Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to Charter Communications First Quarter Investor Call. (Operator Instructions) Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

您好，歡迎參加Charter Communications第一季投資人電話會議。 （操作說明）另請注意，本次會議正在錄音。如有任何異議，請立即斷開連接。

I will now turn the call over to Stefan Anninger.

現在我將把電話轉給斯特凡·安寧格。

Thanks, operator, and welcome, everyone. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, ir.charter.com.

謝謝接線員，歡迎各位。本次通話的簡報可在我們的網站ir.charter.com上找到。

I would like to remind you that there are a number of risk factors and other cautionary statements contained in our SEC filings which we encourage you to read carefully. Various remarks that we make on this call concerning expectations, predictions, plans and prospects, constitute forward-looking statements which 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.

我想提醒各位，我們向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的文件中包含多項風險因素和其他警示性聲明，我們建議您仔細閱讀。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評論均構成前瞻性陳述，這些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存在差異。任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理層目前的觀點，Charter公司不承擔任何修訂或更新此類陳述的義務。

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

今天參加電話會議的還有我們的總裁兼執行長克里斯溫弗瑞，以及我們的財務長傑西卡費雪。那麼，現在讓我們把電話交給克里斯。

Thanks, Stefan. During the first quarter, we lost 72,000 Internet customers. Despite lower Internet sales, we added nearly 500,000 Spectrum Mobile lines and close to 2.3 million lines year-over-year. We now have more than 8.2 million total mobile lines. With still low mobile penetration of Internet customers and passings, we have a long runway for customer and financial growth with the nation's fastest mobile service at incredible value.

謝謝，斯特凡。第一季度，我們流失了7.2萬名網路用戶。儘管網路銷售額下降，但我們新增了近50萬條Spectrum Mobile行動線路，較去年同期成長近230萬條。目前，我們的行動線路總數已超過820萬條。鑑於網路用戶的行動普及率仍然較低，我們憑藉全國最快的行動服務和極具競爭力的價格，在用戶成長和財務成長方面仍有很大的發展空間。

Revenue was relatively flat in the quarter while adjusted EBITDA grew by 2.8%. And during the first quarter, our Internet customer growth remained challenged by a low-move and generally low-activity environment coupled with continued elevated competition at least in the short term and a small impact from fewer low-income connects due to discontinued ACP availability. Churn remains at historically low levels.

本季營收基本持平，調整後 EBITDA 成長 2.8%。第一季度，受低流量和整體低活躍度環境、持續激烈的市場競爭（至少在短期內如此）以及因 ACP 服務停止提供而導致的低收入用戶連接數減少的影響，我們的互聯網用戶增長依然面臨挑戰。用戶流失率仍處於歷史低點。

Telephone Internet continues to compete for gross additions and has expanded its addressable market within our footprint. And we remain confident in our ability to return to healthy long-term growth. Our Internet product is faster and it's more reliable. Our pricing is lower when similarly bundled with mobile. And the cell phone companies will face capacity challenges as customer bandwidth grows.

電話互聯網服務持續在用戶成長方面競爭，並在我們覆蓋範圍內擴大了潛在市場。我們仍然對恢復長期健康成長充滿信心。我們的網路產品速度更快、更可靠。與行動服務捆綁銷售時，我們的價格更低。隨著用戶頻寬的成長，行動營運商將面臨容量挑戰。

In the first quarter, wireline overbuild activity continued at a similar pace. And given the value of our converged products, we resisted chasing some less rational promotional offers from overbuilders.

第一季度，有線電視網擴容活動持續保持類似的成長速度。鑑於我們融合產品的價值，我們沒有接受一些擴容商提供的較不合理的促銷優惠。

As we move forward with our key strategic initiatives, we believe that our differentiated converged connectivity products with superior speeds, that save customers money, and a video product with increasing value and utility to customers, provide us with significant competitive advantages and a platform to grow customers, penetration, EBITDA and free cash flow over time.

隨著我們推進關鍵策略舉措，我們相信，我們具有卓越速度、能夠為客戶節省資金的差異化融合連接產品，以及為客戶不斷提升價值和實用性的視頻產品，將為我們帶來顯著的競爭優勢，並為客戶數量、市場滲透率、EBITDA 和自由現金流的長期增長提供平台。

In Internet, data usage continues to grow and demand for faster speeds will grow with it. During the first quarter, Internet customers who do not buy traditional video from us use nearly 800 gigabytes per month. And we now offer 300-meg, 500-meg and 1-gig symmetrical speeds in our first high split market.

在網路領域，數據使用量持續成長，對更快網路速度的需求也將隨之成長。第一季度，未向我們購買傳統視訊服務的網路使用者每月平均使用近 800 GB 的流量。目前，我們在首個高流量細分市場提供 300 MB、500 MB 和 1 GB 的對稱網路速度。

Later this year, we'll begin launching the next wave of markets with distributed access architecture technology. When completed, we'll be able -- we'll be capable of offering 5 by 1 gigabit per second speeds in these markets with even better network performance. The next phase of markets will be upgraded to 10 by 1 gigabit per second speed and the ability to offer fiber on demand.

今年晚些時候，我們將開始推出採用分散式接取架構技術的下一批市場。完成後，我們將能夠在這些市場提供 5×1 Gbps 的網速，並擁有更優異的網路效能。下一階段的市場將升級至 10×1 Gbps 的網路速度，並具備按需光纖存取能力。

And ultimately, we'll see lower contact rates and truck rolls across these upgraded markets, achieving both lower cost and a superior product. We expect to complete our network evolution initiative in 2026, all at an incremental cost to just over -- or just $100 per passing, excluding the benefit of operating and capital savings that result from the project.

最終，我們將看到這些升級後市場的客戶接觸率和出車次數降低，從而實現更低的成本和更優質的產品。我們預計將於 2026 年完成網路升級計劃，屆時每次通過的增量成本將僅略高於 100 美元，這還不包括該項目帶來的營運和資本節約效益。

Our mobile offering also continues to evolve and improve. Earlier this month, we began offering Anytime Upgrade to customers within our Unlimited Plus offering. Anytime Upgrade allows new and existing Unlimited Plus customers to upgrade their phones whenever they want, eliminating traditional wait times, upgrade fees and condition requirements. We are the first mobile provider to include this level of freedom within a rate plan. And we also recently launched a new repair-and-replacement plan for just $5 per month. Anytime Upgrade, part of Unlimited Plus, and our repair-and-replacement plan, are each profitable.

我們的行動服務也在不斷發展和完善。本月初，我們為「無限流量升級套餐」（Unlimited Plus）用戶推出了「隨時升級」（Anytime Upgrade）服務。無論新舊用戶，只要選擇“隨時升級套餐”，即可隨時升級手機，無需等待，也無需支付升級費用或滿足任何條件。我們是首家在套餐中加入如此便捷升級服務的行動營運商。此外，我們近期也推出了每月僅需 5 美元的全新維修更換服務。無論是「隨時升級套餐」（Unlimited Plus）或維修更換服務，目前均已獲利。

Spectrum One continues to perform well beyond its first anniversary and offers the fastest connectivity with differentiated features like mobile speed boost and seamless connectivity to the Spectrum Mobile network across Android and iOS devices.

Spectrum One 在成立一周年後依然表現出色，提供最快的連線速度，並具有行動速度提升和在 Android 和 iOS 裝置上無縫連接到 Spectrum Mobile 網路等差異化功能。

We still have a lot of room to grow our mobile business. Today, less than 8% of our total passings take our converged offering of Internet and mobile. We remain underpenetrated despite having a differentiated and superior offering with market-leading pricing at promotion and retail. And from a dollars perspective, we captured less than 30% share of residential mobile and Internet dollars spent in our footprint today. Mobile will be a meaningful driver of EBITDA and cash flow going forward with what is still an untapped ability to drive overall customer relationship growth.

我們的行動業務仍有龐大的成長空間。目前，在我們所有用戶中，只有不到 8% 的用戶使用我們的網路和行動融合服務。儘管我們擁有差異化且卓越的產品，並在促銷和零售環節都保持著市場領先的定價，但我們的市場滲透率仍然很低。從收入角度來看，目前我們在覆蓋區域內住宅行動和網路消費的份額還不到 30%。行動業務未來將成為 EBITDA 和現金流的重要驅動力，其在推動整體客戶關係成長方面仍有巨大的潛力尚未開發。

Finally, turning to the evolution of our video product. We now offer a unique modern user experience with Xumo, which offers both linear and direct-to-consumer content on one device, combined with packaging and pricing options that offer choice, value and utility across FAST, SVOD, direct-to-consumer apps and linear video services.

最後，我們來談談視訊產品的演變。現在，我們透過 Xumo 提供獨特的現代用戶體驗，它在同一裝置上提供線性內容和直接面向消費者的內容，並結合了多種套餐和定價方案，在 FAST、SVOD、直接面向消費者的應用程式和線性視訊服務中提供更多選擇、價值和實用性。

In January, Disney+ became available to all Spectrum TV Select customers nationwide at no additional cost, with ESPN+ launched to Select Plus customers in March. ViX, a Spanish language DTC product, and regional sports DTC products, will also be available to customers at no extra cost within their respective packages.

今年1月，Disney+提供全美所有Spectrum TV Select用戶免費開放；3月，ESPN+開放給Select Plus用戶。此外，西班牙語DTC產品ViX以及各地區體育DTC產品也將包含在各自的套裝內，用戶無需額外付費即可使用。

We expect our hybrid DTC-linear model to be fully deployed next year. And we'll be able to deliver value for our customers and programming partners through fully bundled hybrid services, genre-based packages, selling DTC a la carte and potentially bundled DTC services to our broadband customers.

我們預計混合型DTC-線性電視模式將於明年全面部署。屆時，我們將能夠透過提供完全捆綁的混合服務、基於類型的套餐、向寬頻用戶單獨銷售DTC服務以及潛在的捆綁式DTC服務，為我們的客戶和節目合作夥伴創造價值。

In late January, we launched our Spectrum TV Stream package, a 90-channel non-sports general entertainment package priced at $40 per month. TV Stream provides a compelling content offering at an attractive price from programmers like Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Fox and A&E.

