Cogent Communications Holdings Inc (CCOI) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the Cogent Communications Holdings second quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call.

女士們、先生們，早上好，歡迎參加 Cogent Communications Holdings 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。

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.

謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄製中，可在 www.cogentco.com 上重播。本次電話會議的記錄一旦發布將發佈在 Cogent 的網站上。 Cogent 新聞稿所附的財務和營運績效摘要可從 Cogent 網站下載。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Dave Schaeffer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cogent Communications Holdings.

我現在想將電話轉給 Cogent Communications Holdings 董事長兼執行長 Dave Schaeffer 先生。

Hey, good morning, and thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. Welcome to our Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I'm Dave Schaeffer, Cogent's Chief Executive Officer. With me on this morning's call is Tad Weed, our Chief Financial Officer.

嘿，早上好，謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。歡迎參加我們的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我是戴夫·謝弗 (Dave Schaeffer)，Cogent 的首席執行官。與我一起參加今天早上電話會議的是我們的財務長泰德威德 (Tad Weed)。

Hopefully, you've had a chance to review our earnings press release. This release includes a number of historical metrics that we present on a consistent basis each quarter.

希望您有機會閱讀我們的收益新聞稿。此版本包含我們每季一致提供的許多歷史指標。

Now for a couple of comments on activity in the quarter. In the quarter, we had two debt transactions. On May 2, we closed the issuance of our inaugural $206 million asset-backed securitization of our IPv4 notes at 7.9%. These notes mature in 5 years and may be extended for up to a 30-year term. This securitization transaction was the first ever of IPv4 lease revenue.

現在就本季的活動發表一些評論。本季度，我們進行了兩筆債務交易。 5 月 2 日，我們以 7.9% 的利率完成了首期 2.06 億美元資產支持證券化 IPv4 票據的發行。這些票據的期限為 5 年，期限最多可延長 30 年。此次證券化交易是IPv4租賃收入的首筆交易。

We are the owners of approximately 37.8 million IPv4 addresses. We acquired 27.9 million of these addresses when we purchased PSINet and other acquisitions in the early 2000s. We further enhanced our portfolio when we acquired 9.9 million additional IPv4 addresses in May of 2023 as part of our acquisition of the Sprint Global Markets Group from T-Mobile.

我們擁有約 3780 萬個 IPv4 位址。當我們在 2000 年代初購買 PSINet 和其他收購時，我們獲得了其中 2790 萬個地址。作為從 T-Mobile 收購 Sprint Global Markets Group 的一部分，我們於 2023 年 5 月額外收購了 990 萬個 IPv4 位址，進一步增強了我們的產品組合。

On June 11, we closed the issuance of our $300 million, 7% unsecured notes. These are mirrored notes. These notes have identical terms to our existing $450 million 2027 notes. We used $114.6 million of the proceeds from this offering to prepay a dark fiber IRU finance lease at a 12% discount rate, saving $15.6 million in cash. This IRU dark fiber lease had monthly cash payments of $4.2 million a month through 2026, all of which have been eliminated, and therefore, materially improving our cash flow through December of 2026.

6 月 11 日，我們完成了 3 億美元、利率 7% 的無擔保票據的發行。這些是鏡像筆記。這些票據與我們現有的 4.5 億美元 2027 年票據具有相同的條款。我們使用本次發行所得的 1.146 億美元以 12% 的折扣率預付暗光纖 IRU 融資租賃費用，節省了 1,560 萬美元的現金。到 2026 年，該 IRU 暗光纖租賃每月的現金支付額為 420 萬美元，所有這些都已消除，因此，到 2026 年 12 月，我們的現金流量得到了實質改善。

We are leasing approximately 12.8 million of our IPv4 addresses out for a monthly revenue run rate of $3.6 million per month at the end of the quarter. We securitized 3.1 million of these leases in our IPv4 securitization. 11.1 million of the leased addresses and 1.4 million unleased addresses were part of that securitization transaction. The IPv4 Internet addresses are a finite resource. The market price of these addresses has substantially increased over the past several years.

我們正在出租約 1,280 萬個 IPv4 位址，到本季末的月收入運行率為 360 萬美元。我們在 IPv4 證券化中對其中 310 萬份租賃進行了證券化。 1,110 萬個租賃地址和 140 萬個未租賃地址屬於該證券化交易的一部分。 IPv4 網際網路位址是有限的資源。這些地址的市場價格在過去幾年中大幅上漲。

In the quarter, we also purchased some of our stock back. In June of 2024, we took advantage of market volatility. We purchased 153,000 shares of our common stock back for a cost of $8 million at an average price of $51.97. We have $22.4 million remaining in our authorization for share repurchases through December of 2024.

在本季度，我們也回購了一些股票。 2024 年 6 月，我們利用了市場波動的機會。我們以 800 萬美元的價格回購了 153,000 股普通股，平均價格為 51.97 美元。截至 2024 年 12 月，我們的股票回購授權仍有 2,240 萬美元。

Now for a comment on expected cost savings. We are in the process of realizing significant cost savings and synergies through the integration of the Sprint assets with the Cogent network. Based upon differences between monthly cost run rates at closing in May of 2023 and the monthly cost run rate in June of 2024, we have realized an annualized savings rate of $135 million. This represents 62% of our targeted cost savings of $220 million over a three year period.

現在評論一下預期的成本節省。我們正在透過 Sprint 資產與 Cogent 網路的整合來實現顯著的成本節約和協同效應。根據 2023 年 5 月結帳時的每月成本運行率與 2024 年 6 月的每月成本運行率之間的差異，我們實現了 1.35 億美元的年化節省率。這占我們三年內成本節約目標 2.2 億美元的 62%。

Now for some summary of results for the quarter. We did have a very good quarter. Our revenue for the quarter was $260.4 million. Foreign exchange had a negative sequential impact of $300,000 and changes in USF tax rates had a sequential negative impact of $1.4 million on our quarterly revenues.

現在對本季的業績進行一些總結。我們確實度過了一個非常好的季度。我們本季的營收為 2.604 億美元。外匯對我們季度收入產生了 30 萬美元的連續負面影響，USF 稅率的變化對我們的季度收入產生了 140 萬美元的連續負面影響。

Adjusting for these two negative impacts of $1.7 million, our sequential revenue did decline by 1.5%, primarily due to the decline in our non-core products and the management out of low-margin off-net services.

在調整這兩項 170 萬美元的負面影響後，我們的連續收入確實下降了 1.5%，這主要是由於我們的非核心產品的下降以及對低利潤網外服務的管理。

Our on-net revenues increased sequentially by 1.5% in the quarter to $140.8 million. Revenues under our commercial services agreement with T-Mobile increased sequentially by $2.7 million to $5.9 million in the quarter. Traffic on our network increased sequentially by 1.9%. It was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis.

本季我們的線上營收季增 1.5%，達到 1.408 億美元。本季我們與 T-Mobile 簽訂的商業服務協議帶來的營收季增 270 萬美元，達到 590 萬美元。我們網路上的流量較上季成長了 1.9%。較去年同期成長17.4%。

Our off-net revenues did decrease by 5.7% to $111.5 million due to the continued elimination of these low-margin services. Our non-core revenues, which generally carry negative gross margin declined by $1.4 million to $4.6 million in the quarter. And then finally, while we have not completed the reconfiguration of the Sprint network, we have installed some wave services.

由於繼續取消這些低利潤服務，我們的網外收入確實下降了 5.7%，至 1.115 億美元。我們的非核心收入通常為負毛利率，本季下降了 140 萬美元至 460 萬美元。最後，雖然我們還沒有完成 Sprint 網路的重新配置，但我們已經安裝了一些 Wave 服務。

Our wave revenue increased modestly by 9% sequentially quarter-over-quarter to $3.6 million and that represents actually a 128.7% increase on a year-over-year basis. We expect this to materially accelerate starting in early 2025 as we will complete the network integration and optimization for wave services by year-end.

我們的 Wave 營收季增 9%，達到 360 萬美元，實際上年增 128.7%。我們預計從 2025 年初開始，速度將大幅加快，因為我​​們將在年底前完成 Wave 服務的網路整合和優化。

Our EBITDA, as adjusted, was $106.2 million and our EBITDA, as adjusted, margin was 40.8% for the quarter. In accordance with our IP transit services agreement with T-Mobile, we received three payments in the quarter totaling $66.7 million. This compares to the three payments we received in Q1 of $87.5 million. The payments in this quarter included two $29.2 million payments and 1 $8.3 million payment.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.062 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 40.8%。根據我們與 T-Mobile 的 IP 傳輸服務協議，我們在本季收到了三筆付款，總計 6,670 萬美元。相比之下，我們在第一季收到了三筆 8750 萬美元的付款。本季的付款包括兩筆 2,920 萬美元的付款和一筆 830 萬美元的付款。

An additional 41 payments are expected to be made by T-Mobile, each of $8.3 million a quarter, continuing through November of 2027. Our Sprint acquisition costs in the quarter were $12.4 million. Included in this cost, and a significant portion of it, was the $8 million in final severance reimbursements that were paid to former T-Mobile employees and these costs are fully reimbursable by T-Mobile.

T-Mobile 預計還將支付 41 筆款項，每季每筆 830 萬美元，持續到 2027 年 11 月。其中很大一部分包括支付給前 T-Mobile 員工的 800 萬美元最終遣散費，這些費用由 T-Mobile 全額報銷。

We achieved significant cost reductions both in our cost of goods sold and our SG&A in the quarter. Our SG&A decreased by $5 million or 7.1% from the previous quarter and decreased by $12.5 million or 16.1% from Q2 of 2023. SG&A as a percentage of our revenue decreased to 25% in the second quarter from 26.3% in the previous quarter.

本季我們的銷售成本和銷售管理費用均實現了顯著降低。我們的SG&A 較上一季減少500 萬美元，即7.1%，較2023 年第二季減少1,250 萬美元，即16.1%。 25%。

Our cost of goods sold decreased by $12.7 million or 7.8% on a sequential basis from Q1 2024 as we continue to reduce network costs and bring off-net traffic on-net. We finalized the purchase accounting associated with our acquisition of the Sprint Global Markets Group, and this quarter, we received an additional final gain in our bargain purchase, bringing that total bargain purchase gain to $1.4 billion.

隨著我們繼續降低網路成本並將網外流量引入網路上，我們的銷售成本較 2024 年第一季環比下降了 1,270 萬美元，即 7.8%。我們最終確定了與收購 Sprint Global Markets Group 相關的採購會計，本季度，我們在討價還價採購中獲得了額外的最終收益，使討價還價採購總收益達到 14 億美元。

Our gross debt to trailing last 12 months EBITDA, as adjusted, ratio was 4.06 at the end of the quarter, and our net debt ratio did reduce in the quarter from 3.17 times EBITDA to 3.14 times. We ended the quarter with $426.2 million in cash and cash equivalents on our balance sheet.

截至本季末，經調整後，我們的總負債與過去 12 個月 EBITDA 比率為 4.06，本季我們的淨負債比率確實從 EBITDA 的 3.17 倍降至 3.14 倍。本季結束時，我們的資產負債表上的現金和現金等價物為 4.262 億美元。

Now for a comment on our sales force. Our sales rep productivity was 4 units in Q1 per rep per month and 3.8 units installed per rep full time equivalent per month in Q2. In conjunction with the Sprint acquisition, we hired 942 employees. At quarter end, 655 of these employees remain employed with us.

現在對我們的銷售團隊發表評論。我們的銷售代表生產力在第一季為每位銷售代表每月安裝 4 台設備，在第二季為每位全職銷售代表每月安裝 3.8 台設備。在收購 Sprint 的同時，我們僱用了 942 名員工。截至季末，其中 655 名員工仍受僱於我們。

Now for a couple of comments on our optical transport and wave services. In connection with the acquisition of the Sprint GMG business, we expanded our product offering to include optical wavelength services and optical transport services over our fiber network. We are selling these wavelength services to existing customers as well as new customers. These customers require dedicated optical transport without the capital and ongoing expense of owning and operating their own infrastructure.

