when that number was 5.5% per month. This is down substantially from a peak during the pandemic of 8.7% turnover per month and that was, in fact, the worst sales force turnover rate in our corporate history. But we are now operating below historic averages, with sales force turnover rate averages over the past 17 years, averaging 5.7%.

我們仍然專注於我們的銷售人員生產力和銷售人員增長，並繼續改進我們的銷售培訓計劃並管理表現不佳的銷售代表。按順序計算，我們的銷售代表總人數環比淨增加 26 人或 5%，同比增加 11.8% 至 548 名配額代表。我們的全職等效銷售代表數量，即在位時間超過三個月的銷售代表從 465 人增加到 503 人。我們的銷售人員流動率從上一季度的每月 5.5% 再次提高到每月 4.7%月。這大大低於大流行期間每月 8.7% 的營業額峰值，事實上，這是我們公司歷史上最糟糕的銷售人員更替率。但我們現在的運營低於歷史平均水平，過去 17 年的銷售人員流動率平均為 5.7%。

So in summary, we remain optimistic about our unique position in serving small and medium-sized businesses located in the central business districts of major North American cities. We have 1,837 large multi-tenant office buildings on net representing over one billion square feet of rentable space, an average building size of approximately 550,000 square feet. We are excited about adding large enterprise customers to our customer base through the Sprint acquisition and are most excited about our ability to sell wavelengths or optical transport networking services, a new product to Cogent that we are adding to our portfolio and expanding into all of our U.S. data center footprint.

因此，總而言之，我們對我們在服務位於北美主要城市中央商務區的中小企業方面的獨特地位保持樂觀。我們在網上擁有 1,837 座大型多租戶辦公樓，可出租空間超過 10 億平方英尺，平均建築面積約為 550,000 平方英尺。我們很高興通過收購 Sprint 將大型企業客戶添加到我們的客戶群中，並且對我們銷售波長或光傳輸網絡服務的能力感到非常興奮，這是 Cogent 的新產品，我們正在將其添加到我們的產品組合中並擴展到我們所有的產品中美國數據中心足跡。

Currently, key indicators of office activity, including workplace reentry and leasing activities are improving but do remain below pre-pandemic levels. We are encouraged that many tenants have indicated that they are returning to office, they are leasing new space, and they are now settling on what their new network architectures will work like. As certain corporations elect to downsize our office space requirements, multi-tenant office buildings, this increases the opportunity for new tenants to move into those buildings and allows us to increase our total addressable market and on-net corporate buildings.

目前，辦公室活動的關鍵指標，包括重返工作場所和租賃活動，正在改善，但仍低於大流行前的水平。我們感到鼓舞的是，許多租戶表示他們正在返回辦公室，他們正在租用新空間，並且他們現在正在確定他們的新網絡架構的工作方式。由於某些公司選擇縮小我們的辦公空間需求，多租戶辦公樓，這增加了新租戶搬入這些建築物的機會，並使我們能夠增加我們的總可尋址市場和網上公司大樓。

Under our indenture agreements, including the $250 million general restricted payments basket carve-out, we have a cumulative amount available for dividends and stock buybacks that actually exceeds the $275 million of cash that we have on hand. We are diligently working to close the Sprint wireline transaction. We are excited and very optimistic about the cash flow generating capabilities of the combined company with our expanded product set and footprint. We expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2023.

根據我們的契約協議，包括 2.5 億美元的一般限制性支付籃子分拆，我們可用於股息和股票回購的累計金額實際上超過了我們手頭的 2.75 億美元現金。我們正在努力完成 Sprint 有線交易。我們對合併後公司的現金流產生能力以及我們擴大的產品集和足跡感到興奮和非常樂觀。我們預計該交易將於 2023 年第二季度完成。

With that, I'd like to now open the floor for questions.

有了這個，我現在想開始提問。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions.] We'll take our first question from Frank Louthan at Raymond James.

謝謝。 （操作員說明。）我們將從 Raymond James 的 Frank Louthan 那裡回答我們的第一個問題。

Great. Just to be clear, do you think this is going to close more towards the beginning of the quarter towards the end? And can you give any updates on how the revenue and the EBITDA going to are going to be -- you're going to be able to recognize that from any updates to the accountants.

偉大的。需要明確的是，您認為這會在本季度初接近尾聲時結束嗎？您能否提供有關收入和 EBITDA 將如何發展的任何更新 - 您將能夠從會計師的任何更新中識別出這一點。

Yes. Thanks for both questions, Frank. So, while we have all regulatory approvals in hand, and we have been working diligently with over 30 working groups on the integration, the longest lead item remaining is the successful completion of our transition services agreement. While we have the framework of that agreement and we'll have identified all of the requisite items to be included, the negotiation of that is continuing. I would say probably mid-quarter is the most likely closing date. But we feel highly confident it will close during the quarter. It is probably unlikely that we will close at the very beginning of the quarter, just based on the fact we only have five weeks to complete that transition service negotiation. And there are over 200 discrete items that have to be addressed and agreed to by both parties. While I would characterize the negotiations as very constructive, and both parties are determined to get this done, there is just a lot of detail work that needs to occur.