1月下旬，我們推出了Spectrum TV Stream套餐，這是一個包含90個頻道的非體育類綜合娛樂節目的套餐，每月售價40美元。 TV Stream以極具吸引力的價格提供來自派拉蒙、華納兄弟、探索頻道、迪士尼、福斯和A&E等知名節目製作商的精彩內容。

And so while the video business is clearly under pressure, we believe that flexible and attractively priced packaging options across all forms of video, channels really, integrated within a modern user interface in a more frictionless environment can recreate value in the ecosystem for our customers, programmers and distributors.

因此，儘管視訊產業顯然面臨壓力，但我們相信，在所有形式的影片（實際上是所有頻道）中，靈活且價格合理的打包方案，並整合到現代用戶介面中，在一個更順暢的環境中，可以為我們的客戶、節目製作人和分銷商在生態系統中重新創造價值。

So when we step back, we clearly recognized some short-term market challenges, and we've embraced the opportunity to become an even better operator, leaving no stone unturned in our go-to-market and our efficiency initiatives. And in the meantime, we're growing a unique converged product at a rapid pace which can grow EBITDA through a competitive investment cycle. In long term, our network and customer demand products, pricing and packaging capabilities, our service infrastructure and the associated investments we're making today position Charter for sustainable growth and value creation.

因此，當我們回顧過去時，我們清楚地認識到一些短期市場挑戰，並抓住機遇，力求成為更優秀的運營商，在市場拓展和效率提升方面不遺餘力。同時，我們正在快速發展一款獨特的融合產品，該產品能夠在競爭激烈的投資週期中實現 EBITDA 的成長。從長遠來看，憑藉我們的網路和客戶需求、產品定價和套餐組合能力、服務基礎設施以及我們目前正在進行的相關投資，Charter 已做好充分準備，實現永續成長和價值創造。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jessica.

接下來，我將把電話交給潔西卡。

Thanks, Chris. Let's turn to customer results on Slide 5. Including residential and SMB, we lost 72,000 Internet customers in the first quarter, and video customers declined by 405,000. In mobile, we added 486,000 mobile lines. And wireline voice customers declined by 279,000. Our mobile product continued to perform well. And although we saw lower mobile gross adds year-over-year tied to lower gross Internet additions, we also saw lower overall mobile churn rate year-over-year and sequentially.

謝謝，克里斯。我們來看投影片5的客戶業績。第一季度，包括住宅用戶和中小企業用戶在內，我們流失了7.2萬網路用戶，視訊用戶減少了40.5萬人。行動用戶方面，我們新增了48.6萬條行動線路。固話用戶減少了27.9萬。我們的行動產品表現依然良好。儘管由於網路用戶新增量下降，行動用戶總數同比有所減少，但我們的行動用戶整體流失率年比和季比均有所下降。

Customers who signed up for our Spectrum One product in the first quarter of 2023 reached their 12-month anniversary this past quarter. Similar to last quarter, those promotional roll-offs did not drive incremental Internet churn. In fact, our Internet churn rate also declined year-over-year. So as we always expected, Spectrum One lines are performing well, and our converged offering drives higher mobile sales and longer customer lifetimes.

2023年第一季註冊Spectrum One產品的客戶，上季已滿12個月。與上個季度類似，促銷活動的結束並未導致網路用戶流失。事實上，我們的網路用戶流失率較去年同期也有所下降。因此，正如我們一直預期的那樣，Spectrum One線路表現良好，我們的融合產品能夠促進行動業務成長並延長客戶生命週期。

Turning to rural. We ended the quarter with 493,000 subsidized rural passings. And we grew those passings by 324,000 over the last 12 months and 73,000 in the first quarter. It's a bit of a slowdown from Q4, as we noted it would be on our last call, given winter construction seasonality. Penetration growth continues to exceed our expectations, and customer growth in our subsidized rural footprint increased with 35,000 net customer additions in the quarter. We continue to expect to activate approximately 450,000 new subsidized rural passings in 2024, about 50% more than in 2023.

再來看看農村地區的情況。本季末，我們已為農村地區提供49.3萬個補貼通行證。過去12個月，這些通行證的數量增加了32.4萬個，第一季增加了7.3萬個。正如我們在上次電話會議上提到的，考慮到冬季施工的季節性因素，本季成長速度較第四季有所放緩。市場滲透率的成長持續超出預期，補貼農村地區的客戶數量在本季淨增加3.5萬。我們仍預計2024年將新增約45萬個補貼農村通行證，比2023年成長約50%。

We also continue to expect our RDOF build to be completed by the end of 2026, 2 years ahead of schedule. The RDOF and ARPA program rules have been successful in driving large-scale private capital builds. With respect to BEAD, most of the state's rules are still working through the NTIA review process. We expect some states will have a regulatory environment conducive to private investment while others will not. And we'll be disciplined in our investment approach with the continued expectation that some opportunities with appropriate ROIs will be available.

我們仍預計RDOF專案將於2026年底竣工，比原計劃提前兩年。 RDOF和ARPA專案規則已成功推動大規模私人資本建設。關於BEAD，該州的大部分規則仍在接受NTIA的審查。我們預期一些州的監管環境將有利於私人投資，而有些州則不然。我們將秉持嚴謹的投資策略，並持續期待能夠找到一些具有合適投資報酬率的投資機會。

Before turning to our financial results, I wanted to make a few comments regarding the Affordable Connectivity Program. An ACP renewal now appears unlikely for the program's 23 million recipients nationwide and for our 5.0 million Internet customers receiving a subsidy. We will do everything we can to preserve our relationship with the ACP subsidy recipients, and we expect to keep the vast majority of them as customers. We have a number of ways to assist those that may lose their ACP subsidy, including our Spectrum Internet Assist program and Internet 100 product. We're also offering all of our ACP customers a free mobile line for 1 year.

在介紹我們的財務表現之前，我想先就「經濟實惠連結計畫」（Affordable Connectivity Program，簡稱ACP）談幾點。目前看來，ACP計劃在全國範圍內2300萬受益用戶以及我們500萬享受補貼的互聯網用戶中續簽的可能性不大。我們將竭盡全力維護與ACP補貼受益用戶的關係，並預期絕大多數用戶仍將是我們的客戶。我們為可能失去ACP補貼的使用者提供了多種協助，包括Spectrum Internet Assist計畫和Internet 100產品。此外，我們也為所有ACP用戶提供一年的免費手機線路。

The success of our Spectrum One offering has shown that we can create long-term converged connectivity customers by saving consumers hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their mobile bill. And even after the initial promotional period ends, we will still be able to save these customers the equivalent or more than the $30 ACP subsidy benefit that they are currently receiving.

我們的Spectrum One套餐成功證明，我們能夠透過為消費者節省數百甚至數千美元的行動電話費，建立長期的融合連結客戶關係。即使在最初的促銷期結束後，我們仍然能夠為這些客戶節省相當於甚至超過他們目前享受的30美元ACP補貼的費用。

The majority of ACP recipients in our customer base were Internet customers before the start of the ACP program. And the vast majority of our ACP customers also pay something out of pocket for their Internet service. Ultimately, we will lose some customers, and our Internet ARPU and bad debt expense may have onetime pressure, but we expect the impact to Charter to be mostly limited to the second and third quarters of this year. And we will provide transparency for those impacts in our quarterly reporting.

在ACP計畫啟動之前，我們客戶群中的大多數ACP受益者就已經是網路使用者。而且，絕大多數ACP用戶也需要自費支付部分網路服務費用。最終，我們會流失一些客戶，網路ARPU值和壞帳支出可能會受到一次性壓力，但我們預計對Charter的影響主要限於今年第二季和第三季。我們將在季度報告中詳細說明這些影響。

Moving to the first quarter financial results, starting on Slide 6. Over the last year, residential customers declined by 0.7%, driven by video-only customer churn. Residential revenue per customer relationship declined 0.1% over-year, given a higher mix of non-video customers and growth of lower-priced video packages within our base, mostly offset by promotional rate step-ups, rate adjustments and the growth of Spectrum Mobile. As Slide 6 shows, in total, residential revenue declined by 0.4% year-over-year.

接下來是第一季財務業績，從第6頁開始。過去一年，住宅用戶數量下降了0.7%，主要原因是僅使用視訊服務的用戶流失。由於非視訊用戶佔比增加以及低價視訊套餐在我們現有用戶群中的成長，住宅用戶每客戶關係收入同比下降了0.1%，但促銷價格上調、價格調整以及Spectrum Mobile業務的成長基本上抵消了這一影響。如第6頁所示，住宅用戶總收入較去年同期下降了0.4%。

Turning to commercial. SMB revenue declined by 0.3% year-over-year, reflecting lower monthly SMB revenue per SMB customer primarily due to a higher mix of lower-priced video packages and a lower number of voice lines per SMB customer. These factors were slightly offset by SMB customer growth of 0.2% year-over-year.

再來看商業業務。中小企業收入較去年同期下降0.3%，主要原因是每位中小企業客戶的月度收入減少，而這主要是由於低價視訊套餐佔比增加以及每位中小企業客戶的語音線路數量減少所致。不過，中小企業客戶數量較去年同期成長0.2%，部分抵銷了上述不利因素的影響。

Enterprise revenue grew 3.8% year-over-year driven by enterprise PSU growth of 6.9% year-over-year. Excluding all wholesale revenue, enterprise revenue grew by 5.5%.

企業營收年增3.8%，主要得益於企業電源單元（PSU）較去年同期成長6.9%。剔除批發收入後，企業收入成長5.5%。

First quarter advertising revenue grew by 10% year-over-year given political revenue growth. And core ad revenue was essentially flat year-over-year.

受政治廣告收入成長的影響，第一季廣告收入年增10%。而核心廣告收入與去年同期基本持平。

Other revenue grew by 2.4% year-over-year primarily driven by higher mobile device sales. And in total, consolidated first quarter revenue was up 0.2% year-over-year and down 0.1% year-over-year when excluding advertising.