現在對我們的光傳輸和波服務發表一些評論。透過收購 Sprint GMG 業務，我們擴大了產品範圍，包括透過光纖網路提供光波長服務和光傳輸服務。我們正在向現有客戶和新客戶銷售這些波長服務。這些客戶需要專用的光傳輸，而無需擁有和運營自己的基礎設施的資本和持續費用。

As of today, we have connectivity and wavelength capability services in 574 locations. However, our provisioning cycles remain elongated at about 90 days. We intend to substantially reduce that provisioning time as we complete the network optimization programs by year-end. We have sold wavelengths in 156 locations. By year-end 2024, we expect to be able to offer wavelength services in over 800 North American locations with substantially reduced provisioning cycles. We have a significant backlog and funnel of wave opportunities, representing over 2,700 unique wavelengths.

截至目前，我們在 574 個地點提供連接和波長功能服務。然而，我們的配置週期仍延長在 90 天左右。我們打算在年底前完成網路優化計劃，從而大幅減少配置時間。我們已在 156 個地點出售波長。到 2024 年底，我們預計將能夠在 800 多個北美地點提供波長服務，並大幅縮短配置週期。我們有大量的積壓和波浪會漏斗，代表超過 2,700 個獨特的波長。

Our Sprint acquisition materially expanded our data center footprint. To date, we have reconfigured 34 of these Sprint acquired facilities and added these new data centers to the 1602 carrier-neutral and 86 data centers that Cogent operates.

我們收購 Sprint 大大擴大了我們的資料中心覆蓋範圍。到目前為止，我們已經重新配置了 Sprint 收購的 34 個設施，並將這些新資料中心添加到 Cogent 營運的 1602 個營運商中立資料中心和 86 個資料中心中。

The Cogent data centers in operation today have 164 megawatts of protected power. We are decommissioning some legacy Cogent data centers and lease facilities where they are redundant with fee simple owned facilities that we acquired from Sprint. We are in the process of converting an additional 18 former Sprint facilities into Cogent data centers and we'll continue to optimize our portfolio.

目前正在運作的 Cogent 資料中心擁有 164 兆瓦的受保護電力。我們正在退役一些遺留的 Cogent 資料中心和租賃設施，這些設施與我們從 Sprint 購買的簡單自有設施相比是多餘的。我們正在將另外 18 個前 Sprint 設施轉變為 Cogent 資料中心，我們將繼續優化我們的產品組合。

With regard to dividends, our Board of Directors reflected on the strong cash flow generating capabilities, investment opportunities and decided, once again, to increase our quarterly regular dividend sequentially by $0.01 a share, raising our quarterly dividend from $0.975 per share to $0.985 per share. This represents the 48th consecutive sequential quarter where we have grown our dividend. Our dividend growth rate is now at an annualized rate of 4.2%.

在股息方面，董事會考慮到強大的現金流產生能力和投資機會，再次決定將季度定期股息每股增加 0.01 美元，將季度股息從每股 0.975 美元提高到每股 0.985 美元。這代表我們連續第 48 季增加股利。我們的股利成長率目前年化率為 4.2%。

Now for long-term expectations. Now that we have combined the Sprint and Cogent networks and operations, we anticipate our long-term annual growth rates to be between 5% and 7%, and EBITDA, as adjusted, margins to expand by approximately 100 basis points annually. Our revenue and EBITDA guidance are intended to be multi-year targets and are not intended to be used for specific quarterly or annual targets.

現在是長期期望。現在，我們已經合併了 Sprint 和 Cogent 的網路和運營，我們預計長期年增長率將在 5% 至 7% 之間，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將每年擴大約 100 個基點。我們的收入和 EBITDA 指導旨在作為多年目標，而不是用於特定的季度或年度目標。

Our EBITDA, as adjusted, and leverage ratios are impacted by the $700 million IP Transit agreement we entered into with T-Mobile. In accordance with this agreement, beginning in June of 2024, we began receiving cash payments of $29.2 million per month for 12 months, and then those payments stepped down for the next 42 months to $8.3 million a month and continued through November of 2027. The reduction in monthly cash payments will impact our EBITDA, as adjusted, and leverage ratios, which are measured on a trailing 12-month basis.

我們調整後的 EBITDA 和槓桿率受到我們與 T-Mobile 簽訂的價值 7 億美元的 IP Transit 協議的影響。根據該協議，從2024 年6 月開始，我們開始在12 個月內每月收到2,920 萬美元的現金付款，然後這些付款在接下來的42 個月內減少至每月830 萬美元，並持續到2027 年11 月。

Now, I'd like to turn it over to Tad to read safe harbor language and give us some additional operating metrics on the business.

現在，我想將其交給 Tad 閱讀安全港語言，並向我們提供一些有關業務的其他營運指標。

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. This earnings conference call includes forward-looking statements. 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 that 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.

謝謝戴夫，大家早安。本次收益電話會議包含前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述是基於我們目前的意圖、信念和期望。這些前瞻性陳述以及本次電話會議中可能做出的所有其他非歷史事實的陳述均受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能會存在重大差異。請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件，以了解有關可能導致實際結果不同的因素的更多資​​訊。 Cogent 不承擔更新或修改我們的前瞻性聲明的義務。

If we use non-GAAP financial measures during this call, you will find these reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measurement in our earnings releases that are posted on our website at cogentco.com.

如果我們在本次電話會議中使用非 GAAP 財務指標，您會發現這些指標與我們網站 cogentco.com 上發布的收益發布中相應的 GAAP 指標一致。

We analyze our revenues based upon network connection type, which is on-net, off-net, wavelength services and non-core services, and we also analyze our revenues based upon customer type. We classify our customers into three types; NetCentric customers, corporate customers and enterprise customers.

我們根據網路連線類型（網內、網外、波長服務和非核心服務）分析我們的收入，我們也根據客戶類型分析我們的收入。我們將客戶分為三類； NetCentric 客戶、企業客戶和企業客戶。

Comments on the corporate business for the quarter. Our corporate business represented 45.9% of our revenues for the quarter, and our corporate revenue grew by 7.7% year-over-year, but decreased sequentially by 4.3%. The sequential decrease was due to the continued grooming of low margin off-net connections and the elimination of non-core products. We had 48,690 corporate customer connections on our network at the end of the quarter. For the quarter, the sequential impact of negative USF on our revenues was minus $1.4 million.

對本季公司業務的評論。我們的企業業務佔本季營收的 45.9%，企業營收年增 7.7%，但季減 4.3%。環比下降是由於低利潤網外連接的持續開發和非核心產品的淘汰。截至本季末，我們的網路上有 48,690 個企業客戶連線。本季度，USF 負值對我們營收的連續影響為負 140 萬美元。

On NetCentric, our NetCentric business continues to benefit from continued growth in video traffic, activity related to AI or artificial intelligence, streaming and wavelength sales. Our NetCentric business represented 35% of our revenues this quarter and grew by 4% year-over-year and by 4.5% on a constant currency basis, but declined sequentially by 0.9%. We had 61,736 NetCentric customer connections on our network at quarter end. Our network traffic for the quarter, as Dave mentioned, increased by 1.9% sequentially and was up by 17.4% year-over-year.

在 NetCentric 上，我們的 NetCentric 業務繼續受益於視訊流量、與 AI 或人工智慧相關的活動、串流媒體和波長銷售的持續成長。我們的 NetCentric 業務佔本季營收的 35%，年成長 4%，以固定匯率計算成長 4.5%，但季減 0.9%。截至季末，我們的網路上有 61,736 個 NetCentric 客戶連線。正如 Dave 所提到的，我們本季的網路流量較上季成長 1.9%，年增 17.4%。

On enterprise. Our enterprise business represented 19.1% of our revenues this quarter and was $49.8 million. We had 18,356 enterprise customer connections at the end of the quarter and our enterprise revenue increased by 20.8% year-over-year and increased sequentially by 0.9%.

論企業。我們的企業業務佔本季營收的 19.1%，達 4,980 萬美元。截至本季末，我們擁有 18,356 個企業客戶連接，我們的企業營收年增 20.8%，季增 0.9%。

On revenue and customer connections by network type and on-net revenue. We serve our on-net customers in our 3,386 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 carrier-neutral data centers, and we also sell 10 gigabit connections in selected multi-tenant office buildings. Selling these larger connections has the impact of increasing our on-net ARPU, which occurred again this quarter.

按網路類型和網路收入劃分的收入和客戶連線。我們在 3,386 座網路多租戶辦公室和營運商中立資料中心大樓中為網路客戶提供服務。我們繼續在營運商中立的資料中心成功銷售更大的 100 Gb 連接和 400 Gb 連接，並且還在選定的多租戶辦公大樓中銷售 10 Gb 連接。出售這些更大的連接會增加我們的線上 ARPU，這一點在本季度再次發生。

Our on-net revenue was $140.8 million for the quarter, a year-over-year increase of 10.3% and a sequential increase of 1.5%. Our on-net customer connections were 87,387 at quarter end.

本季我們的線上營收為 1.408 億美元，年增 10.3%，季增 1.5%。截至季末，我們的線上客戶連線數為 87,387。

On off-net revenue. Our off-net revenue was $111.5 million for the quarter, year-over-year increase of 9.3% and a sequential decrease of 5.7%. Again, the sequential decline in our off-net revenue was partially impacted by our migration of certain off-net customers to on-net and, more importantly, the continued grooming and termination of low-margin off-net customer contracts.

關於網外收入。本季我們的網外營收為 1.115 億美元，年增 9.3%，季減 5.7%。同樣，我們的網外收入連續下降部分受到我們將某些網外客戶遷移到網上的影響，更重要的是，持續培育和終止低利潤的網外客戶合約。

Our off-net customer connections were 32,758 at quarter end. Our wavelength revenue was $3.6 million for the quarter. That was a sequential increase of 9% and a year-over-year increase of 128.7%. Our wavelength customer connections were 754 at the end of the quarter, which was an 8.8% sequential increase.

截至季末，我們的網外客戶連線數為 32,758。本季我們的波長收入為 360 萬美元。季增 9%，年增 128.7%。截至本季末，我們的波長客戶連線數量為 754 個，季增 8.8%。

Some comments on IPv4, our leasing revenue. Our IPv4 leasing business had an excellent quarter. We were leasing 12.8 million of addresses at the end of the quarter, and that was a 4.9% increase in leased addresses from last quarter. Our IPv4 leased revenue increased by 4.4% from last quarter to $10.7 million. Our average revenue per IPv4 address sold for the quarter was $0.51 per address, and that is a very material increase from our base at the beginning of the quarter for all addresses that was approximately $0.30.

關於我們的租賃收入 IPv4 的一些評論。我們的 IPv4 租賃業務季度表現優異。截至本季末，我們租賃了 1,280 萬個地址，比上季租賃地址增長了 4.9%。我們的 IPv4 租賃收入較上季成長 4.4%，達到 1,070 萬美元。本季我們銷售的每個 IPv4 位址的平均收入為每個位址 0.51 美元，與本季初所有位址的基數（約 0.30 美元）相比，這是一個非常重大的成長。

Lastly, our non-core revenue was $4.6 million for the quarter. That was a sequential decrease of $1.4 million or 23.7% as we're ending these non-core products. Non-core customer connections were 7,883 at quarter end, a sequential decline of 21.5%.

最後，本季我們的非核心收入為 460 萬美元。由於我們終止了這些非核心產品，季減了 140 萬美元，即 23.7%。截至季末，非核心客戶連線數為 7,883 人，季減 21.5%。

Some comments on pricing, ARPU and churn. Our average price per megabit for our installed base decreased sequentially by 5% to $0.25. Our average price per megabit for new customer contracts was $0.12, which actually was an increase of 13.5%.

關於定價、ARPU 和客戶流失的一些評論。我們的安裝基礎每兆位元平均價格連續下降 5% 至 0.25 美元。我們的新客戶合約每兆比特的平均價格為 0.12 美元，實際上增長了 13.5%。

ARPU; our on-net ARPU increased from the impact of selling larger connections. Our off-net ARPU slightly decreased. Our on-net ARPU increased sequentially by 2.1% from $525 to $536. On a year-over-year basis, it was an increase of 11% from $483 from Q2 of last year. Our off-net ARPU slightly decreased sequentially from $1,106 to $1,103. Year-over-year, that was a decrease of 14.7%, and was $1,294 last year.

