Cogent Communications Holdings Inc (CCOI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Cogent Communications Holdings third-quarter 2024 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.

早安，歡迎參加 Cogent Communications Holdings 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。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's summary of financial and operational results attached to this 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.

本新聞稿所附的 Cogent 財務和營運績效摘要可從 Cogent 網站下載。我現在想將電話轉給 Cogent Communications Holdings 董事長兼執行長 Dave Schaeffer 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning to everyone. Welcome to our third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm Dave Schaeffer, Cogent's Chief Executive Officer. And with me on this morning's call is Tad 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, which we present on a consistent basis every quarter.

謝謝大家，祝大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。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)。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，我們每季都會一致地提供這些指標。

Now, I'd like to take a moment to address some of the expected cost savings that we've been able to achieve. We are continuing to make substantial progress in realizing cost savings and synergies from the acquisition of the Sprint Global Markets business.

現在，我想花點時間談談我們已經實現的一些預期成本節約。我們透過收購 Sprint 全球市場業務，在實現成本節約和協同效應方面持續取得實質進展。

Based on the difference between our monthly cost run rates in May of 2023 and September of 2024, we have realized $165 million of these savings or approximately 75% of our targeted $220 million in annual cost savings. These cost savings were initially expected to be achieved in their entirety by May of 2026.

根據 2023 年 5 月和 2024 年 9 月每月成本運行率之間的差異，我們已經實現了其中 1.65 億美元的節省，約占我們每年 2.2 億美元成本節省目標的 75%。這些成本節約最初預計將在 2026 年 5 月之前全部實現。

Our combined Cogent business had a very good quarter. Our total revenue was $257.2 million for the quarter. Our revenue results for the quarter were impacted by the continuing grooming of low-margin off-net connections, the continued elimination of noncore products, and low-margin business that with the reduction in revenues from the commercial services agreement that we have with T-Mobile.

我們合併後的 Cogent 業務季度業績非常好。本季我們的總收入為 2.572 億美元。我們本季的收入結果受到低利潤網外連接的持續培育、非核心產品的持續淘汰以及我們與 T- 簽訂的商業服務協議收入減少的低利潤業務的影響。

Revenues under our commercial services agreement with T-Mobile decreased sequentially by $1.8 million to $4.1 million for the quarter from $5.9 million for Q2. Revenue from a low-margin resale customer contract, which was acquired in the Sprint acquisition, which we intentionally terminated was classified as on-net revenue and enterprise revenue and declined by $3.5 million sequentially.

根據我們與 T-Mobile 簽訂的商業服務協議，本季營收從第二季的 590 萬美元下降至 410 萬美元，季減 180 萬美元。來自 Sprint 收購中獲得的低利潤轉售客戶合約的收入被分類為淨收入和企業收入，環比下降了 350 萬美元。

Excluding the impact of these two results for our total revenue, our revenues would have increased by $2.1 million or approximately [0.7%] sequentially. Our noncore revenues also declined by another $500,000 to $4.1 million for the quarter.

排除這兩項結果對我們總收入的影響，我們的收入將比上一季增加 210 萬美元或約 [0.7%]。本季我們的非核心收入也進一步下降了 50 萬美元，至 410 萬美元。

Our wavelength revenues increased sequentially by 45.8% to $5.3 million and an increase of 76.7% on a year-over-year basis. Our IPv4 leasing revenue increased sequentially by 11.8% to $12.8 million and increased 31.5% on a year-over-year basis.

我們的波長營收比上一季成長 45.8%，達到 530 萬美元，年增 76.7%。我們的 IPv4 租賃收入較上季成長 11.8%，達到 1,280 萬美元，較去年同期成長 31.5%。

Our network traffic for the quarter increased by 8% sequentially and 19% on a year-over-year basis. Our EBITDA increased sequentially by $8.7 million, and our EBITDA margin increased sequentially by 350 basis points to 13.9%.

本季我們的網路流量較上季成長 8%，年增 19%。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 13.9%。

Our EBITDA as adjusted was $60.9 million, and our EBITDA as adjusted margin was 23.7% for the quarter versus $106.2 million and 40.8% for Q2 of 2024. The sequential change was due to the scheduled reduction of $41.7 million in a decline in payments under our IP transit services agreement with T-Mobile but was partially offset by our $8.7 million sequential increase in EBITDA.

我們調整後的EBITDA 為6,090 萬美元，本季調整後的EBITDA 利潤率為23.7%，而2024 年第二季為1.062 億美元，2024 年第二季為40.8%。付款額按計劃減少了4,170 萬美元。

In accordance with our IP service transit agreement with T-Mobile, we received payments for the quarter totaling $25 million. This compares to the payments that we received in the previous quarter of $66.7 million.

根據我們與 T-Mobile 的 IP 服務傳輸協議，我們在本季度收到了總計 2500 萬美元的付款。相比之下，我們上一季收到的付款為 6,670 萬美元。

The payments for this quarter are three monthly payments of $8.3 million, an additional 38 monthly payments of $8.3 million per month will continue through November of 2027. These payments are included in our EBITDA as adjusted.

本季的付款為三個月付款 830 萬美元，另外 38 個月付款每月 830 萬美元將持續到 2027 年 11 月。

We continue to realize cost reductions from the acquired expense base. Our SG&A decreased by $4.9 million sequentially or 7.5%. Our SG&A as a percentage of revenue also decreased to 23.4% from 25% last quarter.

我們繼續從收購的費用基礎上實現成本削減。我們的 SG&A 比上一季減少 490 萬美元，即 7.5%。我們的 SG&A 佔營收的百分比也從上季的 25% 下降至 23.4%。

Our cost of goods sold increased by $5.3 million from the last quarter due to two major expenses. The additional costs involved in converting former Sprint switch sites in the Cogent data centers that were not capitalized and certain vendor contract termination costs.

由於兩項主要費用，我們的銷售成本較上季增加了 530 萬美元。轉換 Cogent 資料中心內的前 Sprint 交換器站點所涉及的未資本化的額外成本以及某些供應商合約終止成本。

The primary contract that was terminated was a tri-party agreement. This was the first opportunity we had to buy out of that agreement and to end that relationship. However, over the course of the year, on a year-over-year basis, our cost of goods sold still decreased by $12.1 million or 7%. Our gross debt to trailing 12 months EBITDA as adjusted ratio was 4.94 for the quarter, and our net debt ratio did increase from 3.14 last quarter to 4.13, primarily as a result of the reduction in IP transit payments from T-Mobile.

被終止的主要合約是三方協議。這是我們第一次有機會退出協議並結束這種關係。然而，在這一年中，與去年同期相比，我們的銷售成本仍下降了 1,210 萬美元，即 7%。本季我們的總負債與過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的調整後比率為 4.94，我們的淨負債比率確實從上季的 3.14 增加到 4.13，這主要是由於 T-Mobile 的 IP 傳輸付款減少。

We ended the quarter with $316.1 million of cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet. Our sales force productivity improved in the quarter from 3.8 installed orders per rep per month in Q2 to four orders per rep per month in Q3. In conjunction with the Sprint acquisition, we hired a total of 942 employees in May of 2023. At quarter's end, 635 of these employees remain with Cogent.

本季末，我們資產負債表上的現金和現金等價物為 3.161 億美元。本季我們的銷售人員生產力提高，從第二季每位銷售代表每月 3.8 個安裝訂單增加到第三季每位銷售代表每月 4 個訂單。在收購 Sprint 的同時，我們在 2023 年 5 月總共僱用了 942 名員工。

Our wavelength business improved materially. In conjunction with the acquisition of the Sprint network, we expanded our product offering to include optical wavelength services over our fiber optic network. We began selling these services to existing customers as well as acquired customers from Sprint and new customers.

我們的波長業務大幅改善。透過收購 Sprint 網絡，我們擴大了產品範圍，包括透過光纖網路提供光波長服務。我們開始向現有客戶以及從 Sprint 獲得的客戶和新客戶銷售這些服務。

At the end of the quarter, we had connectivity and wavelength sales capabilities in 657 locations throughout North America. however, with longer provisioning cycles than we are targeting. We have sold wavelength services now in slightly over 200 locations.

截至本季末，我們在北美 657 個地點擁有連接和波長銷售能力。但是，配置週期比我們的目標要長。我們現在已在 200 多個地點銷售波長服務。

By the end of 2024, we expect to be able to offer wavelength services in over 800 locations with a much more rapid provisioning cycle. We have a backlog and funnel of wave opportunities of over 3,400 unique wavelengths. Our Sprint acquisition materially expanded our data center footprint.

到 2024 年底，我們預計能夠在 800 多個地點以更快的配置週期提供波長服務。我們擁有超過 3,400 個獨特波長的積壓和波浪會漏斗。我們對 Sprint 的收購極大地擴大了我們的資料中心覆蓋範圍。

As of September 30, we have partially reconfigured 43 of the acquired facilities and added them to our network. These added data centers are in addition to the 1,627 carrier-neutral data centers that Cogent connects to. Today, there are 95 Cogent data centers, which have an aggregate condition protected power capacity of 169 megawatts.

截至 9 月 30 日，我們已部分重新配置了 43 個收購的設施並將其新增至我們的網路。這些新增資料中心是 Cogent 連線的 1,627 個營運商中立資料中心以外的資料中心。如今，Cogent 資料中心共有 95 個，總狀態保護電力容量為 169 兆瓦。

We are decommissioning some legacy Cogent leased data center facilities that are redundant with our fee simple-owned Sprint facilities. Our Board of Directors reflected on the progress that we have made and the cash flow generating capabilities of our business, the investment opportunities we have and again, decided to increase our quarterly dividend by $0.01 per share, raising our quarterly dividend from $0.985 per share per quarter to $0.995 per share per quarter.

我們正在退役一些遺留的 Cogent 租賃資料中心設施，這些設施與我們簡單擁有的 Sprint 設施是多餘的。我們的董事會反思了我們所取得的進展、我們業務的現金流產生能力、我們擁有的投資機會，並再次決定將我們的季度股息增加每股0.01 美元，將我們的季度股息從每股0.985 美元上調。

This increase represents the 49th consecutive sequential increase in our regular quarterly dividend. This is a 4.2% annual dividend growth rate. We do expect the combined business of Sprint and Cogent to continue to achieve long-term average revenue growth of between 5% and 7%, and we expect adjusted EBITDA margins to expand on average over a multiyear period at roughly 100 basis points a year.

此次增加是我們定期季度股利連續第 49 次連續增加。這是4.2%的年度股息成長率。我們確實預計 Sprint 和 Cogent 的合併業務將繼續實現 5% 至 7% 之間的長期平均收入成長，並且我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將在多年期間平均每年擴大約 100 個基點。

Our revenue and EBITDA guidance are intended to be multiyear and not intended to be used as specific quarterly guidance or even specific annual guidance. Our EBITDA as adjusted and leverage ratios are impacted by the $700 million that we received under the IP transit agreement with T-Mobile. Now I'd like to ask Tad to read our safe harbor language provide some additional operating performance metrics for the quarter, and then we will open the floor for questions and answers.

我們的收入和 EBITDA 指導旨在是多年期的，而不是用作特定的季度指導甚至特定的年度指導。我們調整後的 EBITDA 和槓桿率受到我們根據與 T-Mobile 的 IP 傳輸協議收到的 7 億美元的影響。現在我想請泰德閱讀我們的安全港語言，提供本季的一些額外營運績效指標，然後我們將開始提問和回答。

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 that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially.

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，實際結果可能存在重大差異。

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

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。如果我們在本次電話會議期間使用任何非 GAAP 財務衡量標準，您會發現這些衡量標準與我們發佈在我們網站 cogentco.com 上的收益發布中相應的 GAAP 衡量標準一致。

Some comments on corporate and NetCentric revenue and customer connections. We analyze our revenues based upon network connection type, which is on-net, off-net, wavelength, and noncore. And we also analyze our revenues based upon customer type.

