(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 第一季投資者電話會議。 （操作員說明）另外，提醒一下，今天正在錄製本次會議。如果您有任何異議，請此時斷開連接。

I will now turn the call over to Stefan Anninger.

我現在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.

謝謝運營商，歡迎大家。本次電話會議的簡報可以在我們的網站 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.

我想提醒您，我們向 SEC 提交的文件中包含許多風險因素和其他警示性聲明，我們鼓勵您仔細閱讀。我們在本次電話會議上發表的各種有關期望、預測、計劃和前景的言論均構成前瞻性陳述，這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與歷史或預期結果不同。任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，查特不承擔修改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.

出席今天的電話會議的有我們的總裁兼執行長 Chris Winfrey；和我們的財務長傑西卡·費雪。這樣，我們就把電話轉給克里斯。

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，我們失去了 72,000 名網路客戶。儘管網路銷售額下降，但我們仍增加了近 50 萬條 Spectrum Mobile 線路，比去年同期增加了近 230 萬條線路。目前，我們的行動線路總數已超過 820 萬條。由於網路客戶和流量的行動滲透率仍然較低，我們擁有全國最快的行動服務和令人難以置信的價值，因此客戶和財務成長還有很長的路要走。

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.

本季營收相對持平，而調整後 EBITDA 成長 2.8%。在第一季度，我們的網路客戶成長仍然受到低行動和普遍低活動環境的挑戰，加上至少在短期內持續加劇的競爭，以及由於 ACP 可用性中斷而導致低收入連接減少的小影響。客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.

電話互聯網繼續爭奪總增量，並在我們的足跡範圍內擴大了其潛在市場。我們對恢復健康長期成長的能力仍然充滿信心。我們的網路產品更快、更可靠。當同樣與行動裝置捆綁時，我們的定價較低。隨著客戶頻寬的成長，手機公司將面臨容量挑戰。

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，有線線路過度建設活動繼續以類似的速度進行。考慮到我們融合產品的價值，我們拒絕追逐過度建設者提供的一些不太合理的促銷優惠。

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，我們的差異化融合連接產品具有卓越的速度，可以為客戶節省資金，而視訊產品可以為客戶增加價值和實用性，為我們提供顯著的競爭優勢和成長平台隨著時間的推移，客戶、滲透率、EBITDA 和自由現金流。

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.

在網路中，數據使用量持續成長，對更快速度的需求也隨之成長。第一季度，不向我們購買傳統影片的網路客戶每月使用近 800 GB。現在，我們在第一個高分頻市場中提供 300 兆、500 兆和 1 兆的對稱速度。

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，我們將開始利用分散式存取架構技術啟動下一波市場。完成後，我們將能夠在這些市場提供每秒 5 x 1 吉比特的速度，並具有更好的網路效能。下一階段的市場將升級到10×1吉比特每秒的速度並能夠按需提供光纖。

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，我們將在這些升級後的市場中看到更低的聯繫率和上門服務，從而實現更低的成本和更優質的產品。我們預計在 2026 年完成我們的網路演進計劃，每次增量成本僅略高於 100 美元，不包括該項目帶來的營運和資本節省的好處。

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.

我們的行動產品也在不斷發展和改進。本月早些時候，我們開始在 Unlimited Plus 產品中向客戶提供隨時升級服務。隨時升級允許新的和現有的 Unlimited Plus 客戶隨時升級他們的手機，消除了傳統的等待時間、升級費用和條件要求。我們是第一家將這種自由度納入費率計劃的行動提供商。我們最近也推出了新的維修和更換計劃，每月只需 5 美元。隨時升級（Unlimited Plus 的一部分）以及我們的維修和更換計劃都是有利可圖的。

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 在其一周年之後仍然表現出色，並透過行動速度提升和跨 Android 和 iOS 裝置與 Spectrum Mobile 網路的無縫連接等差異化功能提供最快的連接。

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很大的發展空間。如今，只有不到 8% 的人流使用我們的網路和行動融合產品。儘管我們在促銷和零售方面擁有差異化和優質的產品以及市場領先的定價，但滲透率仍然不足。從資金角度來看，我們目前所花費的住宅行動和網路資金佔不到 30%。移動將成為未來 EBITDA 和現金流的重要推動力，而推動整體客戶關係成長的能力尚未開發。

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，談談我們視訊產品的演變。我們現在透過Xumo 提供獨特的現代用戶體驗，在一台設備上提供線性和直接面向消費者的內容，並結合包裝和定價選項，為FAST、SVOD、直接面向消費者的應用程式提供選擇、價值和實用性和線性視訊服務。

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.

