Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Charter Communications Second Quarter 2022 Investor Call. (Operator Instructions) Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Stefan Anninger. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加Charter Communications 2022年第二季投資人電話會議。 （操作說明）另請注意，本次會議正在錄音。 （操作說明）現在我將會議交給Stefan Anninger先生。請您發言。

Good morning, and welcome to Charter's Second Quarter 2022 Investor Call. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, ir.charter.com, under the Financial Information section.

早安，歡迎參加Charter公司2022年第二季投資人電話會議。本次電話會議的簡報可在本公司網站ir.charter.com的「財務資訊」欄位下找到。

Before we proceed, I would like to remind you that there are a number of risk factors and other cautionary statements contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent 10-K and also our 10-Q filed this morning. We will not review those risk factors and other cautionary statements on this call. However, we encourage you to read them carefully.

在繼續之前，我想提醒各位，我們向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的文件中包含一些風險因素和其他警示性聲明，包括我們最新的10-K表格以及今天早上提交的10-Q表格。本次電話會議我們不會對此類風險因素和其他警示性聲明進行詳細討論，但我們建議您仔細閱讀。

Various remarks that we make on this call concerning expectations, predictions, plans and prospects constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from historical or anticipated results. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current view only, and Charter undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements or to make additional forward-looking statements in the future.

我們在本次電話會議中就預期、預測、計畫和前景所作的各種表述均構成前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受風險和不確定性因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與歷史結果或預期結果有差異。任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，Charter公司不承擔任何義務修訂或更新此類陳述，也不承擔未來作出其他前瞻性陳述的義務。

During the course of today's call, we will be referring to non-GAAP measures as defined and reconciled in our earnings materials. These non-GAAP measures, as defined by Charter, may not be comparable to measures with similar titles used by other companies. Please also note that all growth rates noted on this call and in the presentation are calculated on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise specified.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及盈利文件中定義和調整的非GAAP財務指標。這些非GAAP財務指標由Charter公司定義，可能與其他公司使用的類似指標不具可比性。另請注意，除非另有說明，本次電話會議和簡報中提及的所有成長率均按同比計算。

On today's call, we have Tom Rutledge, Chairman and CEO; Chris Winfrey, our COO; and Jessica Fischer, our CFO. With that, let's turn the call over to Tom.

今天參加電話會議的有：董事長兼執行長湯姆·拉特利奇；營運長克里斯·溫弗瑞；以及財務長傑西卡·費雪。接下來，讓我們把電話交給湯姆。

Thank you, Stefan. Our business continues to grow despite an unusual macroeconomic environment. During the second quarter, we added 38,000 Internet customers when excluding an unfavorable impact related to the discontinuation of the emergency broadband benefit, EBB, program and additional definitional requirements of the affordable connectivity program. Customer relationship churn remains historically low due to current consumer behavior, and connect activity remains low primarily due to the low activity environment. At the same time, we continue to see very strong mobile line growth with line net additions of approximately 350,000. And over the last year, we've grown our mobile lines by nearly 50%. We now have over 4.3 million total mobile lines.

謝謝Stefan。儘管宏觀經濟環境異常，我們的業務仍持續成長。第二季度，在不計入緊急寬頻福利（EBB）計畫終止以及經濟適用型網路連線計畫新增定義要求帶來的不利影響的情況下，我們新增了3.8萬網路用戶。由於目前的消費者行為，客戶流失率仍處於歷史低位，而網路連線活躍度也仍然較低，這主要是由於市場活動低迷所致。同時，我們的行動線路成長勢頭強勁，淨增線路約35萬條。過去一年，我們的行動線路數量增加了近50%，目前已超過430萬條。

Financials were also strong in the second quarter. Second quarter revenue grew by 6.2%, and EBITDA grew by 9.7%. Looking forward, we remain well positioned. Our fixed and mobile broadband service continues to converge technically and operationally. We offer them along with all of our other high-quality products at attractive prices. Our growth is driven by offering value-rich packages that differentiate us from our competition at prices customers can afford regardless of the economic environment. And we plan to continue to do that.

第二季財務業績同樣強勁。第二季營收成長6.2%，EBITDA成長9.7%。展望未來，我們依然保持著良好的發展動能。我們的固定和行動寬頻服務在技術和營運方面持續融合。我們以極具吸引力的價格提供這些服務以及我們所有其他優質產品。我們的成長動力源自於提供高性價比的套餐，這些套餐使我們從競爭對手中脫穎而出，並且價格實惠，不受經濟環境的影響。我們計劃繼續這樣做。

To continue to improve our service, we are focused on evolving our network. Data usage continues to grow at a very fast pace. During the second quarter, Internet customers who do not buy traditional video from us used over 650 gigabytes per month. Nearly 25% of those customers now use a terabyte or more of data per month. And even with the rise of work from home, peak usage patterns still prevail with the vast majority of data usage occurring during the evening hours. Our network is built to handle that peak demand and delivers consistent speeds regardless of the time of day.

為了持續提升服務質量，我們正致力於網路升級。數據使用量持續高速成長。第二季度，未購買傳統視訊服務的網路使用者每月數據使用量超過 650 GB。其中近 25% 的用戶每月數據使用量達到或超過 1 TB。即使居家辦公日益普及，資料使用高峰依然存在，絕大多數資料使用集中在晚間時段。我們的網路專為因應高峰需求而設計，無論何時都能提供穩定的網路速度。

With our dense HFC network, we deliver gigabit speeds today everywhere we offer service. And in the near term, we're implementing spectrum split upgrades, which expand our plant capacity and allocate more bandwidth to the upstream, all using our DOCSIS 3.1 infrastructure. In turn, we'll be able to offer our customers higher symmetrical speeds and multi-gigabit speeds in the downstream.

憑藉我們高密度的HFC網絡，我們目前在所有服務覆蓋區域都能提供千兆級速度。近期，我們將實施頻譜分割升級，擴大網路容量，並利用DOCSIS 3.1基礎架構為上行鏈路分配更多頻寬。屆時，我們將能夠為客戶提供更高的對稱速度和下行鏈路的多千兆速度。

Our long-term network evolution path includes DOCSIS 4.0. Recent testing using DOCSIS 4.0 technology simultaneously delivered over 8 gigabits in the downstream and over 6 gigabits in the upstream in a 4 amplifier cascade to a single modem.

我們的長期網路演進路徑包括 DOCSIS 4.0。最近使用 DOCSIS 4.0 技術進行的測試表明，在 4 個放大器級聯中，單一數據機可同時實現下行 8 千兆位元和上行 6 千兆位元的傳輸速率。

We will develop this technology even further, but the test demonstrated that we can successfully drive bidirectional multi-gigabit speed offerings across our entire network in a very capital-efficient manner and without the major disruption to our customers and operations that other kinds of upgrades require. So we can deliver a future-proof network that delivers the most compelling connectivity services in capital and time-efficient manner and, in turn, offer those services to consumers at highly attractive prices.

我們將進一步開發這項技術，但測試表明，我們能夠以極具成本效益的方式，在整個網路中成功實現雙向多千兆速度的傳輸，且不會像其他類型的升級那樣對客戶和營運造成重大干擾。因此，我們可以打造面向未來的網絡，以高效且經濟的方式提供最具吸引力的連接服務，進而以極具吸引力的價格將這些服務提供給消費者。

But we're not only working to improve speeds and latency in our network. We're also working to improve network quality and reliability, reducing service transactions, driving longer customer lives and reducing churn. We're doing that through better maintenance practices, using artificial intelligence, telemetry and machine learning technologies to drive what we call operational intelligence. We're now able to ingest, aggregate, correlate and analyze millions of data points from our network, offering us intelligence about the health of our network, services and anomalies in our network that are critical to the customer experience.

但我們不僅致力於提升網路速度和降低延遲，還致力於提高網路品質和可靠性，從而減少服務交易次數，延長客戶生命週期並降低客戶流失率。我們透過改進維護實踐，並利用人工智慧、遙測和機器學習技術來提升我們所謂的營運智能，從而實現這些目標。現在，我們能夠從網路中採集、聚合、關聯和分析數百萬個數據點，從而獲得有關網路運作狀況、服務以及對客戶體驗至關重要的網路異常情況的智慧資訊。

In the past, this type of real-time network intelligence did not exist, and substantial human effort and manual analysis were required to manage our network, which was time-consuming and brought only limited insights and required thousands of service transactions. In many cases, our intelligence now allows us to avoid network outages and disruptions altogether, maintaining the plant more efficiently with far less activity and cost and fewer outages in service transactions.