關於企業和 NetCentric 收入以及客戶關係的一些評論。我們根據網路連線類型（網內、網外、波長和非核心）分析我們的收入。我們也根據客戶類型分析我們的收入。

We classify all customers into three types: NetCentric, corporate and enterprise customers. On the corporate business, our corporate business represented 45.2% of our revenues for the quarter. And our quarterly corporate revenue decreased by 3.5% year over year and sequentially by 2.8%.

我們將所有客戶分為三類：NetCentric、公司和企業客戶。在企業業務方面，我們的企業業務佔本季營收的 45.2%。我們的季度企業營收年減 3.5%，季減 2.8%。

The sequential decrease was primarily due to the continued grooming of low-margin off-net connections and the elimination of noncore products. We had 47,613 corporate connections on our network at quarter end. For the quarter, the sequential impact of USF on our corporate revenues was a positive $600,000.

環比下降主要是由於低利潤網外連接的持續開發和非核心產品的淘汰。截至季末，我們的網路上有 47,613 個企業連線。本季度，USF 對我們公司收入的連續影響為 600,000 美元。

NetCentric business, our NetCentric business continues to benefit from continued growth in video traffic, activity related to artificial intelligence, streaming, and wavelength sales. Our NetCentric business represented 35.7% of our revenues for the quarter and decreased by 3.2% year over year but grew sequentially by 0.8%.

NetCentric 業務，我們的 NetCentric 業務持續受益於視訊流量、人工智慧相關活動、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 35.7%，年減 3.2%，但季增 0.8%。

Our NetCentric revenue under our commercial service agreement with T-Mobile declined by $1.8 million sequentially and declined by $3.9 million year over year, and that impacted our NetCentric revenue results. We had 62,273 NetCentric customer connections on our network at quarter end.

根據與 T-Mobile 的商業服務協議，我們的 NetCentric 收入連續下降了 180 萬美元，比去年同期下降了 390 萬美元，這影響了我們的 NetCentric 收入結果。截至季末，我們的網路上有 62,273 個 NetCentric 客戶連線。

On the enterprise business, our enterprise business represented the remainder of our revenues of 19.1% this quarter and was $49.1 million. We had 16,447 enterprise customer connections on our network at the end of the quarter. Our enterprise revenue decreased by 18.2% year over year and sequentially by 1.4% or by $700,000. This was primarily due to a reduction in noncore and low-margin revenues.

在企業業務方面，我們的企業業務佔本季剩餘收入的 19.1%，為 4,910 萬美元。截至本季末，我們的網路上有 16,447 個企業客戶連線。我們的企業營收年減 18.2%，季減 1.4%，即減少 70 萬美元。這主要是由於非核心和低利潤收入的減少。

Revenue from a low-margin resale customer we acquired in the Sprint acquisition that Dave mentioned that we intentionally terminated and classified as on-net revenue and enterprise revenue declined sequentially by $3.5 million. If you exclude this impact from this cancellation, our enterprise revenue would have increased sequentially by $2.8 million or by 5.6%.

我們在 Sprint 收購中獲得的低利潤轉售客戶的收入戴夫提到我們有意終止並歸類為淨收入和企業收入，環比下降了 350 萬美元。如果排除此次取消的影響，我們的企業收入將季增 280 萬美元，即 5.6%。

On revenue and customer connections by network type, on-net revenue. We serve our on-net customers in our 3,424 total on-net multi-tenant office 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 selling 10 gigabit connections in select multi-tenant office buildings.

按網路類型劃分的收入和客戶連接、網路收入。我們在 3,424 座網路多租戶辦公室營運商中立資料中心大樓中為網路客戶提供服務。我們繼續成功地在營運商中立的資料中心銷售更大的 100 Gb 連接和 400 Gb 連接，並在選定的多租戶辦公大樓銷售 10 Gb 連接。

Our on-net revenue was $136.5 million for the quarter, which was a year over year increase of 5.8%, but a sequential decrease of $4.3 million or 3%. The decline in our on-net revenue under our commercial services agreement with T-Mobile and the cancellation of that low-margin resale customer negatively impacted our sequential on-net revenue results by an aggregate total of $5.7 million. Exclusive again of these impacts, our on-net revenue would have increased sequentially by 1%. Our on-net customer connections were 87,655 at quarter end.

本季我們的線上營收為 1.365 億美元，年增 5.8%，但季減 430 萬美元，即 3%。根據我們與 T-Mobile 的商業服務協議，我們的線上收入下降，以及取消該低利潤轉售客戶，對我們連續的線上收入結果產生了總計 570 萬美元的負面影響。再次排除這些影響，我們的線上收入將環比增長 1%。截至季末，我們的線上客戶連線數為 87,655。

Our off-net revenue, our off-net revenue was $111.3 million for the quarter, a year over year decrease of 14.8% and a sequential decrease of 0.1%. The sequential small decline in our off-net revenue was partially impacted again by migration of certain off-net customers to on-net and the continued grooming and termination of low-margin off-net contracts, which had more of an impact. Our off-net customer connections were 32,420 at quarter end.

我們的網外收入，本季我們的網外收入為 1.113 億美元，年減 14.8%，季減 0.1%。我們的網外收入連續小幅下降部分受到某些網外客戶向網上的遷移以及低利潤網外合約的持續培養和終止的影響，這些影響更大。截至季末，我們的網外客戶連線數為 32,420。

Our wavelength revenue was $5.3 million for the quarter, a sequential increase of 45.8% and a year over year increase of 76.7%. Our wavelength customer connections were 1,041 at quarter end, a 38.1% sequential increase.

本季我們的波長營收為 530 萬美元，季增 45.8%，年增 76.7%。截至季末，我們的波長客戶連線數為 1,041，季增 38.1%。

Our IPv4 revenue. Our IPv4 leasing business had an excellent quarter. We were leasing $12.9 million of the IPv4 addresses at the end of the quarter. And our IPv4 revenue increased by 11.8% from last quarter and increased by 31.5% year over year and was $12.8 million for the quarter.

我們的 IPv4 收入。我們的 IPv4 租賃業務季度表現優異。截至本季末，我們租賃了 1,290 萬美元的 IPv4 位址。我們的 IPv4 營收較上季成長 11.8%，年增 31.5%，本季為 1,280 萬美元。

Lastly, our non-core revenue was $4.1 million for the quarter, a sequential decrease of $500,000 or 10.2%. And again, due to our decision to end of life these noncore products, noncore customer connections were 5,217 at quarter end, a sequential decline of 33.8%.

最後，本季我們的非核心營收為 410 萬美元，季減 50 萬美元，成長 10.2%。同樣，由於我們決定終止這些非核心產品的生命週期，截至季末，非核心客戶連線數量為 5,217 個，季減 33.8%。

Some comments on pricing per megabit. Our average price per megabit for our installed base decreased sequentially by 8.5% to $0.23 and 23.9% year over year, consistent with historical trends. Our average price per megabit for our new customer contracts for the quarter was $0.09, which was a sequential decrease of 29% and 47% year over year.

關於每兆比特定價的一些評論。我們的安裝基數每兆位元平均價格連續下降 8.5% 至 0.23 美元，年減 23.9%，與歷史趨勢一致。本季新客戶合約的每兆位元平均價格為 0.09 美元，季減 29%，年減 47%。

Comments on ARPU. Our on-net ARPU decreased sequentially by 3.1% from $536 to $520. Year over year, it was an increase of 9.4%. Our off-net ARPU increased sequentially by 3.2% from $1,103 to $1,138.

對 ARPU 的評論。我們的線上 ARPU 環比下降 3.1%，從 536 美元降至 520 美元。較去年同期成長9.4%。我們的網外 ARPU 環比增長 3.2%，從 1,103 美元增至 1,138 美元。

Year over year, our off-net ARPU increased by 1%. Our wavelength ARPU increased by 17.6% and was $1,964 this quarter compared to $1,670 last quarter. The average revenue per IPv4 address sold was materially higher and was $0.49 per address for the quarter. That was a 63.3% increase from an average of $0.30 for the base of all addresses at the beginning of the quarter.

與去年同期相比，我們的網外 ARPU 成長了 1%。本季我們的波長 ARPU 成長了 17.6%，達到 1,964 美元，而上季為 1,670 美元。該季度每個 IPv4 位址銷售的平均收入大幅提高，為每個位址 0.49 美元。與本季初所有地址基數的平均 0.30 美元相比，增長了 63.3%。

Our on-net monthly churn rate was 1.2% for the quarter. That was an improvement from 1.4% last quarter. Our off-net unit monthly churn rate increased to 2.6% this quarter from 2.3% last quarter.

本季我們的網內月流失率為 1.2%。這比上季度的 1.4% 有所改善。本季我們的網外單位月流失率從上季的 2.3% 增至 2.6%。

Comments on EBITDA classic 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 13.9%.

關於 EBITDA 經典和 EBITDA 利潤率的評論，我們在每個季度新聞稿中將 EBITDA 與營運現金流進行調整。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 13.9%。

Our EBITDA as adjusted, our EBITDA as adjusted includes adjustments for Sprint acquisition costs and cash payments received under the IP transit agreement with T-Mobile. We collected $25 million under the IP transit services agreement this quarter. Last quarter, it was $66.7 million, so a reduction of $41.7 million.

我們調整後的 EBITDA，我們調整後的 EBITDA 包括對 Sprint 收購成本以及根據與 T-Mobile 的 IP 傳輸協議收到的現金付款的調整。本季我們根據 IP 傳輸服務協議收取了 2,500 萬美元。上季為 6,670 萬美元，減少了 4,170 萬美元。

Our EBITDA as adjusted was $60.9 million for the quarter. That was a 23.7% EBITDA as adjusted margin. Last quarter, it was $106.2 million or 40.8%. The sequential change was due to the scheduled decline of $41.7 million of payments under the IP transit agreement with T-Mobile, and that offset our sequential increase of $8.7 million in EBITDA.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 6,090 萬美元。調整後利潤率為 23.7% EBITDA。上季為 1.062 億美元，即 40.8%。環比變化是由於與 T-Mobile 簽訂的 IP 傳輸協議中的付款計劃減少了 4,170 萬美元，這抵消了 EBITDA 環比增加的 870 萬美元。

And we incurred $12.4 million of Sprint acquisition costs last quarter. We incurred none classified as Sprint acquisition costs this quarter as the one-year anniversary of the Sprint acquisition ended in May 2024.

上個季度我們產生了 1,240 萬美元的 Sprint 收購成本。由於 Sprint 收購一周年於 2024 年 5 月結束，本季我們沒有發生任何歸類為 Sprint 收購成本的費用。

Some comments on foreign currency. Our revenue earned outside of the United States is reported in US dollars and was about 18% of our revenues for the quarter. About 11% of our revenues for the quarter were based in Europe and 6% the remainder related to Canada, Mexico, Oceanic, South American, and African, operations.

關於外匯的一些評論。我們在美國境外賺取的收入以美元報告，約佔本季營收的 18%。本季我們約 11% 的收入來自歐洲，其餘 6% 與加拿大、墨西哥、大洋洲、南美洲和非洲業務相關。

The average euro to USD rate so far this quarter was $1.09, and the Canadian dollar exchange rate was $0.73. If those average rates remain at the current levels for the remainder of our fourth quarter. We estimate that the FX conversion impact on both sequential revenues and year-over-year would not be significant.

本季度迄今歐元兌美元平均匯率為 1.09 美元，加元匯率為 0.73 美元。如果這些平均利率在第四季剩餘時間內保持在目前水準。我們估計，外匯兌換對連續收入和年收入的影響都不會很大。

Customer concentration, we believe that our revenue and customer base is not highly concentrated. Our top 25 customers represented 19% of our revenues this quarter, slightly down from 20% last quarter.