是的。感謝這兩個問題，弗蘭克。因此，雖然我們手頭有所有監管批准，並且我們一直在與 30 多個工作組就整合進行辛勤工作，但剩下最長的領導項目是成功完成我們的過渡服務協議。雖然我們已經有了該協議的框架，並且我們將確定要包含的所有必要項目，但相關談判仍在繼續。我想說可能季中是最有可能的截止日期。但我們非常有信心它將在本季度關閉。我們可能不太可能在本季度初結束，因為我們只有五週的時間來完成過渡服務談判。並且有 200 多個離散項目需要雙方解決和同意。雖然我認為談判非常具有建設性，而且雙方都決心完成這項工作，但還有很多細節工作需要進行。

Now to the question about the transit services agreement that we entered into with T-Mobile as part of this transaction. In consultation with Ernst & Young, our auditors, we feel comfortable that we will be able to recognize the vast majority of that $700 million stream of revenue as revenue for Cogent and therefore, will be included in our reporting and in our financials.

現在談談我們與 T-Mobile 簽訂的作為本次交易一部分的中轉服務協議的問題。在與我們的審計師安永會計師事務所協商後，我們感到很放心，我們將能夠將這 7 億美元的收入流中的絕大部分確認為 Cogent 的收入，因此，將包含在我們的報告和財務中。

We'll go next to James Breen at William Blair.

我們將在 William Blair 的 James Breen 旁邊發言。

Just a follow-up on that. You talked about sort of the run rate of revenue at close. I think you said around $450. Any sort of thoughts on -- is that sort of the bottom there and you've taken it down to the bare minimum and it grows from there, or do you think you'll see more revenue attrition once the deal closes?

只是對此的後續行動。你談到了收盤時的收入運行率。我想你說的是 450 美元左右。有什麼想法——是那種底部嗎，你已經把它降到最低限度，它從那裡增長，或者你認為一旦交易完成，你會看到更多的收入流失嗎？

Yes. Thanks for your question, Jim. So, two points. We do project the stable revenue run rate of the acquired enterprise customer base to be approximately $450 million because the transaction is probably going to close sooner than we had initially anticipated, it is our expectation that at closing in the second quarter, the annualized run rate will actually be above $450 million. There was a requirement in most of the acquired customers' contracts to give them adequate notice about the end-of-life product sets. So we will probably see some of those end-of-life products at closing being acquired and then over the next several months, we'll probably get down to that $450 million run rate.

是的。謝謝你的問題，吉姆。所以，兩點。我們確實預計所收購企業客戶群的穩定收入運行率約為 4.5 億美元，因為交易可能會比我們最初預期的更早完成，我們預計在第二季度結束時，年化運行率實際上將超過 4.5 億美元。大多數收購客戶的合同都要求就報廢產品組向他們提供充分的通知。因此，我們可能會在收盤時看到其中一些報廢產品被收購，然後在接下來的幾個月裡，我們可能會降低到 4.5 億美元的運行率。

We've also identified a team of individuals, primarily Sprint sales professionals, but also some Cogent sales professionals will be focused on that customer base of about 1,200 large enterprises with the goal of improving the quality of their service, modernizing their networks and preserving that revenue initially and the ultimate expectation is that we will be able to grow the enterprise revenue base at about 1% to 2% per year. We think we're probably a year or two away from that, but we do expect to plateau at about $450 million of large enterprise revenue.

我們還確定了一個由個人組成的團隊，主要是 Sprint 銷售專業人員，但也有一些 Cogent 銷售專業人員將專注於大約 1,200 家大型企業的客戶群，目標是提高他們的服務質量，實現他們的網絡現代化並保持這一點收入最初和最終預期是我們將能夠以每年約 1% 至 2% 的速度增長企業收入基礎。我們認為我們可能還需要一兩年的時間，但我們確實預計大型企業收入將穩定在 4.5 億美元左右。

Great. And then just on the cash flow side, around the transaction, the first payment that you get from T-Mobile, would that come right as the deal closes? Or is there a lag period between when the deal closed and when you receive that payment?

偉大的。然後就在現金流方面，圍繞交易，你從 T-Mobile 獲得的第一筆付款，會在交易完成時到來嗎？或者在交易完成和您收到付款之間是否有滯後時間？

It comes at the end of the month, first month after closing, and that payment is slightly over $29 million a month for the first 12 months and then reduces down to approximately $9 million per month for the next 42 months. Because this is going to be able to be treated as recognized revenue, we will probably end up having to straight-line that contract value. So, we will have some initial deferred revenue that will then burn off over the life of the lease.

它在月底，也就是關閉後的第一個月到來，前 12 個月每月支付的款項略高於 2900 萬美元，然後在接下來的 42 個月內減少到每月約 900 萬美元。因為這將能夠被視為已確認的收入，我們可能最終不得不將合同價值直線化。因此，我們將有一些初始遞延收入，這些收入將在租賃期限內燒掉。

We'll move next to Brandon Nispel at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們將轉到 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Brandon Nispel 旁邊。

It's Evan Young on for Brandon. Did you talk about your SG&A expenses for the quarter and your sales rep hiring going forward, do you think that that's going to continue impacting expenses?