每戶平均收入；由於銷售更大連接的影響，我們的線上 ARPU 有所增加。我們的網外 ARPU 略有下降。我們的線上 ARPU 環比增長 2.1%，從 525 美元增至 536 美元。與去年第二季的 483 美元相比，年增了 11%。我們的網外 ARPU 環比略有下降，從 1,106 美元降至 1,103 美元。去年為 1,294 美元，年減 14.7%。

Our wavelength ARPU increased by 2% and was $1,670 this quarter. it was $1,638 last quarter. Our average revenue per IPv4 address sold, again, was $0.51 per address for the quarter, again, a significant increase from $0.30 from the base at the beginning.

本季我們的波長 ARPU 成長了 2%，達到 1,670 美元。上季為 1,638 美元。本季我們銷售的每個 IPv4 位址的平均收入再次為每個位址 0.51 美元，較一開始的 0.30 美元大幅增加。

On churn, our on-net unit monthly churn rate was stable. It was 1.4%, the same as last quarter. Our off-net churn rate did tick up. It was 2.3% this quarter, 2.1% last quarter. Again, we continue to groom and terminate low-margin off-net contracts.

在流失率方面，我們的網內單位每月流失率維持穩定。為 1.4%，與上季持平。我們的網外流失率確實有上升。本季為 2.3%，上季為 2.1%。我們再次繼續培育和終止低利潤的網外合約。

EBITDA and EBITDA margin. We reconcile our EBITDA to our cash flow from operations in each of our quarterly press releases. Our EBITDA increased sequentially by $8.7 million and our EBITDA margin increased sequentially by 350 basis points to 10.4%. This is EBITDA classic.

EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率。我們在每份季度新聞稿中將 EBITDA 與營運現金流進行核對。我們的 EBITDA 環比成長了 870 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率較上季成長了 350 個基點，達到 10.4%。這是 EBITDA 經典。

EBITDA, as adjusted, and as adjusted margin. And as a reminder, our EBITDA, as adjusted, is adjusted for Sprint acquisition cost and cash payments received under the $700 million IP Transit services agreement with T-Mobile. We collected $66.7 million under the IP Transit Services agreement. This quarter, as it was scheduled to climb, it was $87.5 million under the same agreement last quarter. Our EBITDA, as adjusted, was $106.2 million for the quarter and that was a 40.8% margin.

調整後的 EBITDA 和調整後的利潤率。需要提醒的是，我們調整後的 EBITDA 根據 Sprint 收購成本以及根據與 T-Mobile 簽訂的 7 億美元 IP Transit 服務協議收到的現金付款進行了調整。我們根據 IP 傳輸服務協議籌集了 6,670 萬美元。本季度，根據上季度同一協議的預期，該金額將攀升至 8,750 萬美元。本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.062 億美元，利潤率為 40.8%。

We incurred $12.4 million of Sprint non-capital acquisition costs this quarter, an increase from $9 million last quarter, largely due to the end of the severance payments. Included in Sprint acquisition costs for the quarter were $8 million of reimbursed severance costs, and last quarter included in the $9 million that was $4.3 million.

本季我們在 Sprint 上發生了 1,240 萬美元的非資本收購成本，比上季的 900 萬美元有所增加，這主要是由於遣散費的結束。本季 Sprint 收購成本包括 800 萬美元的報銷遣散費，上季的 900 萬美元包括 430 萬美元。

These severance costs are paid by us, but are fully reimbursed by T-Mobile. Under US GAAP, the accounting for these severance costs needs to be retroactively reported as an acquired receivable asset in purchase accounting at closing, and that results in an increase to our acquired assets and a corresponding increase to our gain on bargain purchase. Again, the total gain after the 1 year window for adjustments was $1.4 billion.

這些遣散費由我們支付，但由 T-Mobile 全額報銷。根據美國公認會計原則，這些遣散費的會計處理需要在交割時在購買會計中追溯報告為收購的應收資產，這會導致我們收購的資產增加，並相應增加我們討價還價購買的收益。同樣，一年調整窗口後的總收益為 14 億美元。

When we pay the severance to an employee, we record this transaction as Sprint acquisition costs. When we're reimbursed by T-Mobile, the opening balance sheet receivable from T-Mobile is reduced from the cash payment. This is the final quarter for these severance reimbursements, so this is now behind us.

當我們向員工支付遣散費時，我們將此交易記錄為 Sprint 收購成本。當我們取得 T-Mobile 報銷時，期初資產負債表中應收 T-Mobile 的款項會從現金付款中減少。這是遣散費報銷的最後一個季度，所以現在已經過去了。

Foreign currency impact. Our revenue earned outside of the United States is reported in US dollars and was approximately 17% of our revenues for the quarter. About 11% of our revenues were based in Europe and 6% of our revenues were related to our Canadian, Mexican, Oceanic, South American and African operations. The average euro to USD rate so far this quarter is $1.09 and the average Canadian dollar rate is $0.73. Should these average rates remain at these current levels, we do not expect a material FX impact both sequentially and on a year-over-year basis.

外幣影響。我們在美國境外賺取的收入以美元報告，約佔本季營收的 17%。我們約有 11% 的收入來自歐洲，6% 的收入與加拿大、墨西哥、大洋洲、南美洲和非洲業務有關。本季迄今歐元兌美元平均匯率為 1.09 美元，加幣平均匯率為 0.73 美元。如果這些平均利率保持在當前水平，我們預計不會對連續和同比產生重大外匯影響。

Customer concentration. We believe that our revenue and customer base is not very highly concentrated. Our top 25 customers were about 20% of our revenues for the quarter.

客戶集中度。我們相信我們的收入和客戶群並不是高度集中。我們的前 25 位客戶約占我們本季營收的 20%。

On capital expenditures. Our quarterly capital expenditures were $48.8 million this quarter. We are continuing our network integration of the former Sprint network and legacy Cogent network into 1 unified network and converting former Sprint switch sites into Cogent data centers. We have accelerated our data center conversion program due to the very high level of demand for our power availability.

關於資本支出。本季我們的季度資本支出為 4880 萬美元。我們正在繼續將前 Sprint 網路和舊 Cogent 網路整合為 1 個統一網絡，並將前 Sprint 交換器站點轉變為 Cogent 資料中心。由於對電力可用性的需求非常高，我們加快了資料中心轉換計畫。

Our finance lease IRU obligations are for long-term dark fiber leases. Our IRU finance lease obligations were $426.4 million at the end of the quarter. That was a reduction of $91.1 million from last quarter. The significant decrease from last quarter resulted from the early prepayment at a discount of $114.6 million under the IRU lease, partly offset by replacement IRU route cancellations for new routes of $42.2 million for the quarter. We have a very diverse set of IRU suppliers, and we have contracts with 356 dark fiber suppliers at the end of the quarter.

我們的融資租賃 IRU 義務適用於長期暗光纖租賃。截至本季末，我們的 IRU 融資租賃義務為 4.264 億美元。比上季減少了 9,110 萬美元。較上季度大幅下降的原因是根據 IRU 租約以 1.146 億美元的折扣提前預付款，部分被本季度新航線取消的 IRU 航線取消 4220 萬美元所抵消。我們擁有非常多元化的 IRU 供應商，截至本季末，我們與 356 家暗光纖供應商簽訂了合約。

At quarter end, our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $426.2 million. Of our total $41.8 million of restricted cash, $35.5 million of that was tied to the swap and $6.3 million, which is new, was tied to the customer payment processing requirements under our IPv4 notes.

截至季末，我們的現金和現金等價物以及限制性現金總計 4.262 億美元。在我們總計 4,180 萬美元的限制性現金中，其中 3,550 萬美元與互換相關，630 萬美元是新的，與 IPv4 票據下的客戶支付處理要求相關。

Debt and debt ratios. Our total gross debt at par, including our finance lease obligations, was $1.9 billion at the end of the quarter and net debt was $1.5 billion. Our total gross debt to last 12 months EBITDA, as adjusted, ratio was 4.06 at quarter end and net was 3.14. Our consolidated leverage ratio, as calculated under our notes, was 4.5; and our secured leverage ratio, as calculated under our note indentures, was 2.49.

債務和債務比率。截至本季末，我們的面額總債務（包括融資租賃義務）為 19 億美元，淨債務為 15 億美元。季度末，我們的總負債與過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的調整後比率為 4.06，淨比率為 3.14。根據我們的註釋計算，我們的綜合槓桿率為 4.5；根據票據契約計算，我們的擔保槓桿率為 2.49。

Some further comments on the swap. We are party to an interest rate swap agreement that modifies our fixed interest rate obligation with our $500 million 2026 notes through a variable interest obligation based on SOFR and that is for the remaining term of these 2026 notes. The fair value of our swap agreement decreased by $9.3 million rather from last quarter and was $35.5 million.

關於交換的一些進一步評論。我們是利率互換協議的締約方，該協議透過基於 SOFR 的可變利率義務修改了我們 5 億美元 2026 年票據的固定利率義務，即這些 2026 年票據的剩餘期限。我們掉期協議的公允價值較上季減少了 930 萬美元，為 3,550 萬美元。

Changes in the fair value of the swap agreement are now required to be classified in our public filings with interest expense. As of today, the value of our swap agreement was $30.9 million, so it's declined.

現在，互換協議公允價值的變化需要在我們的公開文件中與利息費用一起分類。截至今天，我們的掉期協議價值為 3,090 萬美元，因此已下降。

Lastly, on bad debt and days sales outstanding. Our days sales improved from last quarter and was 26 days versus 27 in last quarter. Bad debt expense was $2.9 million, 1.1% of revenues. That's consistent with our historical performance. And I want to again thank and recognize our worldwide billing and collections team members for continuing to do just a fantastic job serving our Cogent customers.

最後，關於壞帳和應收帳款週轉天數。我們的銷售天數較上季有所改善，從上季的 27 天增加到 26 天。壞帳費用為 290 萬美元，佔收入的 1.1%。這與我們的歷史表現是一致的。我想再次感謝並表彰我們的全球計費和收款團隊成員，他們繼續為 Cogent 客戶提供出色的服務。

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

然後，我會將電話轉回給戴夫。

Hey, thanks Tad. I'd like to highlight a few of the strengths of our network, our customer base and our sales force. In our NetCentric business, we continue to see significant traffic growth from our customer base. We're the direct beneficiaries of over-the-top video, AI activity and streaming. At quarter end, we have over 1,602 carrier-neutral data centers connected to our network and 86 Cogent data centers, bringing our total connected data center footprint to 1,688, more than any other carrier globally as measured by third-party independent research.

嘿，謝謝泰德。我想強調一下我們的人脈、客戶群和銷售團隊的一些優勢。在我們的 NetCentric 業務中，我們的客戶群流量持續顯著成長。我們是頂級影片、人工智慧活動和串流媒體的直接受益者。截至季度末，我們有超過1,602 個運營商中立資料中心連接到我們的網絡，還有86 個Cogent 資料中心，使我們的連接資料中心總數達到1,688 個，根據第三方獨立研究的測量，比全球任何其他業者都多。

The breadth of our coverage enables our NetCentric customers to better optimize our networks and reduce latency. We expect we'll continue to widen this lead in the market and are projected to add over an additional 100 carrier-neutral data centers per year to our network over the next several years. With an extended provisioning cycle, we can sell wavelengths today in 574 locations. We are slow to do that because we are focused on the optimization of our network, and therefore, the shortening of our provisioning cycles across the entire base.

我們的覆蓋範圍廣泛，使我們的 NetCentric 客戶能夠更好地優化我們的網路並減少延遲。我們預計將繼續擴大在市場上的領先地位，並預計在未來幾年內每年在我們的網路中新增 100 個以上的營運商中立資料中心。透過延長供應週期，我們現在可以在 574 個地點銷售波長。我們在這方面進展緩慢，因為我們專注於網路優化，從而縮短整個基地的配置週期。

By year-end 2024, we expect to be able to sell wavelength services in over 800 carrier neutrals in North America with very reduced provisioning intervals. At quarter end, we directly connected to [8,135] networks, 23 of these networks are peers and 1,112 of these networks are Cogent transit customers. This makes Cogent the most interconnected network globally. This collection of ISPs telephone companies, cable companies and mobile phone operators allow us to reach the vast majority of the world's broadband subscribers and mobile phone users directly.