客戶集中度，我們認為我們的收入和客戶群並不高度集中。我們的前 25 位客戶佔本季營收的 19%，略低於上季的 20%。

CapEx, our quarterly capital expenditures were $59.2 million for the quarter. We are continuing our network integration of the former Sprint network and legacy Cogent network into one unified network and converting former Sprint switch sites into Cogent data centers.

資本支出，本季我們的季度資本支出為 5,920 萬美元。我們正在繼續將前 Sprint 網路和舊 Cogent 網路整合為一個統一網絡，並將前 Sprint 交換器站點轉變為 Cogent 資料中心。

We have accelerated and expanded our data center conversion program due to the high level of demand for our power availability, and this program will require similar CapEx spending as we incurred this quarter per quarter through mid-2025.

由於對電力可用性的高需求，我們已經加速並擴大了我們的資料中心轉換計劃，並且該計劃將需要與我們本季度到 2025 年中期每個季度發生的類似資本支出。

Some comments on finance leases. Our finance IRU obligations are for long-term dark fiber leases. Our IRU finance lease obligations were $482.6 million at quarter end. And we have a very diverse set of IRU suppliers, and we have IRU contracts with 360 different dark fiber suppliers across the world.

關於融資租賃的一些評論。我們的 IRU 財務義務適用於長期暗光纖租賃。截至季末，我們的 IRU 融資租賃義務為 4.826 億美元。我們擁有非常多元化的 IRU 供應商，並且我們與全球 360 家不同的暗光纖供應商簽訂了 IRU 合約。

Cash and restricted cash. At quarter end, our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash in the aggregate was $316.1 million. Of our total $36.9 million of cash that was restricted, $29.9 million was tied to the fair value of our swap agreement and $7 million was tied to the requirements under our IPv4 notes.

現金和限制性現金。截至季末，我們的現金和現金等價物以及限制性現金總計為 3.161 億美元。在我們受到限制的 3,690 萬美元現金中，2,990 萬美元與互換協議的公允價值相關，700 萬美元與 IPv4 票據的要求相關。

Debt and debt ratios. Our total gross debt at par, including our finance IRU obligations, was $1.9 billion at quarter end. And our net debt was $1.6 billion. Our total gross debt to last 12 months EBITDA as adjusted ratio was 4.94 at quarter end, and our net debt ratio was 4.13.

債務和債務比率。截至季末，我們的面額總債務（包括 IRU 財務義務）為 19 億美元。我們的淨債務為 16 億美元。截至季末，我們的總負債與過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的調整後比率為 4.94，淨負債比率為 4.13。

Our consolidated leverage ratio as calculated under our note indentures was 5.11 and our secured leverage ratio as calculated under our note indentures was 2.90. Our fixed coverage ratio as calculated under our note indentures was 3.08.

根據票據契約計算的綜合槓桿率為 5.11，根據票據契約計算的擔保槓桿率為 2.90。根據票據契約計算，我們的固定覆蓋率為 3.08。

Further comments on the swap. We are party to an interest rate swap agreement that modifies our fixed interest rate obligation associated with our $500 million 2026 notes to a variable interest rate obligation based on secured overnight financing rate for the remaining term of our 2026 notes. The fair value of our swap agreement decreased from last quarter by $5.6 million. Changes in the fair value of the swap agreement are classified in our public filings with interest expense as required under US GAAP.

關於交換的進一步評論。我們是利率互換協議的締約方，該協議將我們與 5 億美元 2026 年票據相關的固定利率義務修改為基於 2026 年票據剩餘期限的擔保隔夜融資利率的可變利率義務。我們掉期協議的公允價值較上季減少了 560 萬美元。根據美國公認會計準則的要求，掉期協議公允價值的變化在我們的公開文件中進行了分類，並附有利息費用。

Finally, comments on bad debt and DSO. Our DSO was 32 days for the quarter versus 26 days last quarter. Our bad debt expense was $4.5 million and 1.8% of our revenues for the quarter. These increases were largely due to some collection issues associated with a large former Sprint customer that we since resolved after quarter end. And also just the calendar was unkind with the 30th being where it fell, and we incurred substantial cash the first week after the 30th.

最後，對壞帳和DSO 進行評論。本季我們的 DSO 為 32 天，而上季為 26 天。我們的壞帳費用為 450 萬美元，佔本季營收的 1.8%。這些成長主要是由於與前 Sprint 大型客戶相關的一些收款問題，我們在季度末後解決了這些問題。而且日曆也不太友好，30 號就落在了這一天，我們在 30 號之後的第一周就損失了大量現金。

We want to again thank and recognize our worldwide billing and collections team members doing, again, a fantastic job in serving our Cogent customers. And with that, I will turn the call back over to Dave for some final remarks.

我們要再次感謝並認可我們的全球計費和收款團隊成員在為 Cogent 客戶提供服務方面所做的出色工作。接下來，我會將電話轉回給戴夫，讓他做最後的評論。

Thanks, Tad. I'd like to highlight a couple of strengths on our network, customer base and sales force. We continue to experience substantial traffic growth accelerating in our NetCentric IP business. At quarter's end, we were in 1,627 carrier-neutral data centers and 95 Cogent-owned data centers, bringing that total to 1,722 facilities.

謝謝，泰德。我想強調我們在網路、客戶群和銷售隊伍方面的一些優勢。我們的 NetCentric IP 業務流量持續大幅成長。截至季末，我們擁有 1,627 個營運商中立資料中心和 95 個 Cogent 擁有的資料中心，使設施總數達到 1,722 個。

The breadth of this coverage enables our NetCentric customers to better optimize their networks and reduce latency. We have a presence in 56 countries globally for these services. We expect to continue to widen this lead in the market and project adding over 100 carrier-neutral data centers to our network each year for the next several years.

覆蓋範圍之廣使我們的 NetCentric 客戶能夠更好地優化他們的網路並減少延遲。我們在全球 56 個國家設有辦事處，提供這些服務。我們預計將繼續擴大這一市場領先地位，並計劃在未來幾年內每年向我們的網路添加 100 多個營運商中立資料中心。

By the end of 2024, we expect to be able to sell wavelength services in over 800 North American carrier-neutral data centers with substantially reduced provisioning intervals. At quarter's end, we directly connected to 8,212 networks. 23 of these networks are peers and 8,189 of these networks are Cogent transit customers.

到 2024 年底，我們預計將能夠在 800 多個北美營運商中立資料中心銷售波長服務，並大幅縮短配置間隔。截至季末，我們直接連接到 8,212 個網路。其中 23 個網絡是同儕網絡，其中 8,189 個網絡是 Cogent 交通客戶。

We remain focused on our sales force. Our sales force productivity is dependent on managing out underperforming reps and training those reps that remain at the company to make them even more successful.

我們仍然專注於我們的銷售團隊。我們的銷售人員生產力取決於管理表現不佳的銷售代表並培訓那些留在公司的銷售代表以使他們更加成功。

Our sales force turnover rate was 6.7% per month for the quarter, down from a peak of 8.7% during the height of the pandemic, but still slightly above our historical average sales force turnover rate of 5.7% of the sales force per month.

本季我們的銷售人員流動率為每月 6.7%，低於疫情最嚴重時期的峰值 8.7%，但仍略高於我們歷史平均銷售人員每月流動率 5.7%。

At quarter's end, we had 279 salespeople focused exclusively on the NetCentric market, 363 sales professionals focused on the corporate market, and 13 sales professionals focused on the enterprise market. We remain optimistic about our unique position in serving small and medium-sized businesses with our IP-based services located in the central business districts of major North American cities with over 1,870 multitenant office buildings directly connected to our network, comprising over 1 billion square feet of rentable space.

截至季末，我們有 279 位銷售人員專門專注於 NetCentric 市場，363 位銷售專業人員專注於企業市場，還有 13 位銷售專業人員專注於企業市場。我們對我們在服務中小型企業方面的獨特地位保持樂觀，我們的基於IP 的服務位於北美主要城市的中央商務區，有超過1,870 座多租戶辦公大樓直接連接到我們的網絡，面積超過10 億平方英尺的可出租空間。

We are excited about the opportunity to continue to grow our profitable services to our large enterprise customer base. We are enthusiastic and optimistic about our optical transport business or wavelength services and their addition to our product portfolio.

我們很高興有機會繼續為我們的大型企業客戶群提供可獲利的服務。我們對我們的光傳輸業務或波長服務及其對我們產品組合的補充充滿熱情和樂觀。

We have a significant wavelength backlog, a funnel of over 3,400 wavelength opportunities. However, due to our longer provisioning cycles, we are not sure all of these orders will, in fact, be installed. We will substantially reduce that provisioning window by quarter end.

我們有大量的波長積壓，一個包含超過 3,400 個波長機會的漏斗。然而，由於我們的配置週期較長，我們不確定所有這些訂單實際上都會安裝。我們將在季度末大幅縮短供應窗口。

We are diligently working to complete the integration of the Sprint network and the Cogent network and remain very confident about the cash flow generating capabilities of this combined operation. Based on the difference between monthly costs at closing versus September of 2024, we have realized $165 million or 75% of our targeted $220 million in annual cost reductions.

我們正在努力完成 Sprint 網路和 Cogent 網路的整合，並對這項合併營運的現金流量產生能力充滿信心。根據截止時與 2024 年 9 月的每月成本之間的差異，我們已實現 1.65 億美元，即年度成本削減目標 2.2 億美元的 75%。

We will continue to look at ways to monetize our unleased IPv4 addresses, our excess dark fiber and maybe most importantly, we are focusing on our excess data center capacity and power. We are marketing these on a wholesale basis, either as a direct sale or a long-term lease.

我們將繼續尋找將我們未租用的 IPv4 位址、多餘的暗光纖貨幣化的方法，也許最重要的是，我們正在關注我們多餘的資料中心容量和電力。我們以批發方式銷售這些產品，無論是直接銷售或長期租賃。

Currently, we are in discussions with multiple counterparties for multiple sites. We have been taking feedback from those counterparties and accelerating the modification of these facilities to meet their requirements. With that, I'd like to open the floor for questions.

目前，我們正在與多個交易對手就多個站點進行討論。我們一直在聽取這些交易對手的回饋，並加快這些設施的改造以滿足他們的要求。現在我想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示）Jim Schneider，高盛。

Hello, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering, Dave, if you could maybe just comment on the wavelengths business for a moment. Clearly, you had a nice uptick sequentially in revenue. Does that really reflect the fact that you're already getting better improvement on provisioning than you would expected maybe a quarter ago?

你好早安。感謝您提出我的問題。戴夫，我想知道您是否可以稍微評論一下波長業務。顯然，您的收入連續大幅成長。這是否真的反映了這樣一個事實：您在配置方面已經取得了比季度前預期更好的改進？

And then maybe comment on what you said about the backlog, I think up 700 sequentially on the backlog, but also some of these may not be installed. So maybe talk about, as we look to the next few quarters, the rate of backlog growth we could expect and whether at any point you would expect to write down any of that backlog if you determine you can't provision it?

然後也許可以評論一下您所說的有關積壓的內容，我認為積壓的順序是 700，但其中一些可能無法安裝。因此，也許可以談談，當我們展望未來幾個季度時，我們可以預期的積壓增長率，以及如果您確定無法提供積壓，您是否會在任何時候期望減記任何積壓？

Yeah. So three different questions, Jim. Thanks for them. First of all, we substantially increased the number of endpoints that we could deliver wavelength services. We are quite confident that while we ended the quarter at 657 sites by year-end, that number will be over 800 sites.