過去，這種即時網路智慧並不存在，管理網路需要投入大量人力進行手動分析，這不僅耗時，而且只能提供有限的信息，還需要進行數千次服務交易。如今，在許多情況下，我們的智慧技術能夠幫助我們完全避免網路中斷和故障，從而以更低的運行時間和成本更有效率地維護工廠，並減少服務交易中斷次數。

Our mobile business is growing at an extremely rapid pace. We remain the fastest-growing mobile provider in the nation, and we continue to improve and enhance our products in a number of ways, differentiating our offerings, helping to drive customer growth and making our mobile business economics, which are good, even better. Ultimately, with our mobile product, we're able to offer consumers a unique and superior fully converged connectivity service package while saving customers hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.

我們的行動業務正以驚人的速度成長。我們仍然是全美成長最快的行動營運商，並且我們持續從多方面改進和提升產品，使我們的產品和服務脫穎而出，從而推動客戶成長，並使我們原本就良好的行動業務盈利能力更加強勁。最終，憑藉我們的行動產品，我們能夠為消費者提供獨特且卓越的全融合連接服務套餐，同時每年為客戶節省數百甚至數千美元。

And our share of household connectivity spend, including mobile and fixed broadband is still very low. In fact, we capture less than 30% of household spend on wireline and mobile connectivity within our footprint. So there's a large opportunity for us to increase market share by saving customers money. And through our latest offerings, we can do that, which, in turn, raises connects, reduces churn and drives overall customer relationship growth.

我們在家庭網路連線支出（包括行動和固定寬頻）中所佔的份額仍然很低。事實上，在我們涵蓋的區域內，我們在有線和行動網路連線方面的家庭支出佔不到30%。因此，我們有很大的機會透過為客戶節省開支來提升市場份額。而透過我們最新的產品和服務，我們可以做到這一點，進而提高連線數、降低客戶流失率，並促進整體客戶關係的成長。

In addition, our mobile business will drive meaningful EBITDA for Charter, even at our existing and very attractive mobile price points, giving us EBITDA growth simply by growing our mobile customer base. We're underpenetrated and our opportunity is large. Charter remains uniquely positioned to deliver superior services at superior prices, offering consumers the most attractive products for their connectivity needs. Our services remain the best choice for consumers, giving us the opportunity to continue to grow our business at a very healthy pace. Now I'll turn the call over to Jessica.

此外，即使在我們目前極具吸引力的行動價格水準下，我們的行動業務也將為Charter帶來可觀的EBITDA成長，僅透過擴大行動用戶群就能實現EBITDA成長。我們目前的市場滲透率較低，因此發展機會龐大。 Charter憑藉其獨特的優勢，能夠以極具競爭力的價格提供卓越的服務，為消費者提供最符合其連接需求的優質產品。我們的服務仍然是消費者的最佳選擇，這使我們有機會繼續保持穩健的業務成長。現在，我將把電話交給Jessica。

Thanks, Tom. Now let's turn to our customer results on Slide 5. Including residential and SMB, we lost 21,000 Internet customers in the second quarter. As part of the EBB to ACP transition, a small portion of subsidized Internet customers either did not opt to continue their service after the EBB program ended or did not meet the ACP requirements, particularly the requirement that customers use their service in each 30-day period, which covers the vast majority of the impacted subscribers. This resulted in 59,000 customer disconnects during the quarter.

謝謝，湯姆。現在我們來看看投影片5的客戶業績。包括住宅用戶和中小企業用戶在內，我們在第二季度流失了21,000名網路用戶。作為從EBB過渡到ACP計劃的一部分，一小部分享受補貼的互聯網用戶要么在EBB計劃結束後沒有選擇繼續使用服務，要么沒有滿足ACP的要求，特別是用戶必須在每個30天週期內使用服務的要求，而這涵蓋了絕大多數受影響的用戶。這導致該季度有59,000名用戶斷網。

Excluding that headwind, we organically grew 38,000 Internet customers in the quarter. Looking forward, we expect that 0 usage ACP customers will have a smaller impact in our quarterly results than what we saw this quarter. Looking at the broader marketplace, while we saw seasonal increases in moves typical of the second quarter, moves remained well below pre-COVID levels. And voluntary churn, when excluding the EBB, ACP impact I mentioned, was even lower than last year, all of which reduced our selling opportunities.

剔除不利因素後，本季我們實現了3.8萬名網路用戶的自然成長。展望未來，我們預期零使用量的ACP用戶對季度業績的影響將小於本季。從更廣泛的市場來看，雖然我們看到了第二季常見的季節性用戶流失，但仍遠低於新冠疫情前的水平。此外，剔除我之前提到的EBB（經濟衰退）對ACP的影響後，用戶自願流失率甚至低於去年同期，這一切都減少了我們的銷售機會。

Turning to video. Video customers declined by 226,000 in the second quarter, following a programming pass through increase. Wireline voice declined by 266,000, and we added 344,000 mobile lines. Despite the lower number of selling opportunities from our reduced activity levels, we continue to drive mobile growth with our high-quality, attractively priced service.

視訊業務方面，受節目轉播費用增加的影響，第二季視訊用戶減少了22.6萬。固話用戶減少了26.6萬，而行動線路新增了34.4萬。儘管由於業務活動減少導致銷售機會減少，但我們憑藉高品質、價格合理的優質服務，持續推動行動業務成長。

Moving to financial results, starting on Slide 6. Over the last year, we grew total residential customers by 282,000 or 1%. Residential revenue per customer relationship increased by 2.8% year-over-year driven by promotional rate step-ups and earlier video rate adjustments versus last year that pass through programmer rate increases. These effects were partly offset by the same bundle and mix trends we've seen over the past year, including a higher mix of nonvideo customers and a higher mix of lower-priced video packages within our base. Also keep in mind that our residential ARPU does not reflect any mobile revenue.

接下來是財務表現部分，從第6頁開始。過去一年，我們的住宅用戶總數增加了28.2萬，增幅為1%。住宅用戶每客戶關係收入年增2.8%，主要得益於促銷價格的提升以及較去年提前進行的視頻價格調整（這些調整會轉嫁給節目製作商）。然而，這些成長部分被過去一年來我們觀察到的套餐組合趨勢所抵消，例如非視訊用戶比例上升以及低價視訊套餐用戶比例上升。此外，請注意，我們的住宅用戶平均收入（ARPU）不包含任何移動收入。

As Slide 6 shows, residential revenue grew by 4.5% year-over-year. Turning to commercial, SMB revenue grew by 3.7% year-over-year, reflecting SMB customer growth of 3.7%. Enterprise revenue was up by 4.9% year-over-year. Excluding all wholesale revenue, enterprise revenue grew by 8.2%, and enterprise PSUs grew by 4.7% year-over-year.

如投影片6所示，住宅業務收入較去年同期成長4.5%。商業業務方面，中小企業業務收入年增3.7%，反映出中小企業客戶數量成長了3.7%。企業業務收入較去年同期成長4.9%。剔除批發業務收入後，企業業務收入成長8.2%，企業電源單元（PSU）較去年同期成長4.7%。

Second quarter advertising revenue grew by 12% year-over-year. That growth came primarily from political. It was slightly offset by a 1% decline in our core advertising business due to lower local and national advertising revenue, including auto, partly offset by our growing advanced advertising capabilities.

第二季廣告營收年增12%。這一增長主要來自政治廣告業務。核心廣告業務（包括汽車廣告）收入下降1%，略微抵消了政治廣告業務的成長，但這一降幅部分被我們不斷增強的高級廣告能力所抵消。

Mobile revenue totaled $726 million with $299 million of that revenue being device revenue. Other revenue increased by 8% -- 8.8% year-over-year and includes rural construction initiatives subsidies totaling $29 million. In total, consolidated second quarter revenue was up 6.2% year-over-year.

行動業務收入總計7.26億美元，其中設備收入為2.99億美元。其他收入成長8%，年增8.8%，其中包括總額為2,900萬美元的農村建設項目補貼。第二季合併總營收年增6.2%。

Moving to operating expenses and EBITDA on Slide 7. In 2Q, total operating expenses grew by $307 million or 3.9% year-over-year. Programming costs declined by 0.2% year-over-year due to a decline in video customers of 3.2% year-over-year and a higher mix of lighter video packages, all of which was mostly offset by higher programming rates. Looking at the full year 2022, we continue to expect programming cost per video customer to grow in the low to mid-single-digit percentage range.

接下來請看幻燈片7中的營運費用和EBITDA部分。第二季度，總營運費用較去年同期成長3.9%，達到3.07億美元。由於視訊用戶年減3.2%，以及輕量級視訊套餐佔比上升，節目製作成本較去年同期下降0.2%，但這些影響基本上被更高的節目製作費率所抵消。展望2022年全年，我們預期每位視訊使用者的節目製作成本將維持個位數百分比的低至中等水準成長。

Regulatory connectivity and produced content declined by 10.3%, primarily driven by lower Lakers RSN costs and lower video CPE sold to customers. The decline in Lakers RSN cost was primarily driven by the delayed start of the NBA season in 2020, which drove more Lakers games charges in 2Q '21, making for an easier comparison this year. Excluding the RSN costs from both years, regulatory connectivity and produced content declined by 4.7%.