到 2024 年底，我們預計將能夠在北美 800 多個營運商中立點銷售波長服務，並大幅縮短配置間隔。在季度末，我們直接連接到 [8,135] 個網絡，其中 23 個網絡是對等網絡，其中 1,112 個網絡是 Cogent 交通客戶。這使得 Cogent 成為全球互聯程度最高的網路。這些 ISP（電話公司、有線電視公司和行動電話業者）的集合使我們能夠直接接觸到全球絕大多數寬頻用戶和行動電話用戶。

We remain focused on our sales force productivity and efficacy and continue to manage out underperforming reps. Our sales force turnover rate was 5.6% per month for the quarter, down from a peak of 8.7% during the height of the pandemic and in line with our average sales force turnover rate historically of 5.6%.

我們仍然專注於銷售團隊的生產力和效率，並繼續管理表現不佳的銷售代表。本季我們的銷售人員流動率為每月 5.6%，低於疫情最嚴重期間 8.7% 的峰值，與我們歷史上 5.6% 的平均銷售人員流動率一致。

At quarter's end, we had 280 salespeople focused exclusively on the NetCentric market, 364 sales professionals focused on the corporate market and 12 sales reps focused on the enterprise space. We remain optimistic about our unique position in serving small and mid-sized businesses in central business districts. We have 1,864 multi-tenant office buildings on-net with over 1 billion square feet.

截至季末，我們有 280 位銷售人員專門專注於 NetCentric 市場，364 位銷售專業人員專注於企業市場，12 位銷售代表專注於企業領域。我們對我們在服務中央商務區中小企業的獨特地位保持樂觀。我們在網路上擁有 1,864 棟多租戶辦公大樓，面積超過 10 億平方英尺。

We also remain focused on selling to large enterprises and are continuing to grow that business. We are enthusiastic and optimistic about the addition of optical transport services or wavelengths to our product portfolio and the expansion of our data center footprint. We have a significant backlog and funnel of these wave opportunities at over 2,700 discrete wavelengths. And while we have accentuated provisioning cycles, we hope that with the network reconfiguration work, we can bring these orders installed in much shorter times by year-end. We're diligently working to complete the integration of the Sprint network and the Cogent network and the optimization.

我們也仍然專注於向大型企業銷售產品，並繼續發展該業務。我們對在我們的產品組合中添加光傳輸服務或波長以及擴大我們的資料中心覆蓋範圍充滿熱情和樂觀。我們在超過 2,700 個離散波長上有大量的積壓和漏斗機會。雖然我們強調了配置週期，但我們希望透過網路重新配置工作，我們可以在年底前在更短的時間內完成這些訂單的安裝。我們正在努力完成Sprint網路和Cogent網路的整合和優化。

We remain optimistic and excited about our ability to create cost savings and generate increasing amounts of cash flow. Based on the differences between monthly cost run rates in May of 2023 and June of 2024, we have already achieved $135 million of these savings or 62% of our targeted $220 million in savings.

我們對節省成本和產生越來越多現金流的能力保持樂觀和興奮。根據 2023 年 5 月和 2024 年 6 月每月成本運行率之間的差異，我們已經實現了其中 1.35 億美元的節省，即我們目標 2.2 億美元節省的 62%。

We purchased $8 million of our common stock at the end of the quarter and still have $22.4 million for additional buybacks if warranted. We look to continue to monetize our IPv4 addresses, dark fiber and our data center spaces on a wholesale and retail basis and are willing to either sell or enter into long-term leases for many of these facilities over the next several years. We remain in active discussion with multiple counterparties for multiple sites.

我們在本季末購買了 800 萬美元的普通股，如果有必要的話，我們還有 2,240 萬美元用於額外回購。我們希望繼續以批發和零售的方式將我們的 IPv4 位址、暗光纖和資料中心空間貨幣化，並願意在未來幾年內出售或長期租賃其中許多設施。我們仍在與多個交易對手就多個站點進行積極討論。

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

現在我想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Sebastiano Petti with JPMorgan.

摩根大通的塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂。

Dave, just starting with EBITDA classic. I mean, you realized 62% of the targeted cost savings you just touched on, which is likely to provide a tailwind and continue to groom or exit unprofitable contracts. Just help us think about expectations for EBITDA classic margin expansion. Is that something maybe we can kind of continue to see here off of the 10.4% in the second quarter of '24?

戴夫，剛從 EBITDA 經典開始。我的意思是，您實現了您剛才提到的目標成本節約的 62%，這可能會帶來順風，並繼續培育或退出無利可圖的合約。請幫助我們思考一下對 EBITDA 經典利潤率擴張的預期。我們是否可以繼續看到 24 年第二季 10.4% 的成長率？

And then separately, you may have heard that a competitor recently announced dark fiber deals totaling $5 billion. In the past, you talked about dark fiber and today as a longer-term kind of opportunity, perhaps after you stand up and scale the waves opportunity. I guess, first, are you surprised by that announcement? And does this in any way change how you're thinking about the speed to market on a dark fiber basis? And how are you positioned to maybe get a piece of that action?

另外，您可能聽說過競爭對手最近宣布了總計 50 億美元的暗光纖交易。過去，您談到了暗光纖，而今天則將其視為一種長期機會，也許是在您站起來並乘風破浪之後。我想，首先，您對這個公告感到驚訝嗎？這是否會改變您對暗光纖上市速度的看法？您如何定位才能從這行動中分得一杯羹？

Sure. Thanks for both questions, Sebastiano. So, let me take the EBITDA classic question first. We had significant improvement sequentially in that due to the reduction in our SG&A as well as cost of goods sold. We understand that the IP Transit payments from T-Mobile are continuing to step down. In the quarter, we had effectively a $20 million reduction in those payments, but our EBITDA, as adjusted, was down only $9 million due to the improvements in the underlying classic EBITDA rate.

當然。謝謝你提出兩個問題，塞巴斯蒂亞諾。那麼，讓我先回答 EBITDA 經典問題。由於銷售成本、銷售成本和銷售成本的降低，我們在這方面取得了顯著的改善。據我們了解，T-Mobile 的 IP Transit 付款正在持續減少。在本季度，我們實際上減少了​​ 2000 萬美元的付款，但由於基本經典 EBITDA 率的改善，調整後的 EBITDA 僅減少了 900 萬美元。

We expect that trend to continue. We understand that in the third quarter, we will only be receiving three of the $8.3 million payments. So, we have effectively another $40 million of headwind to EBITDA, as adjusted. We will continue to see improvement in EBITDA classic, the underlying cost due to these grooming and cost synergy programs, probably at a similar pace to what we saw from Q1 to Q2, and I think you'll see that similar pacing Q2 to three and even three to four and continuing on. As we add wavelength revenue, which carries very high contribution margins, we'll see a further acceleration in the EBITDA classic number due to the fact that those wavelength services are virtually all on-net.

我們預計這種趨勢將持續下去。據我們了解，在第三季度，我們將只收到 830 萬美元付款中的三筆。因此，調整後的 EBITDA 實際上又面臨 4,000 萬美元的阻力。我們將繼續看到EBITDA 經典的改善，即由於這些修飾和成本協同計劃而產生的基本成本，可能與我們從第一季度到第二季度看到的速度相似，我認為您會看到第二季度到第三季的類似節奏甚至三到四並繼續。當我們增加具有非常高邊際貢獻的波長收入時，我們將看到 EBITDA 經典數字進一步加速，因為這些波長服務實際上都是在線的。

And now, that's probably a decent transition into the second question. We have been very clear about our targeted market for wavelengths and our strategy of being very aggressive in gaining market share. We think we have a number of competitive advantages, whether it be ubiquity, speed of provisioning or reliability once installed and uniqueness of routes.

現在，這可能是進入第二個問題的一個不錯的過渡。我們非常清楚我們的波長目標市場以及我們積極爭取市場份額的策略。我們認為我們擁有許多競爭優勢，無論是普遍性、配置速度或安裝後的可靠性以及路線的獨特性。

I actually think what was announced by our competitor was more of a defensive action as a result of our entry into the market. That particular competitor had been very reluctant to sell dark fiber. In fact, on multiple occasions regretted the fact that it had sold 12,900 miles of dark fiber to Cogent, enabling a competitor. We, in fact, intend to give that fiber back as we migrate off of that fiber and onto the facilities we acquired from Sprint.

事實上，我認為我們的競爭對手宣布的更多是我們進入市場後的防禦行動。那個特定的競爭對手非常不願意銷售暗光纖。事實上，它曾多次後悔向 Cogent 出售 12,900 英里的暗光纖，從而為競爭對手提供了支援。事實上，當我們從該光纖遷移到我們從 Sprint 獲得的設施時，我們打算歸還該光纖。

We also know that we have excess capacity on our network for dark fiber. Now we will sell dark fiber. I think we do have a significant opportunity. I think our routes are unique, but we have been reluctant to do so until we have done the wave enablement of our network. The competitor, I think you mentioned, derives a significant portion of its cash flow from wavelengths.

我們也知道我們的網路暗光纖容量過剩。現在我們將出售深色光纖。我認為我們確實有一個重要的機會。我認為我們的路線是獨一無二的，但在我們完成網路的波浪啟用之前，我們一直不願意這樣做。我想你提到過，競爭對​​手的現金流的很大一部分來自波長。

They dominate the wavelength market, and I think their change in position and willingness to sell dark fiber was a direct result to maybe the acknowledgment that the market is going to become much more competitive with Cogent's entrance.

他們在波長市場上佔據主導地位，我認為他們的地位和銷售暗光纖意願的變化可能是他們承認隨著 Cogent 的進入市場將變得更具競爭力的直接結果。

The final point to that is we have had many of the same customers who have placed wavelength orders with us. We've provisioned some of those orders, and we've actually said no to some orders. Many of the hyperscalers are building proprietary single-tenant data centers where they want wavelength services. We have refused to deploy capital at low single-digit returns where we would be subject to the monopsony power of that single tenant in that location.

最後一點是，我們有許多相同的客戶向我們下了波長訂單。我們已經供應了其中一些訂單，實際上我們已經拒絕了一些訂單。許多超大規模企業都在需要波長服務的地方建立專有的單一租戶資料中心。我們拒絕以低個位數回報部署資本，否則我們將受到該地點單一租戶的壟斷權力的影響。

So, we will not go out and build to a specific sole tenanted facility unless there is sufficient derisking in the form of upfront payments, higher returns and also long-term contracts. I think what was announced the other day by this competitor was an acceptance of terms that we found uneconomic.

因此，除非以預付款、更高回報和長期合約的形式充分降低風險，否則我們不會出去建造特定的獨租設施。我認為該競爭對手前幾天宣布的是接受我們認為不經濟的條款。

Greg Williams with TD Cowen.

格雷格威廉斯和 TD考恩。

Great. Dave, just wanted to talk about waves. It came in a little light at $3.6 million, but you did say it will ramp up early '25 and you're going to reach the 800 data centers by year-end. But we've only got 156 locations sold that you can send waves to by the end of June, and you got a long way to go with less than 5 months to get to 800.

偉大的。戴夫，只是想談談波浪。它的預算為 360 萬美元，但您確實說過它將在 25 年初增加，到年底您將達到 800 個資料中心。但到 6 月底，我們只售出了 156 個可供您發送浪潮的地點，距離達到 800 個還有不到 5 個月的時間。

So, just help us feel comfortable with ramping up to the 800 wave data centers. And part and parcel to that, the backlog that you mentioned of 2,700 circuits, can we apply the ARPU on waves of 1,670 that 2,700 so we get a dollar amount to that backlog. Is that a fair way to do it?