是的。這是三個不同的問題，吉姆。謝謝他們。首先，我們大幅增加了可以提供波長服務的端點數量。我們非常有信心，雖然到年底我們的站點數量已達到 657 個，但這一數字將超過 800 個。

In order to provision a wavelength rapidly, all of the intermediate sites need to be optimized for that wavelength implementation. Our goal is to get those wavelength install windows down to about two weeks from today about 90 days.

為了快速提供波長，所有中間站點都需要針對該波長實作進行最佳化。我們的目標是從今天起將這些波長安裝視窗縮短至約兩週（約 90 天）。

We had certain customers in our backlog that had significant needs for the wavelengths, and we diverted some resources away from the network optimization program to provision these wavelengths. We were comfortable enough in the progress that we had made to hit the total 800 sites and all of the intermediate points by year-end that we did not risk that pushing out.

我們的積壓訂單中有某些客戶對波長有很大的需求，我們從網路最佳化計畫中轉移了一些資源來提供這些波長。我們對在年底之前達到 800 個站點和所有中間點所取得的進展感到足夠滿意，因此我們沒有冒著退出的風險。

We continue to talk to the customers that are in our backlog. And if we can accelerate certain of those orders, we will. We also know that some of those orders have been sitting for months. We have tried to be very transparent with customers in terms of our limitations on hitting what we view as acceptable provisioning windows.

我們繼續與積壓的客戶交談。如果我們能夠加快其中某些訂單的速度，我們就會這麼做。我們也知道其中一些訂單已經擱置了數月。我們試著對客戶保持非常透明的態度，說明我們對達到我們認為可接受的配置視窗的限制。

Most customers have been tolerant of that and have continued to reaffirm to us that they are interested in those wavelengths. But it is also realistic that if some of those orders have been sitting for six or seven months, when we actually go to provision and some customers may not accept those orders, and we'll have those discussions.

大多數客戶對此表示容忍，並繼續向我們重申他們對這些波長感興趣。但同樣現實的是，如果其中一些訂單已經擱置了六到七個月，當我們實際進行供應時，一些客戶可能不接受這些訂單，我們將進行這些討論。

Now with regard to the funnel building, we actually think the rate of funnel expansion should materially accelerate into next year. As we demonstrate success in delivering wavelengths, we then establish more credibility with those buyers. They see that we can, in fact, meet our provisioning windows. The quality of the service meets or exceeds industry standards and our pricing remains aggressive.

現在，關於渠道建設，我們實際上認為明年渠道擴張的速度應該會大幅加快。當我們在提供波長方面取得成功時，我們就會在這些買家中建立更多的信譽。他們認為我們實際上可以滿足我們的配置視窗。服務品質達到或超過行業標準，並且我們的定價仍然具有競爭力。

So we feel very optimistic that in 2025, we will see a material ramp in the growth in our wavelength business to be able to hit our five-year post-acquisition target of doing $500 million in wavelength sales, which represents a market share of 25% in North America, similar to that of our market share for IP transit.

因此，我們非常樂觀地認為，到 2025 年，我們的波長業務將出現實質成長，從而能夠實現收購後的五年目標，即波長銷售額達到 5 億美元，這代表著 25% 的市場份額%在北美，與我們的IP 傳輸市場佔有率類似。

That's very helpful. Thank you very much. And then maybe as a follow-up, I wanted to ask about the network cost side of things. I think you cited some individual items converting the Sprint sites and also some vendor termination costs. So on a go-forward basis, maybe in Q4, as we head into a run rate for 2025, how should we be thinking about where those overall cost of revenues line, where does that settle out?

這非常有幫助。非常感謝。然後也許作為後續行動，我想詢問網路成本方面的問題。我認為您引用了一些轉換 Sprint 網站的單獨項目以及一些供應商終止成本。因此，展望未來，也許在第四季度，當我們進入 2025 年的運行速度時，我們應該如何考慮這些總體收入成本在哪裡，在哪裡解決？

So they will improve for three reasons. One, we continue to eliminate unprofitable products, whether they be low-margin off-net circuits or any noncore products that we can eliminate once the customer is out of contract for those services.

所以他們會因為三個原因而改進。第一，我們繼續消除無利可圖的產品，無論是低利潤的網外線路，還是一旦客戶終止這些服務合約我們就可以消除的任何非核心產品。

Secondly, this quarter, we did have a substantial onetime expense associated with buying out of a contract. That contract was complicated because it was not just a bilateral contract that we inherited, but it actually had two counterparties to it, and we had to get concurrence between those parties.

其次，本季度，我們確實有大量與買斷合約相關的一次性費用。該合約很複雜，因為它不僅僅是我們繼承的雙邊合同，而且實際上有兩個交易對手，我們必須獲得這些各方的同意。

While we can't disclose the exact settlement amount, it was substantially above the revenue that we were receiving and the cost that we incurred on a typical run rate basis. That is onetime and has gone.

雖然我們無法透露確切的和解金額，但它遠高於我們收到的收入和我們在典型運行率基礎上產生的成本。那是曾經的事，現在已經過去了。

It was probably the largest and most complex of these cost of good contracts that we've quite honestly worked on for almost a year to get people to concur to allow us to exit it. While there are a few smaller contracts that will come up, they will be smaller, but some will show up definitely in 2025.

這可能是這些良好合約成本中最大、最複雜的一個，我們誠實地花了近一年的時間來爭取人們同意讓我們退出它。雖然將會出現一些較小的合同，但它們的規模會較小，但有些合約肯定會在 2025 年出現。

And then the third item is as we have accelerated the marketing of our wholesale data center space, either for sale or lease, we have been conducting dozens of tours at dozens of locations with many counterparties. We have been getting significant feedback from those counterparties on what they want to see.

第三項是，隨著我們加速批發資料中心空間的行銷，無論是出售還是租賃，我們已經與許多交易對手在數十個地點進行了數十次參觀。我們已經從這些交易對手那裡得到了他們希望看到的重要回饋。

Now sometimes we accept it, sometimes we don't. But it has resulted in us accelerating our conversion of these facilities. Just to remind investors, when we announced the Sprint transaction, our intention was to convert 45 facilities. That's been increased to 48.

現在有時我們接受它，有時我們不接受。但這導致我們加速了這些設施的改造。只是提醒投資者，當我們宣布 Sprint 交易時，我們的目的是轉換 45 個設施。已增加至 48 個。

Secondly, we were only intending to convert about 10,000 square feet and about 1 megawatt into a retail Cogent data center and the remaining space and power was going to sit fallow. As the acceleration of AI training caused an acute shortage of data center power, we realized we had an incremental opportunity to monetize that excess power and space.

其次，我們只打算將約 10,000 平方英尺和約 1 兆瓦的空間改造成零售 Cogent 資料中心，剩餘的空間和電力將閒置。隨著人工智慧訓練的加速導致資料中心電力嚴重短缺，我們意識到我們有越來越多的機會將多餘的電力和空間貨幣化。

We began, last April, talking to potential customers about that and listening feedback, conducting tours, and that did result in two things: an increase in capital spending that Tad mentioned, solely attributable to these data center conversions. And that was beyond the $50 million in network excess CapEx that we had anticipated.

去年四月，我們開始與潛在客戶討論這個問題，聽取回饋，進行參觀，這確實帶來了兩件事：塔德提到的資本支出增加，這完全歸因於這些資料中心的改造。這超出了我們預期的 5000 萬美元網路超額資本支出。

Based on the amount of time necessary to complete these conversions, we will be at an elevated capital run rate for probably a couple of more quarters as we complete the conversion of these data centers. We believe we will have them all converted and fully operational and marketable with all of the excess power by midyear '25, so end of Q2.

根據完成這些轉換所需的時間，在完成這些資料中心的轉換後，我們的資本運作率可能還會持續幾個季度。我們相信，到 25 年年中（即第二季末），我們將利用所有過剩電力將它們全部轉換並全面投入運作和銷售。

We also had to accelerate the deprovisioning and demo work in these facilities and that demo work cannot be capitalized. So therefore, it did increase our cost of goods sold. We expect that to start to come down this quarter and continue to come down for the next couple of quarters.

我們還必須加快這些設施的取消配置和演示工作，而演示工作不能資本化。因此，它確實增加了我們的銷售成本。我們預計這一數字將在本季開始下降，並在接下來的幾季繼續下降。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thanks Jim.

謝謝吉姆。

Greg Williams.

格雷格威廉斯。

Dave, your on-net revenue was down quarter-over-quarter. You mentioned that, that contract that was terminated had that $3.5 million impact, but it still would have been down $2.8 million, excluding this. So just trying to understand the color here.

戴夫，您的線上收入環比下降。您提到，終止的合約產生了 350 萬美元的影響，但如果排除這一點，它仍然會減少 280 萬美元。所以只是想了解這裡的顏色。

And I think you mentioned the size and cadence of future uneconomic contracts going forward that will dribble into 2025. More color there would be great. And the same-store sales on corporate would be helpful.

我想你提到了未來不經濟合約的規模和節奏，這些合約將持續到 2025 年。企業的同店銷售也會有所幫助。

Second question is just on the data center sale process you just mentioned. Could they sell for less than the $10 million per megawatt marker? But it sounds like you're putting the CapEx into it for the next few quarters so they can then command and fetch a $10 million per megawatt price.

第二個問題就是你剛才提到的資料中心銷售流程。它們的售價能否低於每兆瓦 1000 萬美元？但聽起來你要在接下來的幾季投入資本支出，這樣他們就可以控制並獲得每兆瓦 1000 萬美元的價格。

Let me try to hit all three of those, Greg. So first of all, in the on-net revenue, there were two primary contributors to that decline. The first was a sequential decline of $1.8 million in our commercial services agreement with T-Mobile.

讓我試著把這三個都擊中，格雷格。首先，在淨收入方面，下降有兩個主要因素。首先是我們與 T-Mobile 的商業服務協議連續減少了 180 萬美元。

As we have been very clear that we are bound by our purchase agreement to deliver these services to T-Mobile. They are not particularly profitable, and T-Mobile can, at its decision, continue to use them or not. We do anticipate them going as methodically to zero, and they did come down $1.8 million in the quarter.

我們非常清楚，我們受購買協議的約束，並且向 T-Mobile 提供這些服務。它們並不是特別有利可圖，T-Mobile 可以自行決定是否繼續使用它們。我們確實預計它們將有條不紊地降至零，並且本季度確實減少了 180 萬美元。

The second big impact, it was actually twice as big as the reduction in the commercial services agreement, was the reduction of this contract. So we had a service that we were selling that had two counterparties to it that was resulting in a $3.5 million revenue stream, but actually more than that in costs.

第二個大影響，其實是商業服務協議減少的兩倍，就是這份合約的減少。因此，我們正在銷售的一項服務有兩個交易對手，這帶來了 350 萬美元的收入流，但實際上超過了成本。

We could not get out of that agreement until both counterparties would agree to a buyout provision, which we exercised in the quarter. I think we may have some smaller opportunities like this going forward, but this was the one that we've been working on. And quite honestly, it took us almost 18 months to get the two parties to agree.

在雙方同意我們在本季執行的買斷條款之前，我們無法退出該協議。我認為我們未來可能會有一些像這樣的較小機會，但這是我們一直在努力的機會。老實說，我們花了將近 18 個月的時間才讓雙方達成協議。

It wasn't something that we didn't know about. And it also was impossible for us to predict when this would happen for investors just because we need a concurrence of both parties.

這不是我們不知道的事。我們也無法僅僅因為我們需要雙方的同意而預測投資者何時會發生這種情況。

If I could just add to the on-net. So this was in the prepared remarks. So the total impact of both of those transactions, the CSA and the customer contract was $5.7 million on our on-net. So if you just adjusted for those two sequentially, we would have been up sequentially by 1% in the on-net line.