埃文·揚替補布蘭登。您是否談到了本季度的 SG&A 費用以及您未來的銷售代表招聘，您認為這會繼續影響費用嗎？

Yes. So, for the quarter, Evan, we, first of all, elected to do a $1.5 million bonus to our global workforce as in lieu of a larger CPI increase, we felt that much of the impact of inflation was a onetime shot. While there is a continuing component, we did not want to be locked into that continuing higher expense. So that was an extraordinary expense in the quarter and was roughly 100 basis points of margin hit through that bonus. Second of all, to address the headcount number, we were very clear that pre-pandemic, we had about 600 total reps, about 550 quota-bearing FTEs. And the pandemic was particularly hard on our headcount. We actually experienced headcount decline of approximately 18%. As we have emerged from the pandemic, we have accelerated our hiring to the fastest pace in the company's history in order to regain that lost brand. we anticipate getting back to that pre-pandemic level of about 600 quota-bearing reps, about 550 full-time equivalent quota-bearing reps. These numbers are not inclusive of the roughly 60 quota-bearing individuals that will come from the Sprint transaction. So, they are additive. So off of that base of about 660 million total reps, and with the Sprint team, almost the entire team is an FTE since our average tenure is quite long. We expect to grow the sales force head count on a going forward basis at a much more normalized rate of about 7% per year. So, once we get to that roughly 660 head count, we expect our hiring pace to decelerate. We hope that our turnover rate will continue to be below historic averages. We think the training programs that we put in place have helped quite a bit. And with that, the total sales force should grow at about 7% per year or about 45 net reps, a lower pace than we're growing today.

是的。因此，對於本季度，埃文，我們首先選擇向我們的全球員工發放 150 萬美元的獎金，以代替更大的 CPI 增長，我們認為通貨膨脹的大部分影響是一次性的。雖然有一個持續的組成部分，但我們不想被鎖定在持續增加的費用中。因此，這在本季度是一項非常大的支出，並且通過該獎金減少了大約 100 個基點的利潤率。其次，為了解決人數問題，我們非常清楚在大流行前，我們總共有大約 600 名代表，大約 550 名配額 FTE。大流行病對我們的員工人數造成了特別嚴重的影響。實際上，我們的員工人數下降了約 18%。隨著我們從大流行中走出來，我們將招聘速度加快到公司歷史上最快的速度，以重拾失去的品牌。我們預計會回到大流行前的水平，即約 600 名配額代表，約 550 名全職等效配額代表。這些數字不包括將來自 Sprint 交易的大約 60 個配額個人。所以，它們是附加的。因此，在大約 6.6 億代表的基礎上，對於 Sprint 團隊，幾乎整個團隊都是 FTE，因為我們的平均任期很長。我們希望在未來的基礎上以每年約 7% 的更加正常的速度增加銷售人員人數。因此，一旦我們達到大約 660 人，我們預計我們的招聘速度將會放緩。我們希望我們的離職率將繼續低於歷史平均水平。我們認為我們實施的培訓計劃起到了很大幫助。這樣一來，總銷售人員應該以每年約 7% 或約 45 個淨銷售代表的速度增長，低於我們今天的增長速度。

We'll move next to Nick Del Deo at SVB MoffatNathanson.

我們將搬到 SVB MoffatNathanson 的 Nick Del Deo 旁邊。

This is Michael Srour on for Nick. On your last earnings call, you shared how you had received expressions of interest for wavelengths and dark fiber from customers you spoke with at NANOG shortly after the deal was announced. And that was obviously very encouraging. And now you've mentioned that you began to sell wavelengths through a commercial resale agreement with T-Mobile. I was wondering if you could give us an update on the degree to which that's continued. And what it might mean for the speed with which you might start recognizing wavelengths and dark fiber revenue after closing?

我是尼克的邁克爾·斯魯爾。在上一次財報電話會議上，您分享了在交易宣布後不久，您如何收到與您在 NANOG 交談過的客戶對波長和暗光纖的興趣表達。這顯然非常鼓舞人心。現在你提到你開始通過與 T-Mobile 的商業轉售協議銷售波長。我想知道您是否可以向我們提供有關持續程度的最新信息。這對您在關閉後開始識別波長和暗光纖收入的速度可能意味著什麼？

Yes. Sure, Michael. Thanks for the questions. So, we needed to negotiate that commercial agreement that we could allow us to sell wavelengths pre-closing. That agreement was put in place last month. Actually, in February, we began training our sales engineers and training staff at the beginning of the month to sell wavelengths and then actually just last week, formally launched the product to the sales team through a series of teach-ins around the world. In the initial period, the process is actually more complicated than it would be after the deal closes in the next couple of months. It does require us to enter into arm's length agreements to then resell.