1 月份，Disney+ 向全國所有 Spectrum TV Select 客戶免費開放，ESPN+ 於 3 月向 Select Plus 客戶推出。 ViX、西班牙文 DTC 產品和區域運動 DTC 產品也將在各自的套餐中免費提供給客戶。

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.

我們預計我們的混合 DTC 線性模型將於明年全面部署。我們將能夠透過完全捆綁的混合服務、基於類型的套餐、向我們的寬頻客戶銷售 DTC 點菜服務以及可能捆綁的 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.

一月底，我們推出了 Spectrum TV Stream 套餐，這是一個 90 個頻道的非體育綜合娛樂套餐，每月價格為 40 美元。 TV Stream 以極具吸引力的價格提供派拉蒙、華納兄弟探索頻道、迪士尼、福斯和 A&E 等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，雖然視訊業務顯然面臨壓力，但我們相信，跨所有形式的視訊、管道的靈活且價格有吸引力的包裝選項，在更順暢的環境中整合到現代用戶界面中，可以為我們的客戶在生態系統中重新創造價值，程式設計師和發行商。

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，當我們退後一步時，我們清楚地認識到一些短期的市場挑戰，並且我們抓住了成為更好的運營商的機會，在我們的市場進入和效率計劃中不遺餘力。同時，我們正在快速開發一種獨特的融合產品，該產品可以透過有競爭力的投資週期來增加 EBITDA。從長遠來看，我們的網路和客戶需求產品、定價和包裝能力、我們的服務基礎設施以及我們今天正在進行的相關投資為永續成長和價值創造奠定了基礎。

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

然後，我會將電話轉給傑西卡。

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。讓我們看一下投影片 5 上的客戶結果。在行動領域，我們新增了 486,000 條行動線路。有線語音客戶減少了 27.9 萬。我們的行動產品持續表現良好。儘管我們看到行動總增加量較去年同期下降與網路總增加量下降相關，但我們也看到整體行動流失率年比和季減。

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.

在 2023 年第一季註冊 Spectrum One 產品的客戶在上個季度迎來了 12 個月週年紀念。與上季類似，這些促銷活動並沒有導致網路用戶流失。事實上，我們的網路流失率也逐年下降。因此，正如我們一直期望的那樣，Spectrum One 產品線表現良好，我們的融合產品推動了更高的行動銷售額和更長的客戶生命週期。

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.

轉向農村。本季結束時，我們為 493,000 人次農村通行提供補貼。在過去 12 個月裡，我們的傳球人數增加了 324,000 人，第一季增加了 73,000 人。與第四季度相比略有放緩，正如我們指出的那樣，鑑於冬季施工季節性，這將是我們最後一次通話。滲透率成長持續超出我們的預期，我們補貼的農村地區的客戶成長有所增加，本季淨增加了 35,000 名客戶。我們繼續預計到 2024 年將啟動約 45 萬個新的農村補貼通行證，比 2023 年增加約 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.

我們也繼續預計 RDOF 建設將於 2026 年底完成，比原計劃提前 2 年。 RDOF 和 ARPA 計劃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透過 NTIA 審查流程發揮作用。我們預計有些州將擁有有利於私人投資的監管環境，而有些州則不會。我們將嚴格遵守我們的投資方法，並持續期望能夠獲得一些具有適當投資回報率的機會。

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.

在討論我們的財務表現之前，我想先就平價連結計畫發表一些評論。對於該計劃在全國範圍內的 2300 萬受益者以及我們獲得補貼的 500 萬互聯網客戶來說，現在看來不太可能續訂 ACP。我們將盡一切努力維持與 ​​ACP 補貼接受者的關係，並希望將他們中的絕大多數人保留為客戶。我們有多種方法來幫助那些可能失去 ACP 補貼的人，包括我們的 Spectrum Internet Assist 計劃和 Internet 100 產品。我們也為所有 ACP 客戶提供為期 1 年的免費行動電話線路。

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 產品的成功表明，我們可以透過為消費者節省數百甚至數千美元的行動帳單來建立長期的整合連結客戶。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或超過他們目前收到的 30 美元 ACP 補貼的福利。

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 接收者都是網路客戶。我們的絕大多數 ACP 客戶也為他們的網路服務自付費用。最終，我們將失去一些客戶，我們的網路 ARPU 和壞帳費用可能會暫時受到壓力，但我們預計對 Charter 的影響將主要限於今年第二和第三季。我們將在季度報告中提供這些影響的透明度。

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.