其他營收年增2.4%，主要得益於行動裝置銷售成長。整體而言，第一季合併收入年增0.2%，若不計廣告收入，則較去年同期下降0.1%。

Moving to operating expenses and adjusted EBITDA on Slide 7. In the first quarter, total operating expenses declined by 1.5% year-over-year. Programming costs declined by 8.2% year-over-year due to the decline in video customers of 8% year-over-year and a higher mix of lighter video packages. These factors were partly offset by higher programming rates. And first quarter 2024 programming costs include around $30 million of favorable adjustments versus $50 million of favorable adjustments in the prior year period.

接下來請看投影片7中的營運費用和調整後EBITDA。第一季度，總營運費用較去年同期下降1.5%。由於視訊用戶較去年同期下降8%以及輕量級影片套餐佔比增加，節目製作成本較去年同期下降8.2%。這些因素被較高的節目製作費率部分抵消。此外，2024年第一季的節目製作成本包含約3,000萬美元的有利調整，而去年同期則包含5,000萬美元的有利調整。

Other cost of revenue increased by 9.8% primarily driven by mobile service direct costs and higher mobile device sales. Cost to serve customers were essentially flat year-over-year with additional activity to support the growth of Spectrum Mobile and higher bad debt expense, mostly offset by lower service transactions per customers, including productivity from 10-year investments. Sales and marketing costs declined by 2.7% primarily driven by lower labor costs, partly tied to lower connect volume. Finally, other expense grew by 0.5%.

其他營業成本成長9.8%，主要受行動服務直接成本和行動裝置銷售額成長的推動。客戶服務成本與上年基本持平，這主要歸因於為支持Spectrum Mobile業務成長而增加的業務活動以及壞帳支出的增加，但大部分被每位客戶的服務交易量下降所抵消，其中包括十年投資帶來的生產力提升。銷售和行銷成本下降2.7%，主要受勞動成本下降的推動，部分原因在於連結量下降。最後，其他費用增加0.5%。

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 2.8% year-over-year in the quarter. And when excluding advertising, EBITDA grew by 2.2% year-over-year. Looking ahead, our goal is to deliver solid EBITDA growth, and we believe we can do that even as we make significant investments in the business, face a challenging competitive environment and reach the likely end of the ACP program.

本季調整後 EBITDA 較去年同期成長 2.8%。若不計廣告費用，EBITDA 年增 2.2%。展望未來，我們的目標是實現穩健的 EBITDA 成長，我們相信，即便在業務方面進行大量投資、面臨充滿挑戰的競爭環境以及 ACP 專案可能即將結束的情況下，我們也能實現這一目標。

Our residential revenue will be supported by Internet ARPU growth and our growing mobile customer base. In addition, mobile's contribution to EBITDA continues to improve as the business scales. We've also lapped the significant investments that we made in our employee base, so the related EBITDA drag should be mostly behind us.

我們的住宅收入將受益於網路ARPU的成長和不斷擴大的行動用戶群。此外，隨著業務規模的擴大，行動業務對EBITDA的貢獻也持續提升。我們已經收回了對員工隊伍的大量投資，因此相關的EBITDA拖累應該基本上已經消除。

And finally, we continue to carefully manage our expenses across the business. And while we're not going to do anything that would impact our sales or service capabilities, this quarter's cost to service customers and sales and marketing expense results demonstrate our ability to drive efficiencies into the business.

最後，我們將繼續謹慎地控制公司各項業務的支出。雖然我們不會採取任何會影響銷售或服務能力的措施，但本季客戶服務成本以及銷售和行銷費用的結果表明，我們有能力提高業務效率。

In the second quarter, we will face some tough expense comparisons, particularly in other expense as well as ACP headwinds. So while our second quarter EBITDA growth will be muted, our expense management process is clearly working. And financial growth in the back half of the year should accelerate given our expense management initiatives, Spectrum One promotional roll-off and political advertising revenue.

第二季度，我們將面臨一些嚴峻的費用對比，尤其是在其他費用以及ACP（廣告、廣告和廣告服務）的不利影響方面。因此，儘管第二季EBITDA成長將較為溫和，但我們的費用管理流程顯然行之有效。鑑於我們的費用管理措施、Spectrum One促銷活動的終止以及政治廣告收入的成長，下半年財務成長可望加速。

Turning to net income on Slide 8. We generated $1.1 billion of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the first quarter, up from $1 billion last year, driven by higher adjusted EBITDA and a gain on the sale of towers, partly offset by higher income tax and interest expenses.

請參閱第 8 頁的淨收入。第一季度，歸屬於 Charter 股東的淨收入為 11 億美元，高於去年的 10 億美元，這主要得益於調整後 EBITDA 的增加和出售鐵塔的收益，但部分被更高的所得稅和利息支出所抵消。

Turning to Slide 9. Capital expenditures totaled $2.8 billion in the first quarter, about $325 million above last year's first quarter spend. Line extensions totaled $1 billion, $69 million higher than last year driven by our subsidized rural construction initiative and increased residential and commercial greenfield and market fill-in opportunities.

請看投影片9。第一季資本支出總額為28億美元，較去年同期增加約3.25億美元。其中，生產線擴建支出總額為10億美元，比去年同期增加6,900萬美元，主要得益於我們對農村建設項目的補貼，以及住宅和商業綠地開發及市場填補機會的增加。

First quarter capital expenditures, excluding line extensions, totaled $1.8 billion compared to $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2023 driven by higher spend on upgrade, rebuild, primarily network evolution, and higher CPE spend due to purchases of Xumo Stream boxes. For the full year 2024, we continue to expect capital expenditures to total between $12.2 billion and $12.4 billion, including line extension spend of approximately $4.5 billion and network evolution spend of approximately $1.6 billion.

第一季資本支出（不含線路擴容）總計18億美元，而2023年第一季為16億美元，主要原因是升級、重建（主要是網路演進）的支出增加，以及由於採購Xumo Stream機上盒而導致的CPE支出增加。我們預計2024年全年資本支出總額將在122億美元至124億美元之間，其中包括約45億美元的線路擴容支出和約16億美元的網路演進支出。

Turning to free cash flow on Slide 10. The cash flow in the first quarter totaled $358 million, a decrease of approximately $300 million compared to last year. The decline was primarily driven by an increase in capital expenditures and a onetime settlement payment in the first quarter of 2024, partly offset by a less unfavorable change in working capital year-over-year and higher adjusted EBITDA.

請參閱第10頁投影片，以了解自由現金流狀況。第一季現金流總額為3.58億美元，較去年同期減少約3億美元。下降的主要原因是資本支出增加以及2024年第一季的一次性結算款項，部分被營運資本年減和調整後EBITDA成長所抵銷。

We finished the quarter with $97.8 billion in debt principal. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $5.2 billion. Given our long-dated and 85% fixed rate debt structure, our sensitivity to higher rates is relatively low. If we refinanced all of our debt due in 2025 and 2026 at current rates, the impact to our run rate interest expense would be less than $140 million.

本季末，我們的債務本金為978億美元。目前的年化現金利息支出為52億美元。鑑於我們長期且85%的債務為固定利率，我們對利率上升的敏感度相對較低。如果我們以當前利率對2025年和2026年到期的所有債務進行再融資，則對我們的年化利息支出的影響將不到1.4億美元。

As of the end of the first quarter, our ratio of net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 4.41x, which is lower sequentially and year-over-year. We expect to continue that trend, moving closer to the middle of our 4 to 4.5x target leverage range through the end of this year.

截至第一季末，我們的淨債務與過去12個月調整後EBITDA比率為4.41倍，季減。我們預計將延續這一趨勢，並在今年年底前逐步接近我們設定的4至4.5倍的目標槓桿率區間的中位數。

We remain fully committed to maintaining our split-rated debt structure, including access to the investment-grade market given the significant benefits it offers to all of our providers of capital. And we continue to be confident in the long-term trajectory of the business. We believe that our levered equity strategy, including share buybacks, combined with the investments that we are making in the business, will drive value going forward. During the quarter, we repurchased 1.7 million Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units totaling $567 million at an average price of $339 per share.

我們始終致力於維持我們評級不同的債務結構，包括進入投資等級市場，因為這能為我們所有的資金提供者帶來顯著的益處。我們對公司的長期發展前景依然充滿信心。我們相信，包括股票回購在內的槓桿股權策略，結合我們對業務的投資，將推動公司未來的價值成長。本季度，我們以每股339美元的平均價格回購了170萬股Charter股票和Charter Holdings普通股，總計5.67億美元。

With the continued temporary impact from cell phone Internet competition and the potential headwind from the end of ACP, we will continue to face short-term customer growth headwinds. Despite these short-term challenges, we are competing well. We have a very attractively structured balance sheet, and we're focused on driving healthy EBITDA growth in 2024 through a short-term competitive and investment cycle. So we're well positioned today and for continued future growth.

受行動互聯網競爭持續帶來的暫時性影響以及ACP計畫結束可能帶來的不利影響，我們將繼續面臨短期客戶成長方面的挑戰。儘管面臨這些短期挑戰，我們依然保持著良好的競爭力。我們擁有極具吸引力的資產負債表結構，並專注於在短期競爭和投資週期內，推動2024年EBITDA的健康成長。因此，我們目前處於有利地位，並有望在未來持續成長。

With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A.

接下來，我將把問答環節交給接線員。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from John Hodulik from UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜利克。

If I could follow up on the ACP comments, first of all, just any additional color you guys can provide over the -- on the subscriber and ARPU impacts to that program winding down in the second and third quarter. And it sounds like given the cost-cutting opportunities and the commentary, you still believe you can grow EBITDA for the year. That's number one.

如果我能就ACP的評論追問一下，首先，你們能否就該專案在第二季和第三季逐步結束對用戶和ARPU的影響提供更多細節？聽起來，考慮到削減成本的機會和先前的評論，你們仍然相信今年的EBITDA能夠成長。這是第一點。

And then number two, I thought the commentary about the churn on the video side from the Disney renewal was interesting. Chris, is that a trend that you expect to continue, especially as you sort of roll over your existing or you go through more renewals and add more D2C services to your lineup?