因此，請協助我們輕鬆升級至 800 Wave 資料中心。其中重要的部分是，您提到的 2,700 個電路的積壓，我們是否可以將 ARPU 應用於 1,670 到 2,700 波，以便我們獲得該積壓的美元金額。這是一個公平的方式嗎？

So, two very different questions, Greg. First of all, we are wave-enabled in 574 data centers as of today. We have actually only sold waves in 156 of those 574. Now, the method that we have to use to provision those wavelengths is very cumbersome and similar to the way our competitors provision a wavelength.

所以，這是兩個截然不同的問題，格雷格。首先，截至目前，我們已在 574 個資料中心啟用了 Wave。實際上，我們只售出了這 574 個波長中的 156 個波長。

The foundational work that we are doing, starting with a clean sheet of paper, allowed us to build a network on top of the Sprint physical assets that would allow us to provision a wavelength in two weeks without pre-deploying capital for transponders, which is a very capital inefficient way based on the number of wave permutations that are possible.

我們正在做的基礎工作，從一張白紙開始，使我們能夠在 Sprint 物理資產之上建立一個網絡，這將使我們能夠在兩週內提供波長，而無需為轉發器預先部署資金，這就是基於可能的波排列數量，這是一種非常低效的方法。

So, each time we provision a wave today, we take resources away from the network reconfiguration work. We will take that 574 and be at all 800 by year-end. So, we literally have 226 to go and we're confident we will make that goal. Two, we are conducting a number of network modifications internal to the network to allow provisioning of a wave to occur end-to-end with only two field dispatches compared to the industry average of probably 6 to 8 dispatches, which is similar to the way we have to do it today.

因此，今天每次我們配置一波時，我們都會從網路重新配置工作中佔用資源。到年底，我們將把這 574 人增加到 800 人。所以，我們其實還有 226 個目標，我們有信心去實現這個目標。第二，我們正在網路內部進行大量網路修改，以便只需要兩次現場調度就可以端到端地進行波次配置，而行業平均水平可能需要 6 到 8 次調度，這類似於我們今天必須這樣做。

And with that, we should be able to rapidly eat into that backlog, but also hopefully, build an even larger backlog. As customers say, we are able to provision much faster than our competitors.

這樣，我們應該能夠快速消化積壓的訂單，但也希望能夠建立更大的積壓訂單。正如客戶所說，我們的供應速度比競爭對手快得多。

Now to the ARPU question. Wavelength pricing is determined by two characteristics, the speed of the wavelength, which comes in three speeds; 10 gig, 100 gig and 400 gig. The larger the speed, the more expensive. The second dimension of pricing is the distance traversed. If you notice, our ARPU did tick up 2% sequentially in the quarter with a modest number of incremental waves. More of the backlog is skewed towards 100 and 400 gig waves than in 10 gig. That probably means the ARPU of what's in that backlog is slightly larger than the ARPU of the installed base.

現在討論 ARPU 問題。波長定價由兩個特徵決定：波長的速度，有三種速度； 10 演出、100 演出和 400 演出。速度越大，價格越貴。定價的第二個維度是走過的距離。如果您注意到的話，我們的 ARPU 在本季度確實連續增長了 2%，且增量波數適中。更多的積壓訂單傾向於 100 和 400 G 波，而不是 10 G。這可能意味著積壓的 ARPU 略大於已安裝基礎的 A​​RPU。

A big part of our effort is to make sure that we can support all of these speeds across the footprint. As these higher bandwidth applications continue to need more connectivity, we are seeing a transition away from 10 gig, 100 gig remains dominant, but I think over the next year or two, 400-gig will be the dominant form of wavelengths, bringing ARPUs up.

我們努力的一個重要部分是確保我們能夠在整個足跡中支援所有這些速度。隨著這些更高頻寬的應用繼續需要更多的連接，我們看到從10 GB 的過渡，100 GB 仍然占主導地位，但我認為在未來一兩年內，400 GB 將成為波長的主要形式，從而提高ARPU 。

And then beyond that, there will be a migration path based on the equipment we've installed to support 800 and eventually 1.6 terabit waves. The systems that we are deploying are flex spectrum, meaning they're no longer adhering to the ITU grid standards, and therefore, allow us the flexibility to support these higher throughputs as the equipment vendors make them commercially available.

除此之外，還將有一條基於我們安裝的裝置的遷移路徑，以支援 800 太比特波，最終支援 1.6 太比特波。我們正在部署的系統是靈活頻譜的，這意味著它們不再遵守 ITU 網格標準，因此，當設備供應商將其商業化時，我們可以靈活地支援這些更高的吞吐量。

Hopefully, that was helpful, Greg.

希望這對你有幫助，格雷格。

That was helpful.

這很有幫助。

Walter Piecyk with LightShed.

沃爾特·皮西克 (Walter Piecyk) 與 LightShed。

Dave, thanks for that explanation on the fiber deals. Just maybe as a counter thought on this. I mean they needed money, right? And they have a free cash flow burn situation. With your TSA payments coming up, your leverage ratio, obviously, is going to go up. Recognizing that maybe it's single-digit returns, is there still an opportunity maybe to use some of the Sprint dark fiber to do a similar deal except for lower terms, but basically just use it as a -- to cash in some money?

戴夫，感謝您對光纖交易的解釋。也許只是作為對此的反思考。我的意思是他們需要錢，對嗎？他們的自由現金流也被燒毀。隨著您的 TSA 付款即將到來，您的槓桿率顯然會上升。認識到這可能是個位數的回報，是否仍然有機會使用一些 Sprint 暗纖維來做類似的交易，除了較低的條款，但基本上只是將其用作 - 兌現一些錢？

I mean it's basically just a construction type deal, right. I mean is your thoughts -- sorry, Dave, just to interrupt, is your thought, I guess, to, that over -- at some period of time, that dark fiber will get used and you get higher returns, but then it's like time value in terms of when that may or may not happen in the future. Sorry, go ahead.

我的意思是這基本上只是一個建築類型的交易，對吧。我的意思是你的想法- 對不起，戴夫，只是打斷一下，你的想法是，我想，結束- 在某個時間段，暗纖維將被使用，你會得到更高的回報，但然後它就像時間價值是指未來可能發生或不發生的時間。抱歉，請繼續。

Yes. So, I think two parts to that, Walt. We are absolutely willing and expect to sell dark fiber on the routes that we have, i.e., sell our inventory where the return is infinite because we have a negative cost basis in that fiber. We will do that when we have the resources to allocate to the provision at fiber.

是的。所以，我認為這有兩個部分，沃爾特。我們絕對願意並期望在我們現有的路線上銷售暗光纖，即在回報無限的情況下出售我們的庫存，因為我們在該光纖方面具有負成本基礎。當我們有資源分配給光纖供應時，我們就會這樣做。

The new construction to single-purpose facilities has to be weighed against other uses of our capital. I can't speak to what my competitor's alternatives are. I can speak to what Cogent has. And Cogent has much better places to go to raise cash. We have over 100 megawatts and 1 million square feet of surplus data center space. The current market price for that type of asset is about [1.4] or about $14 million a megawatt compared to our offering price of $10 million a megawatt.

單一用途設施的新建必須與我們資本的其他用途進行權衡。我無法談論我的競爭對手的替代方案。我可以談談 Cogent 擁有的東西。 Cogent 有更好的地方可以籌集現金。我們擁有超過 100 兆瓦和 100 萬平方英尺的剩餘資料中心空間。與我們每兆瓦 1000 萬美元的發行價相比，該類型資產的當前市場價格約為 [1.4]，即每兆瓦 1400 萬美元。

So, rather than go out and accept a very low return construction project, it is better for us to take our resources and capital and sell off some of these data centers that, again, we have a negative basis in. As Tad mentioned, we pivoted and did increase our capital spending slightly in the quarter to accelerate the availability of these facilities.

因此，與其出去接受回報率極低的建設項目，不如利用我們的資源和資本出售其中一些數據中心，而這些數據中心又是我們的負面基礎。增加了我們的資本支出，以加快這些設施的可用性。

Again, to remind everyone, these were not built as data centers. They were built as telephone central offices. Many of them are quite large but we had to remove telephone equipment and we had to condition those spaces to turn them into marketable data centers. And we're in discussions now with dozens of counter-parties for dozens of locations. That is a better way to raise cash.

再次提醒大家，這些並不是作為資料中心建造的。它們是作為電話中心辦公室建造的。其中許多都相當大，但我們必須拆除電話設備，並且必須對這些空間進行調節，將它們變成適銷對路的資料中心。我們現在正在與數十個地點的數十個對手方進行討論。這是籌集現金的更好方法。

We also have our IPv4 inventory. The competitor that you mentioned actually sold off a large portion of their inventory several years ago to raise cash, we did not. We chose not to. Prices continued to appreciate. We've demonstrated our ability to raise pricing on leasing and to securitize that revenue with a very low cost of capital. The fact that we have $462 million of cash on our balance sheet, we continue to grow our dividend, we buy back our stock, and we are deploying capital as fast as we can in the network, gives us the flexibility to say no to low single-digit IRRs. My goal is not to borrow money at 7% to get a 3% return.

我們還有 IPv4 庫存。你提到的競爭對手實際上幾年前就賣掉了大部分庫存來籌集現金，但我們沒有。我們選擇不這樣做。價格繼續上漲。我們已經證明了我們有能力提高租賃定價並以非常低的資本成本將收入證券化。事實上，我們的資產負債表上有4.62 億美元的現金，我們繼續增加股息，我們回購我們的股票，我們正在網絡中盡可能快地部署資本，這讓我們能夠靈活地對低價說“不」個位數的 IRR。我的目標不是藉7%的錢來獲得3%的回報。

That's fair. So, Dave, that's a good segue to my next question. I mean, first, on the data centers, yes, you can sell them, but I think you grew on net data centers and your pace was typically adding carrier-neutral data centers, I'm talking about. I think you typically add 100 a year. You seem well ahead of that pace. Just curious, thought process there.

這很公平。所以，戴夫，這是我下一個問題的一個很好的延續。我的意思是，首先，在資料中心上，是的，你可以出售它們，但我認為你在網路資料中心上成長，你的步伐通常是增加運營商中立的資料中心，我正在談論。我認為你通常每年增加 100。你看起來遠遠領先這個速度。只是好奇，思考過程。

And then on the IPv4, similar question. Is the growth in the quarter was a little slower than last quarter in terms of the number of leases. Obviously, you implemented a price increase. But is this the type of pace to expect on those IP leases, and given no sales in the quarter and you're kind of talking about the lease growth there, are sales still on the table? Can you give us some update on thoughts on whether that may or may not happen given the current market or you just rather add the lease revenue sequentially every quarter?

然後在 IPv4 上，也有類似的問題。就租賃數量而言，本季的成長速度比上季稍慢。顯然，你們實施了漲價。但這是這些智慧財產權租賃的預期成長速度嗎？您能否給我們一些最新的想法，考慮到當前市場是否會發生這種情況，或者您只是每個季度按順序添加租賃收入？

Yes. So, let me take those in order, Walt. On the data centers, to be honest, it's a reactive process. We operate in 54 countries around the world, and our goal is to get to every carrier-neutral in every country we are licensed in. Now we measure those based on the size of the facility, the quality of the underlying operator and our cost-effective ability to get to that center.

是的。那麼，讓我按順序排列這些，沃爾特。老實說，在資料中心，這是一個反應過程。我們在全球54 個國家/地區開展業務，我們的目標是涵蓋我們獲得許可的每個國家/地區的每個營運商中立國家。來衡量這些目標到達中心的有效能力。

With the rapid influx of capital into the data center market over the past year and continuing, we are seeing a much larger number of data centers coming online. So, it is likely that for the next year or two, we may do over 100 a year just because there are more being built. And then on the IPv4, we are still considering selling addresses. We evaluate the market conditions. We know that the two largest buyers are currently leasing addresses at a significant premium to our even increased prices.