轉向第一季財務業績，從幻燈片 6 開始。由於非視訊客戶組合增加以及我們基地內低價視訊套餐的增長，每個客戶關係的住宅收入同比下降 0.1%，但大部分被促銷費率上調、費率調整和 Spectrum Mobile 的增長所抵消。如投影片 6 所示，住宅收入總計較去年同期下降 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.

轉向商業。 SMB 收入年減 0.3%，反映出每位 SMB 客戶的每月 SMB 收入較低，這主要是由於低價視訊套餐的組合增多以及每個 SMB 客戶的語音線路數量減少。這些因素被 SMB 客戶較去年同期成長 0.2% 略微抵銷。

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%.

在企業 PSU 年成長 6.9% 的推動下，企業營收年增 3.8%。剔除所有批發收入，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.

由於政治收入成長，第一季廣告收入年增 10%。核心廣告收入較去年同期基本持平。

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量的成長。整體而言，第一季綜合營收年增 0.2%，不計廣告則較去年同期下降 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.

轉向幻燈片 7 上的營運費用和調整後 EBITDA。由於視訊客戶年減 8%，以及更輕量的影片套餐組合增多，節目製作成本較去年同期下降 8.2%。這些因素被較高的編程率部分抵消。 2024 年第一季的節目製作成本包括約 3,000 萬美元的有利調整，而去年同期為 5,000 萬美元。

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%.

其他收入成本成長 9.8%，主要受到行動服務直接成本和行動裝置銷售增加的推動。為支援 Spectrum Mobile 成長而進行的額外活動以及較高的壞帳費用，為客戶服務的成本同比基本持平，但大部分被每個客戶的服務交易量下降所抵消，包括 10 年投資的生產力。銷售和行銷成本下降了 2.7%，主要是由於勞動力成本下降，部分原因是連接量下降。最後，其他費用增加了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%。扣除廣告費用後，EBITDA 年增 2.2%。展望未來，我們的目標是實現穩健的 EBITDA 成長，我們相信即使我們在業務上進行了大量投資、面臨充滿挑戰的競爭環境並達到 ACP 計劃可能結束的情況下，我們也能做到這一點。

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到互聯網 ARPU 成長和不斷增長的行動客戶群的支持。此外，隨著業務規模的擴大，行動業務對 EBITDA 的貢獻不斷提高。我們也完成了對員工基礎的重大投資，因此相關的 EBITDA 拖累應該大部分已經過去了。

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，我們繼續謹慎管理整個業務的支出。雖然我們不會做任何會影響我們的銷售或服務能力的事情，但本季的客戶服務成本以及銷售和行銷費用結果證明了我們提高業務效率的能力。

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.

在第二季度，我們將面臨一些艱難的費用比較，特別是在其他費用以及 ACP 不利因素方面。因此，雖然我們第二季的 EBITDA 成長將放緩，但我們的費用管理流程顯然正在發揮作用。鑑於我們的費用管理措施、Spectrum One 促銷活動和政治廣告收入，今年下半年的財務成長應該會加速。

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.

轉向幻燈片8 中的淨利潤。較高的收入所抵銷）稅收和利息支出。

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.

轉向投影片 9。在我們的農村建設補貼計劃以及住宅和商業綠地和市場填補機會增加的推動下，線路延伸總額達 10 億美元，比去年增加 6,900 萬美元。

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（不包括線路延伸）總計18 億美元，而2023 年第一季為16 億美元，原因是升級、重建（主要是網路演進）支出增加，以及購買Xumo Stream 盒子導致的CPE 支出增加。對於 2024 年全年，我們仍然預計資本支出總額將在 122 億美元至 124 億美元之間，其中包括約 45 億美元的線路延伸支出和約 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.

轉向幻燈片 10 上的自由現金流。下降的主要原因是資本支出和 2024 年第一季一次性結算付款的增加，部分被營運資本同比不太不利的變化和調整後 EBITDA 的較高所抵消。

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.