其次，我認為關於迪士尼續約後視訊業務變動的評論很有意思。克里斯，你認為這種趨勢會持續下去嗎？尤其是在你逐步續約現有業務、進行更多續約並增加更多D2C服務的情況下？

Sure. Let me try to tackle those, and Jessica may want to chime in here as well. The first one is on ACP and what we estimate. John, the non-renewal of ACP, there's 23 million customers have it today. It's unfortunate. But it's certainly going to have a negative Internet customer growth impact for everyone, including us. And that's going to happen in what's already a seasonal Q2 and probably the third quarter as we work through likely non-pay activity. And so really, as you think about the extent of those losses, it's going to depend on a few things.

當然。讓我來解答這些問題，傑西卡可能也想補充一些內容。第一個問題是關於ACP以及我們的預估。約翰，ACP的續訂率下降了，目前有2,300萬用戶在使用這項服務。這很不幸。但這肯定會對包括我們在內的所有人的網路使用者成長產生負面影響。而且這種情況會在第二季度（本來就是淡季）以及可能持續到第三季度，因為我們需要處理可能出現的欠費情況。所以，在考慮這些損失的程度時，實際上取決於幾個因素。

One, first, being the stickiness of our retention offers. That includes us doing a free mobile line as well as for all ACP customers. That allows customers to save as much, if not more money on a monthly basis than the subsidy we already offered by ACP. In some cases, it can be much closer to EBB or maybe even more.

首先，我們的客戶維繫優惠力道很大。這包括為所有ACP客戶提供免費手機號碼。這樣一來，客戶每月節省的費用可能與ACP提供的補貼相當，甚至更多。在某些情況下，節省的費用可能更接近甚至超過EBB（每月最低還款額）。

And we do have a Spectrum Internet Assist. We have Internet 100. So we have products that we can move people to as needed. And so the second thing I would say is it's going to depend on how well we really execute on those retention tactics that matters. And then thirdly, the way that we manage what's going to be likely an elevated non-pay environment and really managing that to the best of our ability for the benefit of customers.

我們確實有Spectrum Internet Assist服務，也有Internet 100服務。所以我們可以根據需要將用戶遷移到相應的產品。其次，我想說的是，這主要取決於我們如何有效地執行這些重要的使用者留存策略。第三，就是我們如何管理可能出現的用戶流失率上升的情況，並盡我們所能地妥善處理，以造福客戶。

In terms of specifics, this is an event that's unprecedented. In almost 30 years of cable, I haven't seen something like this before. So the short-term impact, it's difficult to predict. But in the end, I'm really confident we're going to manage through it successfully. It will be a onetime event, both on subscribers and maybe initial suppression of ARPU, but it's not going to impact our long-term growth potential.

就具體情況而言，這是一場前所未有的事件。我在有線電視產業從業近30年，從未見過類似的情況。因此，短期影響難以預測。但最終，我非常有信心我們能夠成功應對。無論是對用戶數量或ARPU（每用戶平均收入）的初期抑制，這都將是一次性事件，但不會影響我們的長期成長潛力。

Yes. As you think about EBITDA across the year, as we pointed out and I would just highlight it, there are some pressures on EBITDA in Q2 because of the comps to last year as well as likely, if there is non-pay impact, there could be some bad debt pressure inside of Q2 as well. So I would expect our EBITDA growth to be more pressured in Q2.

是的。正如我們之前指出的，我還要強調一點，考慮到全年的 EBITDA 情況，第二季 EBITDA 會面臨一些壓力，這主要是因為與去年同期相比的基數較高，而且如果出現非薪資支出影響，第二季也可能出現一些壞帳壓力。因此，我預計第二季我們的 EBITDA 成長將面臨更大的壓力。

But we see the ability for it to accelerate across the rest of the year when you consider the roll-off of Spectrum Mobile, political advertising and our continued expense initiatives in the business as well. And so because of that, in all of the scenarios that we've looked at, we continue to expect EBITDA growth in the year.

但考慮到Spectrum Mobile業務的逐步退出、政治廣告支出的減少以及我們持續推進的業務成本控制措施，我們認為今年剩餘時間裡，業務成長有望加速。因此，在我們分析的所有情境中，我們仍然預期今年的EBITDA將實現成長。

Yes. And so EBITDA, we're very confident on that. Giving a hard estimate on subscriber impact, for all the reasons I mentioned, is difficult. But we're going to outline that quarter by quarter. We'll have the ability to isolate. We'll provide that transparency for people along so they can see what's the underlying growth rate.

是的。因此，我們對 EBITDA 非常有信心。由於我剛才提到的種種原因，很難準確估計訂閱用戶數量的影響。但我們會逐季度詳細說明。我們將能夠單獨分析，並提供透明度，讓大家了解潛在的成長率。

Your other question, John, I want to make sure I understand, was on video churn. We rolled out -- at the beginning of the quarter, we rolled out the Disney+ to all Spectrum Select customers and above and to Select Plus customers, which is our more sports-oriented package on top. We rolled out ESPN+ in March. Very early on, good take-up on that product along the way. But there was nothing that was a rotation of our subscriber base inside there. So there was not a negative contributing factor to adding those in.

約翰，你的另一個問題，我想確認我理解得是否正確，是關於視訊用戶流失的。本季度初，我們向所有Spectrum Select及以上級別的用戶以及Select Plus用戶（我們更側重體育內容的高級套餐）推出了Disney+。三月我們推出了ESPN+。產品推出初期反應不錯，用戶接受度也很高。但這些服務並沒有造成我們現有用戶群的流失。所以，新增這些服務並沒有對用戶流失產生負面影響。

I would highlight, in an environment where video these days really is coming in as an attach rate to Internet, we have lower Internet sales opportunities that has an impact on video. So the video churn rate stays relatively consistent. But the combination of having both lower selling opportunities for Internet and therefore lower attach rates for video, combined with the fact that we did do a programming cost increase pass-through inside of Q1 contributed to the video loss inside the quarter.

我想強調的是，在如今影片流量主要依賴網路行銷的環境下，網路銷售機會的減少對影片業務產生了影響。因此，視訊業務的流失率相對穩定。但是，網路銷售機會的減少以及由此導致的視訊業務附加率降低，再加上我們在第一季將節目製作成本的增加轉嫁給了客戶，這些因素共同導致了本季度視訊業務的虧損。

I do think that as we add more bundling of these DTCs in a hybrid linear model over time, I think we have the ability to stem a lot of the churn and actually add back to both the gross addition side coming from potentially new calls coming in, but also higher attach rate to Internet primarily as we provide more value into the package, which offsets the significant programming cost increases that we've been forced to pass through. Does that answer where you're trying to get to?

我認為，隨著我們逐步在混合線性模型中增加這些直接面向消費者（DTC）服務的捆綁銷售，我們能夠有效遏制客戶流失，並有望在兩方面實現增長：一方面，潛在新用戶帶來的增長；另一方面，由於我們在套餐中提供了更多增值服務，互聯網附加率也會提高，從而抵消我們被迫轉嫁節目的顯著抵消節目製作成本增長。這樣解釋是否能解答您的問題？

Yes, that's perfect.

是的，那就太好了。

The next question comes from Benjamin Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的本傑明·斯溫伯恩。

Just maybe unpacking the EBITDA outlook a little bit more. Jessica, last quarter, you gave us some helpful guidance on a few expense line items for the year. I think programming, cost to service and marketing come to mind. I don't know if you had any updates on any of those given some of the moving pieces. I just wanted to check on that.

或許可以再詳細解讀一下 EBITDA 的展望。傑西卡，上個季度你曾就一些年度支出項目提供過一些很有幫助的指導。我想應該是程式設計、服務成本和行銷。鑑於目前情況有些變化，我不知道你對這些項目是否有任何更新。我只是想確認一下。

And then secondly, for either of you or both of you, just on broadband competition. Could you spend a minute just talking about sort of how you see your product competing right now with fixed wireless, which is sort of everywhere or in a lot of markets, and then the wireline overbuild piece? Because fixed wireless net adds at the industry level this quarter, or cell phone Internet just to stay on brand here, were down year-on-year and a bit lighter than at least we were expecting. So it does seem like that product is starting to mature here. But you also called out wireline overbuild sort of pricing at a discount in the market as well. So I'd love to hear your updated thoughts on sort of the competitive framework you're thinking about this year.

其次，我想請教你們兩位，關於寬頻競爭方面的問題。能否花一點時間談談你們的產品目前是如何與固定無線網路（目前在許多市場都已普及）以及有線網路擴容競爭的？因為本季產業層級的固定無線網路新增用戶，或更準確地說是手機網路用戶，年比有所下降，也低於我們的預期。看來這款產品正逐漸成熟。但你們也提到了有線網路擴容在市場上的折扣定價。我很想聽聽你們對今年競爭格局的最新看法。

So Ben, on the line item expense guidance that we gave earlier in the year, I don't have an update to any of those specific items. But what I would tell you is that, because of some of the work that we're doing around expenses across the business, I think it's possible that we come in lower than what we guided to, to begin with. I don't have a revision, but I think it's possible we come in on the low side.

所以本，關於我們年初給的分項費用指引，我目前沒有任何特定項目的更新。但我可以告訴你的是，由於我們正在全公司範圍內開展一些費用方面的工作，我認為最終的實際費用可能會低於我們最初的指引。我沒有修改後的指引，但我認為最終的實際費用可能會低於預期。

Okay. Even with the bad debt comment you made earlier?

好的。即使考慮到你之前提到的壞帳問題？

So that's a fair call out. The exact amount of the bad debt related to ACP is hard to predict because it's a matter of what the mix is between customers that go non-pay and customers that sort of contact you in some other way. So that's fair call out.

所以這個說法很中肯。與ACP相關的壞帳具體金額很難預測，因為這取決於不付款的客戶和透過其他方式聯絡你的客戶之間的比例。所以這個說法很中肯。

On items other than that, I think the possibility is that we do better.