是的。當然，邁克爾。感謝您的提問。因此，我們需要就允許我們在收盤前出售波長的商業協議進行談判。該協議於上個月生效。實際上，在 2 月份，我們在月初開始培訓我們的銷售工程師和培訓員工銷售波長，然後實際上就在上週，通過全球範圍內的一系列宣講，正式向銷售團隊推出了該產品。在初始階段，這個過程實際上比未來幾個月交易完成後要復雜得多。它確實需要我們簽訂公平交易協議才能轉售。

We also have a much smaller number of locations that we can sell in today than what we ultimately anticipate. So just to refresh your memory, Sprint had trialed this product and was only able to sell it in about 25 locations. By integrating the networks, we have added an additional 50 locations immediately. So today, wavelengths are available at Cogent or Sprint can resell our metro footprint in about 80 locations. Over the next 60 days we expect that number to go from 80 to approximately 200. It probably will take another year before the wavelength product is standard across our 800 locations. We have already booked initial orders. We do have a great deal of interest. I would say the initial order count at this point from the Cogent side is probably about a dozen wavelengths. I think that's pretty good for less than a week of selling. I think the Sprint side using our metro network since they could formally do that also beginning last week is also in that same kind of roughly 10 or so. So, these are pretty encouraging discussions.

我們今天可以銷售的地點數量也比我們最終預期的要少得多。因此，為了讓您記憶猶新，Sprint 試用了該產品，但只能在大約 25 個地點銷售。通過整合網絡，我們立即增加了 50 個地點。所以今天，波長在 Cogent 或 Sprint 可以在大約 80 個地點轉售我們的地鐵足跡。在接下來的 60 天裡，我們預計這個數字將從 80 個增加到大約 200 個。可能還需要一年的時間，波長產品才能在我們的 800 個地點成為標準。我們已經預訂了初始訂單。我們確實很感興趣。我想說此時 Cogent 方面的初始訂單數可能大約是十幾個波長。我認為這對於不到一周的銷售來說已經很不錯了。我認為 Sprint 方面使用我們的地鐵網絡，因為他們也可以從上週開始正式這樣做，所以也大約有 10 個左右。所以，這些都是非常鼓舞人心的討論。

In terms of dark fiber sales, we have a memorandum of understanding with one counterparty on one route. We have been cautious in trying to sell dark fiber in advance of the transaction closing for three reasons: one, it's not a product that Sprint has ever sold. Two, there's not a lot of precedent for arm?s length pricing. So if we were reselling it, we would need to demonstrate arm?s length prior to the deal closing, and we didn't want to take any regulatory risk. And then finally, we wanted to make sure that the value of monies received from a sale would accrue to Cogent and not T-Mobile, so we would not want a dark fiber sale to be completed until after the transaction is closed. I think realistically, we're going to focus on wavelengths first, dark fiber second, and I think by the time we report third quarter, we should be in a position to give much more color on the dark fiber market opportunity.

在暗光纖銷售方面，我們與一個交易對手就一條路線達成了諒解備忘錄。我們一直謹慎嘗試在交易結束前出售暗光纖，原因有以下三個：第一，它不是 Sprint 曾經銷售過的產品。第二，公平定價的先例並不多。因此，如果我們轉售它，我們需要在交易結束前證明公平交易，而且我們不想承擔任何監管風險。最後，我們希望確保從銷售中獲得的資金價值將歸 Cogent 而不是 T-Mobile，因此我們不希望在交易結束之前完成暗光纖銷售。我認為實際上，我們將首先關注波長，其次是暗光纖，我認為到我們報告第三季度時，我們應該能夠在暗光纖市場機會上提供更多的顏色。

Got it. And one more, if I can. Can you talk about the cadence of corporate sales activity from Q3 into Q4 and how it's trended into the first quarter and the overall state of the funnel? Yes. I would say that it has continued to improve. And in fact, the sequential 0.3% growth is much better than what we had been experiencing during the pandemic. But I also want to temper that by saying we're far from the pre-pandemic kind of 2% sequential growth rate, so, we have averaged. And when we look at all of the leading indicators, whether it be proposals, orders, ARPU, all of those are giving us encouraging indications that there'll be continued sequential corporate improvement. But as I've tried to counsel on the last couple of earnings calls, we anticipated a more rapid return to our normalized corporate growth rate. And now we're really taking a wait and see. Again, we're encouraged, but I think it's going to still be more than a year before we're back to that kind of 2% sequential corporate growth rate.

知道了。還有一個，如果可以的話。您能否談談從第三季度到第四季度企業銷售活動的節奏，以及進入第一季度的趨勢和漏斗的整體狀況？是的。我會說它一直在改進。事實上，連續 0.3% 的增長比我們在大流行期間所經歷的要好得多。但我也想緩和一下，說我們離大流行前 2% 的連續增長率還很遠，所以，我們已經平均了。當我們查看所有領先指標時，無論是提案、訂單、ARPU，所有這些都給了我們令人鼓舞的跡象，表明企業將繼續持續改進。但正如我在最近幾次財報電話會議上試圖提供諮詢意見時，我們預計公司的正常增長率會更快回歸。現在我們真的要拭目以待了。再次，我們受到鼓舞，但我認為我們還需要一年多的時間才能回到那種 2% 的連續企業增長率。

[Operator Instructions.] We'll go next to David Barden at BofA Securities.