隨著過去一年資本快速湧入資料中心市場並持續下去，我們看到越來越多的資料中心上線。因此，在接下來的一兩年裡，我們可能每年會做 100 多個項目，因為有更多的項目正在建設中。然後在 IPv4 上，我們仍在考慮出售地址。我們評估市場狀況。我們知道，目前最大的兩個買家正在以比我們上漲的價格高得多的價格租賃地址。

As Tad mentioned, we increased pricing from an average of $0.30 an address per month across the base. For new sales, we went to $0.51 per address and saw a very modest reduction in unit volume, and I think that's somewhat temporary. We also are going to evaluate our ability to raise the existing base with the average contract length of 1.5 months. We have a great deal of flexibility in raising prices to existing customers.

正如 Tad 所提到的，我們將整個基地的平均價格從每個地址每月 0.30 美元提高了。對於新銷售，我們將每個地址的價格定為 0.51 美元，並發現單位數量略有減少，我認為這有些是暫時的。我們還將評估我們提高現有基礎的能力，平均合約期限為 1.5 個月。我們在向現有客戶提高價格方面具有很大的靈活性。

This is a very sticky business with an annual churn rate of 0.8% per year. So we will look at our ability to lease more addresses at a higher rate and the DCF associated with that versus our cost of capital versus what we can sell those addresses in the marketplace, and we are open to any of those options to help us maximize return to our shareholders.

這是一項非常黏性的業務，每年的流失率為 0.8%。因此，我們將檢視我們以更高的利率租賃更多地址的能力，以及與我們的資本成本和我們可以在市場上出售這些地址的數量相關的貼現現金流，並且我們對任何這些選項都持開放態度，以幫助我們最大化回報我們的股東。

Walter, (technical difficulty) answer that. Well, I just got a long queue Walt. That put us on (technical difficulty).

沃特（技術難度）回答這個問題。嗯，沃特，我剛剛排了很長的隊。這讓我們陷入了（技術困難）。

Your prepared comments, that's the issue. The pace of leasing, is it -- this is the typical pace or is it going to be up and down?

您準備好的評論，這就是問題所在。租賃的步伐是－這是典型的步伐還是會上下波動？

It's with any service, you're going to depend on a specific demand in the quarter. But it does appear that the funnel for IP leasing remains very strong. And even with the increase in offering price, we are seeing no real diminution in demand.

對於任何服務，您將取決於該季度的特定需求。但知識產權租賃的管道似乎仍然非常強大。即使發行價上漲，我們也沒有看到需求真正減少。

Tim Horan with Oppenheimer.

提姆霍蘭與奧本海默。

Just following up on Walt. Would you raise prices on the legacy base and maybe timing? If so why not to the IPv4 addresses? And then secondly, it looks like Lumen is talking about a substantially larger market. I think they're referencing $7 billion or so or more for the IP -- well, the wavelength market, broadly speaking. Do you think the market is that large, and they're also talking about obviously doubling the locations they go to and a much better platform to provision services. Are you worried that maybe they will be a better competitor? Are you seeing them lower prices or quality improve there?

只是在跟進沃爾特。您會提高傳統基礎產品的價格嗎？如果是的話為什麼不使用 IPv4 位址呢？其次，看起來 Lumen 正在談論更大的市場。我認為他們指的是 70 億美元左右或更多的 IP——嗯，從廣義上講，是波長市場。您認為市場有那麼大嗎？ 他們也談論顯然將他們去的地點增加一倍，以及提供更好的服務平台。您是否擔心他們可能會成為更好的競爭對手？您是否看到他們在那裡降低了價格或提高了品質？

Yes. So, let me take the IPv4 one first, Tim. We absolutely intend to raise prices on the installed base. We will be doing that later this quarter for a portion of the base and measure the impact on churn. We will continue to monitor the market for the sale of addresses and that is definitely not off the table. The goal is to sell at the highest price possible. And I think there is the likelihood that prices will go up.

是的。那麼，提姆，讓我先討論 IPv4。我們絕對打算提高已安裝基礎的價格。我們將在本季稍後對部分基礎數據進行此操作，並衡量對客戶流失的影響。我們將繼續監控地址銷售市場，這絕對是不可能的。目標是以盡可能高的價格出售。我認為價格有可能上漲。

And then finally, on IPv4 pricing, it's not clear to us that the increase that we put in place now will be the last increase. As the resource continues to increase in scarcity, we intend to adjust price to maximize return on our inventory. We've streamlined our sales process of addresses, our leasing process and normalized our compensation structure. All of those things, I think, are going to help us see this continue to grow. And while it is only 4% of our total revenues, it did grow at a sequential growth rate of over 4% quarter-over-quarter.

最後，關於 IPv4 定價，我們不清楚我們現在實施的上調是否會是最後一次上調。隨著資源的稀缺性持續增加，我們打算調整價格以最大限度地提高庫存回報。我們簡化了地址銷售流程、租賃流程並規範了薪酬結構。我認為，所有這些事情都將幫助我們看到這一點繼續增長。雖然它只占我們總收入的 4%，但環比成長率確實超過 4%。

Now, to the wavelength market. There is both wavelengths and dark fiber and there is some fungibility. For a lot of customers, dark fiber makes no sense because of the upfront capital and the ongoing operational support expense. For others, it may make sense. The global wavelength market is $7 billion, as measured by third parties.

現在，進入波長市場。既有波長又有暗光纖，並且有一定的替代性。對許多客戶來說，由於前期資本和持續的營運支援費用，暗光纖沒有任何意義。對於其他人來說，這可能是有道理的。根據第三方測算，全球波長市場價值 70 億美元。

Unfortunately, Lumen is only in North America, so they can't participate in $3.5 billion that's outside of North America. And then that includes both metro and long haul. We are going to have more locations wave enabled than anyone else. We'll continue to add them to follow up on Walt's question about data center additions. Any data center in North America; so that means Mexico, Canada and the US that we add, we will make wave enabled from day 1, and we welcome competition.

不幸的是，Lumen 僅在北美，因此他們無法參與北美以外的 35 億美元融資。然後包括地鐵和長途。我們將比其他任何人擁有更多啟用 Wave 的地點。我們將繼續添加它們，以跟進 Walt 關於資料中心添加的問題。北美任何資料中心；這意味著我們添加了墨西哥、加拿大和美國，我們將從第一天起就啟用 Wave，我們歡迎競爭。

In the transit business, where we become the dominant player globally with 25% of the world's traffic, we compete in a market with 200 players. And in fact, the competitor you mentioned was the dominant player that we displaced to be the largest player. Listen, I wish I could wake up one day and be a monopolist. I'm not.

在交通運輸領域，我們成為全球主導者，擁有全球 25% 的運輸量，我們在一個擁有 200 家參與者的市場中競爭。事實上，你提到的競爭對手是我們取代的主要參與者，成為最大的參與者。聽著，我希望有一天我能醒來並成為壟斷者。我不是。

I welcome the fact that we have to win customers every day on the value that we deliver, and I am quite confident that Cogent will have a better value proposition than any of our competitors. And if that means being more aggressive on wave pricing, that is absolutely something we are prepared and expect to be able to do. We are going to grow that business and generate that incremental revenue.

我很高興我們每天都必須依靠我們提供的價值來贏得客戶，而且我非常有信心 Cogent 將比我們的任何競爭對手擁有更好的價值主張。如果這意味著在波動定價上更加積極，那麼這絕對是我們準備並期望能夠做到的事情。我們將發展該業務並產生增量收入。

Yes, I guess, they're -- well they're seeing there's a potential like $5 billion locked up, but another $7 billion, so $12 billion total. I guess just at a high level, do you think the market maybe is much larger, growing much faster than maybe what you thought a year ago because of AI?

是的，我猜，他們看到有可能鎖定 50 億美元，但還有 70 億美元，所以總共 120 億美元。我想，從高水準來看，您是否認為由於人工智慧，市場可能會比您一年前想像的更大、成長速度更快？

I think it's -- it probably is somewhat larger, but a big part of what they're referencing is new construction projects, meaning building fiber to facilities that never had fiber before. How big the recurring revenue opportunity is in those facilities is yet to be figured out.

我認為它可能更大一些，但他們提到的很大一部分是新的建設項目，這意味著為以前從未有過光纖的設施建造光纖。這些設施的經常性收入機會有多大仍有待弄清楚。

Frank Louthan with Raymond James.

弗蘭克·勞森和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Great. A couple of questions. Do you -- I think I know the answer, but just wanted to check. So, looking at your network that you have, do you have spare conduit in GMG network that you could sell that would possibly compete with some of these deals? And then, going forward, once you have all of the buildings configured and so forth and you're set for selling waves, what do you think is a reasonable quarterly run rate for that business once it gets up to speed?

偉大的。有幾個問題。我想我知道答案，但只是想檢查一下。那麼，看看您擁有的網絡，您在 GMG 網路中是否有可以出售的備用管道，這些管道可能會與其中一些交易競爭？然後，展望未來，一旦您配置了所有建築物等，並且您準備好進行銷售，您認為該業務一旦加快速度，合理的季度運行率是多少？

Yes. So, in terms of conduit, we do not have spare conduit. The Sprint network was built with direct buried fiber in armored jacket, typically 6 feet below grade versus conduit networks in plastic that are generally along public highway right-of-way, two feet below grade. As a result, we have had 50% fewer splices per mile than those other networks, even though the network is a decade older. That gives us better loss and better throughput. We absolutely have fiber to sell, not conduits, and the fiber that we have is capable of supporting all of the coherent technology for 100, 400 and even 800 and 1.6 terabit wavelengths when that becomes the de facto standard.

是的。所以，在導管方面，我們沒有多餘的導管。 Sprint 網路採用鎧裝護套中的直埋光纖建造，通常位於地面以下 6 英尺，而塑膠管道網路通常沿著公共高速公路通行權，位於地面以下 2 英尺。因此，儘管我們的網路已有十年歷史，但與其他網路相比，每英里的接頭數量卻減少了 50%。這給我們帶來了更好的損失和更好的吞吐量。我們絕對有光纖可供銷售，而不是管道，而且我們擁有的光纖能夠支援 100、400、甚至 800 和 1.6 太比特波長（當該技術成為事實標準時）的所有相干技術。

Now, in terms of the run rate for our wave growth, we have said that from 5 years from acquisition, so that would be by May of 2028, we will be generating $500 million in wave revenues. We believe that is absolutely a realistic target out of the $2 billion addressable market that we referenced. And to Tim's point, maybe we undersized that market a little bit. But we feel quite confident that we will get there. And I think once we have normalized our provisioning and our footprint is complete, that growth rate should be fairly linear.

現在，就我們的 Wave 成長運行率而言，我們表示，從收購後的 5 年內，即到 2028 年 5 月，我們將產生 5 億美元的 Wave 收入。我們相信，在我們提到的 20 億美元的潛在市場中，這絕對是一個現實的目標。對提姆來說，也許我們稍微低估了這個市場的規模。但我們對實現這一目標充滿信心。我認為，一旦我們的供應正常化並且我們的足跡完成，成長率應該是相當線性的。

Jim Schneider with Goldman Sachs.

高盛的吉姆·施奈德。

Dave, I wanted to sort of ask you, you're, on the cost control side, delivering very strong cost controls on some of the data center transitions and other things. Maybe could you quantify for us how much more there is to go on this? Any other buckets of cost takeout there may be? But more importantly, with those cost takeouts, is that sufficient to potentially get you to an EBITDA non-classic or with the Sprint payments, a growth situation in 2025?

戴夫，我想問你，你在成本控制方面，對一些資料中心轉換和其他事情提供了非常強大的成本控制。也許您能為我們量化一下這方面還有多少工作要做？可能還有其他成本支出嗎？但更重要的是，透過這些成本支出，這是否足以讓您在 2025 年實現非經典 EBITDA 或 Sprint 付款的成長？

Jim, well, first of all, welcome to Cogent. Welcome to coverage with us, and thanks for your question. So, we absolutely have significantly more cost savings to achieve. We have a combination of non-core services, low-margin revenue services, and then additional G&A savings. We also understand that the T-Mobile payments were meant to bridge this period of maximum burn are stepping down. We will now be at a run rate for the next 41 months, at the lower rate of $8.3 million per month.