除此之外的其他方面，我認為我們有可能做得更好。

You've got a lower transaction environment, plus all the expense management activity that we're doing, and that will have significant impact to cost to serve as well as sales and marketing as well.

你們的交易環境有所下降，加上我們正在進行的所有費用管理活動，這將對服務成本以及銷售和行銷產生重大影響。

And the broadband competition, maybe just take a step back and talk a little bit more detail about the operating environment and competitive and the results in that context.

至於寬頻競爭，或許我們應該退後一步，更詳細地談談營運環境、競爭格局以及在此背景下的競爭結果。

The first thing I think is important to just keep in mind is that our churn, it continues to be at or below historic lows, so very good. And bear with me, but we actually performed a little better in the first quarter in competitive switching versus last year. Which then somebody said, "Well, wait a second, how does that work?"

首先，我認為需要記住的重要一點是，我們的客戶流失率持續處於或低於歷史最低水平，這非常好。另外，請容許我解釋一下，我們在第一季的競爭性客戶轉換方面，實際表現比去年同期略好。然後有人問：“等等，這怎麼可能？”

And the real issue has been selling opportunities for broadband were actually much lower in the marketplace year-over-year, and that's driven by continued lower year-over-year move and household formation rates. There is some reversion to pre-pandemic mobile-only levels the past 2 quarters.

真正的問題在於，寬頻銷售機會比去年同期大幅下降，這主要是由於年比搬家率和家庭組成率持續走低所致。過去兩個季度，寬頻市場已部分恢復到疫情前的純行動網路水準。

And at the same time, as you mentioned, there's still some cell phone Internet expansion, and that's competing what is for a much lower opportunity set. So if you add to that, then just a bit of impact from the removal of ACP connects that started in early February, that's really what drove us to the loss of roughly 70,000 Internet.

同時，正如您所提到的，手機互聯網仍在擴張，而這部分用戶群本來就少得多。再加上2月初開始的ACP連線移除帶來的影響，這才是導致我們損失約7萬網路用戶的真正原因。

Ben, as you know, in this environment, small shifts in gross adds in particular, or even churn, which hasn't been the case, it just really has an outsized impact on net adds. And so that's going to definitely, as I mentioned before, it's going to be the case in the seasonal Q2, also with the end of ACP, all of which is temporary in nature.

本，你也知道，在這種環境下，新增用戶數或流失率的微小變化（雖然目前流失率並不高），都會對淨新增用戶數產生巨大的影響。正如我之前提到的，這種情況肯定會在第二季度（旺季）出現，而且隨著ACP的結束，所有這些都是暫時的。

I think the bigger question is what are we doing? And as I mentioned, we still know, and I think everybody agrees, we have the best products. And we have it at the best all-in price, particularly when you're combining broadband and mobile, which is, in a lot of cases, what we're competing against. Our network evolution to symmetrical and multi-gig wireline and wireless capabilities, and we're doing that at a low cost of $100 per passing. And then as I mentioned, we have the expansion of that best-in-class network and converged products to homes with no broadband today.

我認為更重要的問題是，我們正在做什麼？正如我剛才提到的，我們仍然堅信（我想大家都會同意），我們擁有最好的產品。而且我們的產品價格極具競爭力，尤其是在寬頻和行動網路結合的情況下，而這正是我們在許多情況下面臨的競爭對手。我們的網路正在朝向對稱多千兆有線和無線網路演進，而我們實現這一切的成本僅為每次傳輸100美元。此外，正如我剛才提到的，我們正在將這種一流的網路和整合產品擴展到目前還沒有寬頻的家庭。

So in essence, what we're doing is we're still very competitive saving customers lots of money with fastest products. And we do that with a 100% in-house onshore service structure. And when you put that together with what I mentioned in the prepared remarks is continued increasing customer demand for data, it means we're very well positioned to return to sustainable growth over time.

所以本質上，我們所做的就是保持強大的競爭力，透過最快的產品為客戶節省大量資金。而這一切都得益於我們100%自主研發的本地服務體系。再加上我剛才提到的客戶對資料需求的持續成長，這意味著我們完全有能力在未來恢復永續成長。

And the key for us really is, in the meantime, we're heads down on execution. It doesn't mean that we don't have short-term opportunities. We're leaving no stone unturned on go-to-market. We have great assets and ability to package and price in I think ways that are new and innovative.

對我們來說，關鍵在於，同時，我們正全力以赴地執行計劃。但這並不意味著我們沒有短期機會。我們正在竭盡所能地開拓市場。我們擁有強大的資產和能力，能夠以我認為新穎且創新的方式進行產品包裝和定價。

And what we're trying to do in the meantime as well, you mentioned on wireline overbuild in particular, still be very disciplined around the pricing because we know the value of our products. And so we saw a few overbuilders go a little bit downstream during the quarter. And we've resisted the temptation to go there just because we know the value of our both wireline and wireless services and the value that we can bring to customers long term.

同時，正如您剛才提到的，尤其是在固網線擴容方面，我們也在努力維持定價的嚴格性，因為我們深知自身產品的價值。因此，我們看到一些擴容公司在本季向下游市場傾斜。但我們抵抗住了這種誘惑，因為我們清楚自身固網和無線服務的價值，以及我們能夠為客戶帶來的長期價值。

The next question comes from Jonathan Chaplin at New Street.

下一個問題來自新街的喬納森·查普林。

I guess the first one for Jessica, just on the change in your leverage target navigating towards the midpoint of the range. Would love to just get some more context on the thinking behind that. You sort of mentioned earlier in the script that the risk of higher rates isn't a material concern. And so this navigating down in the leverage range just reflect lower confidence in the cash -- the sort of the cash generation in the business given the competitive environment?

我想第一個問題問傑西卡，就是關於你調整槓桿目標，使其向區間中點靠攏這件事。我很想了解背後的考量。你在先前的演講稿中提到，利率上升的風險並非主要擔憂。那麼，這次槓桿目標下調是否僅反映了你對現金流的信心下降──也就是在當前競爭環境下，對公司現金流產生能力的信心不足？

Yes. So Jonathan, I would say our confidence in the business hasn't changed. We remain comfortable with our 4 to 4.5x range based on the outlook that we have. But I think being sort of at the height of the investment cycle, we thought that creating a little bit of headroom was appropriate.

是的。所以喬納森，我想說我們對公司的信心沒有改變。基於我們目前的預期，我們仍然認為4到4.5倍的本益比區間是合理的。但考慮到目前正處於投資週期的高峰期，我們認為留出一些上漲空間是合適的。

We constantly reevaluate our position. We'll continue to do that. But we continue to believe in the long-term trajectory of the business. We think the investments that we're making will deliver strong returns. And we know that maintaining the levered equity strategy, including sort of buybacks and leverage levels overall, is important to continuing to drive value.

我們會不斷重新評估自身立場，並將繼續這樣做。但我們始終對公司的長期發展前景充滿信心。我們相信，我們正在進行的投資將帶來豐厚的回報。我們也深知，維持槓桿股權策略，包括股票回購和整體槓桿水平，對於持續創造價值至關重要。

I would just add on -- just to add, Jessica said it, 0 lack of confidence. We have good, strong free cash flow today, have even growing free cash flow, and much more so as we get through these onetime investments. It's really -- as Jessica has already said, it's about making sure that we ensure the investment-grade structure we have. And that's important to us, it's important to our debt holders, and it's important to our equity holders as well.

我只想補充一點——就像傑西卡說的那樣，我們信心十足。我們目前的自由現金流強勁，而且還在不斷成長，隨著我們完成這些一次性投資，情況還會更好。正如傑西卡所說，關鍵在於確保我們維持現有的投資等級結構。這對我們、對我們的債權人和股東都至關重要。

And Chris, just a follow-up on that. Were the rating agencies sort of asking you to bring leverage lower in the range? And are there things that you could look -- that we could look for in the business that would make you feel comfortable to go back to the high end of the range over the course of the next few quarters?

克里斯，我再追問一下。評級機構是不是要求你降低槓桿？你覺得公司有哪些方面可以改進，讓你在未來幾季內有信心將槓桿率恢復到區間的高端？

Jonathan, we're in regular contact with all 3 of the ratings agencies. Certainly, I think that there has been some additional conversation across debt holders and the rating agencies, given the higher CapEx that we have in the business and the sort of short-term pressure that, that puts on free cash flow.

喬納森，我們與三家評級機構都保持著定期聯繫。當然，考慮到我們業務中較高的資本支出以及由此給自由現金流帶來的短期壓力，我認為債權人和評級機構之間肯定進行了一些額外的溝通。

And given sort of the tone of the broader market, you might have seen S&P issued a tearsheet at the end of last week that addressed ACP and the competitive environment. And I think their concerns are similar to those of equity holders, though they noted in there that they don't expect our ratings to change even though they might adjust their triggers somewhat. And even if our corporate family ratings were to change, they didn't expect any impact to the investment-grade rating.

鑑於整體市場基調，您可能已經注意到標普在上週末發布了一份報告，其中談到了ACP和競爭環境。我認為他們的擔憂與股東的擔憂類似，儘管他們在報告中指出，即使他們可能會對評級觸發條件進行一些調整，但預計我們的評級不會改變。即使我們的企業家族評級發生變化，他們也預計不會對投資級評級產生任何影響。

So we constantly communicate with them. I think that given where we are, it made sense for us to create a little bit of headroom. As I said, we constantly reevaluate. It's certainly possible that we could move back up in the range at some point in time, particularly as you think about sort of free cash flow growth coming back as the investments winds down.

所以我們一直與他們保持溝通。我認為，鑑於我們目前的處境，留出一些迴旋餘地是合理的。正如我所說，我們會不斷重新評估。當然，我們有可能在某個時候將預期收益率調高，尤其是在考慮到隨著投資逐步退出，自由現金流成長將會恢復的情況下。

And so I'd put that one to being responsive, and at the same time, given the current stock price, we want to do as much as we can within that responsiveness.