[操作員說明。]我們將在美國銀行證券的 David Barden 旁邊。

You got John Crawford on for Dave. Just curious about leverage. So it's continuing to grow over the past few quarters above that 2.5% to 3.5% range. Can you tell me what direction you're expecting that to head in 2023? And if your mindset about discouraging excess cash has changed since last you spoke on it?

你讓約翰克勞福德代替戴夫。只是對槓桿感到好奇。因此，它在過去幾個季度繼續增長，高於 2.5% 至 3.5% 的範圍。你能告訴我你期望 2023 年的發展方向嗎？自從您上次談到它以來，您關於阻止過多現金的想法是否發生了變化？

So thanks for the question and a correction on Dave's name, it's Dave Barden. But I think we've had a consistent policy of utilizing our balance sheet and slowly discouraging cash through a systematic increase in the dividend. I think we are going to remain committed to that strategy. It is true that our leverage did increase in the quarter primarily due to our elevated capital lease principal payments and our increase in CapEx. Much of this is an effort to tie the networks together. As I indicated earlier, we've got an additional 50 data centers connected to the Sprint network. Each of those had a capital expenditure associated with that. We have another 150 in process where we have also already spent that capital. I think we will see our leverage on a net basis, maybe go up a little from here, but not much and then start to come down.

感謝您提出問題並更正 Dave 的名字，我是 Dave Barden。但我認為我們有一個一貫的政策，即利用我們的資產負債表並通過系統地增加股息來慢慢減少現金。我認為我們將繼續致力於該戰略。的確，我們的槓桿率在本季度確實有所增加，這主要是由於我們提高了資本租賃本金支付和資本支出的增加。其中大部分是為了將網絡連接在一起。正如我之前指出的，我們有另外 50 個數據中心連接到 Sprint 網絡。其中每一個都有與之相關的資本支出。我們還有另外 150 個正在處理中，我們也已經花費了這筆資金。我認為我們會看到我們的淨槓桿率，可能會從這裡上升一點，但不會太多，然後開始下降。

And remember, the recognition of the $700 million in cash payments from T-Mobile as revenue flows directly through to EBITDA because our transient product is a 100% gross margin product. The locations that we have reserved port capacity for T-Mobile to utilize that service if they choose to would have no incremental OpEx cost for Cogent. So, with that additional revenue stream and margin, we will rapidly delever.

請記住，將來自 T-Mobile 的 7 億美元現金支付確認為收入直接流向 EBITDA，因為我們的臨時產品是 100% 毛利率產品。我們為 T-Mobile 保留端口容量的位置，如果他們選擇使用該服務，Cogent 將不會增加 OpEx 成本。因此，有了額外的收入流和利潤率，我們將迅速去槓桿化。

Got it. And then another, if I can. So, I know you mentioned that the NetCentric team would be working on wavelength sales. I was wondering if your philosophy on headcount rationalization from that transaction has changed since you announced it, like the number of people you're hoping to bring over?

知道了。然後另一個，如果可以的話。所以，我知道你提到過 NetCentric 團隊將致力於波長銷售。我想知道自從您宣布該交易以來，您關於該交易的員工人數合理化的理念是否發生了變化，比如您希望帶來的人數？

It really has not. Remember, the Sprint organization at the day we signed the deal, had 1,320 employees and only 60 of those were in sales. All of those salespeople remain, there have been a number of voluntary reductions in force that have occurred under T-Mobile stewardship and T-Mobile has been very generous in the severance packages that they have offered employees. That headcount today is slightly below 1,100 employees. We expect that number to continue to decline through the use of these severance packages.

它真的沒有。請記住，在我們簽署協議的那天，Sprint 組織擁有 1,320 名員工，其中只有 60 名從事銷售工作。所有這些銷售人員都留下了，在 T-Mobile 的管理下發生了一些自願裁員，T-Mobile 在他們為員工提供的遣散費方面非常慷慨。今天的員工人數略低於 1,100 人。我們預計，通過使用這些遣散費，這一數字將繼續下降。

All of the employees are expected to become Cogent employees, and we have realigned our organizational structure with both senior Sprint people and management roles as well as Cogent, but following the Cogent organizational structure. My guess is there will be some additional fallout post-closing as some individuals choose not to take those new assignments. We negotiated an additional $25 million pool of capital above and beyond the $700 million with T-Mobile. So, we can mirror their severance program post-closing. I would say that we anticipate at closing to be somewhere around 1,000 employees, additional to the about 1,075 that Cogent has. So just over 2,000, and we would expect some additional operational attrition post-closing, offset in part by our growth in the sales force. So, we anticipate the combined company's head count to be between 200 and 2,100.

所有員工都應成為 Cogent 員工，我們已經重新調整了我們的組織結構，包括高級 Sprint 人員和管理角色以及 Cogent，但遵循 Cogent 組織結構。我猜測關閉後會有一些額外的影響，因為一些人選擇不接受這些新任務。在與 T-Mobile 的 7 億美元基礎上，我們通過談判增加了 2500 萬美元的資金池。因此，我們可以在關閉後反映他們的遣散費計劃。我想說的是，我們預計在關閉時將有大約 1,000 名員工，而 Cogent 擁有大約 1,075 名員工。所以剛剛超過 2,000，我們預計在關閉後會有一些額外的運營人員流失，部分被我們銷售人員的增長所抵消。因此，我們預計合併後公司的員工人數將在 200 至 2,100 人之間。

We'll go next to Bora Lee at RBC Capital Markets.