監管連接和內容製作成本下降了10.3%，主要原因是湖人隊區域體育網絡（RSN）成本降低以及出售給客戶的視訊終端設備（CPE）數量減少。湖人隊RSN成本下降的主要原因是2020年NBA賽季延遲開賽，導致2021年第二季度湖人隊比賽費用增加，使得今年的比較更加容易。若剔除這兩年的RSN成本，監管連結和內容製作成本下降了4.7%。

For the full year 2022, we continue to expect regulatory connectivity and produced content expense to decline in the mid-single-digit percentage range versus 2021, primarily due to lower video CPE sold to customers and lower RSN costs given an abnormal Lakers game schedule last year.

2022 年全年，我們仍然預計監管連接和內容製作支出將比 2021 年下降個位數百分比，這主要是由於去年湖人隊比賽日程異常，導致售給客戶的視頻 CPE 減少以及 RSN 成本降低。

Cost to service customers increased by 5.1% year-over-year. The increase was primarily driven by higher bad debt year-over-year given lower bad debt in the second quarter of 2021, which benefited from government stimulus packages at the time. And while this quarter's non-pay churn and bad debt write-offs both remain well below pre-COVID levels, our bad debt accrual includes expectations for potential softening of consumer finances later this year. Excluding bad debt from both years, cost to service customers grew by 1.1% primarily due to a larger customer base and higher fuel costs partly offset by productivity improvements.

客戶服務成本年增 5.1%。這一增長主要受壞帳年增率增加的影響，因為 2021 年第二季的壞帳較低，這得益於當時政府的刺激計劃。雖然本季的欠款流失率和壞帳核銷額均遠低於新冠疫情前的水平，但我們的壞帳提列已考慮到今年稍後消費者財務狀況可能走弱。剔除這兩年的壞帳後，客戶服務成本增加 1.1%，主要原因是客戶群擴大和燃料成本上漲，但部分被生產力的提高所抵銷。

As the year progresses, prior year bad debt expense normalizes and should drive slower growth in cost to service customers expense during the second half of the year. Marketing expenses grew by 8.6% year-over-year due to higher labor costs driven by previously planned wage increases and higher staffing levels as Charter completes the insourcing of its inbound sales and retention call centers with a focus on providing better service to new and existing customers. For the full year 2022, we continue to expect marketing expense to grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range versus 2021.

隨著去年工作的推進，上年壞帳支出將趨於正常化，預計下半年客戶服務成本成長將放緩。由於Charter公司先前計劃的工資上漲以及為提升新舊客戶的服務水準而進行的入職銷售和客戶維繫呼叫中心內部化改造，導致勞動力成本上升，市場營銷費用同比增長8.6%。我們預計2022年全年行銷費用將比2021年維持中等個位數百分比的成長。

Mobile expenses totaled $797 million and were comprised of mobile device costs tied to device revenue, customer acquisition and service and operating costs. And other expenses increased by 1.3%. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 9.7% year-over-year in the quarter.

行動業務支出總計7.97億美元，包括與設備收入相關的行動裝置成本、客戶獲取成本以及服務和營運成本。其他支出成長1.3%。經調整後的EBITDA年增9.7%。

Just a quick note on inflation before moving on to net income. We've seen some inflationary pressure in fuel, freight and utilities as well as pricing pressure on CPE and other network components. In labor, our planned move to a $20 per hour starting wage blunted the impact, but we still see pressure in the labor market, which we may need to more fully respond to as the year progresses.

在討論淨收入之前，先簡單提一下通膨情況。我們看到燃料、貨運和公用事業價格面臨一定的通膨壓力，CPE 和其他網路組件的價格也面臨壓力。勞動力方面，我們計劃將起薪提高到每小時 20 美元，這在一定程度上緩解了通膨的影響，但我們仍然看到勞動力市場存在壓力，隨著時間的推移，我們可能需要採取更全面的應對措施。

I would also note that our consumers are experiencing inflationary pressure. But given the availability of subsidies for broadband and our focus on saving customers hundreds of dollars per year by switching to our converged connectivity product, we believe that we're well positioned for this environment.

我還想指出，我們的消費者正面臨通膨壓力。但鑑於寬頻補貼的可及性，以及我們致力於透過客戶轉向我們的融合連接產品，每年為他們節省數百美元，我們相信我們已做好充分準備應對當前的市場環境。

Turning to net income on Slide 8. We generated $1.5 billion of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the second quarter versus $1 billion last year. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher adjusted EBITDA.

接下來請看投影片8的淨利部分。第二季歸屬於Charter股東的淨利為15億美元，去年同期為10億美元。年成長主要得益於調整後EBITDA的成長。

Turning to Slide 9. Capital expenditures totaled $2.2 billion in the second quarter above last year's second quarter spend of $1.9 billion. We spent a total of $357 million on our rural construction initiative in the quarter. Most of that spend relates to design, walk out and make ready, and as expected, has not yet resulted in significant passings growth. And the vast majority of that spend is accounted for in line extensions. We spent $95 million on mobile-related CapEx, which is mostly accounted for in support capital and scalable infrastructure and was driven by investments in back-office systems and wireless offload construction.

請看投影片9。第二季資本支出總額為22億美元，高於去年同期的19億美元。本季度，我們在農村建設項目上共投入了3.57億美元。其中大部分支出用於設計、竣工驗收和準備工作，正如預期，尚未帶來顯著的通行量成長。此外，絕大部分支出用於線路擴建。我們在行動相關資本支出方面投入了9,500萬美元，主要用於支援性資本和可擴展基礎設施，主要投資於後台系統和無線卸載設施建設。

As Slide 10 shows, we generated $1.7 billion of consolidated free cash flow this quarter versus $2.1 billion in the second quarter of last year. The decline was primarily driven by higher cash tax payments and higher CapEx, mostly driven by our rural construction initiatives.

如投影片10所示，本季我們實現了17億美元的合併自由現金流，而去年第二季為21億美元。現金流下降的主要原因是現金稅支出增加以及資本支出增加，其中資本支出主要來自我們的農村建設項目。

We finished the quarter with $95.7 billion in debt principal. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $4.5 billion. As of the end of the second quarter, our ratio of net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 4.45x. We intend to stay at or just below the high end of our 4 to 4.5x leverage range.

本季末，我們的債務本金為957億美元。目前的年化現金利息支出為45億美元。截至第二季末，我們的淨負債與過去12個月調整後EBITDA比率為4.45倍。我們計劃將槓桿率維持在4倍至4.5倍區間的上限或略低。

During the quarter, we repurchased 8.3 million Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units totaling about $4.3 billion at an average price of $511 per share. And given where the share price has been, during the first 2 quarters of this year, we repurchased 7.2% of our fully diluted shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021, for approximately $7.8 billion.

本季度，我們以每股平均511美元的價格回購了830萬股Charter股票和Charter Holdings普通股單位，總計約43億美元。鑑於今年前兩季的股價走勢，我們已回購了截至2021年12月31日已發行在外股總數的7.2%，總額約78億美元。

Operator, we're now ready for Q&A.

操作員，我們現在可以進入問答環節了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的本·斯溫伯恩。

A couple on sort of competition and your go-to-market. You guys didn't talk a lot about fixed wireless or the fiber builds that are happening in various parts of the country. I'm just wondering if you could comment on whether that competitive intensity has increased, if you're seeing, in particular, pressure in certain parts of your footprint, including in the third quarter. I realize you don't like to comment quarterly, but obviously, there's a lot of focus on that.

關於競爭和你們的市場策略，我想問幾個問題。你們似乎沒有過多談及固定無線網路或全國各地正在進行的光纖網路建設。我想請問一下，你們能否就競爭強度是否有增加發表一下看法？尤其是在你們的業務覆蓋區域，包括第三季度，你們是否感受到了更大的壓力？我知道你們通常不喜歡就季度業績發表評論，但顯然，這方面我們非常關注。

And then Tom, I was interested in your comment about generating mobile EBITDA because it would seem like there's maybe some tension between sort of passing on efficiencies in that business to the consumer through lower prices, which can drive volume and maybe drive broadband volume as it gets pulled through by mobile. But that tension exists versus sort of trying to make as much money as you can in that business. Just wondering if you could comment on how you think about balancing that, particularly as you move more traffic on network?