吉姆，首先，歡迎來到 Cogent。歡迎收看我們的報道，感謝您的提問。因此，我們絕對可以節省更多的成本。我們擁有非核心服務、低利潤收入服務以及額外的一般管理費用節省的組合。我們也了解到，T-Mobile 支付的目的是為了彌補這段最大燒錢的時期。現在，我們將按照未來 41 個月的運行速度，每月 830 萬美元的較低速度運行。

With that, we absolutely will be in a position in 2025 when we're on an apples-to-apples basis. So, we're looking at quarters where we have three monthly payments of $8.3 million in '24 versus '23 and '25, so it will be Q3, at the $8.3 million that EBITDA will be growing, and we expect that growth to continue.

這樣，到 2025 年，當我們處於同等水平時，我們絕對會處於有利地位。因此，我們正在研究 24 年三個月付款為 830 萬美元的季度，而 23 年和 25 年，因此將是第三季度，EBITDA 將增長 830 萬美元，我們預計這種增長將持續下去。

So, yes, EBITDA will step down in the remainder of '24 due to these lower payments because EBITDA is adjusted now -- to the earlier question, our EBITDA classic will continue to improve, but that improvement will not fully offset that step down from $87 million down to $25 million. But after we normalize to that rate, we absolutely will be in a positive EBITDA growth number. And we've achieved only 62% of the targeted $220 million in savings. And our belief at this time is that $220 million will eventually go up. I think there are some additional savings opportunities that we'll be able to talk about in the quarters to come.

因此，是的，由於這些較低的付款，EBITDA 將在 24 年剩餘時間內下降，因為 EBITDA 現在已調整 - 對於先前的問題，我們的 EBITDA 經典將繼續改進，但這種改進不會完全抵消從8700 萬美元降至2500 萬美元。但在我們正常化到這個比率後，我們絕對會達到 EBITDA 正成長。我們只實現了 2.2 億美元節省目標的 62%。我們目前的信念是最終會上漲 2.2 億美元。我認為我們將在未來幾季討論一些額外的節省機會。

And maybe a second one, at the risk of piling on waves and dark fiber, but might be wanted to just get your sense, can you maybe kind of characterize for us your view on how many and which routes that Cogent has are unique relative to your competitors? And maybe, say something about whether your competitor has any routes which you believe are particularly unique. And if you sort of think about the future landscape of additional deals that could transpire.

也許還有第二條，冒著堆積波浪和暗光纖的風險，但可能只是想了解一下您的感覺，您能否向我們描述一下您對Cogent 擁有多少條路線以及哪些路線相對於其他路線而言是獨一無二的看法？也許，談談你的競爭對手是否有任何你認為特別獨特的路線。如果你考慮一下可能發生的額外交易的未來前景。

Yes. So, we and our competitors, multiple competitors, serve all of the key North American markets, roughly 100 cities. I think there's at least three or four dark fiber routes between those cities. Now, 90% of the Sprint routes have no other fiber on them. They were built along these unique railroad right of ways. There may be a parallel path along a public highway, along a pipeline.

是的。因此，我們和我們的競爭對手（多個競爭對手）為北美所有主要市場（約 100 個城市）提供服務。我認為這些城市之間至少有三到四條暗光纖路線。現在，90% 的 Sprint 路線上沒有其他光纖。它們是沿著這些獨特的鐵路路權建造的。沿著公共高速公路、沿著管道可能有一條平行路徑。

Generally, most of our competitors build their fiber or did build their fiber differently along public highway right-of-way, lower burial distances and in plastic conduit. The conduit absolutely gives you the flexibility to add more.

一般來說，我們的大多數競爭對手都沿著公共高速公路的通行權、較低的埋藏距離和在塑膠管道中建造光纖或以不同的方式建造光纖。導管絕對讓您可以靈活地添加更多。

But if you pick two cities, just put two pins in a map, and I'm going to just pick two random, say, Phoenix to Cleveland. Cogent would have a unique route, but you could also buy a different route from a Zayo or a Lumen to connect those two cities. Now, it's more likely than not that maybe the other two are not on a unique right of way, but where all three of us going to be able to serve those two city payers.

但如果你選擇兩個城市，只需在地圖上放置兩個圖釘，我會隨機選擇兩個城市，例如從鳳凰城到克利夫蘭。 Cogent 將有一條獨特的路線，但您也可以從 Zayo 或 Lumen 購買不同的路線來連接這兩個城市。現在，更有可能的是，另外兩個人並不擁有獨特的通行權，但我們三個人都能夠為這兩個城市付款人提供服務。

Nick Del Deo with MoffettNathanson.

尼克·德爾·迪奧 (Nick Del Deo) 和莫菲特·內桑森 (MoffettNathanson)。

Appreciate all the detail on this call. I guess, first, you gave us a little color on some of the revenue and connection declines in your prepared remarks, but I was hoping you could dig a little bit into the corporate trends specifically. I'm just trying to tease out how much of that was a function of kind of bad Sprint revenue and connections rolling off versus what's happening with better Sprint corporate connections and classic Cogent corporate connections?

感謝這次通話的所有細節。我想，首先，您在準備好的演講中向我們介紹了一些收入和連接下降的情況，但我希望您能具體深入了解企業趨勢。我只是想弄清楚其中有多少是由於 Sprint 收入不佳和人脈關係下降而造成的，而與更好的 Sprint 企業關係和經典 Cogent 企業關係所發生的情況相比？

Yes. So, thanks for your question, Nick. First of all, our on-net revenues grew sequentially in the quarter, even though our NetCentric revenue growth actually declined slightly in the quarter. So, we grew on-net corporate revenues. That was both kind of traditional Cogent business as well as Sprint business that we migrated from off-net to on-net. There are three buckets of revenue that we acquired from Sprint that are not desirable. We have an easy fix for one of those three.

是的。所以，謝謝你的提問，尼克。首先，我們的線上收入在本季度環比增長，儘管我們的 NetCentric 收入成長實際上在本季度略有下降。因此，我們增加了企業淨收入。這既是傳統的 Cogent 業務，也是我們從網外遷移到網路上的 Sprint 業務。我們從 Sprint 獲得的三部分收入並不理想。對於這三個問題之一，我們有一個簡單的解決方案。

That is traffic that is in buildings that were off-net to Sprint that are on-net to Cogent, and we're rapidly migrating those customers as those tail circuit contracts mature. We also have non-core products that we absolutely want to end of life as quickly as possible. And you saw our run rate on those products decline by about $2 million sequentially, but there's still over $4 million a quarter in that non-core revenue bucket that really needs to go to 0 and help us improve margins.

這是那些位於 Sprint 網外但 Cogent 位於網內的建築物中的流量，隨著這些尾部電路合約的成熟，我們正在迅速遷移這些客戶。我們還有非核心產品，我們絕對希望盡快終止它們的生命。您會看到我們這些產品的運作率連續下降了約 200 萬美元，但非核心收入中每季仍有超過 400 萬美元，確實需要降至 0 並幫助我們提高利潤率。

And then, the final bucket are off-net Sprint acquired circuits that are not profitable, and it's because they're very low speed, they may have been delivered over a sub-optimal media coax, twisted-pair in some cases or fixed wireless, we're migrating to fiber, and we're upping those speeds. Some of that revenue will go away. Most of it will actually transition to a fiber solution.

然後，最後一個桶子是Sprint 收購的網外電路，這些電路無法獲利，這是因為它們的速度非常低，它們可能是透過次優媒體同軸電纜、某些情況下的雙絞線或固定無線傳輸的，我們正在遷移到光纖，並且我們正在提高這些速度。其中一些收入將會消失。其中大部分實際上將過渡到光纖解決方案。

So, as we look at the corporate decline, it was really bad business that we are managing off intentionally, and the good business is growing. And that, I think, is part of the way that we achieved that sequential improvement of over 250 basis points and cost of goods sold, is by getting rid of that low-margin off-net business as well as non-core.

因此，當我們看到企業的衰退時，我們有意管理的確實是糟糕的業務，而好的業務正在成長。我認為，我們實現銷售成本連續改善超過 250 個基點的部分方法是擺脫低利潤的網外業務和非核心業務。

Okay. That will make sense. And one other question on costs and EBITDA. Obviously, a good progress there. Again, I think, we've talked in the past about there being a fair bit of integration cost, lease exit cost, lease remediation cost and so on that you're not specifically breaking out of EBITDA, that probably suppressed the reported number versus what the kind of real underlying results are. I guess, could you update us on that and how we should think about that progressing in future quarters?

好的。這是有道理的。還有一個關於成本和 EBITDA 的問題。顯然，那裡取得了良好的進展。我想，我們過去曾討論過，存在相當多的整合成本、租賃退出成本、租賃補救成本等，而這些成本並沒有專門超出 EBITDA，這可能會抑制報告的數字真正的潛在結果是什麼。我想，您能否向我們介紹一下最新情況以及我們應該如何考慮未來幾季的進展？

Yes. And for the past 15 months since the acquisition, we've been spending about $5 million a month on OpEx related to integration projects. We do not break that out separately. We do not add it back to EBITDA because we had the added complexity of the T-Mobile add back and did not want to, I think, overly complicate our accounting. We anticipate that $5 million a month drag on EBITDA to be a 3-year drag.

是的。自收購以來的過去 15 個月裡，我們每月在與整合專案相關的營運支出上花費約 500 萬美元。我們不會單獨分解這個問題。我們不會將其重新計入 EBITDA，因為 T-Mobile 的重新計入增加了我們的複雜性，而且我認為我們不想讓我們的會計過於複雜化。我們預計每月 500 萬美元的 EBITDA 拖累將持續 3 年。

That was what we said it would take us to go from the negative $190 million of acquired EBITDA to, if you just looked at those customers, about $85 million to $90 million of positive EBITDA. I think we are on track to do that. I think that drag will continue beyond this year and in -- well into next year. But it will start to taper off. We are ahead of schedule in terms of taking costs out, which gives us the ability to turn off some of that extraordinary expense sooner.

這就是我們所說的，如果你只看這些客戶的話，我們需要從收購的 1.9 億美元的負 EBITDA 變成大約 8500 萬到 9000 萬美元的正 EBITDA。我認為我們正在努力做到這一點。我認為這種拖累將持續到今年之後，並持續到明年。但它會開始逐漸減弱。我們在削減成本方面比計劃提前，這使我們能夠更快地關閉一些額外費用。

Bora Lee with RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的博拉李 (Bora Lee)。

Once the wave enablement is done and the internal team is freed up to turn its attention to dark fiber, what would it take operationally to get to a point for the sales force to be able to start offering dark fiber services? And what's sort of a rough timeline for that process?

一旦浪潮支援完成並且內部團隊可以騰出時間將注意力轉向暗光纖，那麼在操作上需要採取什麼措施才能使銷售人員能夠開始提供暗光纖服務？過程的粗略時間表是怎樣的？

So, the sales force already knows the dark fiber is coming. They've had multiple requests from customers for specific routes. We will actually show this quarter a couple of very modest dark fiber sales in Q3, really to help certain customers in specific situations, but each of these requests is kind of a calculus of, do we put in jeopardy the bigger opportunity to optimize the Wave network?

因此，銷售人員已經知道暗光纖即將到來。他們收到了客戶對特定路線的多次請求。實際上，我們將在本季度展示第三季度的一些非常溫和的暗光纖銷售，確實是為了在特定情況下幫助某些客戶，但每個請求都是一種微積分，我們是否會將優化Wave的更大機會置於危險之中網絡？

By year-end, that optimization project will be complete and we can then kind of free up people to do that provisioning. I think in terms of complexity, these are more bespoke. It's less of a standard product, and it is very route-specific. That means the distance, it means the uniqueness of the route and also the total fiber availability on the route. Not all routes are the same.

到年底，該優化項目將完成，然後我們就可以騰出人員來進行配置。我認為就複雜性而言，這些更加客製化。它不是一個標準產品，而是非常特定於路線的。這意味著距離，意味著路線的唯一性，也意味著路線上的總光纖可用性。並非所有路線都相同。

An example would be one of our most in-demand routes is our northern route that goes between Chicago and Seattle. The reason for that is, it's the lowest latency path between East Coast and the West Coast. That's particularly interesting for certain applications. Why is that true? The earth is curved. The distance at higher latitudes is shorter than it is at lower latitudes to hit the same longitudinal line.