我們將在 RBC Capital Markets 的 Bora Lee 旁邊。

So, can you remind us where you're expanding internationally and how you're thinking about those efforts and CapEx while integrating the Sprint wireline assets?

那麼，您能否提醒我們您在哪些地方進行國際擴張，以及您在整合 Sprint 有線資產時如何考慮這些努力和資本支出？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Bora. So Cogent today operates in 51 countries around the world. Our most recent expansion was Peru, and we are constructing through IRU acquisition, multiple rings in Lima as our initial market. So, when we go into an international market, we typically buy dark fiber, intercity and then also dark fiber intracity and look to connect to all significant data centers in those markets. We are in the process of several other countries that Cogent is organically adding. And in addition to that, we will be acquiring three new markets where Cogent had intended to go but has had significant regulatory lags that being India, Thailand and Malaysia. Sprint already has the requisite licenses in each of those markets. So, they will come on net quickly. So I would suspect in 2023, we will add those three markets and probably about another five or six additional countries that Cogent organically is working on. That is factored into our expectation of adding approximately 100 carrier neutral data centers a year.

是的。謝謝你的問題，寶拉。因此，Cogent 今天在全球 51 個國家/地區開展業務。我們最近的擴張是在秘魯，我們正在通過 IRU 的收購在利馬建設多環作為我們的初始市場。因此，當我們進入國際市場時，我們通常會購買城際暗光纖，然後還會購買城內暗光纖，並希望連接到這些市場中的所有重要數據中心。我們正在 Cogent 有機添加的其他幾個國家/地區的過程中。除此之外，我們還將收購 Cogent 打算進入但監管滯後的三個新市場，即印度、泰國和馬來西亞。 Sprint 已經在每個市場都獲得了必要的許可。所以，他們會很快上網。因此，我懷疑在 2023 年，我們將增加這三個市場，並且可能還會增加 Cogent 有機地開展工作的另外五六個國家。這是我們每年增加大約 100 個運營商中立數據中心的預期因素。

And just to remind investors, the Sprint network outside of the U.S., inclusive of Canada and Mexico was entirely based on lit rented capacity. The Cogent network is entirely based on owned dark fiber. So, we are in the process of converting over those Sprint intercity networks and data center connectivity onto the Cogent-owned network. About 15 of those international data centers have already been brought on net. We have about another 30 in process, and then we'll continue that effort until we have completely eliminated the least Sprint international network, and that is anticipated to result in about a $25 million a year annual savings rate.

提醒投資者，美國以外的 Sprint 網絡，包括加拿大和墨西哥，完全基於租賃容量。 Cogent 網絡完全基於自有的暗光纖。因此，我們正在將這些 Sprint 城際網絡和數據中心連接轉換為 Cogent 擁有的網絡。其中大約 15 個國際數據中心已經聯網。我們還有大約 30 個正在處理中，然後我們將繼續努力，直到我們完全消除最少的 Sprint 國際網絡，預計每年將節省約 2500 萬美元。

And one more if I could. So, you somewhat alluded to this in your answer to my question. But in terms of the long-term guidance of 5% to 7% revenue growth and more specifically, 100 basis point margin expansion per year. How are you thinking of the sources of that margin expansion between COGS and SG&A?

如果可以的話，還有一個。所以，你在回答我的問題時有點提到了這一點。但就 5% 至 7% 的收入增長的長期指導而言，更具體地說，每年 100 個基點的利潤率擴張。您如何看待 COGS 和 SG&A 之間利潤率擴張的來源？

Yes. Historically, Cogent has gotten its 200 basis points of margin expansion, almost equally from COGS efficiency and SG&A efficiency, roughly a 50-50 split, if you go back and look at the past 17 years of public filings. I think going forward, we would expect about the same. When we looked at our EBITDA performance, we actually had the very best gross margin quarter, I think, in the company's history, it's 62.5% in the fourth quarter, continued improvement. The smaller rate of EBITDA margin expansion year-over-year was really impacted by SG&A and it was really this rapid rehiring of our sales force post pandemic. I think we'll be through that by midyear this year, and we should get back to kind of a cadence of about half of our EBITDA margin improvement coming from gross margin pickup and about half of it coming from SG&A efficiency.

是的。從歷史上看，Cogent 的利潤率增長了 200 個基點，如果你回顧過去 17 年的公開文件，幾乎平均來自 COGS 效率和 SG&A 效率，大約是 50-50 的比例。我認為展望未來，我們期望大致相同。當我們查看我們的 EBITDA 業績時，我們實際上有最好的毛利率季度，我認為，在公司歷史上，第四季度為 62.5%，持續改善。 EBITDA 利潤率同比增長幅度較小確實受到了 SG&A 的影響，這確實是大流行後我們銷售人員的快速重新僱傭。我認為我們將在今年年中完成，我們應該回到我們 EBITDA 利潤率改善的一半來自毛利率回升，一半來自 SG&A 效率的節奏。

And we'll take our next question from Michael Rollins at Citi.