湯姆，我對你關於行動業務EBITDA的評論很感興趣，因為這似乎存在一種矛盾：一方面，透過降低價格將業務效率的提升傳遞給消費者，從而提高銷量，並可能帶動寬頻業務成長，因為行動網路會帶動寬頻流量。但另一方面，又要盡可能提高利潤，這兩者之間確實存在矛盾。我想請教一下，你是如何看待這種矛盾的，尤其是在網路流量不斷增長的情況下？

Sure. I'll start there. Look, there's always a tension between how you price a product and how much of it you drive into the marketplace. And the difference between price and the volume you get ultimately is -- what you're trying to get to is the maximum amount of cash flow that you can generate out of the business based at the right price and the right volume distribution of that product at that price.

當然，我就從這裡開始。你看，產品定價和市場銷售之間總是存在著一種矛盾。最終，價格和銷售量之間的差異在於——你最終的目標是在合適的價格和合適的銷售分配下，實現業務現金流的最大化。

So that's what we're seeking in mobile, and we think it's a huge opportunity for us. It's -- obviously, we're creating customer relationships. Those customers are paying us. There's good margin in that business and at the pricing that we have. And we think that we can get more efficient through time with that margin by offload. And at the same time, we think we're accretive to our MVNO partner and that the 9 million customers that have been created out of that are accretive and valuable too, and should be really counted as customers in many ways to our MVNO partner.

這就是我們在行動領域追求的目標，我們認為這是一個巨大的機會。顯然，我們正在建立客戶關係。這些客戶會付費給我們。在這個業務中，尤其是在我們目前的定價策略下，利潤空間非常可觀。我們相信，透過業務拆分，我們可以隨著時間的推移，進一步提高利潤率。同時，我們認為我們能夠為我們的行動虛擬網路營運商 (MVNO) 合作夥伴帶來增值，由此產生的 900 萬客戶也同樣具有增值和價值，在許多方面都應該被視為我們 MVNO 合作夥伴的客戶。

But that's a shared relationship and -- but the net of all of that is that we have an opportunity at the pricing that we have to continue to grow the business, and that pricing is really valuable relative to the price in the marketplace that those products are currently being offered by our competitors. And at the prices we're offering it now, we have an opportunity to create great value for us through time and to have an improving margin through time as well. But even without an improving margin, it's still a great value.

但這是一種互惠互利的關係——總而言之，我們有機會以目前的定價繼續發展業務，而且相對於競爭對手目前在市場上提供的產品價格而言，這個定價確實很有價值。以我們現在提供的價格，我們有機會隨著時間的推移創造巨大的價值，並逐步提高利潤率。即使利潤率沒有提高，它仍然極具價值。

So we're in a pretty good place in terms of our mobile business and that we have lots of opportunity. We have a fully penetrated marketplace, and we have a very small share of it, and we're growing rapidly.

所以，就我們的行動業務而言，我們處境相當不錯，而且有很多機會。我們的市場已經完全滲透，雖然市場佔有率很小，但我們正在快速成長。

With regard to the overall competitive environment, our churn is extremely low. And activity levels in the marketplace are the biggest competitive -- biggest impact on our growth rates relative to historic growth rates. The fiber competition that we have is typical. If you go back to the second quarter of 2019 and look at fiber growth, it's not much different, although the footprint's bigger. And there is a new fixed wireless competitor. It's actually relatively small. It's not the major component of our quarterly performance, but it is a factor.

就整體競爭環境而言，我們的客戶流失率極低。市場活躍度是影響我們成長率（相對於歷史成長率）的最大競爭因素。我們面臨的光纖競爭屬於典型情況。回顧2019年第二季的光纖成長情況，雖然覆蓋範圍較大，但變化不大。此外，我們也迎來了一家新的固定無線競爭對手。這家競爭對手的規模相對較小，並非我們季度業績的主要組成部分，但確實是一個影響因素。

If you look at the numbers that the fixed wireless competitors say they're taking from cable and proportionately look at that across our footprint, if you do the math, it's not the major driver of the change in second quarter '19 versus second quarter of 2022. What's the major driver is the activity levels.

如果你看一下固定無線競爭對手聲稱他們從有線電視業者那裡搶走的用戶數量，並按比例看看這些用戶在我們業務覆蓋範圍內所佔的比例，如果你計算一下，就會發現這並不是 2019 年第二季度與 2022 年第二季度相比變化的主要驅動因素。主要驅動因素是用戶活躍度。

But also, there are other factors that are -- RDOF construction is beginning to ramp up. So that's an opportunity for us. Housing occupancy and new construction is lower because of supply chain issues. So that, I think, will get fixed in time, but it's an issue affecting growth at the moment. And so we're pretty optimistic, relatively speaking, that as the post-pandemic market activity levels return and normalize, that our share of broadband growth will rise. And we're pretty optimistic that our mobile business is highly accretive and a huge opportunity for us going forward.

但同時，還有其他因素——RDOF（住宅開發和營運）建設正在加速推進。這對我們來說是一個機會。由於供應鏈問題，住房入住率和新房建設量有所下降。我認為這個問題最終會得到解決，但目前確實影響著成長。因此，相對而言，我們相當樂觀地認為，隨著疫情後市場活動水平的恢復和正常化，我們在寬頻成長中的份額將會上升。我們也相當樂觀地認為，我們的行動業務具有很高的增值潛力，並且是我們未來發展的巨大機會。

Our next question will come from Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

下一個問題將來自 Evercore 的 Vijay Jayant。

A couple from me. One, really move churn is a phenomenon that is sort of new to us and what it sort of means for subs. Can you sort of help us understand, is your share of the gross add pool higher than the share of moveouts that have your service? I think it needs to be for low move activity to be negative for net adds. And if that's the case, how has that sort of shifted over time?

我這裡有幾個問題。首先，搬家流失對我們來說是一個比較新的現象，我們不太清楚它對訂閱用戶意味著什麼。您能否幫我們理解一下，您新增使用者佔總新增使用者數的比例是否高於搬離使用者中仍使用您服務的使用者比例？我認為，如果搬家活動少，淨新增用戶數就會為負，所以新增用戶佔總新增用戶數的比例必須高於搬離用戶數的比例。如果是這樣，隨著時間的推移，這個比例發生了怎樣的變化？

And obviously, you announced that you've increased your speeds by about 100 megabits for your service, but it was not on the upstream. Can you just talk about the importance of upstream? Obviously, the fiber guys keep talking about that being a well advantage for them and how that's impacted the service so far?

顯然，你們宣布服務速度提升了約 100 兆比特，但上行速度並沒有提升。能否談談上行速度的重要性？光纖網路供應商一直在強調上行速度對他們的優勢，以及上行速度目前對服務的影響？

Vijay, can you clarify on your first question a little bit more? I didn't fully understand what you meant by the mover flow? This is Chris.

Vijay，你能再詳細解釋一下你的第一個問題嗎？我不太明白你說的「移動流程」是什麼意思？我是Chris。

So your share of the gross add pool, is that higher than your share of moveouts that have your service. So given move churn as a factor. For that to -- needs to be for the low -- it needs to be for low move activity to be a negative for net adds, I think. So I'm just trying to understand like this move churn phenomena and people moving in and out, how that sort of impacts the gross add opportunity?

所以，您在新增客戶中所佔的份額，是否高於您在搬離客戶所佔的份額？考慮到搬遷率，我認為，只有當搬遷活動較少時，才會對淨新增客戶產生負面影響。因此，我只是想了解這種搬遷現象，以及人們的搬入和搬出，是如何影響新增客戶的？

Yes, I think the way I would say -- what I think you're saying is we're a net share taker when there's a toss-up. And there's more toss-ups in -- when people are moving. And so therefore, our gross adds out of moves is higher than -- of all moves is higher than our disconnect rate of all moves. That's what you're saying.

是的，我想表達的意思——我理解你的意思是，當市場供需不明時，我們是淨增長方。而當使用者流動時，供需不明的情況會更多。因此，用戶流動帶來的新增用戶數高於所有流動帶來的流失用戶數。你的意思就是這樣。

And we're still a net share taker. You're in a Q2 where move activity remains well below pre-pandemic levels, nonpay churn well below pre-pandemic levels. We also saw the return of seasonality in college markets that didn't occur last year. So we expect to see those gross additions come back in August and September. So it was a seasonal Q2 where you had low move non-pay and our lowest still ever voluntary churn when you exclude this EBB impact. And so without that activity, I think what you're asking is if we were in a normalized environment, are we still in that share taker, and the answer is yes.