一個例子是我們最受歡迎的航線之一是我們往返於芝加哥和西雅圖之間的北部航線。原因是，它是東海岸和西海岸之間延遲最低的路徑。這對於某些應用程式來說特別有趣。為什麼這是真的？地球是彎曲的。高緯度地區到達同一經線的距離比低緯度地區短。

And for that reason, that's a particularly in-demand path. We don't have enough market data and haven't actively sold to be able to fully assess that. But I do think next year, we'll be in a position to have the wave business kind of working as expected and then pivot resources to start to build a funnel of dark fiber requests and then figure out where the optimal pricing is. But again, we have no intention of building new fiber based on what we view as suboptimal returns, but we will sell out our excess inventory.

出於這個原因，這是一條特別受歡迎的道路。我們沒有足夠的市場數據，也沒有積極出售，無法充分評估這一點。但我確實認為明年，我們將能夠讓波浪業務按預期運行，然後集中資源開始建立暗光纖請求管道，然後找出最佳定價。但同樣，我們無意基於我們認為次優回報而建造新的光纖，但我們將出售多餘的庫存。

Got it. And monthly on-net ARPU continues to tick-up. In the past, you've mentioned that you're benefiting from a transition to higher capacity connections. Just wondering if that's what's driving the ARPU gains this quarter? And if so, can you update us on the mix and trends that you've been seeing there?

知道了。每月線上 ARPU 持續上升。過去，您曾提到您正從向更高容量連接的過渡中受益。只是想知道這是否是本季 ARPU 成長的推動因素？如果是這樣，您能否向我們介紹您在那裡看到的組合和趨勢的最新情況？

Yes. That is, in fact, a key driver. On the corporate side, we continue to see an expansion of 10-gig opportunities in multi-tenant office buildings. And then on the NetCentric side, we are seeing an increased number of 100 gig and even 400 gig transit ports. So, all of that is helping drive higher ARPU on-net.

是的。事實上，這是一個關鍵驅動因素。在企業方面，我們繼續看到多租戶辦公大樓中 10 台演出機會的擴張。然後在 NetCentric 方面，我們看到 100 gig 甚至 400 gig 傳輸連接埠的數量有所增加。因此，所有這些都有助於提高網路 ARPU。

And lastly, just curious about the types of counterparties who've shown the most interest in the data center assets, just given their size. Are these enterprises for their own use or financial sponsor or strategics? If you could provide any color there, that would be helpful.

最後，只是好奇對資料中心資產表現出最大興趣的交易對手類型（考慮到其規模）。這些企業是自用還是財務贊助或策略？如果您可以在那裡提供任何顏色，那將會很有幫助。

Yes. I would say there are at least 5 different categories of potential counterparties that we're talking to. There are Tier two data center operators who are attracted to some of these markets. There are private equity funds that are looking for a platform to build off of. There are international carriers who are looking for a US data center footprint. There are hyperscalers who are looking at these as edge facilities. And there are AI compute businesses who want greater power density but understand that there is a time-to-market advantage of these facilities. So all 5 of those types of customers are in the mix today for these data centers.

是的。我想說，我們正在與至少 5 類不同類別的潛在交易對手進行交談。其中一些市場吸引了二級資料中心營運商。有些私募股權基金正在尋找一個平台來發展。有些國際業者正在尋找美國資料中心的足跡。有些超大規模企業將這些視為邊緣設施。有些人工智慧運算企業想要更高的功率密度，但也明白這些設施具有上市時間優勢。因此，今天這些資料中心的所有 5 種類型的客戶都在其中。

Brandon Nispel with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場的布蘭登‧尼斯佩爾 (Brandon Nispel)。

Great. Mostly just a housekeeping question. Could you guys provide what the churn rate was for NetCentric corporate and enterprise? And then as we look at the reported connection, net adds or losses by those segments, could you give us an estimate in terms of how many are coming from sort of non-core low-margin products or other grooming so we can try to understand what the underlying run rate is?

偉大的。大部分只是一個家政問題。你們能否提供 NetCentric 公司和企業的流失率是多少？然後，當我們查看報告的連接、這些細分市場的淨增加或損失時，您能否給我們一個估計，其中有多少來自非核心低利潤產品或其他修飾，以便我們可以嘗試了解基本運行率是多少？

Yes. So, we give our churn rate between on-net and off-net, which is a good way to triangulate to the corporate churn rate. It's roughly about 1.2% per month. And NetCentric was just a little bit below that this quarter. And enterprise was a little further below that. As you saw, enterprise revenues actually grow sequentially. So, in terms of churn rate there were no material deviations from kind of historical norms.

是的。因此，我們給出了網路和網外的流失率，這是對公司流失率進行三角測量的好方法。約每月1.2%左右。 NetCentric 本季的業績僅略低於此數字。而企業則稍微低於這個水準。正如您所看到的，企業收入實際​​上是連續成長的。因此，就流失率而言，與歷史規範沒有重大偏差。

Now, what was your second question, Brandon?

現在，你的第二個問題是什麼，布蘭登？

I was just hoping you could provide some adjustments for us as we look at the reported connection losses or gains to help us understand what is sort of a function of you guys making decisions around non-core or low-margin products versus what the underlying business is doing.

我只是希望您能在我們查看報告的連接丟失或增益時為我們提供一些調整，以幫助我們了解你們圍繞非核心或低利潤產品與基礎業務做出決策的功能是什麼正在做。

Okay. So, on the non-core, you should make the assumption that every non-core churn, both in unit and dollar, is intentional. We would like that business to go away today if we could, but we have contractual obligations that we have to honor and those run through the end of 2026. Again, that's part of the reason why we continue to get transit payment subsidies from T-Mobile through November of 2027.

好的。因此，對於非核心業務，您應該假設每次非核心業務的流失，無論是單位數量還是美元數量，都是有意的。如果可以的話，我們希望今天就停止這項業務，但我們必須履行合約義務，這些義務將持續到 2026 年底。 2027 年11 月。

Secondly, for both corporate and enterprise customers, there are locations for enterprise customers in countries that we are not licensed to do business. Sprint had been selling those through an agency program that we concluded did not meet our threshold for legal compliance. So, we are effectively selling the port but taking the loop and having the customer buy the loop separately. So that's an intentional churn to bifurcate that service and lower the ARPU by taking the loop of that off-net enterprise customer in an exotic market off of our revenue stream.

其次，對於公司和企業客戶來說，企業客戶在我們未獲得開展業務許可的國家都有辦事處。 Sprint 一直透過代理計劃銷售這些產品，我們得出的結論是該計劃不符合法律合規門檻。因此，我們實際上是在銷售端口，但採用環路並讓客戶單獨購買環路。因此，這是一種有意的流失，目的是透過將異國市場中的網外企業客戶的循環從我們的收入流中剔除，從而將該服務分叉並降低 ARPU。

On the corporate side, it's mostly this very low-speed broadband services that we are looking to migrate. Now, if those services happen to be in an on-net building, we're migrating them independent of speed and automatically upgrading the speed. If they are in a location that is very rural, we are, in fact, [terming] those, a very large termination, for example, in this last quarter, which was intentional of a corporate customer was ERCOT, that is the energy management system in the state of Texas. They had several hundred locations primarily at very rural substations with two megabit connectivity, all of which was delivered over copper, none of which was upgradable to a fiber solution.

在企業方面，我們希望遷移的主要是速度極低的寬頻服務。現在，如果這些服務恰好位於網路建築中，我們將獨立於速度進行遷移並自動升級速度。如果它們位於非常農村的地方，事實上，我們[術語]是一個非常大的終端，例如，在上個季度，這是企業客戶有意為之的 ERCOT，即能源管理德克薩斯州的系統。他們有數百個地點，主要位於非常農村的變電站，具有 2 兆位元連接，所有這些都透過銅纜傳輸，沒有一個可以升級到光纖解決方案。

And when we looked at the totality of that particular customer relationship, our business is not providing SCADA backhaul management for two meg copper circuits. They're just not profitable. So, we, in fact, are terming all of those. Now, some still have contract term on them, but a big bulk of the churn in this quarter was that specific, very uneconomic customer, which actually helped us improve margin. They were actually losing money on those off-net circuits.

當我們審視特定客戶關係的整體時，我們的業務並未為兩個兆銅電路提供 SCADA 回程管理。他們只是不賺錢。所以，事實上，我們正​​在稱呼所有這些。現在，有些客戶仍然有合約期限，但本季流失的很大一部分是特定的、非常不經濟的客戶，這實際上幫助我們提高了利潤率。他們實際上在那些網外線路上賠錢。

Michael Rollins with Citi.

花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

Thanks for hanging in there, Mike.

感謝您堅持不懈，麥克。

Sure. Appreciate you squeezing me in for a question. Just curious to delve a little bit more into the corporate trends, if you can give us a sense of what's happening on the corporate side with respect to unique customers in the buildings and their spending patterns with you, with respect to the core transit services, the VPN and the types of bandwidth that they're buying.

當然。謝謝你逼我問一個問題。只是好奇地想更深入地研究企業趨勢，如果您能讓我們了解企業方面在建築物中的獨特客戶以及他們與您的消費模式以及核心交通服務方面發生的情況，他們購買的 VPN 和頻寬類型。

Yes. So, we are seeing modest growth in our corporate on-net business, probably in the order of about 4% year-over-year, still substantially below pre-pandemic levels. We are winning new incremental customers, albeit the fact that there are less tenants in the building today than there were pre-pandemic. We also are seeing a migration of a subset of customers, not all, but a very -- that's probably now several percent of the base that want 10-gig connections.

是的。因此，我們看到我們的企業在線業務略有增長，同比增長可能約為 4%，但仍大大低於大流行前的水平。我們正在贏得新的增量客戶，儘管今天大樓裡的租戶比大流行前要少。我們也看到一部分客戶的遷移，不是全部，而是非常——現在可能有百分之幾的客戶需要 10 千兆連線。

So, we went through a transition from 100 to gig. We're starting to see the beginning of that connection going to 10 gig. I don't think that is going to be a dominant product for several years, because I think most customer premise equipment for corporate customers are not able to take those connections. But I do see that as an increasing ARPU uplift in corporate on-net services.

因此，我們經歷了從 100 人到零工的轉變。我們開始看到該連接的容量將達到 10 GB。我認為這不會成為未來幾年的主導產品，因為我認為企業客戶的大多數客戶端設備都無法採用這些連接。但我確實認為企業線上服務的 ARPU 不斷提高。

And then to the VPN question, we saw a fairly dramatic grooming of VPNs coming out of the pandemic as companies were pairing back multiple remote offices. We've seen that stabilize and we are seeing our VPLS sales to corporate customers be about 1/4 of new incremental sales, which is similar to where it was pre-pandemic. So, when it dipped, it has started to come back. Now it's dwarfed by the VPN sales that we provide to the legacy Sprint customers that are provided over MPLS. And we actually saw our enterprise business grow sequentially, in part because of those large enterprise networks continuing to grow and increase port speeds.

接下來是 VPN 問題，隨著公司將多個遠端辦公室配對，我們看到疫情期間 VPN 出現了相當戲劇性的發展。我們已經看到這種情況趨於穩定，我們看到我們對企業客戶的 VPLS 銷售額約為新增增量銷售額的 1/4，這與大流行前的情況類似。因此，當它下跌時，它已經開始回歸。現在，與我們透過 MPLS 向傳統 Sprint 客戶提供的 VPN 銷售相比，這顯得相形見絀。實際上，我們看到我們的企業業務連續成長，部分原因是大型企業網路持續成長並提高了連接埠速度。

Thanks, Dave.

謝謝，戴夫。

Thanks, Mike. Well, I would like to thank everyone. I appreciate your patience on the call, and hopefully, we answered all your questions. Look forward to seeing you soon and take care all. Bye-bye.

謝謝，麥克。嗯，我要感謝大家。感謝您在通話中的耐心等待，希望我們能回答您的所有問題。期待很快見到您並照顧好一切。再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，我們感謝你們的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。