我們將從花旗的 Michael Rollins 那裡回答下一個問題。

I'm curious if you think about the process of taking share in each of the Corporate and the NetCentric segment, how does the practice of taking share generally compare with your expectations of that pace when you create the multiyear business plan and update that every so often. And what are the factors that you find cause the variance, whether it's a positive variance or negative variance? And is there something to learn from that as we try to consider the opportunities to take share from these products that you're going to expand with this upcoming acquisition?

我很好奇，如果您考慮在公司和 NetCentric 細分市場中分享股份的過程，在您制定多年業務計劃並每隔一段時間更新時，分享股份的做法通常與您對該步伐的期望相比如何經常。您發現導致方差的因素是什麼，是正方差還是負方差？在我們嘗試考慮從您將通過即將進行的收購擴展的這些產品中獲取份額的機會時，是否可以從中學到一些東西？

Yes. Sure, Mike. Thanks for the question. And I think going forward, there'll actually be a third category, which is large enterprise, which really is a very different customer base than our traditional corporate customer, which tends to be a small or medium-sized business. I think when we look at the corporate segment, our gain in market share is as a result of more footprint and better penetration in that footprint. I think the variance came as a direct result of the pandemic. The increase in vacancy rate in that footprint and the, I think, paralysis of decision-making by the remaining tenants with the uncertainty around their office configurations. As we are emerging from that and companies are kind of settling on a work plan, whether it be hybrid or entirely in the office, we're seeing an improvement, but because there is still elevated vacancy, and those work plan implementations are not universally adopted yet. I think we've seen a slower-than-expected rebound in the corporate business. It is rebounding. It is clearly much better than it was during the pandemic, but it is not back to kind of the pre-pandemic consistency that we had. And I think we're trying to be realistic about that. We look at all of the leading indicators as well as actual performance and then modify our plan. And that's why earlier in the call, I said we're probably at least a year away from that 2% sequential growth just based on the data we have.

是的。當然，邁克。謝謝你的問題。而且我認為展望未來，實際上會有第三類，即大型企業，與我們傳統的企業客戶（往往是中小型企業）相比，它確實是一個非常不同的客戶群。我認為，當我們審視企業細分市場時，我們在市場份額上的增長是由於更多的足跡和更好的足跡滲透。我認為這種差異是大流行的直接結果。該足跡中空置率的增加以及我認為剩餘租戶的決策癱瘓及其辦公室配置的不確定性。隨著我們擺脫這種局面，公司開始製定工作計劃，無論是混合辦公還是完全在辦公室，我們都看到了進步，但因為空缺率仍然很高，而且這些工作計劃的實施並不普遍通過了。我認為我們已經看到企業業務的反彈速度低於預期。它正在反彈。這顯然比大流行期間要好得多，但並沒有回到大流行前的那種一致性。我認為我們正在努力對此保持現實。我們會查看所有領先指標以及實際績效，然後修改我們的計劃。這就是為什麼在電話會議的早些時候，我說根據我們擁有的數據，我們可能至少需要一年時間才能實現 2% 的連續增長。

Moving over to the NetCentric business. There, we look at actual traffic patterns on a daily basis. We look at the need of our customers to have multiple connections to reduce latency in their applications, and we look at aggregate traffic growth. And there, we were probably too conservative in our modeling around the NetCentric business. I think we're very accurate in a rate of price decline, and I think that will continue, and we've been very consistent in that messaging. But in terms of the rate of traffic growth and the gain in market share, we were probably too conservative. We continue to grow our NetCentric business on a year-over-year basis, constant currency at about 60% faster than our long-term average. We expect that outpaced growth to continue for longer than we expected, but we also think that it will, at some point, begin to moderate.

轉向 NetCentric 業務。在那裡，我們每天都會查看實際的流量模式。我們著眼於客戶擁有多個連接以減少其應用程序延遲的需求，我們著眼於總流量增長。在那裡，我們在圍繞 NetCentric 業務建模時可能過於保守。我認為我們對價格下降的速度非常準確，而且我認為這種情況會持續下去，而且我們在傳達信息方面一直非常一致。但就流量增長率和市場份額的增長而言，我們可能過於保守了。我們繼續逐年增長 NetCentric 業務，固定匯率比我們的長期平均水平快約 60%。我們預計這種超速增長將持續比我們預期更長的時間，但我們也認為它會在某個時候開始放緩。

The final piece, which we have less empirical date on other than the diligence materials we've reviewed inside of Sprint is that large enterprise customer base. And the fact that they've been with Sprint for 30 years is extremely encouraging. They've been through multiple technology refresh cycles, and we can improve margins and quality by bringing those services on net we think that we're being pretty conservative in our belief that we will see the $560 million run rate decline of $450 million that will plateau for a year or two and then only grow at a modest 1% to 2%. So that's kind of the thinking that goes into each of those assumptions, and they are literally revisited every quarter, and we adjust our projections to the Board each and every quarter based on real-world inputs in each of these categories.