我們仍然是淨市場份額的獲取者。目前正處於第二季度，人員流動活動遠低於疫情前水平，非付費離職率也遠低於疫情前水準。此外，我們也看到大學市場季節性因素的回歸，而去年並未出現這種情況。因此，我們預期8月和9月新增客戶數量將回升。所以，第二季度是季節性因素顯著的季度，非付費離職率較低，且剔除疫情的影響後，我們的自願離職率也創歷史新低。因此，如果沒有這些因素的影響，我想您想問的是，如果市場環境正常化，我們是否仍能維持淨市佔率取得者的地位？答案是肯定的。

That's our expectation. With regard to downstreams and upstreams, usage is still significant. 14:1 downstream versus upstream. And so from a practical point of view, our products are appropriate. We think, over the longer term, upstream use will continue, but it isn't actually growing faster than the downstream use at the moment.

這是我們的預期。就下游和上游而言，使用量仍然很大，下游與上游的比例為14:1。因此，從實際應用角度來看，我們的產品是適用的。我們認為，從長遠來看，上游的使用量將會持續成長，但目前其成長速度實際上並未超過下游。

Our next question will come from Craig Moffett with MoffettNathanson.

下一個問題將來自 MoffettNathanson 公司的 Craig Moffett。

I wonder if you could just talk a little bit more about the broadband growth equation going forward, what you expect from broadband ARPU and -- going forward and then how much you think that with RDOF and the early state level Jobs Act awards you've gotten, how much you think you can grow broadband homes passed, and so just how you think about the sort of equation for total broadband growth?

我想請您再多談談未來寬頻成長的方程式，您對寬頻ARPU的預期，以及您認為隨著RDOF和您獲得的早期州級就業法案獎勵，您認為寬頻家庭用戶數量能夠增長多少，以及您如何看待寬頻總增長的方程式？

And then separately, could you just comment on the degree to which you think you can offload wireless traffic? I think you called out your CBRS buildout for the first time in today's materials. What level of traffic do you think you can actually offload onto that network?

另外，您能否單獨談談您認為無線流量可以分流到什麼程度？我記得您在今天的資料中第一次提到了CBRS網路的部署。您認為實際上可以將多少流量分流到該網路上？

In terms of broadband opportunities in rural areas, we've won about 1.5 million passing so far in the RDOF program and the various state programs. There's a lot of bids that we have outstanding at the state level. And there's a $42 billion fund coming next year, which is a huge amount of money, which will allow for additional construction, which we hope to bid on and be successful with.

就農村地區的寬頻發展機會而言，我們目前已透過農村發展機會基金（RDOF）項目和各州的相關項目，獲得了約150萬美元的寬頻接取機會。我們還有許多州級項目正在競標。此外，明年還將有一筆420億美元的巨額資金投入使用，用於建造更多寬頻網絡，我們希望能夠成功競標並贏得這些項目。

We haven't actually begun to offload on the CBRS yet in a commercial way. But it's interesting, our WiFi-first strategy in our mobile relationship with our customers allows significant offload of mobile traffic onto the WiFi network. So when you put those 2 things together, the success we're having in a managed WiFi first environment and the potential success of CBRS, that's what I was saying before, we have a good relationship in our MVNO today with good volume-based pricing and significant margins and an opportunity if we're continuously successful to make that even better by moving some of the traffic onto -- additional traffic on to WiFi and onto our own 5G CBRS network. So it's a good situation that can get a lot better.

我們目前還沒有真正開始在商業上將流量分流到 CBRS 網路。但有趣的是，我們在與客戶的行動業務關係中採用的「WiFi優先」策略，能夠將大量的行動流量分流到 WiFi 網路上。所以，當我們把這兩點結合起來考慮時——我們在託管式 WiFi 優先環境中取得的成功，以及 CBRS 的潛在成功（正如我之前所說），我們目前與 MVNO 建立了良好的合作關係，擁有合理的基於流量的定價和可觀的利潤空間。如果我們能夠持續取得成功，就有機會透過將部分流量轉移到 WiFi 和我們自己的 5G CBRS 網路上，進一步改善這種關係。因此，這是一個良好的局面，而且還有很大的提升空間。

Yes. Craig, on the broadband growth, I'd just add that similar to what we were talking about with Vijay, the market transaction volume eventually is going to pick up and so our Internet net adds will pick up again. We're confident in that. And our recipe for broadband growth has always been about being competitive and price competitive in the marketplace. And we've had new entrants and overbuild for many, many years. So when you asked the question about ARPU, I assume it relates a little bit to competitive. And I don't see a major change there in terms of our strategy and how we go to market or how we need to go to market.

是的。克雷格，關於寬頻成長，我想補充一點，就像我們之前和維傑討論的那樣，市場交易量最終會回升，因此我們的網路淨新增用戶也會再次成長。我們對此充滿信心。我們實現寬頻成長的秘訣始終是在市場上保持競爭力，尤其是在價格方面。多年來，我們一直面臨著新用戶的湧入和網路過剩的問題。所以，當你問到ARPU（每位使用者平均收入）時，我猜這與競爭力有關。就我們的策略以及我們進入市場的方式而言，我認為不會有太大的變化。

In fact, I would argue because of the mobile product and the converged mobile product that Tom was talking about and the ability to put these together and that we can save customers money and significant dollars, that has both good volume and ARPU impacts for broadband over time. So I think the outlook is still very, very strong.

事實上，我認為，正如湯姆所提到的，行動產品和融合行動產品能夠將二者結合起來，從而幫助客戶節省大量資金，這從長遠來看會對寬頻的銷售量和每用戶平均收入（ARPU）產生積極影響。因此，我認為前景仍然非常樂觀。

Our next question will come from Doug Mitchelson with Crédit Suisse.

下一個問題將來自瑞士信貸的道格·米切爾森。

A couple of questions. One, just curious, based on your comment about the test on DOCSIS 4.0, what percent of your footprint is covered at plus 4? And when do you think that equipment will be ready for prime time? And then I guess, Tom, but maybe just a jump ball, I'm just curious when we think about stressing the consumer whether inflation impact on their wallets are ultimately Fed interest rate increases impact on the economy and overall consumer spending, where would you expect to see any pressures from the consumer in your business first? Have you seen anything so far? And where would you expect to see it?

我有幾個問題。首先，我只是好奇，根據您先前對 DOCSIS 4.0 測試的評論，您目前有多少業務覆蓋了 +4 版本？您認為這些設備何時才能正式投入使用？其次，湯姆，我猜這個問題可能有點離題，我想問，當我們考慮通膨對消費者錢包的影響，以及聯準會升息對經濟和整體消費支出的影響時，您認為在您的業務中，消費者最先在哪些方面施加壓力？您目前觀察到什麼了嗎？您預計會在哪些方面看到這種壓力？

And I'm just curious if you reflect back, you think about the great recession and consumer wallets got tighter and there was some readdressing of pay TV spending and tiering. Do you see across your businesses, any risk of tiering down? And how would you manage against that? So I know not a fun question, but I'm just curious how you think about that given your history?

我很好奇，回想一下，您覺得經濟大衰退時期，消費者手頭上更緊，付費電視的支出和分級模式也發生了一些變化。您認為貴公司是否有分級模式下調的風險？您會如何應對？我知道這個問題可能不太輕鬆，但我很好奇，鑑於貴公司過往的經驗，您是如何看待這個問題的？

Our doom and gloom question. Well, okay. In terms of DOCSIS 4.0, it hasn't been deployed. Our footprint right now is DOCSIS 3.1 fully. So we have 1 gig everywhere. The DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade opportunity is still significant, meaning we haven't gotten everything out of DOCSIS 3.1 by any means in terms of its full capacity. It can give us multi-gigabit speeds downstream and gigabit symmetrical speeds upstream. And so it's a quite robust infrastructure that's already been deployed. And the CPE for that has already been deployed.

我們最擔心的問題來了。好吧，就 DOCSIS 4.0 而言，它尚未部署。我們目前的網路完全覆蓋了 DOCSIS 3.1，所以每個網路都達到了 1Gbps 的速度。 DOCSIS 3.1 的升級潛力仍然很大，這意味著我們遠遠沒有完全發揮 DOCSIS 3.1 的全部效能。它可以提供多千兆的下行速度和千兆對稱的上行速度。如此，這是一個相當強大的基礎設施，而且已經部署完畢。對應的客戶端設備 (CPE) 也已經部署完畢。

DOCSIS 4.0 is a complete new electronic drop-in and a whole new modulation scheme and so requires new CPE. And it is not being deployed yet, but it's in the lab and the specs have been written, and it's another technology upgrade that will allow us to get to very high speeds without having to replace our network, which means that you can do that in a really capitally efficient way, which means that ultimately, you have pricing opportunities that others don't. And that's the value of DOCSIS 4.0.