如果我可以添加到網上就好了。這就是準備好的發言稿。因此，這兩筆交易、CSA 和客戶合約對我們網路的總影響為 570 萬美元。因此，如果您只是按順序調整這兩項，我們的線上業務將按順序成長 1%。

Got it. Yes, absolutely, Tad. And then secondly, to your question about corporate, our core corporate products are continuing to perform at a reduced rate to where they were pre-pandemic, but still growing on a sequential and year-over-year basis.

知道了。是的，絕對是，泰德。其次，對於你關於企業的問題，我們的核心企業產品的表現繼續下降到疫情前的水平，但仍在連續和同比增長。

We are grooming two types of corporate revenue streams, the noncore services to corporate customers, and we are grooming low margin or even negative margin off-net services that we cannot bring on-net. That process will continue probably at a reduced rate, but probably for several more quarters because in many cases, we are contractually bound by contracts that we acquired in the acquisition to provide those services at a loss until such time as the contract ends. That is the primary reason T-Mobile paid us $700 million.

我們正在培養兩種類型的企業收入流，即為企業客戶提供的非核心服務，我們正在培養低利潤甚至負利潤的網外服務，而這些服務是我們無法帶入網路上的。這個過程可能會以較低的速度繼續進行，但可能會持續幾個季度，因為在許多情況下，我們受到我們在收購中獲得的合約的約束，以虧損方式提供這些服務，直到合約結束。這是 T-Mobile 支付 7 億美元的主因。

Now I'll pivot to your data center question. We looked at the price of data centers that have traded recently and we looked at what other wholesale operators were charging and establishing our go-to-market price points. We had no experience in this market. In fact, when we did the initial transaction, it was not an opportunity that we even contemplated. But as we sensed the acute need for this power in the marketplace, we began to start to convert those facilities.

現在我將轉向您的資料中心問題。我們研究了最近交易的資料中心的價格，研究了其他批發業者的收費並確定了我們的市場價格點。我們沒有這個市場的經驗。事實上，當我們進行最初的交易時，我們甚至沒有考慮過這是一個機會。但當我們意識到市場對這種電源的迫切需求時，我們開始開始改造這些設施。

We felt that we were far enough along at the end of April to begin to allow counterparties to tour the facilities. We've even allowed investors to go on bus tours to some of the facilities and some research analysts have written on that.

我們認為我們在四月底已經足夠成熟，可以開始允許交易對手參觀這些設施。我們甚至允許投資者乘坐巴士參觀一些設施，一些研究分析師已經就此撰寫了文章。

These are different than a brand-new purpose-built data center. They are a switch site that is being converted. While there are many things that we understood needed to be done, we have literally held dozens, maybe even hundreds of tours that we are gathering input from the customers. Sometimes the requests are unreasonable on things they want; sometimes they are reasonable.

這些與全新的專用資料中心不同。它們是一個正在轉換的轉換網站。雖然我們知道有很多事情需要完成，但我們實際上已經舉辦了數十次甚至數百次旅行，我們正在收集客戶的意見。有時，他們想要的東西的要求是不合理的；有時他們是合理的。

We also have diverted more of our team resources and the use of contractors to get these facilities ready. That does require incremental capital, and it does require incremental cost of goods sold and that we are doing this demolition work as a precondition that cannot be capitalized. We're primarily done with that. There's still a little bit more to be done, but there is a lot of preparatory work.

我們也轉移了更多的團隊資源和承包商來準備這些設施。這確實需要增量資本，也確實需要增量的銷售商品成本，而我們做這個拆除工作是不能資本化的前提。我們基本上已經完成了。雖然還有一些工作要做，但準備工作還有很多。

Now I will say, among the counterparties, there's a great deal of divergence around what they want by site and by counterparty. We are trying to optimize to the highest return on capital. The amount of capital we are spending here is de minimis relative to the opportunity. So whether we get $10 million, $9 million or $11 million a megawatt out of these sites, based on our basis, even with this capital, this will be a phenomenal outcome if we sell them.

現在我要說的是，在交易對手中，他們對不同地點和交易對手的需求存在很大分歧。我們正在努力優化以獲得最高的資本回報率。相對於這個機會，我們在這裡花費的資本是微乎其微的。因此，無論我們從這些站點中獲得 1000 萬美元、900 萬美元還是 1100 萬美元/兆瓦，根據我們的基礎，即使有這筆資金，如果我們出售它們，這將是一個驚人的結果。

We also have, I would say, more counterparties interested in long-term leases than sales. We do have both, but the $1 million a megawatt per year with CPI increases on a triple net basis has been viewed, I think, as an exceptional bargain in the market. We are continuing on a site-by-site basis to effectively have a quiet auction where we have multiple counterparties.

我想說，對長期租賃感興趣的交易對手比對銷售感興趣的對手更多。我們確實兩者都有，但我認為，隨著 CPI 以三倍淨值增長，每年每兆瓦 100 萬美元已被視為市場上非常便宜的價格。我們將繼續逐一地點進行有效的安靜拍賣，我們有多個交易對手。

And my guess is there will be some sites that we will get a premium to the ask. Some we get the ask and maybe some don't transact. It is a parallel effort to get the sites ready and to achieve the highest return for our shareholders.

我的猜測是，我們會在某些網站上獲得比要價更高的溢價。有些我們會收到詢問，有些可能不會進行交易。準備場地和為我們的股東實現最高回報是一項並行的工作。

Thank you.

謝謝。

David Barden.

大衛·巴登.

Guys, it's Dave Barton. Dave and Ted, thanks for taking the question. I have two. The first is more of a housekeeping question, I guess, related to IPv4. And we've been seeing that IPv4 leasing volumes be growing at kind of like in the 5%, 6% range.

夥計們，我是戴夫·巴頓。戴夫和特德，感謝您提出問題。我有兩個。我想，第一個問題更多的是與 IPv4 相關的內務管理問題。我們已經看到 IPv4 租賃量的成長幅度約為 5%、6%。

You raised prices, and now it's kind of growing at the 1% range. Could you talk a little bit about, Dave, your sense as to the price elasticity in that market right now? We've been looking at some of the brokerage sites and prices have been falling. And just interested in your updated view there.

你們提高了價格，現在價格上漲了 1%。戴夫，您能談談您對該市場目前價格彈性的看法嗎？我們一直在關註一些經紀網站，價格一直在下降。只是對您更新的視圖感興趣。

And then second, Dave, at the risk of having you talk the rest of the call, I just wanted your latest thoughts. Lumen earlier this week basically made the case that the current physical Internet is too small, too slow, and not secure enough for the emerging AI opportunity. And that they're really in the sweet spot. And that they're going to kill it in the AI world and that the puck is moving away from where the Cogents of the world are operating. If you could give me your retort to that, I'd love to hear it. Thank you.

其次，戴夫，冒著讓你談論剩下的電話的風險，我只想聽聽你的最新想法。 Lumen 本週稍早基本上表明，目前的實體網路太小、太慢，而且對於新興的人工智慧機會來說不夠安全。他們確實處於最佳狀態。他們將在人工智慧世界中殺死它，冰球正在遠離世界上的 Cogents 運作的地方。如果你能對此進行反駁，我很想聽聽。謝謝。

Yeah, let me take the IP address space question first. So I think the demand remains robust. When we implemented a price increase, there was obviously some shock to customers that were in negotiations but had not signed contracts at the lower price. And there's just a bit of, I think, adjustment that they need to get their head around in order to then pay the new price.

是的，讓我先回答 IP 位址空間問題。所以我認為需求仍然強勁。當我們實施提價時，顯然對正在談判但沒有以較低價格簽訂合約的客戶來說有些震驚。我認為，他們需要進行一些調整才能支付新價格。

I think most of that is behind us. I think you will see volumes continue to increase. Also on the provisioning of those addresses, there is sometimes a bit of a lag as we do the diligence on the counterparties to make sure they don't run a file of any security issues or foreign corrupt practices type issues.

我認為大部分已經過去了。我認為您會看到數量繼續增加。此外，在這些地址的配置方面，有時會出現一些滯後，因為我們對交易對手進行盡職調查，以確保他們不會運行任何安全問題或外國腐敗行為類型問題的文件。

We have a dedicated team of four people that monitor the existing base of addresses and then vet new customers to make sure that they don't present a security threat. I think you'll see the volumes begin to reaccelerate. And by the way, the 11.8% sequential revenue growth is still pretty good and off of a decent base.

我們有一個由四人組成的專門團隊，負責監控現有地址庫，然後審查新客戶，以確保他們不會構成安全威脅。我想你會看到銷量開始重新加速。順便說一句，11.8% 的環比收入增長仍然相當不錯，而且基礎不錯。

We do have substantial inventory. In terms of sales, I think the market is bifurcated. For small block sales, prices have fallen. For large block sales, the prices have held very firm. And remember, Cogent possesses the largest block that has ever been given on a single basis. Now there are others, the size of our block. So I don't want to present that we're unique. But no one has more than we have in a single contiguous block.

我們確實有大量庫存。就銷售而言，我認為市場是分裂的。對於小批量銷售，價格有所下降。對於大宗銷售，價格一直非常堅挺。請記住，Cogent 擁有有史以來最大的單一區塊。現在還有其他的，和我們的區塊大小一樣。所以我不想表現出我們是獨一無二的。但沒有人擁有比我們在單一連續區塊中擁有的更多的東西。

So I think we have a lot of leverage in terms of whether we want to sell them. But right now, we're pretty pleased with both the growth in volume and the growth that we're going to be able to achieve in pricing per address. So I don't think there's yet a demand elasticity problem.

所以我認為我們在是否要出售它們方面有很大的籌碼。但現在，我們對數量的成長和每個地址定價的成長感到非常滿意。所以我認為還不存在需求彈性問題。

I'm going to pivot, and I promise to keep my answer short because I do want to get everybody else's questions answered on two things; the state of the public Internet and then the needs of AI or bandwidth. The public Internet has been predicted to die for 25 years. Every time there is growth, there is always some alternate technology that's going to replace the Internet, whether it's cross connects in data centers, peering fabrics, direct connections, CDNs. And the Internet continues to grow.

我要轉向，我保證回答簡短，因為我確實想讓其他人的問題在兩件事上得到解答；公共互聯網的狀況，然後是人工智慧或頻寬的需求。公共互聯網預計將消亡 25 年。每次成長時，總會有一些替代技術來取代互聯網，無論是資料中心的交叉連接、對等結構、直接連接、CDN。互聯網也在不斷發展。

We grew traffic at an 8% sequential growth rate and a 19% year-over-year growth rate. That is hardly a technology that's in decline. AI is possible because of all of the data that has been collected over the Internet.

我們的流量較上季成長率為 8%，年成長率為 19%。這並不是一項正在衰退的技術。人工智慧之所以成為可能，是因為所有數據都是透過網路收集的。

Today, there is roughly 700 zettabytes of data that have been amassed from Internet collections, and that is actually now growing at the rate of about 165 zettabytes a year. So an acceleration in the collection and storage of data because it now has value for AI training. I think that trend is just beginning, and we're going to see continued acceleration.

如今，從網路收集的數據大約有 700 ZB，現在實際上以每年 165 ZB 的速度成長。因此，資料的收集和儲存正在加速，因為它現在對人工智慧訓練有價值。我認為這種趨勢才剛開始，我們將看到持續加速。

And these are third-party numbers. Cogent only has visibility to the transmission piece of it, not to the storage piece. And then to the point about the current infrastructure not being sufficient. There are thousands of strands of fiber sitting dark between every major metropolitan area and the developed world.