因此，我認為關鍵在於快速反應，同時，考慮到目前的股價，我們希望在快速反應的前提下盡可能採取行動。

Yes.

是的。

The next question comes from Craig Moffett at MoffettNathanson.

下一個問題來自 MoffettNathanson 公司的 Craig Moffett。

Chris, I want to -- maybe 2 questions. One broader sort of more strategic question and then just one clarification from Jessica. On the first one, you said something to me a while back that I've been thinking about, about the way you think about convergence. And you characterized the Spectrum One offer not really as an offer but sort of as a new product category.

克里斯，我想問兩個問題。一個是比較廣泛、更具策略性的問題，另一個是想請傑西卡澄清一下。關於第一個問題，你之前跟我說過一些關於融合的看法，我一直在思考。你當時把Spectrum One的產品描述成一種新的產品類別，而不是「產品」。

I wonder if you could just talk about that a little bit and particularly in the context of AT&T talking quite frequently about their converged offering in the portion of their footprint where they have it. T-Mobile now with their Lumos deal yesterday, obviously sort of searching around for a converged offering. How much of the market is actually going in that direction?

我想請您稍微談談這方面，特別是考慮到AT&T在其已覆蓋區域頻繁提及融合服務，以及T-Mobile昨天推出的Lumos服務，顯然他們也在尋求融合服務。究竟有多少市場正在朝這個方向發展？

And then, Jessica, just one minor clarification. Could you just let us know how much is left of wholesale in the business services market? So that we can understand when we might start to see the overall growth rate start to look more like the non-wholesale part of your business?

傑西卡，還有一個小問題需要澄清。您能否告知我們商業服務市場中批發業務還佔多大比例？這樣我們才能了解整體成長率何時才能開始更接近您公司非批發業務的成長率？

So Craig, I'll start on the first one on convergence. And I think the best way to do this is I spend a lot of time internally talking about it as well, is if I asked you 15 years ago, what's the speed of your Internet connection? You would have connected to the back of the computer in your kitchen, and that would have been it. And 10 years ago, it might have been, here it is on WiFi on my couch or out on the terrace.

克雷格，我先從融合這個主題開始。我認為最好的方法是，我自己也花了很多時間在思考這個問題。如果我15年前問你，你的網速是多少？你當時可能只是在廚房連著電腦，僅此而已。而10年前，你可能已經可以舒服地坐在沙發上，或是在露台上用WiFi上網了。

And today, if you're pulling out of the driveway and driving out and I say, "Who's your Internet provider right now?" You'd say, "I don't know, I don't care. It just has to work and it has to be fast." And if that's people's definition increasingly of what's broadband connectivity, then we're the only provider in our footprint that can provide that uniform, ubiquitous broadband Internet in a seamless connectivity way.

今天，如果你正開車駛出車道，我問你：「你現在用的是哪家網路供應商？」你可能會說：「我不知道，我不在乎。只要能用就行，速度要快。」如果這就是人們對寬頻連接日益增長的定義，那麼在我們服務範圍內，我們是唯一一家能夠以無縫連接的方式提供統一、無處不在的寬頻網路服務的供應商。

And so we have the Internet. We have the WiFi. Our 5G cellular is a backup service when Internet and WiFi isn't available. And over -- last we reported, it was 87% of our traffic was going over our WiFi and increasingly with CBRS.

所以我們有互聯網，也有WiFi。當網路和WiFi不可用時，我們的5G蜂窩網路作為備用服務。此外——根據我們上次報告，我們8​​7%的流量都透過WiFi傳輸，而且CBRS的使用率也不斷上升。

So 5G, interestingly, it's the backup radio. It's the slowest portion of our network. And when you put that all together in a way that I think we're uniquely capable of doing, we have the ability to offer something in the marketplace.

有趣的是，5G 是備用無線電技術，也是我們網路中速度最慢的部分。但當我們把所有這些要素以我們獨有的方式結合起來時，我們就能夠在市場上提供一些有價值的東西。

Now the challenge is that's not the way that it's been sold. It's not the way that customers think about it explicitly today in terms of how they purchase service. So there's an education challenge that's there in the way that we package, price and market that along the way. We'll have a meaningful impact.

現在的挑戰在於，這種銷售方式行不通。就如今客戶購買服務的方式而言，他們並沒有明確地這樣考慮。因此，我們在包裝、定價和行銷方面面臨教育方面的挑戰。我們將產生深遠的影響。

Another way of thinking about it is that mobile today, and in fact I would argue, always has been, is just an extension of an Internet connection. And is it really a product? Is mobile a product? Or is it just an extension? Because even in 15 years ago, it's really a wireline service going to a tower, and that was just extending the broadband connection. And today, we're doing that from WiFi inside the home, out on strand. And we have the ability to provide that service in a ubiquitous way that is competitive.

換個角度想，如今的行動通信，實際上我認為一直以來都是如此，它只是網路連線的延伸。那麼，它真的算是一種產品嗎？行動通訊究竟是產品，還是只是網路連線的延伸？因為即使在15年前，它本質上也是一條連接到基地台的有線服務，只是寬頻連線的擴展。而如今，我們可以透過家裡的WiFi，也可以在戶外海灘上實現同樣的功能。我們有能力以極具競爭力的方式，提供這種無所不在的服務。

And so Spectrum One, the idea is how do you educate the market and try to get the purchase habits to change in a different way. And over time, is mobile really a product? And testing and pushing the limits in the market, I think we have something here that's a competitive advantage, and it just may take a little bit of time to fully flesh its way out.

所以Spectrum One的理念是，如何教育市場，並試著改變人們的購買習慣。隨著時間的推移，行動裝置真的算是一種產品嗎？透過測試和突破市場極限，我認為我們找到了一種競爭優勢，只是可能需要一些時間才能完全成熟。

But we are that service provider today, not only to ourselves, but we're actually providing that backhaul service to foreign cellular devices on our WiFi routers today. And we are the backhaul and the backbone of almost all cellular traffic. So it just puts a unique opportunity for us to capitalize on that in the future.

但我們如今就是這樣的服務供應商，不僅為我們自己提供服務，實際上，我們現在還透過我們的WiFi路由器為國外的蜂窩設備提供回程服務。我們幾乎是所有蜂巢流量的回程連結和骨幹網路。因此，這為我們未來充分利用這項優勢創造了獨特的機會。

Craig, on the other side, wholesale is a little less than 20% of overall enterprise revenues.

克雷格則表示，批發業務佔企業總收入的不到 20%。

And the piece of that, the piece that's pulling that is really cell tower backhaul...

而真正運作的，是基地台回程鏈路…

Yes, and that's really a little less than half of that piece.

是的，那還不到那件作品的一半。

Right. So the traditional wholesale is relatively steady, and it's the cell tower backhaul that's in systemic decline, if you will.

沒錯。所以傳統的批發業務相對穩定，而手機基地台回傳業務卻系統性地衰退。

The next question comes from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的布萊恩‧克拉夫特。

I had 2 if I could. First, Jessica, related to free cash flow. I was wondering if you could size for us the onetime payment in the first quarter that impacted free cash flow. And also if you could help us understand how you're thinking about working capital usage this year.

如果可以的話，我想問兩個問題。首先，Jessica，是關於自由現金流的。我想請你幫我們估算一下第一季那筆影響自由現金流的一次性付款。另外，能否請你幫我們了解一下你今年是如何規劃營運資金使用的？

And then, Chris, just on network neutrality. I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on the SEC's recent reinstituting of net neutrality rules. Any concerns with the rules? Do they impact the way you're running the business in any way, whether it's on the home broadband or on mobile side?

克里斯，關於網路中立性，我想請教一下您對美國證券交易委員會（SEC）最近重新實施網路中立性規則的看法。您對這些規則有什麼擔憂嗎？它們是否會以任何方式影響您的業務運營，無論是家庭寬頻還是行動網路？

Yes. So Bryan, the onetime payment that impacted free cash flow on the order of $150 million to $180 million, in that range. And then from a working capital perspective, Q1 is always for us a negative working capital quarter. And I fully expect that we'll sort of make back to close to flat over the course of the year the negative working capital that we had. Excluding working capital, excluding the mobile device or the mobile side in the first quarter. Obviously, mobile continues to be a drag on working capital because of the device sales, and so you should expect that piece to continue.

是的。布萊恩，那筆一次性付款對自由現金流的影響大約在1.5億至1.8億美元之間。從營運資本的角度來看，第一季對我們來說通常是營運資本為負的季度。我完全預期，我們今年的營運資本負值能夠基本恢復到接近持平的水平。這裡指的是不包括第一季行動裝置業務的營運資本。顯然，由於設備銷售，行動裝置業務仍會拖累營運資本，所以預期這部分影響還會持續。

Bryan, on the net neutrality, I'd start from the get go. We don't -- the key concern isn't net neutrality. The concern is the Title II regime. We've -- we don't block. We don't do paid prioritization. We don't throttle, and we don't even have data caps. We believe that customers should have unlimited usage of the service that they're paying for.

布萊恩，關於網路中立性，我想從頭說起。我們——關鍵問題不在於網路中立性，而是第二章的規定。我們不封鎖網絡，不提供付費優先服務，不限速，甚至沒有流量上限。我們認為，客戶應該享有他們付費服務的無限使用權。

The question has really been around Title II and what that brings, things around forbearance on rate regulation, the additional unintended consequences of where that can lead to on regulation for a product that, without regulation, is that type of regulation has been very successful to delivering tremendous value for consumers over a couple of decades now.

問題實際上一直圍繞著第二章及其內容，圍繞著對利率監管的寬容，以及這種寬容可能導致的額外意外後果，即對一種產品進行監管，而這種監管在過去二十多年裡已經非常成功地為消費者帶來了巨大的價值。

I would say that where we're at in the Title II debate with the FCC, there's 0 surprise. It's exactly where everybody thought we would be, and we're going to continue to go through that process. Unfortunately, it seems like over many years as this kind of works its way probably back to a court at this stage. And then hopefully, over time, we can get a standard set by Congress that puts this to bed once and for all. That's always been the hope. But I don't think Title II is the right way to regulate the things that we're already doing well.