DOCSIS 4.0 是一種全新的電子存取方式和調變方案，因此需要新的用戶端裝置 (CPE)。它目前尚未部署，但已在實驗室進行研發，相關規格也已編寫完成。這項技術升級將使我們能夠在無需更換網路的情況下實現極高的傳輸速度，這意味著您可以以極具成本效益的方式實現這一目標，最終獲得其他廠商無法企及的價格優勢。這就是 DOCSIS 4.0 的價值所在。

With regard to inflation and its impact on macroeconomic forces on us, look, I mean, I think we have access to capital and at good prices. I think that inflation in some ways, particularly if it's temporary, has some market advantages for us. As consumers are stressed, the value of our products become more clear in the consumer's mind. If you look at how much consumers are spending on telecom products and our share of those telecom products and what we can do with pricing for those telecom products, I think a stressed consumer will find our products even more attractive.

關於通貨膨脹及其對我們宏觀經濟的影響，我的意思是，我認為我們能夠以合理的價格獲得資金。我認為通貨膨脹在某種程度上，特別是如果是暫時的，對我們來說具有一定的市場優勢。當消費者面臨壓力時，我們產品的價值在他們心中會更清楚。如果你看看消費者在電信產品上的支出，以及我們在電信產品市場中的份額，再看看我們可以如何調整這些產品的定價，我認為在壓力之下，消費者會覺得我們的產品更具吸引力。

So I mean, yes, we'll have to deal with costs. But it's interesting when you look at our overall business and look at our cost structures, we're getting more efficient. And our opportunity to serve and our cost to serve continues to improve. And if we drive more customers, that actually improves on a per customer basis. So we can operate in a difficult economic environment, and we can -- and make our products valuable to consumers. So I'm -- I'd rather operate in a normal environment, but I think we have pretty good assets and pretty good opportunities to be successful.

所以我的意思是，是的，我們必須應對成本問題。但有趣的是，當你審視我們的整體業務和成本結構時，你會發現我們的效率正在不斷提高。我們的服務機會和服務成本都在持續改善。如果我們能吸引更多客戶，那麼每位客戶的收益其實也會提高。因此，我們能夠在艱難的經濟環境下運營，並且能夠讓我們的產品對消費者更有價值。所以我——我更希望在正常的經濟環境下運營，但我認為我們擁有相當不錯的資產和相當不錯的成功機會。

The thing that I would add to that, we've been big proponents on the affordability side. And as part of that, we are a larger participant in the affordable connectivity program than many of the other -- well, to the best of our knowledge, all of the other wireline providers. And we've done a lot to try to push the program to our existing subscribers so not as an acquisition program that is a way to alleviate some of the stress on the consumer while it's in our customer base. And I think that, that also puts us in a better position than we would have been in 2008 to retain customers and to do so by providing value to them in a more challenged environment or where the wallet is more challenged.

我想補充一點，我們一直大力倡導價格親民。正因如此，我們比其他許多人——據我們所知，比所有其他固網營運商——都更積極參與經濟實惠的網路連接專案。我們投入了大量精力，努力向現有用戶推廣該項目，而不是將其作為獲客計劃，而是為了減輕現有用戶的經濟壓力。我認為，這使得我們比2008年更有優勢留住客戶，因為我們能夠在更具挑戰性的市場環境或消費者經濟壓力更大的情況下，透過提供價值來留住客戶。

I do think video would be more challenged in a downturn or an inflationary environment than other products, but the margins are relatively -- have become smaller in that part of our business. So the net of it all is, I think it's somewhat of a market opportunity, but it's -- there will be stress on video.

我認為在經濟低迷或通膨環境下，視訊業務面臨的挑戰會比其他產品更大，但就我們業務的這一部分而言，利潤率相對較低。所以總的來說，我認為這在某種程度上是一個市場機遇，但視訊業務也會面臨壓力。

Yes. And just a final clarification, Tom. At 4 amplifiers for DOCSIS 4.0, I get that it will be a while before it arrives. Would that cover the vast majority of your network? Or would you be invested in seeing 6 amplifiers?

是的。湯姆，最後再確認一下。我知道DOCSIS 4.0需要4個擴大機才能到貨，這需要一段時間。這能滿足你網路的大部分需求嗎？還是你更希望看到6個擴大機？

Doug, I think the point of the example around 4 amplifiers is that the technology can work in an amplifier cascade that would allow it to cover a large portion of our network without having to move the nodes closer to the customers necessarily. So I think its performance in that environment in the lab at this point is a strong example of how it is that we can make it capital efficient when we deploy it down the road.

道格，我認為你舉的4個擴大機的例子說明，這項技術可以以擴大機級聯的方式運行，從而覆蓋我們網路的大部分區域，而無需將節點移近客戶。因此，我認為它目前在實驗室環境下的性能有力地證明了，在未來部署時，我們可以如何實現高效的資本投入。

Yes, it could get better.

是的，情況可能會好轉。

It could get better, yes.

情況可能會好轉，是的。

And it probably will. That would be our expectation and our experience with these kind of platforms.

而且很可能會如此。這是我們根據自身經驗和預期所得出的結論，也是我們運用這類平台的經驗。

Our next question will come from Jonathan Chaplin with New Street.

下一個問題將來自 New Street 的 Jonathan Chaplin。

Two quick ones, if I may. First, it seems like wireless is becoming an increasingly important piece of the business. And one of the pieces that maybe investors don't understand so well is how it contributes to EBITDA because, on an aggregate basis, it's still a drag. Can you give us some idea of what the incremental margin is on a wireless side, what the contribution to EBITDA per sub is from wireless (inaudible) sub? And then on broadband, can you give us a sense of sort of how you saw trends progress as you came out of June into July?

能否請您快速回答兩個問題？首先，無線業務似乎在公司業務中扮演越來越重要的角色。但投資人可能不太了解無線業務對 EBITDA 的貢獻，因為從整體來看，它仍然拖累著公司表現。您能否簡單介紹一下無線業務的增量利潤率，以及每個無線用戶對 EBITDA 的貢獻？另外，關於寬頻業務，您能否簡單介紹一下您觀察到的 6 月到 7 月期間的發展趨勢？

So Jonathan, I'll take this one. On the wireless, the -- it is increasingly important, and I don't think it's well understood by the marketplace. It has a reported EBITDA loss right now, but that's entirely driven by subscriber acquisition cost for sales and marketing. The EBITDA for wireless passed the positive point really some time ago. I don't remember what quarter, but it's probably a year plus.

喬納森，我來回答這個問題。關於無線業務，它的重要性日益凸顯，但我認為市場對它的了解還不夠深入。目前無線業務的EBITDA為虧損，但這完全是由於銷售和行銷方面的用戶獲取成本所造成的。無線業務的EBITDA其實早就轉正了。我不記得是哪個季度了，但大概一年多以前吧。

And so it's an attractive product, and we're growing it fast, and I -- we're not going to get into margin analysis or forecast. But I will tell you that the -- everything that I've ever looked at that people publish on the topic grossly underestimates our margin that's inherent inside that business and what we can do with it to drive the business overall, including broadband net additions. So it's powerful. I don't think it's very well understood, and that's okay for now. The second question was what, was on volume?

所以這是一款很有吸引力的產品，而且我們正在快速成長。至於利潤率分析或預測，我們就不深入探討了。但我可以告訴你，我所看過的所有關於這個主題的文章都嚴重低估了我們這項業務固有的利潤率，以及我們利用它推動整體業務發展（包括寬頻網路新增用戶）的能力。所以它非常強大。我認為它還沒有被充分理解，目前來說這也沒關係。第二個問題是，銷售量如何？

June, July volume.

六月、七月卷。

On volume, yes.

就音量而言，是的。

Yes. Look, that's a tough question because you've got a seasonal disconnect period that goes through June and July. I -- you've heard me mention earlier that we have had a more return to seasonal disconnects in our college markets, which actually bodes well for August and September, assuming that comes back. I would say, that our medium and long-term confidence is very high, we'll be back, market will return with net add activity. Short term, it's just difficult to see with volume and July is a very difficult month to go ask that question. So we'll see.

是的。你看，這確實是個棘手的問題，因為六月和七月是季節性斷檔期。我之前也提到過，我們的大學市場又出現了季節性斷檔的情況，這其實預示著八月和九月市場會好轉，前提是市場能夠恢復正常。我認為，我們對中長期市場充滿信心，市場會恢復，淨成長活動也會隨之而來。短期來看，由於交易量的原因，很難預測，而且七月也是個很難預測的月份。所以，我們拭目以待。

And just one other comment on wireless and its impact, just we are a wireless company. And we have 450 million wireless devices connected to our network which is when you -- so you think about -- when you think about our new video strategy, our new joint venture with Xumo and our ability to connect video customers in the future wirelessly, all of our products would be wirelessly delivered.