這些是第三方數字。 Cogent 只能看到它的傳輸部分，而不能看到儲存部分。然後到了目前基礎設施不足的地步。每個主要大都會區和已開發國家之間都有數千根光纖。

We carry one-fourth of the Internet's traffic of one pair of fibers and are not fully exhausted the optical throughput of that pair of fibers, and we're still only utilizing about 29% of our lit capacity. It is true that certain training models do require defined latency and additional security.

我們透過一對光纖承載四分之一的網路流量，並且尚未完全耗盡該對光纖的光學吞吐量，而且我們仍然只利用了約 29% 的可用容量。確實，某些訓練模型確實需要定義的延遲和額外的安全性。

The fact that Cogent is selling wavelength services allows us to attack that market. There is a hierarchy of cost per bit mile. The cheapest, most efficient way to move bits is the Internet. The second most cost-effective way is a wavelength. The third most cost-effective way is to buy dark fiber. It's a premium service.

Cogent 正在銷售波長服務，這一事實使我們能夠進入該市場。每比特英哩的成本有一個層次結構。最便宜、最有效的資料傳輸方式是網路。第二種最具成本效益的方法是波長。第三種最具成本效益的方法是購買深色光纖。這是一項優質服務。

And then finally, the absolute most expensive way to move a bit is build your own fiber. And there are companies engaged in those more expensive strategies. But I will disagree with the premise that the Internet has peaked and there's something else replacing it.

最後，絕對最昂貴的移動方式是建立自己的光纖。有些公司正在採取那些成本較高的策略。但我不同意互聯網已經達到頂峰並且有其他東西取代它的前提。

I appreciate it, Dave. Thank you.

我很感激，戴夫。謝謝。

Thanks, Dave.

謝謝，戴夫。

Walter Piecyk.

沃爾特·皮塞克.

Thanks. Dave first. Thanks for reducing the prepared remarks. That's a nice improvement for this core. Hopefully, we can continue that trend. I think you got some additional synergies there.

謝謝。戴夫先來。感謝您減少準備好的評論。對於這個核心來說，這是一個很好的改進。希望我們能夠繼續這一趨勢。我認為你們在那裡獲得了一些額外的協同效應。

Thank you, Walt.

謝謝你，沃特。

So on the CapEx, this is all basically speculative, meaning that you see the market in front of you, obviously, you're engaging with these discussions. You spend the CapEx now, and then we start to see first sales in the second half of next year? Or have these guys specifically contracted say, you do X, we're going to pay Y? Or have there already been sales that we can look at?

因此，在資本支出方面，這基本上都是投機性的，這意味著您看到了眼前的市場，顯然，您正在參與這些討論。您現在花費資本支出，然後我們會在明年下半年開始看到第一筆銷售？或者這些人有專門簽約說，你做了 X，我們要付 Y 錢？或者我們可以查看已經有的銷售情況嗎？

So there have not been sales. We have letters of intent. We have multiple parties. We have not executed a letter of intent. We have gotten letters from buyers. We were not initially planning to even monetize this part of our acquired assets.

所以一直沒有銷售。我們有意向書。我們有多個政黨。我們尚未簽署意向書。我們收到買家的來信了。我們最初並不打算將這部分收購的資產貨幣化。

If you go back and review the initial transcripts, we described a much wider data center footprint where we were going to use roughly one-fourth of the footprint and probably only a couple of percent of the power that was in these facilities. And we were going to sell our retail colo product, much like Cogent has and is continuing to sell.

如果您回去查看最初的記錄，我們描述了一個更廣泛的資料中心佔地面積，我們將使用這些設施中大約四分之一的佔地面積，並且可能只使用這些設施中的百分之幾的電力。我們將銷售我們的零售託管產品，就像 Cogent 已經並將繼續銷售的那樣。

Based on inbounds initially and then our outbounds, we said we are sitting on an asset that today, because it exists, it doesn't have to be built, has real value, a time-to-market advantage. But we also knew we had to reconfigure these assets.

根據最初的入站和出站，我們說我們今天所坐擁的資產，因為它存在，所以不必建造，具有真正的價值，具有上市時間優勢。但我們也知道我們必須重新配置這些資產。

That reconfiguration has two major components. One, just all of the demo work and preparatory work and then a modest amount of capital. We are confident enough based on the number of parties, the market, and the overall price differential that we have that the modest amount of incremental capital we're going to spend over the next several quarters is going to give us a very high return.

這種重新配置有兩個主要組成部分。第一，只是所有的演示工作和準備工作，然後是少量的資金。根據參與者數量、市場和整體價差，我們有足夠的信心，未來幾季我們將花費的少量增量資本將為我們帶來非常高的回報。

I understand that. And you said that in a prior comment. I think -- I don't want you to spend more time reiterating what you already said, and I appreciate that. I guess the question is, when you look at the data centers, it's like you spend the numbers so your CapEx is whatever it is, let's call it, $60 million-ish for three quarters, then you hope to get sales in the second half.

我明白這一點。你在之前的評論中也這麼說過。我認為——我不希望你花更多時間重複你已經說過的話，我對此表示讚賞。我想問題是，當你查看資料中心時，就像你花了這些數字，所以你的資本支出是無論它是什麼，讓我們稱之為，三個季度6000 萬美元左右，然後你希望在下半年獲得銷售。

Does it then drop off? Or do you say like, let's say, you get a sale in June of '25, September '25, and then there's $5 million more? Or do we have the $60 million then dropping back down to a more reasonable level?

然後它會掉落嗎？還是你是說，比如說，你在 25 年 6 月、25 年 9 月進行了一次銷售，然後還有 500 萬美元？或者我們是否有 6000 萬美元然後回落到更合理的水平？

And then tied to that, the capital lease payments, I know you had a onetime payment last quarter, but that's $5 million, but I think there was like $80 million for the year. But is $5 million a new run rate in terms of capital lease? I'm just trying to get a sense of what else will contribute to cash burn. And does it basically end in June of next year? Or is there some continuation there?

然後與此相關的是資本租賃付款，我知道上個季度您一次性付款，但那是 500 萬美元，但我認為今年大約有 8000 萬美元。但 500 萬美元是資本租賃的新營運費率嗎？我只是想了解還有哪些因素會導致現金消耗。而且基本上是明年6月結束嗎？或者還有一些延續嗎？

So to directly answer your data center question, one, I believe we will have, transactions, whether they be leases or sales that are reportable before June. So you don't have to wait for June to a proof point. Now whether that's the entire portfolio, I doubt, but we will have proof points.

因此，為了直接回答您的資料中心問題，第一，我相信我們將在 6 月之前進行可報告的交易，無論是租賃還是銷售。所以你不必等到六月才能證明。我懷疑這是否是整個投資組合，但我們會有證據。

Two, we will not have continuing CapEx related to the data centers beyond this initial conversion. So what we are spending is the money to convert 48 of the 482 acquired facilities. With regard to the capital lease payments, we did have a very meaningful prepayment last quarter. That was a onetime event.

第二，除了最初的轉換之外，我們不會有與資料中心相關的持續資本支出。因此，我們花的是改造 482 個已購設施中的 48 個的資金。關於資本租賃付款，上季度我們確實有一筆非常有意義的預付款。那是一次性事件。

We do still have some incremental capital leases related to network reconfiguration. But we also will see some of the acquired fiber leases that we got when we acquired Sprint dropping off. And our total number of miles will actually go down and our expenses will go down.

我們仍然有一些與網路重新配置相關的增量資本租賃。但我們也會看到我們在收購 Sprint 時獲得的一些光纖租賃合約的消失。我們的總里程數實際上會減少，我們的費用也會減少。

So this run rate of $5 million a quarter is probably the more reasonable number going forward on capital lease principal payments?

那麼，每季 500 萬美元的營運率可能是未來資本租賃本金支付的更合理數字？

Yeah, it seems pretty reasonable.

是的，看起來很有道理。

So when we put all the pieces together then in terms of ramping wavelengths, Barden talked about the IP things, those volumes obviously dropped off, but you're getting price increases. How this all contributes to revenue, now this elevated CapEx, you're going to obviously have to increase debt if you continue to sustain the dividend.

因此，當我們把所有的部分放在一起時，就波長的變化而言，巴登談到了 IP 的事情，這些數量明顯下降了，但價格卻上漲了。這一切對收入有何貢獻，現在資本支出增加，如果你繼續維持股息，你顯然必須增加債務。

So I guess the question because it's just there is cash burn. I don't know how the math, especially with the TSA payment drop-offs that exist. So debt has to go up because your cash is going to drop below, I don't know what you think is comfortable in terms of working capital. So is there any reconsideration in terms of the growth in the dividend, just given that maybe the interest rate outlook today? Obviously, these things change by the day, maybe not be as positive given some of the projected policies that are going to occur in future quarters.

所以我猜這個問題是因為這只是燒錢。我不知道數學是怎樣的，尤其是考慮到 TSA 付款下降的情況。因此，債務必須增加，因為您的現金將降至以下水平，我不知道您認為就營運資金而言合適的是多少。那麼，考慮到今天的利率前景，是否需要重新考慮股息成長？顯然，這些事情每天都在發生變化，考慮到未來幾季將出現的一些預期政策，情況可能不會那麼積極。

And by the way, also, your leverage is up a turn, you're probably headed higher just given how all these numbers work together before some of these sales and revenues kick in. Is it the right time to be adding additional debt to the balance sheet to fund the dividend?

順便說一句，你的槓桿率也上升了，考慮到在一些銷售和收入開始之前所有這些數字如何協同作用，你的槓桿率可能會更高。負債表提供股息資金？

So we've had this discussion before, Walt, for 15 years, Cogent has more than 100% of cash flow as its EBITDA grew from 0 to $352 million last year. You are correct that the arithmetic of the T-Mobile IP transit payments dropped off, and it is an LTM test. So arithmetically, our leverage does go up.

Walt，我們之前討論過，15 年來，Cogent 的現金流量一直超過 100%，其 EBITDA 從 0 成長到去年的 3.52 億美元。您是正確的，T-Mobile IP 傳輸支付的演算法下降了，這是一個 LTM 測試。所以從算術上看，我們的槓桿率確實上升了。

We have substantial access to additional capital. We have, for example, under the IPv4, ABS transaction, it's a trust. We have now increased the revenue into that trust by 50% run rate just since we initiated that would give us 50% of the borrowing capacity immediately.

我們有大量機會獲得額外資本。我們比如說在IPv4下，ABS交易，它是一個信託。自從我們啟動以來，我們已經將該信託的收入增加了 50%，這將立即為我們帶來 50% 的借貸能力。

We are quite comfortable that we have multiple vectors of growth and ability to monetize and are very comfortable with our dividend policy as it has existed for the past 49 consecutive quarters and are comfortable in continuing a forward progression similar to what we've had historically.

我們對擁有多個成長向量和貨幣化能力感到非常滿意，並且對我們的股息政策非常滿意，因為它已經連續49 個季度存在，並且對繼續向前發展（類似於我們歷史上的情況）感到滿意。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Thanks, Walt.

謝謝，沃爾特。

Michael Rollins.

邁克爾·羅林斯。

The line is open.

線路已開通。

Good morning. A couple of questions. First one is if you look at the constant currency revenue change year-over-year, I think this is now the first comparable quarter where you have everything in there for 12 months. And it's down 6.7%.

早安.有幾個問題。第一個是，如果你看看貨幣收入的同比變化，我認為這是 12 個月以來第一個可比較的季度。下降了 6.7%。

And I apologize if you mentioned some of these numbers before, but can you share like on a year-over-year basis relative to that 6.7%, how much the heritage corporate is growing, how much the heritage NetCentric is growing? And then what the decline, the shrink is in all of these other things that you're managing through with the acquired revenue?