最後一點，除了我們在 Sprint 內部審查過的盡職調查材料之外，我們的經驗數據較少，是大型企業客戶群。他們已經在 Sprint 工作了 30 年，這一事實非常令人鼓舞。他們經歷了多個技術更新周期，我們可以通過將這些服務放到網上來提高利潤率和質量，我們認為我們非常保守地相信我們會看到 5.6 億美元的運行率下降 4.5 億美元，這將一兩年的平穩期，然後僅以 1% 至 2% 的適度增長。所以這就是這些假設中的每一個的想法，並且每個季度都會重新審視它們，我們每個季度都會根據這些類別中每個類別的實際輸入調整我們對董事會的預測。

And next, we'll go to Walter Piecyk at LightShed.

接下來，我們將訪問 LightShed 的 Walter Piecyk。

Dave, this is Joe on for Walt. Apologies if I missed this earlier, but I guess, capital intensity remains elevated. So, is there a way to think about kind of what's maintenance versus growth and what's kind of baked in from an acquisition standpoint going forward? Because this year, I guess, at least in Q4, there was the large capital lease principal repayment?

戴夫，這是沃爾特的喬。如果我早些時候錯過了這一點，我深表歉意，但我想，資本密集度仍然很高。那麼，有沒有一種方法可以考慮什麼是維持與增長，以及從收購的角度來看，什麼是未來的發展？因為今年，我猜，至少在第四季度，有大筆資本租賃本金償還？

Yes. So, we have been very clear about the three categories. The first being the maintenance number for Cogent as kind of its organic business. That number needs to be about $35 million a year, and we anticipate that number continuing. What we would be spending above and beyond that would be expansion. We have added about 120 buildings at an average cost of about $125,000 a building, or about $15 million in building connectivity, and then we also add additional metro fiber, either in new markets that we expand into or densifying markets that we are in. Above and beyond that, we have said that we will spend $50 million one time for the integration of the Sprint and Cogent networks. Some, actually a significant part, of that capital lease was to get the fiber to begin to integrate those networks.

是的。所以，我們已經非常清楚這三個類別。第一個是 Cogent 作為其有機業務的維護編號。這個數字每年需要大約 3500 萬美元，我們預計這個數字會持續下去。我們將在這之外支出的將是擴張。我們以平均每棟建築約 125,000 美元的成本增加了約 120 座建築物，或約 1500 萬美元的建築物連通性，然後我們還在我們擴展到的新市場或我們所在的緻密市場中增加了額外的城域網光纖。 以上除此之外，我們已經說過，我們將一次性花費 5000 萬美元用於整合 Sprint 和 Cogent 網絡。該資本租賃的一部分，實際上是一個重要部分，是為了讓光纖開始整合這些網絡。

The Sprint locations were oftentimes, not in central business districts and needed to be connected in and we've spent a significant portion. There is still some more to spend on that onetime integration expense. And then the third bucket of capital intensity, which will be higher for the combined company is that the Sprint business that we are acquiring, inclusive of the capital needed to support the wavelength product is about $30 million a year. So, the way to think about the business once this one time integration effort is complete is $35 million for the Cogent business, $30 million for Sprint, so $65 million of recurring CapEx, and then whatever footprint expansion we're going to do. And that's probably right now running in the neighborhood of about $30 million to $35 million, about $15 million of that is buildings. And as we said, we'll be adding about 100 carrier neutrals and that the necessary either intercity or metro fiber in these new markets.

Sprint 的地點通常不在中央商務區，需要連接起來，我們已經花費了很大一部分。一次性整合費用還有一些要花。然後第三個資本密集度，對於合併後的公司來說更高，是我們正在收購的 Sprint 業務，包括支持波長產品所需的資本，每年約為 3000 萬美元。因此，一旦完成這一一次性整合工作，考慮業務的方式是 Cogent 業務 3500 萬美元，Sprint 3000 萬美元，因此 6500 萬美元的經常性資本支出，然後是我們將要做的任何足跡擴張。這可能是現在在大約 3000 萬到 3500 萬美元附近運行，其中大約 1500 萬美元是建築物。正如我們所說，我們將在這些新市場中添加大約 100 個中性運營商，以及必要的城際或城域光纖。

And that does conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dave Schaeffer for any closing remarks.

這確實結束了我們的問答環節。我想將會議轉回給 Dave Schaeffer 作閉幕詞。

I'd like to thank everyone. Hopefully, we've been complete in answering all of their investors' questions. And most importantly, we look forward to closing the Sprint transaction quickly, making sure that we have a fully negotiated transition services agreement that protects both parties, and we feel quite confident that will happen in the second quarter. Take care, everyone, and we'll talk soon. Bye-bye.

我要感謝大家。希望我們已經完整地回答了他們投資者的所有問題。最重要的是，我們期待快速完成 Sprint 交易，確保我們有一個全面協商的過渡服務協議來保護雙方，我們非常有信心這將在第二季度發生。大家保重，我們一會兒再談。再見。

And this concludes today's conference call. Again, thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。再次感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。