關於無線技術及其影響，我還有一點要補充，我們是一家無線公司。我們有4.5億台無線設備連接到我們的網絡，所以當你想到我們新的視訊策略、我們與Xumo的新合資企業以及我們未來無線連接視訊客戶的能力時，你會發現我們所有的產品都將透過無線方式交付。

Our next question will come from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題將來自德意志銀行的布萊恩·克拉夫特。

I was wondering if I could ask you how you're thinking these days about potential acquisitions in the cable business or even other types of assets, whether it's business services or wireless? And maybe in cable specifically, if you could talk about just how you would evaluate a potential deal today?

我想請教一下，您最近對有線電視業務或其他類型資產（例如商業服務或無線通訊）的潛在收購有何看法？特別是有線電視領域，您能否談談您目前會如何評估一筆潛在的交易？

Well, we've always said we love cable, which is why we've been buying our own stock back because we haven't been able to buy cable. And that it's a great business. And we think that the future of what these assets can do is significant and a huge opportunity. So nothing about our view on M&A has changed.

我們一直都說我們熱愛有線電視產業，所以我們一直在回購自己的股票，因為我們一直沒能收購到有線電視業務。而且我們認為有線電視業務前景看好。我們相信這些資產的未來發展潛力巨大，蘊藏著巨大的機會。因此，我們對併購的看法並沒有任何改變。

Okay. Go ahead, Jessica, sorry.

好的，潔西卡，請講，抱歉。

No. I mean, I will add to that, that obviously, it has to be cable at attractive prices that will be accretive to the shareholders in the long term. So we are always out there looking for and looking at cable assets, whether they be small cable assets or others. But ultimately, we do think it has to bring value to shareholders. And so we'll be prudent.

不。我的意思是，我還要補充一點，顯然，必須是價格有吸引力的有線電視資產，才能在長期內為股東帶來增值。所以我們一直在尋找和檢視有線電視資產，無論是小型資產還是其他類型的資產。但最終，我們認為它必須能為股東創造價值。因此，我們會謹慎行事。

Our next question will come from Phil Cusick with JPMorgan.

下一個問題將來自摩根大通的菲爾·庫西克。

I wonder if we can go back and talk about the progression of broadband through the quarter, and forgive me if this is just too much. In May, we talked about green shoots. And in mid-June, it looked like broadband would be slightly positive. I assume it's fair to say that June was worse than expected and the July is probably not trending well. I'm curious if June being worse is bigger seasonality in that type of market or was it worse in the other markets or the underlying business? And then second, if I can, sort of a big picture question. How much do you take competitive response into account when you price a product like wireless? As you price wireless at $30, Verizon responds with $25 broadband, and it seems to be cycling down. Is this really the situation you want to create? And do you think you have an advantage in that over time?

我想我們能否回顧一下本季寬頻業務的發展情況，如果我問太多，請見諒。五月我們談到了一些復甦跡象。六月中旬，寬頻業務看起來略有好轉。但六月的情況比預期更糟，七月的趨勢可能也不樂觀。我很好奇，六月的糟糕表現是這類市場普遍存在的季節性因素造成的，還是其他市場或業務本身的問題？其次，如果可以的話，我想問一個更宏觀的問題。在為無線產品定價時，你們會多大程度上考慮競爭對手的反應？例如，你們的無線服務定價為 30 美元，而 Verizon 的寬頻服務定價為 25 美元，而且價格似乎還在持續下修。你們真的希望出現這種情況嗎？你們認為從長遠來看，你們在這方面有優勢嗎？

So I'll start on that one. I think what you heard us in May and June talking about green shoots. We're talking about additional activity, which wasn't necessarily additional additions at that point. And in June, we did still at that point, expect to report total positive Internet adds, even though -- even with the headwind that was associated with the EBB to ACP transition. I don't think that there was a large deterioration in market conditions or performance in June after that time.

那我就先從這一點說起。我想你們在五、六月聽到的我們談到的「復甦跡象」指的是市場活動的增加，但當時這並不一定意味著新增用戶數量的增加。六月份，我們仍預期網路新增用戶總數將為正，即便考慮到EBB到ACP過渡帶來的不利因素。我認為，在那之後，六月的市場狀況或業績並沒有大幅惡化。

On a quarterly basis, net adds is an aggregate of more than 1 million connects offset by disconnects. And a very small movement in either side of that equation can lead to sort of small changes in what the ultimate outcome is in net adds, which ultimately to 20,000 or 25,000 subscribers is. So I think that our position on where activity has been through the quarter, it's not that different now from where it was before.

以季度來看，淨新增用戶數是指新增連線數超過100萬，減去斷開連線數。這個等式兩邊的微小變動都可能導致淨新增用戶的最終結果略有不同，最終可能只有2萬或2.5萬用戶。所以我認為，就本季以來的業務活動而言，我們目前的狀況與之前相比並沒有太大變化。

I'll start off on the pricing and then I suspect Tom will chime in as well. The -- Phil, the question on competitive pricing, of course, we think about not only the moves that we're making but the secondary moves and the market responses. And our pricing for mobile is $29.99 when you take two lines or more. It's very simple. There's no taxes and fees. And so it's long as you have or take broadband of really any kind together with that product. Some of the other offers out in the marketplace mean that on a wireless product, you got to go spend $10, $20 more and then you can get discounted prices on broadband. So when you put the all-in package together, our all-in package of broadband plus wireless service is dramatically cheaper, taxes and fees included, and no upcharge on the core service required. It's really attractive.

我先來說說定價，然後我估計湯姆也會補充一些內容。菲爾，關於價格競爭力的問題，我們當然會考慮我們自身的舉措，以及後續的調整和市場反應。我們的手機套餐價格為29.99美元，兩條或兩條以上線路即可享受。非常簡單明了，不含任何稅費。只要你同時訂購任何類型的寬頻服務即可。市面上其他一些套餐，例如無線產品，需要額外花費10到20美元才能享受寬頻折扣。而我們的寬頻加無線服務套餐價格更低，包含稅費，而且無需額外支付核心服務費用。真的很有魅力。

So I think even with some of those responses in the marketplace, which may or may not be related to us, we can be very attractive and save customers thousands of dollars a year with a better product, integrated as a converged broadband product for years to come. The other big benefit is that we have the ability to offer mobile in 100% of our footprint. So we have 54 million passings. We have gigabit service everywhere we operate. We did not red line. We're fully upgraded. We have a path to multi-gig symmetrical services. And in addition to that, we have mobile everywhere we operate at a price point that is very, very competitive with a product that's actually not only the fastest-growing mobile, but the fastest mobile service in the country. If you put all that together, we feel pretty good about our competitive positioning long term.

所以我認為，即使市場上存在一些與我們無關的負面回饋，我們依然能夠憑藉更優質的產品，為客戶每年節省數千美元，並在未來數年內持續提供融合寬頻服務，從而保持強大的吸引力。另一個巨大的優勢在於，我們能夠在覆蓋區域內100%提供行動服務。我們擁有5400萬過境用戶，在所有營運區域都提供千兆服務。我們沒有設定任何限制，而是全面升級，並已做好提供多千兆對稱服務的準備。此外，我們在所有營運區域都提供極具競爭力的行動服務，而且我們的產品不僅是成長最快的行動服務，也是全美速度最快的行動服務。綜合所有這些優勢，我們對自身的長期競爭地位充滿信心。

Yes. And to your broader question, yes, we think about what it does to how competitors might price against us. And our view is that we can do the pricing we're doing and still be -- create extremely good value for customers and, at the same time, create an extremely good value for us. And the macro situation with regard to us is that we're underpenetrated. We have 4%, 5% of the mobile dollars in our marketplace. And when you just add up all the telecom spend, we have a very small piece of it. And so our opportunity is volume.

是的。至於你更廣泛的問題，是的，我們會考慮這會對競爭對手的定價策略產生什麼影響。我們認為，即使我們採用目前的定價策略，也能為客戶創造極高的價值，同時也能為自己創造極高的價值。就我們而言，宏觀層面的市場滲透率很低。我們在行動通訊市場僅佔4%到5%的份額。如果把所有電信支出加起來，我們所佔的份額也微乎其微。因此，我們的機會在於提升用戶規模。

You saw that even in the second quarter. So second quarter, seasonal quarter, low volume in the cable side across the entire market. And yet, we still have 344,000 net adds on mobile in a very low cable environment. I think that illustrates the opportunity. When the market comes back, Internet sales will go back up along with the market activity. But mobile in a strange way right now from a line's net adds perspective, it's depressed compared to what it could or should be in a normalized market. So we'll continue to grow.