我認為，就目前與聯邦通訊委員會（FCC）就第二章（Title II）問題進行的辯論而言，我們目前的進展完全在意料之中。這完全符合所有人的預期，我們將繼續推進這個過程。不幸的是，隨著時間的推移，這個問題似乎會持續很多年，最終可能又會回到法庭上。希望隨著時間的推移，國會能夠制定一個標準，徹底解決這個問題。這始終是我們的願望。但我認為，第二章並不是監管我們目前已經做得很好的事情的正確方式。

The next question comes from Michael Rollins at Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

Two questions. First, with respect to the residential broadband ARPU performance, can you unpack the benefit in the quarter from the Spectrum One promotions rolling off? And how the potential benefit of this in terms of size can move through the year as more customers start getting back to maybe the normal course rate levels?

兩個問題。首先，關於住宅寬頻ARPU表現，您能否分析Spectrum One促銷活動結束本季用戶營收的提升效果？隨著更多用戶恢復正常資費水平，這種提昇效果在全年範圍內又將如何變化？

And then just secondly, in the press release for quite some time now, you noted customers, and I hope I'm framing this right, that are broadband subscribers where there may have been some suspension of collections for other Charter services. And I'm curious what happens to those customers if ACP is discontinued? And do those disclosures provide any insight on how to quantify potential customer risk or churn risk if this program is discontinued?

其次，在先前的新聞稿中，您多次提到一些客戶（我希望我的表述正確），這些客戶是寬頻用戶，他們之前可能會暫停收取其他Charter服務的費用。我想知道，如果ACP計畫終止，這些客戶會受到怎樣的影響？您所揭露的資訊是否能幫助我們量化如果該計劃終止可能帶來的客戶風險或流失風險？

Yes. So starting on the first one on the Internet ARPU. The Spectrum One allocation was 70 basis points of drag year-over-year on our net ARPU growth in the quarter. So the GAAP Internet ARPU increased by 1.7%. It would have been 2.4% excluding the mobile allocation for free lines. Generally, I would expect that the gap in those 2 growth rates should narrow over the course of the year because the base of free lines becomes more stable given promotional roll-off.

是的。首先來看互聯網ARPU。 Spectrum One的分配導致本季淨ARPU年減70個基點。因此，GAAP互聯網ARPU成長了1.7%。如果排除免費線路的行動分配，成長率將達到2.4%。一般來說，我預期隨著促銷活動結束，免費線路基數趨於穩定，這兩個成長率之間的差距將在年內逐漸縮小。

However, I talked about that we are offering all of our ACP customers a free mobile line for a year. And depending on the level of success of that program, if we did see a reacceleration in the number of free lines, the gap between those 2 things could widen again.

不過，我提到過，我們為所有ACP客戶提供一年的免費手機號碼。如果這項計劃的成功程度，例如免費號碼數量再次加速成長，那麼這兩者之間的差距可能會再次擴大。

Talking about what you see inside of the footnote and the aging. So we have had a process over time where we save customers into ACP. So if there was a customer who took multiple lines of business, say they were an Internet and video customer, and they were paying us. And then went into a non-pay status but they were eligible for ACP.

談談腳註裡的內容以及客戶老化問題。我們一直以來都有一套流程，將客戶資訊保留到「年度客戶保護計畫」（ACP）。例如，如果某個客戶同時訂購了多種服務，例如網路和視訊服務，並且一直在付費。後來他/她停止了付費，但仍然符合「年度客戶保護計畫」（ACP）的資格。

Or in it, in most cases.

或者在大多數情況下，它就在其中。

Or already in ACP. What we would do would be to downgrade the customer to an Internet-only product that was fully covered by the ACP subsidy, which enabled them to continue their Internet service. But then they would no longer have whatever the additional services were that were on their accounts. We have held those balances, though they're fully reserved. So they're sitting in receivables, but they're also sort of fully written off already in the bad debt reserve process.

或已經納入ACP計劃。我們將客戶的服務降級為僅限網路存取的產品，該產品完全由ACP補貼覆蓋，這樣他們就可以繼續使用網路服務。但這樣一來，他們帳戶上的其他附加服務就無法使用了。我們保留了這些款項，儘管它們已被全額提列準備金。所以這些款項雖然仍在應收帳款中，但實際上已經在壞帳準備流程中被完全核銷了。

But you're correct that numerically inside of the footnote, then you can see the base of customers who at some point in the past went into a non-pay process but have had their bill fully subsidized by ACP for some period of time.

但你說的沒錯，從腳註中的數字可以看出，過去曾一度進入欠費流程，但 ACP 在一段時間內全額補貼了其賬單的客戶群。

And if you think about it just from a customer perspective and how we were trying to be responsive to the government request, we wanted to make sure that these customers entering into collection cycle on video or phone didn't somehow suppress their ability to continue to receive the ACP benefit and continue to receive connectivity. And it's -- that's a classic example of the base of customers that we're going to work through, as I talked about from a collection cycle. And do the right thing for those customers to do everything we can to make sure that they stay connected to Internet over time. But there's challenges there.

如果僅從客戶的角度來看，考慮到我們努力回應政府的要求，我們希望確保這些透過視訊或電話進入催收流程的客戶不會因此而失去繼續享受ACP福利和網路連線的能力。正如我剛才提到的催收流程，這正是我們將要處理的客戶群的典型例子。我們將盡一切努力確保這些客戶能夠長期保持網路連接，為他們提供應有的服務。但這其中也存在一些挑戰。

And are you choosing to implement the ACP wind-down at the end of April? Or are you planning to go through mid-May with your customers?

您是選擇在四月底結束ACP計畫？還是計畫讓客戶一直使用到五月中旬？

We'll go through the month of May with a partial ACP in accordance with what the government outlined. It's going to be a partial credit of $14, and we've agreed to make it $15 just to round it and make it clear to -- and fair to customers. So that's what we'll do inside of May.

五月我們將依照政府的規定，實施部分ACP（年度消費補貼計畫）。補貼金額為14美元，為了方便理解和公平起見，我們同意將其四捨五入到15美元。這就是我們五月的計畫。

The next question comes from Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Vijay Jayant。

Chris, given your focus on improving the video consumer proposition, I think you have a pretty substantial programming contract coming up very shortly. And what [you sort of saw] with the Disney agreement. Can you just talk about, is there a big [opportunity] there to sort of resize your programming costs associated with that sort of portfolio of channels?

克里斯，鑑於你一直致力於提升視訊消費者的體驗，我認為你很快就會有一份相當重要的節目製作合約到期。你從與迪士尼的合作協議中看到了什麼？你能否談談，這其中是否蘊藏著調整與該頻道組合相關的節目製作成本的巨大機會？

And second, I saw that your buyback authorization is somewhere around the $260 million. Is that something that's going to be re-upped?

其次，我注意到你們的股票回購授權額度在2.6億美元左右。這項授權會續期嗎？

So on the first question, the connection was a little off, and so we're going to sell you a Spectrum Mobile after this call here.

第一個問題的通話有點問題，所以這通電話結束後，我們將向您推銷 Spectrum Mobile 的服務。

But the -- so I'm going to want to take the liberty of answering the question I think you asked. Look, we don't get into detail on individual programming renewals, and we've been generally very successful at getting renewals throughout the years. That's always our goal.

但是──所以我想冒昧地回答一下你提出的問題。你看，我們不詳細討論個別節目的續訂情況，而且這些年來，我們在續訂方面總體上都非常成功。這始終是我們的目標。

Our goal, though, is to really make sure that, first and foremost, that we really change the model so that we, once again, create value for customers. That starts with not asking them to pay twice for the same product, which is the debate that we've had historically and where we set a new model.

不過，我們的首要目標是真正改變現有模式，再次為客戶創造價值。這首先要從不讓客戶為同一產品支付兩次費用開始——這正是我們過去一直爭論不休的問題，也是我們制定新模式的起點。

But it also means approaching the marketplace in all of our deal renewals and saying, "Look, we've got to fight for the customer." And if they have a path to get a product that's equivalent or in some cases, even better for a lower price, we should just be selling that product, and that's the way that we should go to market.

但這也意味著，在所有續約談判中，我們都要面向市場說：「我們必須為客戶而戰。」如果他們能以更低的價格買到同等甚至更好的產品，我們就應該銷售那種產品，這才是我們應該進入市場的方式。

And we can have that ability to do traditional linear hybrid. We can sell DTCs. We can sell them in a bundle. We have 25,000 in-house sales representatives in sales and retention. And so we have a workforce that's very capable of being a distribution engine for linear hybrid, DTC. And we have a large base of broadband customers, none surpassing us, that we can use that's unique. And we want to do that in a way that creates value for consumers.

我們有能力提供傳統的線性混合寬頻服務。我們可以銷售直接面向消費者的寬頻產品，也可以將它們捆綁銷售。我們有25,000名內部銷售代表，負責銷售和客戶維繫工作。因此，我們擁有一支非常有能力成為線性混合寬頻和直接面向消費者寬頻分銷引擎的團隊。此外，我們還擁有龐大的寬頻客戶群，其規模無人能及，這是我們獨有的優勢。我們希望以一種能為消費者創造價值的方式來實現這一切。

I think as we've approached the marketplace in what is a different way, it creates consternation because it's something very different. But our goal here is really to create a video ecosystem that works for customers and providing utility and value. Again, utility through Xumo and value through our ability to package in different ways that meets the customers' needs at a fair price. And ultimately, while it may be painful along the way, actually creates value again for programmers and distributors and recreates a video ecosystem that works for everybody.