如果您之前提到過其中一些數字，我很抱歉，但是您能否分享一下相對於 6.7% 的同比增長，傳統企業增長了多少，傳統 NetCentric 增長了多少？那麼，你用獲得的收入來管理的所有其他事情的下降、萎縮是什麼？

And then secondly, just given how much noise you described was in the cost of goods or cost of service this quarter, what's the right run rate number that you get to in that cost of service to just appreciate cost on a more normalized basis? Thanks.

其次，考慮到您所描述的本季度商品成本或服務成本中有多少噪音，您在服務成本中獲得的正確運行率數字是多少，以便在更標準化的基礎上評估成本？謝謝。

I can take the constant currency. So the impact year over year was negligible. It was only $200,000 on total revenue.

我可以拿不變的貨幣。因此，逐年影響可以忽略不計。總收入僅 20 萬美元。

I'm not asking about currency. I'm just using that as like the frame of if total revenue was down 6.7%. What did the heritage corporate grow at? What did the Heritage NetCentric grow at? And what did the acquired revenue shrink?

我不是問貨幣。我只是將其作為總收入下降 6.7% 的框架。這家傳統企業的成長歷程是什麼？ Heritage NetCentric 的發展歷程如何？那麼獲得的收入縮水了什麼呢？

Yes. So we basically had three buckets of intentional shrinkage. The first being the elimination of noncore services. And we're probably three-fourth of the way through those non-core services going away. We would have liked them all to go away day one.

是的。所以我們基本上有三桶故意收縮。首先是消除非核心服務。我們可能有四分之三的非核心服務正在消失。我們希望他們第一天就全部離開。

Two, we've had low-margin off-net services that we are grooming. Those are continuing to be groomed, but we're probably, again, 50% of the way through what we can grow. Third, we had this extraordinary situation, and it was larger than any of the others, but there are some bad deals that we inherited after Sprint had been in business for 40 years that we are trying to unwind.

第二，我們正在開發低利潤的網外服務。這些正在繼續進行修飾，但我們可能再次實現了 50% 的成長。第三，我們遇到了這種非同尋常的情況，而且規模比其他任何一家都大，但在 Sprint 經營 40 年後我們繼承了一些糟糕的交易，我們正在試圖解除這些交易。

In this particular case, we did take $3.5 million quarterly sequential revenue hit from getting rid of that deal. And if we looked at the total acquired business of Sprint, it was in decline when we acquired it. Cogent was growing. The combined company is growing due to, as you phrased it, the heritage revenue streams. And let's parse those apart. There was no heritage enterprise revenue so there's nothing to talk about there.

在這個特殊案例中，我們確實因取消該交易而遭受了 350 萬美元的季度連續收入損失。如果我們看一下 Sprint 收購的總業務，我們收購它時它正在下降。 Cogent 正在成長。正如您所說，合併後的公司之所以不斷發展，是因為傳統的收入來源。讓我們將它們分開解析。沒有遺產企業的收入，所以沒什麼好談的。

The current enterprise business, absent this one Tri-party termination actually grew sequentially, which is actually a little surprising to us. Some of that is because we've been able to implement some pricing discipline around the remaining services, and we've got better discipline as we've been selling new services.

目前的企業業務，如果沒有這次三方終止，居然是環比成長的，這其實讓我們有點意外。部分原因是我們已經能夠對剩餘的服務實施一些定價規則，隨著我們銷售新服務，我們有了更好的規則。

The core Cogent corporate business, absent these two reductions by design, that being low-margin off-net and noncore is growing at about a 4% annual growth rate. And that's off of now the included acquired Sprint corporate base for connectivity services.

Cogent 的核心企業業務（如果沒有這兩次有意的削減），即網外利潤率低且非核心的業務，正以約 4% 的年增長率增長。這還不算現在收購的 Sprint 連結服務公司基地。

And then finally, on the NetCentric business, it is highly volatile. It's dependent on volume seasonality, but it is continuing to grow on a constant currency basis at around 10%. And while we saw a slowdown in traffic growth in Q2, in Q3, you saw a material reacceleration.

最後，NetCentric 業務的波動性很大。它取決於銷售季節性，但以固定匯率計算，它繼續以 10% 左右的速度成長。雖然我們在第二季度看到流量成長放緩，但在第三季度，您看到了實質的重新加速。

And that is back to more historical patterns. But this goes back to Dave Barden's question, is the Internet peak and starting to decline? I can pretty comfortably say no.

這又回到了更多的歷史模式。但這又回到了戴夫巴登的問題，網路是否已經達到頂峰並開始衰退？我可以很輕鬆地說不。

And on the cost of service, what's the right run rate level when you take out all of the noise that you described over the course of this call?

就服務成本而言，當您剔除您在此次通話過程中所描述的所有噪音時，正確的運作率等級是多少？

It's probably more in line with what we did in Q2 and continuing to decline. But there is noise associated with terminating certain contracts. And the overall trend should allow us to grow EBITDA.

這可能更符合我們在第二季度所做的事情並繼續下降。但終止某些合約存在一些噪音。整體趨勢應該會讓我們的 EBITDA 成長。

The previous quarter, almost all of the EBITDA growth came from COGS reductions in Q2. In Q3, they came more from SG&A reductions. And there is noise, but I think the COGS line should look more like it did in Q2 than in Q3. This was a very unusual set of cost of goods sold on this buyout.

上一季度，幾乎所有 EBITDA 成長都來自第二季度 COGS 的減少。第三季度，更多來自SG&A 削減。並且存在噪音，但我認為 COGS 線應該看起來更像第二季而不是第三季。這是本次收購中銷售的一組非常不尋常的商品成本。

On the demo work, there is going to be some of that in Q4, but it should, I think, be substantially complete by then and therefore, won't show up in cost of goods sold. The monies that we do put into the wholesale data center space would exclusively hit CapEx at that point.

在演示工作中，第四季將會有一些工作，但我認為到那時應該已經基本完成，因此不會出現在銷售成本中。屆時，我們投入批發資料中心領域的資金將全部用於資本支出。

And when you take a look at capital allocation in total and you look at the possibilities for asset monetization that you mentioned during this call and in past calls, do you have a target dollar number by a certain target date, which is giving you some comfort in the way that you're going to manage the capital allocation over a multiyear period of time?

當您查看整體資本配置並查看您在本次電話會議和過去的電話會議中提到的資產貨幣化的可能性時，您是否在某個目標日期之前有一個目標美元數字，這給您帶來了一些安慰您將如何在多年的時間內管理資本配置？

So I think we have comfort in two dimensions, Mike. One, our ability to organically grow our EBITDA, absent the subsidy payment stream from T-Mobile and be able to grow that at a sufficient rate that we will be able to return more capital.

所以我認為我們在二維方面很舒適，麥克。第一，在沒有 T-Mobile 的補貼支付流的情況下，我們有機成長 EBITDA 的能力，並且能夠以足夠的速度成長，以便我們能夠返還更多資本。

We did buybacks in Q2 as well as dividends and do that even with a higher interest rate environment, as Walt pointed out. That may result in an equal or higher gross leverage, but a reduction in net leverage.

正如沃爾特所指出的那樣，我們在第二季度進行了回購和股息，即使在利率較高的環境下也是如此。這可能會導致總槓桿率相同或更高，但淨槓桿率會降低。

And then we do see these three buckets of assets that will potentially be monetized. If I had to stack rank them today, I would say the data centers are the most probable, the IPv4 or the second most probable, and the dark fiber, the lowest probability just because we've had very little experience.

然後我們確實看到這三類資產有可能被貨幣化。如果我今天必須對它們進行排名，我會說資料中心是最有可能的，IPv4 或第二最有可能的，而暗光纖是最低機率的，因為我們的經驗很少。

We did one dark fiber sale in the quarter. It was actually to a customer as more of a favor than it was that we were trying to productize it. But we have had a fairly large number of inbounds around monetizing those, just as we had on the data centers.

我們在本季進行了一次深色纖維銷售。實際上，這對客戶來說更多的是一種恩惠，而不是我們試圖將其產品化。但我們有相當多的圍繞這些貨幣化的入站，就像我們在資料中心上所做的那樣。

For me to have a specific date and a specific dollar amount, I think there's just too many permutations to put that in front of investors. But I feel comfortable that we will get added benefit in delevering beyond growth in EBITDA from the monetization of these other assets.

對我來說，要確定特定的日期和具體的美元金額，我認為有太多的排列無法擺在投資者面前。但我感到放心的是，我們將從這些其他資產的貨幣化中獲得 EBITDA 成長以外的去槓桿化的額外好處。

David and Ted. Thanks for your help.

大衛和特德。感謝您的幫助。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Nick Del Deo.

尼克·德爾·迪奧.

All right. Thanks, guys. Dave, you said that the number of switch sites that you're planning to convert into data centers has increased. I think you gave a number earlier in the call. Can you split out how that breaks out between retail sites you're planning to hang on to versus larger locations that you're looking to sell or engage in a long-term lease with, both in terms of number of locations and the number of protected megawatts? I'm most interested in the sites you think you can sell or lease on a wholesale basis, which I think had been 88 protected megawatts across 21 facilities previously.

好的。謝謝，夥計們。 Dave，您說過您計劃轉換為資料中心的交換器網站數量增加。我想你在通話早些時候就給了一個號碼。您能否區分您計劃保留的零售站點與您希望出售或長期租賃的較大站點之間的區別，無論是在站點數量還是在數量方面受保護兆瓦？我對您認為可以批發出售或租賃的場地最感興趣，我認為以前有 21 個設施的 88 兆瓦受保護設施。

And you are correct on both the megawatts and number of sites that we think are suitable for wholesale monetization that is 21 of the 48 total sites that we are converting to data centers. And it is 88 of the protected megawatts out of the 169 that we have today. And there are still a few more centers that have not yet even been converted to offer retail services.

您對我們認為適合批發貨幣化的站點的兆瓦數和數量都是正確的，即我們正在轉換為資料中心的 48 個站點中的 21 個。這是我們今天擁有的 169 兆瓦中受保護的 88 兆瓦。還有一些中心尚未轉變為提供零售服務。

So the number of centers will go up probably by about five and the number of megawatts may go up by another 10 or so from where we're at today. But we only see 21 of them as good candidates. Now our view is that the market will tell us more than what we think. And if a particular counterparty comes by and says, we just need this facility in this location, we didn't think it was one that we would monetize through either wholesale or outright sale, everything is for sale at the end of the day.

因此，與今天相比，中心的數量可能會增加約 5 個，而兆瓦數可能會再增加 10 兆瓦左右。但我們只認為其中 21 人是好的候選人。現在我們的觀點是，市場會告訴我們的比我們想像的更多。如果某個特定的交易對手走過來說，我們只需要在這個位置建立這個設施，我們認為我們不會透過批發或直接銷售來獲利，所有東西最終都會出售。

Okay. And I thought it was interesting that you noted there was more interest in long-term leases rather than outright sales for the larger facilities. If that plays out, would you then be inclined to sell the stabilized leased facilities, maybe the buyers looking for those sorts of income streams?

好的。我認為有趣的是，您注意到人們對大型設施的長期租賃而不是直接銷售更感興趣。如果這種情況發生，您是否會傾向於出售穩定的租賃設施，也許是尋找此類收入流的買家？

I'm just thinking about whether Cogent would fetch an appropriate market multiple for that income stream, if it's buried into the rest of the business or if it's best to be held outside of the REIT structure?

我只是在考慮 Cogent 是否會為該收入流獲取適當的市場倍數，如果它被埋入其他業務中，或者最好將其保留在 REIT 結構之外？

Yeah. And the answer is we would evaluate that at that time. I think there might be an intermediate step if that, in fact, turns out the way that these facilities get monetized, which is you then do a specific securitization against that stream of revenue and unlock some liquidity and cash that way and then potentially sell that business with a portable capital structure and an ability for the new owner to get a higher valuation.