您在第二季也看到了這一點。第二季度是季節性季度，整個市場的有線電視業務量都很低。然而，在有線電視業務如此低迷的情況下，我們的行動淨增用戶仍達到了34.4萬。我認為這說明了其中的機會。當市場復甦時，網路銷售額也會隨著市場活動的恢復而回升。但就目前而言，從單一線路的淨增用戶數量來看，行動端的淨增用戶數量與正常市場應有的水平相比，處於一種奇怪的低迷狀態。因此，我們將繼續保持成長。

Our next question will come from Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Wolfe Research 的 Peter Supino。

Two questions on pricing across 2 different products. First on mobile, Chris, I particularly appreciate your comments on the cost structure. And I'm aware that mobile has not historically sold at high rates to new broadband subscribers. And in context of a business with flagging gross adds, I wondered if there's an opportunity in the future to attach more mobile to gross adds and use it as a way to stimulate overall sales of your converged connectivity product. And then in parallel, on broadband pricing, I'd love to know your views on retail price increases at this point?

關於兩款不同產品的定價，我有兩個問題。首先是關於行動端，Chris，我非常感謝你對成本結構的分析。我知道行動端歷來對新寬頻用戶的銷售價格並不高。考慮到貴公司目前新增用戶數量成長放緩，我想知道未來是否有機會將更多行動端用戶納入新增用戶總數，以此來刺激貴公司融合連接產品的整體銷售。其次，關於寬頻定價，我很想了解你目前對零售價格上漲的看法。

So nothing to announce today, Peter, but clearly, we think a lot about mobile and its ability not only to attach to existing Internet customers which has been the predominant path so far, but as the market understands better our product, the fact that it is the fastest mobile product in the country and that it's real, that it really does save customers a lot of money, no contracts, no taxes, no fees, I do think there's a really powerful case that we can use to have mobile actually drive significant Internet net adds and particularly in the market with low volume to be able to kickstart some volume in the marketplace by using mobile to do just that.

彼得，今天沒什麼要宣布的，但很顯然，我們一直在思考移動端及其能力，它不僅可以像目前的主要方式那樣吸引現有互聯網用戶，而且隨著市場對我們產品的了解加深，我們會意識到它是全國速度最快的移動產品，而且它是真實存在的，它確實能為客戶節省很多錢，沒有合約，沒有稅費，沒有手續費。我認為，我們可以利用行動端來推動網路使用者數量的顯著成長，尤其是在用戶量較低的市場，我們可以利用行動端來刺激市場成長。

So we're constantly testing different concepts in the marketplace. Economically, it's a no-brainer and it makes a lot of sense, but it is a new package structure for educating customers to get them to think about buying a household service and an individual service together so that they can get those savings and they can get that better product, and that may take a little bit of time for us to find the right connection as well as to educate the marketplace. And then the second question, I should have made a note what the second question was on.

所以我們一直在市場上測試不同的概念。從經濟角度來看，這顯而易見，非常合理，但這是一種新的套餐結構，旨在引導客戶考慮將家庭服務和個人服務一起購買，這樣他們既能省錢又能獲得更好的產品。這可能需要一些時間來找到合適的組合，並讓市場接受這種模式。至於第二個問題，我應該記下來。

Retail pricing.

零售價格。

Retail pricing for broadband?

寬頻零售定價？

Yes.

是的。

Our goal has always been to have the best pricing in the marketplace. And to the extent that we can withstand some of the inflationary pressures and save customers lots of money with that converged product which includes both Internet as well as mobile, that's going to be our path. It doesn't mean that we're dogmatic about never taking rate increases when we need to. And so that issue is always available, but our preference has always been to be competitive and a value leader in the marketplace.

我們的目標始終是提供市場上最具競爭力的價格。只要我們能夠抵禦通膨壓力，並透過融合網路和行動服務的整合產品為客戶節省大量資金，這便是我們未來的發展方向。但這並不代表我們固守成規，絕不會在必要時提高價格。價格調整始終是我們考慮的因素，但我們始終堅持在市場上保持競爭力，成為價值領導者。

Our final question will come from Kutgun Maral with RBC Capital Markets.

最後一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的庫特根·馬拉爾。

A big picture one on broadband. The magnitude of the slowdown in subscriber growth has been fairly meaningful. A lot of the factors like low market activity, comping in the pandemic pull forward and competition are pretty well understood at this point. I know there's been the expectation that we'll get some normalization or stabilization with at least some of these issues, but it's just taking a bit longer than we would have hoped for.

從寬頻市場的整體情況來看，用戶成長放緩的幅度相當顯著。許多因素，例如市場活動低迷、疫情期間的競爭提前爆發以及目前的市場競爭狀況，我們都已比較了解。我知道大家一直預期這些問題至少會得到一些改善或穩定，但實際情況比我們預期的要慢。

So I guess with that, is there a sense of greater urgency to reaccelerate that subscriber growth? And based on an answer earlier, it seems like you're satisfied with the current retail playbook. But is there a desire to rethink things like accelerating network investments, the rural build leaning even more into mobile or anything else? Or is the view that the long-term opportunity remains intact and we just need to stay the course and cycle through the current dynamics?

所以，我想，基於以上情況，你們是否感到更迫切地需要重新加速用戶成長？根據先前的回答，你們似乎對目前的零售策略感到滿意。但是，你們是否希望重新考慮一些事項，例如加快網路投資、進一步加強農村地區的行動網路建設或其他方面？或者，你們認為長期機會仍然存在，我們只需要堅持現有策略，並經歷當前的市場波動？

I think both of those statements are correct, which is the long term remains intact, and in theory, we could just wait it out. But I think you heard -- and I actually like the way that you described the entire situation. So the long-term outlook is very good. We could wait it out. That's not what we're doing. We're accelerating everywhere. We're again on rural buildout to add to the growth. We're taking a look at mobile opportunities, which I just mentioned on the prior question to Peter. And we're serious about putting multi-gig symmetrical everywhere we operate. And so I think both barbells of what you described are actually true.

我認為這兩種說法都正確，也就是說，長期前景依然穩固，理論上我們可以靜觀其變。但我認為你已經聽到了——而且我非常贊同你對整個情況的描述。所以，長期前景非常樂觀。我們可以靜觀其變，但我們並沒有這麼做。我們正在各個領域加速發展。我們正在再次推進農村地區的網路建設，以促進成長。我們正在研究行動通訊領域的機遇，正如我在之前回答彼得的問題時所提到的。而且，我們認真致力於在我們運營的所有地區實現多千兆對稱網路覆蓋。所以我認為你描述的兩種情況都很屬實。

And there's some execution opportunity too.

而且還有一些執行方面的機會。

Yes.

是的。

The pandemic created employment issues for us and operational issues for us that have an impact on our ability to generate orders as well. And so we're aggressively trying to improve our ability to execute.

疫情為我們帶來了就業和營運方面的挑戰，也影響了我們的訂單處理能力。因此，我們正積極努力提升執行能力。

So if you think about the long term, it ties to that too. The -- so we have the ability -- Craig asked about broadband and ARPU and RDOF, and I talked about that. We talked about mobile convergence and how that could kick start. The thing that we haven't talked about is the digitization of our service platform really creates a long-term path to not only enhance customer satisfaction the way they interact with us, but to reduce our cost to serve per customer relationship in a very material way. And as good as that's been over the past few years, it's really the very tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can do with that over time, which has a double impact of increasing customer satisfaction, letting them deal with us the way that they want to, reducing the number of interactions and service issues, getting in front of impairments before the customer even knows they exist. And when they interact with us the way they want, oftentimes, that's without a physical transaction, which has benefits on both sides, both to the customer as well as to our P&L.

所以，從長遠來看，這也與此息息相關。我們有能力——克雷格問了寬頻、ARPU（每位用戶平均收入）和RDOF（每位用戶收入），我也談到了這些。我們還討論了行動融合以及它如何能夠推動業務發展。但我們還沒有談到的是，服務平台的數位化確實為長期發展開闢了一條道路，不僅能夠提升客戶滿意度，改善他們與我們互動的方式，還能顯著降低我們每個客戶關係的維護成本。儘管過去幾年我們在這方面取得了不錯的成績，但這只是冰山一角，隨著時間的推移，我們能夠利用數位化實現更多目標。數位化帶來的雙重影響是：一方面，它能夠提升客戶滿意度；另一方面，它能夠讓客戶以他們想要的方式與我們互動；它能夠減少互動次數和服務問題；它能夠在客戶意識到問題存在之前就解決問題。當客戶以他們想要的方式與我們互動時，通常不需要進行任何實體交易，這對雙方都有好處，既有利於客戶，也有利於我們的損益。

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Stefan Anninger. Please go ahead.

目前沒有其他問題了。現在我將把電話轉回給斯特凡·安寧格。請開始吧。

Thanks, everyone, and we will see you next quarter.

謝謝大家，我們下個季度再見。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's event. You may now disconnect.

謝謝各位，今天的活動到此結束，您可以斷開連接了。