我認為，我們以一種不同的方式進入市場，這引起了一些擔憂，因為它確實與眾不同。但我們的目標是真正打造一個對顧客有益的視訊生態系統，提供實用性和價值。實用性體現在Xumo上，價值則體現在我們能夠以合理的價格提供滿足顧客需求的各種打包方式。最終，儘管這個過程可能會有些陣痛，但它實際上會再次為節目製作人和發行商創造價值，並重建一個對所有人都有益的視訊生態系統。

And so we're not approaching this from a way of just trying to save money. We're just trying to actually create value for customers by either adding more product so that the price they pay is worth it or saving them money because they wanted to package anyway. And we can do that in a way in a lower churn environment for the benefit of programmers, and that just takes a little bit to get through.

因此，我們並非僅僅為了省錢而採取這種方式。我們只是想透過增加產品種類，使價格物有所值，或為他們省錢（因為他們本來就需要打包購買），從而真正為客戶創造價值。我們可以在客戶流失率較低的環境下做到這一點，這對程式設計師也有好處，但這需要一些時間來適應。

But our goals here are really to recreate a video ecosystem that works for everybody. Today, it doesn't. It's been broken, and it's been broken for a while. And I think that we had the first time in maybe 2 decades where we can do something where we have a product that we're proud to put on our Internet bill at some point soon.

但我們真正的目標是重建一個對所有人都適用的視訊生態系統。如今，它並非如此。它已經崩潰，而且崩潰已久。我認為，或許近二十年來，我們第一次有機會打造出一款我們引以為傲的產品，並期待它能早日出現在我們的網路帳單上。

And that really is, when we talked about it last year, is the balance of, on one hand, our bundled customers churn less. And so a high-quality video product has always been an asset. But when the rate continues to go up and the value goes down and it's being sold around customers and ask them to pay twice, then it becomes a liability on the Internet broadband bill. And then I think we need to rethink the way that what we're selling for video and how it actually creates value for customers or not.

去年我們討論過這個問題，關鍵在於平衡。一方面，捆綁式套餐的客戶流失率較低。因此，高品質的視訊產品一直都是一項優勢。但如果價格不斷上漲，價值卻不斷下降，而且還要向客戶推銷，讓他們支付雙倍費用，那麼它就會成為網路寬頻帳單上的負擔。我認為，我們需要重新思考我們銷售視訊服務的方式，以及它是否真正為客戶創造了價值。

So that's where we've been. And I'm confident we're going to continue to make progress in this space.

這就是我們目前所取得的進展。我相信我們將繼續在這個領域取得進步。

On the buyback authorization side. I'm going to make sure we answer that question. The authorization as of the end of the quarter, as you pointed out, is a little bit lower than what you would typically see. There are multiple mechanisms by which that gets renewed, and we have increased the buyback authorization since that point in time. And just because of the readthrough to that, I want to be really clear that we expect to be able to maintain our buybacks over the course of the year even as we delever. So you should not read that through as any sort of sign about the direction of the program.

關於股票回購授權方面，我會確保我們解答這個問題。正如您所指出的，截至季度末，授權額度略低於通常水準。我們透過多種機制來續簽授權，而且自那時以來，我們已經提高了回購授權額度。有鑑於此，我想特別強調，即使在我們降低槓桿的過程中，我們也預期能夠維持全年的股票回購規模。因此，您不應將此解讀為對該計劃方向的任何暗示。

Operator, we'll take our last question, please.

接線員，我們最後一個問題請問。

The last question will come from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

最後一個問題將由富國銀行的史蒂文·卡哈爾提出。

So Chris, earlier, you said you're confident in returning to long-term growth, and you spoke a lot about the overbuilding activity that you're seeing. I think the challenge many of us have is when we pencil that out and kind of think about penetration of fiber and then we look at your passings growth and think about penetration as well, it's just tough to see when things return to growth on the subscriber side, maybe ex rural. So I was wondering if you could just give us any thinking as to your color and timing when we might start to see subscriber growth reaccelerate to a positive level.

克里斯，你之前說過你對恢復長期成長充滿信心，也多次提到目前網路建設過度的情況。我認為我們許多人面臨的挑戰是，當我們仔細分析光纖普及率，再看看你提到的用戶成長情況，並考慮普及率時，很難看出用戶何時成長才能恢復，尤其是在農村地區以外。所以我想請你談談你對用戶成長何時可能重新加速到正成長水準的看法。

And then Jessica, just picking up on Bryan's question. You talked about maybe mobile being a bit of drag in working capital this year. So as you start to do the ACP lines for mobile, could that accelerate the drag for mobile working capital on handsets? Or do you not expect the customers to necessarily be acquiring new handsets?

潔西卡，我接著布萊恩的問題問一下。你提到今年行動業務可能會對營運資金造成一定拖累。那麼，隨著你開始對行動業務進行ACP（年度現金流計畫）調整，這會不會加劇手機業務對營運資金的拖累？還是你認為客戶不一定會購買新手機？

So I'm not going to provide a detailed timeline for the timing to reaccelerate, just because I want to be conservative and recognize that it's a very fluid space. I mean, clearly, we have ACP going on right now, which is going to be a onetime hit. You have cell phone Internet where they will reach capacity, and the timing of that isn't entirely clear. And then there's fiber upgrades, which have been announced and are pretty far along from what was actually announced.

所以，我不會給出重啟的具體時間表，因為我想保持謹慎，也意識到這是一個瞬息萬變的領域。我的意思是，很明顯，我們目前正在進行ACP項目，這將是一次性的。還有行動互聯網，它們的容量終將達到極限，具體時間尚不完全清楚。此外，還有光纖升級，雖然已經宣布，但實際進展與最初宣布的相差甚遠。

So I think if you put that all together, though, and flip it and say, well, get past ACP, and the pace of fiber upgrades is relatively stable, and I think over time should actually start to decline. Cell phone Internet will run out of capacity, and you're already starting to see some signs of some of that paring back, all of which bodes well.

所以我覺得，如果把所有這些因素綜合起來，反過來想想，ACP項目過去之後，光纖升級的速度相對穩定，而且我認為隨著時間的推移，速度實際上應該會開始放緩。手機網路容量終將飽和，而且我們已經開始看到一些縮減的跡象，所有這些都預示著好兆頭。

And then you combine that with the fact that when you look at our -- the quality of our Internet product, in 100% of the market, particularly and even more so in those that don't have a gig overlap, which is about half. And then you combine that with the unique ability to provide a very attractively priced mobile product that's actually the fastest mobile product in the business simply because it largely rides on our gigabit wireless infrastructure, we have a structural advantage for now and many years to come, not only just on quality, but the ability to save customers hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

再加上我們網路產品在市場上的卓越品質，尤其是在那些沒有千兆網路覆蓋的市場（約佔一半）中，我們的產品優勢更加顯著。此外，我們還擁有獨特的優勢，能夠提供價格極具吸引力的行動產品，而且這款產品實際上是業界速度最快的行動產品，這主要得益於我們強大的千兆無線基礎設施。這些優勢不僅體現在產品品質上，更體現在能夠為客戶節省數百甚至數千美元的能力上，因此，無論現在還是未來多年，我們都擁有結構性優勢。

And so I sit back and look at that and say, it isn't a question of if. It's just a question of when. And as some of these short-term pressures pare back, that's when you'll start to see it turn.

所以，我冷靜下來分析，覺得這不是會不會發生的問題，而是何時發生的問題。隨著一些短期壓力的緩解，情況就會開始好轉。

Honestly, we haven't been the best at predicting the exact timing of that. And so I said last quarter, we owned that. And so I want to be careful that I'm not overextending ourselves here either. But I think it's more important just to take a step back and look at what is the product we have, what's the network capabilities we have. It's only getting better.

說實話，我們一直不太會預測具體時間。就像我上個季度說的，我們承認這一點。所以我也想謹慎一些，避免過度擴張。但我認為更重要的是退一步，檢視一下我們現有的產品和網路能力。它們只會越來越好。

If you then tack on to that the rural passings, that you mentioned ex rural, so I did that ex rural. But if you add on to that the subsidized rural passings where it's just math in terms of the penetration, the net additions that we're going to get on the back of that investment, I still think the future's very, very bright for Charter.

如果你再加上你提到的農村地區乘車人數（不包括農村地區），我的確也把農村地區的乘車人數排除在外了。但如果你再加上政府補貼的農村地區乘車人數，從滲透率和投資帶來的淨增乘車人數來看，這完全可以用數學來計算，我仍然認為Charter的未來非常光明。

On the mobile working capital side, so you point out, without a doubt, the drag on working capital is driven by the number of phones or other mobile devices that you sell subject to EIP notes. And so if we were to end up with additional devices because of having additional mobile customers as a result of our work on ACP or if we end up with some additional devices because of the Anytime Upgrade program, which is also possible, there could be some acceleration in that drag.

關於行動端營運資金方面，正如您所指出的，毫無疑問，營運資金的拖累取決於您銷售的受 EIP 票據約束的手機或其他行動裝置的數量。因此，如果我們因為 ACP 專案的工作而增加了行動客戶，最終導致設備數量增加，或者因為 Anytime Upgrade 計劃（這也有可能）而增加了設備數量，那麼營運資金的拖累可能會加劇。

What I would tell you on the other side of that is, as we've been building our mobile business, we haven't taken advantage of some of the financing options that are available for us related to having those EIP notes as part of our overall asset stack. And it hasn't yet made sense for a wide variety of reasons, including just sort of building the scale for a program like that to make sense.

另一方面，我想說的是，在我們發展行動業務的過程中，我們還沒有充分利用一些與EIP票據相關的融資方案，這些票據可以作為我們整體資產組合的一部分。這主要是由於各種原因，包括目前還無法達到實施此類計劃所需的規模。

So I think it's also possible that we could offset some of that drag in working capital by working through some of those financing mechanisms. And certainly, as we've been building, I think we're reaching a size at which that becomes a more viable option.

所以我認為，我們也可以透過一些融資機制來抵銷部分營運資金的壓力。當然，隨著公司規模的擴大，我認為我們已經達到了一個更大的規模，屆時融資將成為更可行的選擇。

Good. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining the call. And look forward to talking to you again on the next one.

好的。謝謝大家參加這次電話會議。期待下次再和大家交流。

Thanks, operator.

謝謝接線生。