是的。答案是我們當時會對此進行評估。我認為，如果事實上這些設施貨幣化的方式是這樣的話，可能會有一個中間步驟，那就是你針對該收入流進行特定的證券化，並以這種方式釋放一些流動性和現金，然後可能將其出售企業具有可流動的資本結構，並且新所有者有能力獲得更高的估值。

Okay. And then last one, just thinking about the waves opportunity, you've talked quite a bit about a number of data centers you're going to have enabled and network work that you're undertaking to get things where you need them to be.

好的。最後一個，只是考慮波浪機會，您已經談論了很多您將啟用的資料中心以及您正在進行的網路工作，以便將東西送到您需要的地方。

Thinking about the other building blocks that go into being able to sell waves at the cadence that you want to achieve. Do you feel like the sales force is appropriately trained and ready to go when you decide to press the button?

考慮能夠以您想要實現的節奏銷售波浪的其他構建模組。當您決定按下按鈕時，您是否覺得銷售人員已經接受過適當的培訓並準備就緒？

You have the test installations you've done been providing results consistent with the provisioning time frames you've laid out and so on? Just want to make sure that every building block of that business is settling into where it needs to be.

您所做的測試安裝是否提供了與您制定的設定時間框架一致的結果等等？只是想確保該業務的每個組成部分都處於其需要的位置。

Yeah. And I think in looking at those building blocks, everything starts with the sales force. We have conducted multiple trainings and certification for the 279 NetCentric salespeople. Now not every one of them has sold a wave yet, but we've got a little over 1,000 waves sold, but it's not by one or two reps. It is fairly broad across the organization.

是的。我認為在審視這些建置模組時，一切都始於銷售團隊。我們為 279 名 NetCentric 銷售人員進行了多次培訓和認證。現在，並非每個人都已售出一波，但我們已售出 1,000 多波，但這不是一兩個代表的銷量。它在整個組織中相當廣泛。

We have developed online training manuals. We have our regional learning managers that do supplemental work, and we work with transponder vendors to hold teach-ins and tutorials. So the CRM system is today completely integrated with the Wave design tool. So the rep without engaging a sales engineer gets a map with 1 meter accuracy, latency down to 100 of a millisecond contractual accuracy. And we feel that we can generate contracts and deliver all the documentation quickly.

我們開發了線上培訓手冊。我們有區域學習經理負責補充工作，並與應答器供應商合作舉辦宣講會和教程。因此，CRM 系統如今已與 Wave 設計工具完全整合。因此，銷售代表無需聘請銷售工程師即可獲得精度為 1 公尺的地圖，延遲時間可降至合約精度的 100 毫秒。我們認為我們可以快速生成合約並交付所有文件。

The second piece is our service delivery organization. We have developed tools there. We have been able to provision waves in test cases, only a few because not all of the sites that were necessary for all of the waves could, but we have had some waves provisioned in a couple of weeks, which is our ultimate target.

第二部分是我們的服務交付組織。我們在那裡開發了工具。我們已經能夠在測試案例中配置wave，但只有少數幾個，因為並非所有wave所需的所有網站都可以，但我們已經在幾週內配置了一些wave，這是我們的最終目標。

So we feel pretty comfortable that the service delivery process, toolkit and staffing should allow us to do that. The building block of the network is dependent on the endpoints and the intermediate points. We would not have diverted people to sell some dark fiber and to even install the waves we did in the quarter if we thought we jeopardize the goal of being fully wave-enabled across the entire 800 North American locations by quarter's end.

因此，我們感到非常放心，服務交付流程、工具包和人員配置應該允許我們做到這一點。網路的建構塊取決於端點和中間點。如果我們認為我們會危及到季度末在整個 800 個北美地點完全啟用波浪的目標，我們就不會轉移人們去銷售一些暗光纖，甚至不會安裝我們在本季度所做的波浪。

So I feel that the network will be there, the service delivery team will be there and the sales team will be there to deliver it. But ultimately, what we have to do is build confidence with customers. And that's probably the most important of the building blocks. And the way you do that, actually deliver what you say you're going to deliver without a problem and then the customer comes back. It's exactly how we built our credibility in IP, and it's how we're going to do it in the wavelength market.

所以我覺得網路將會在那裡，服務交付團隊將會在那裡，銷售團隊也會在那裡提供服務。但最終，我們要做的是建立客戶的信心。這可能是最重要的建置模組。你這樣做的方式是，實際上交付你所說的你將毫無問題地交付的東西，然後客戶就會回來。這正是我們在 IP 領域建立信譽的方式，也是我們在波長市場上的做法。

All right, great. Thank you, Dave.

好吧，太好了。謝謝你，戴夫。

Thanks, Nick.

謝謝，尼克。

Tim Horan.

蒂姆·霍蘭.

Thanks guys. I have three questions. Dave, there's a feeding frenzy for data center capacity at the moment, and it looks like a good chance we're running out of capacity in the next year or so. So what dictates the timing of you announcing a sale or a lease of the capacity? And do you have any customers that want to buy the whole portfolio at this point?

謝謝你們。我有三個問題。戴夫，目前資料中心容量正在瘋狂成長，看起來我們很有可能在明年左右耗盡容量。那麼，是什麼決定了您宣佈出售或租賃產能的時間呢？您現在是否有客戶想要購買整個產品組合？

And then secondly, I know you don't give much guidance, but can you give us a range of EBITDA margins for next year, given all the moving parts and maybe just update again, thinking in five years? And then lastly, can you just remind us, what was the timing that you increased the ITV for pricing and how much? And can you do so next year? Thank you.

其次，我知道您沒有提供太多指導，但您能否給我們明年的 EBITDA 利潤率範圍，考慮到所有移動部件，也許只是再次更新，考慮五年後？最後，您能否提醒我們，您何時提高了 ITV 的定價以及提高了多少？明年你能這樣做嗎？謝謝。

So I'll take each of those questions. There are several counterparties who are interested in the entire portfolio. We are not certain that is the highest and best type of transaction to enter into. It may be.

所以我將回答每一個問題。有多個交易對手對整個投資組合感興趣。我們不確定這是否是最高和最好的交易類型。可能是的。

We're not initially contemplating this. You are correct. The market is continuing to tighten as there is more demand for power than can be met in a timely manner. Over time, there will be no power shortage, but that's a multiyear cycle. We have power available today.

我們最初並沒有考慮這一點。你是對的。由於電力需求超出了及時滿足的範圍，市場持續緊張。隨著時間的推移，不會出現電力短缺的情況，但這是一個多年的循環。我們今天有可用的電力。

We've got to get these facilities ready. I think we hope sometime in the next couple of quarters, we'll be far enough along that we'll have deals that we can announce. But part of it's on us to get the work done. Part of it is on the market to pay us what we think is a fair price.

我們必須準備好這些設施。我認為我們希望在接下來幾季的某個時候，我們能夠取得足夠的進展，以便我們可以宣布一些交易。但完成工作的部分責任在於我們。一部分是在市場上支付給我們我們認為公平的價格。

In terms of EBITDA, we don't give quarterly guidance. So I want to be clear there. But we also understand that the rate of improvement in underlying EBITDA that we demonstrated over the last couple of quarters is a cadence that investors should expect.

就 EBITDA 而言，我們不提供季度指引。所以我想澄清一下。但我們也明白，過去幾季我們展示的基本 EBITDA 的改善率是投資者應該預期的節奏。

So our improvement in EBITDA as adjusted will lap the differential in payments from T-Mobile and therefore, will be on a more clean basis. So the $25 million that we received in that IP transit payment this quarter will continue for the next nine quarters. And then the underlying EBITDA should probably continue to improve at 200 to 300 basis points a quarter as we continue to achieve these cost savings.

因此，我們調整後的 EBITDA 改善將涵蓋 T-Mobile 的付款差異，因此將建立在更乾淨的基礎上。因此，我們本季收到的 2,500 萬美元 IP 傳輸付款將持續到接下來的九個季度。然後，隨著我們繼續實現這些成本節約，基本 EBITDA 可能會繼續每季提高 200 到 300 個基點。

And then on the IPv4 pricing, it was a two-step effort. The first step was raising prices early summer on the new sales. And then second, taking 25% of the installed base and raising prices. We did that in September.

然後在 IPv4 定價方面，分兩步驟進行。第一步是在初夏提高新銷售的價格。其次，佔 25% 的安裝基數並提高價格。我們在九月就這麼做了。

We will also probably by year-end, go through and raise prices on another significant portion of the installed base. There is very little of that base that has contractual protections against our ability to do that. So I think there will be more growth in IP leasing revenue.

我們也可能會在年底前對另一重要部分的安裝基礎進行審查並提高價格。對於我們這樣做的能力來說，這個基礎很少有合約保護。所以我認為IP租賃收入將會有更多的成長。

The 11.8% sequential growth that we demonstrated this quarter, I think, is pretty significant and should continue. And going back to Walt's question, just gives us another tool if we choose to use ABS as a way to monetize it.

我認為，我們本季展示的 11.8% 的環比增長非常顯著，並且應該繼續下去。回到 Walt 的問題，如果我們選擇使用 ABS 作為貨幣化的方式，這只是為我們提供了另一種工具。

Very helpful. Just back to the data centers. If you got your asking price and someone wanted all of it and they wanted to customize it because obviously, if you do liquid cooling, things are going to look quite different than what you have right now or some other customization that they might want. Could we hear something sooner, maybe in the next couple of months instead of the next few quarters?

非常有幫助。回到數據中心。如果你得到了你的要價，有人想要所有這些，他們想要定制它，因為顯然，如果你採用液體冷卻，事情看起來會與你現在擁有的或他們可能想要的其他定製完全不同。我們能否早點聽到消息，也許是在接下來的幾個月而不是接下來的幾季？

Yeah. So at least a couple of the counterparties we're talking to are planning liquid immersion and containment pods for their cooling needs. And it is one of the feedbacks that we have taken into consideration as we think about the highest and best value. And we're making sure that our HVAC systems can support that.

是的。因此，至少有幾個我們正在交談的對手方正在計劃使用液體浸入式和密封艙來滿足其冷卻需求。這是我們在考慮最高和最佳價值時考慮的回饋之一。我們正在確保我們的 HVAC 系統能夠支援這一點。

In terms of timing, there's not a single facility today that someone could come in and stack servers and start training in. But there are a handful of the 21 facilities that are getting very close. You and Nick both had opportunities to go and tour some of these facilities, and you picked them at random.

就時間安排而言，目前沒有任何一個設施可供人員進入並堆疊伺服器並開始培訓。你和尼克都有機會去參觀其中一些設施，你是隨機選擇的。

But actually, both of you went to facilities I've never been to. I get pictures on a weekly basis. But I think they're fairly typical. And I think while there's a lot of potential, there is still work to be done in each of these facilities

但實際上，你們兩個都去了我從未去過的設施。我每週都會收到照片。但我認為他們是相當典型的。我認為雖然有很大的潛力，但每個設施仍有工作要做

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thank you. Seeing as there are no more questions in the queue, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dave Schaeffer, for closing remarks.

謝謝。鑑於隊列中沒有更多問題，我們的問答環節就結束了。現在我想請我們的董事長兼執行長 Dave Schaeffer 先生致閉幕詞。

Well, thank you all very much. I even got a compliment from Walt on shortening the script. So that's worth something. I want to thank everyone. Take care, and we'll talk soon. Thank you. Bye bye.

嗯，非常感謝大家。我甚至得到了沃爾特對縮短劇本的稱讚。所以這是值得的。我要感謝大家。保重，我們很快就會聊。謝謝。再見。

The meeting has now included. Thank you all for joining and have a pleasant day. You may now disconnect.

會議現已包括。感謝大家的加入並祝您有個愉快的一天。您現在可以斷開連線。