本季結束時，我們的債務本金為 978 億美元。我們目前的年化現金利息運作率為 52 億美元。鑑於我們的長期債務結構和 85% 的固定利率，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，那麼對我們的營運利率利息支出的影響將低於 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，我們的淨負債與過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的比率為 4.41 倍，較上季及年比均較低。我們預計將繼續這一趨勢，到今年年底將接近 4 至 4.5 倍目標槓桿範圍的中間位置。

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.

我們仍然完全致力於維持我們的分割評級債務結構，包括進入投資等級市場，因為它為我們所有的資本提供者帶來了巨大的好處。我們仍然對業務的長期發展充滿信心。我們相信，我們的槓桿股權策略（包括股票回購）與我們在業務中進行的投資相結合，將推動價值的發展。本季度，我們以每股 339 美元的平均價格回購了 170 萬股 Charter 股票和總計 5.67 億美元的 Charter Holdings 普通單位。

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.

由於手機網路競爭的持續暫時影響以及 ACP 結束的潛在阻力，我們將繼續面臨短期客戶成長阻力。儘管有這些短期挑戰，我們的競爭仍表現良好。我們擁有結構非常有吸引力的資產負債表，我們致力於透過短期競爭和投資週期推動 2024 年 EBITDA 的健康成長。因此，我們今天處於有利地位，並有利於未來的持續成長。

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

這樣，我會將其轉交給接線員進行問答。

(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 UBS 的 John Hodulik。

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.

如果我可以跟進 ACP 的評論，首先，你們可以就該計劃在第二和第三季度結束時對訂戶和 ARPU 的影響提供任何額外的信息。聽起來鑑於成本削減機會和評論，您仍然相信今年的 EBITDA 可以成長。這是第一名。

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?

第二，我認為關於迪士尼更新後影片方面的流失的評論很有趣。 Chris，您預計這種趨勢會持續下去嗎？

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。讓我試著解決這些問題，傑西卡可能也想在這裡插話。第一個是關於 ACP 和我們的估計。約翰，非續訂 ACP，今天有 2300 萬客戶擁有它。很不幸。但這肯定會對包括我們在內的每個人的網路客戶成長產生負面影響。這將在已經是季節性的第二季甚至第三季發生，因為我們正在處理可能的非付費活動。事實上，當你考慮這些損失的程度時，它取決於一些因素。

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，我們的保留優惠具有黏性。這包括我們為所有 ACP 客戶提供免費的行動電話線路。這使得客戶每月節省的錢與我們已經提供的 ACP 補貼一樣多，甚至更多。在某些情況下，它可能更接近 EBB，甚至可能更接近。

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。我們擁有網路 100 因此，我們擁有可以根據需要將人們轉移到的產品。因此，我要說的第二件事是，這將取決於我們真正執行那些重要的保留策略的情況。第三，我們管理可能出現的非付費環境的方式，並盡我們最大的能力真正管理它，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.

從具體情況來看，這是一場前所未有的事件。在近 30 年的有線電視行業中，我以前從未見過這樣的事情。所以短期影響，很難預測。但最終，我非常有信心我們能夠成功度過難關。這將是一次性事件，無論是對訂戶還是 ARPU 的初步抑制，但它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。當你考慮全年的 EBITDA 時，正如我們所指出的，我只是強調一下，由於去年的比較，第二季度的 EBITDA 面臨一些壓力，如果存在非薪酬影響，可能會出現一些壓力。也存在一些壞帳壓力。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.

但當你考慮到 Spectrum Mobile 的推出、政治廣告以及我們在業務中的持續支出計劃時，我們看到它在今年剩餘時間內加速的能力。因此，在我們研究過的所有情境中，我們仍然預期今年 EBITDA 會成長。

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。基於我所提到的所有原因，對訂戶影響進行嚴格估計是很困難的。但我們將逐季度概述這一點。我們將有能力進行隔離。我們將為人們提供透明度，以便他們能夠了解潛在的成長率。

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，你的另一個問題是關於視訊流失，我想確保我理解。我們在本季度初向所有 Spectrum Select 及以上客戶以及 Select Plus 客戶推出了 Disney+，這是我們更注重運動的套餐。我們於 3 月推出了 ESPN+。很早就對該產品進行了很好的採用。但我們內部的訂閱者群並沒有發生輪調。因此，添加這些內容並沒有產生負面影響。

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，在當今影片確實作為網路附加費進入的環境中，我們的網路銷售機會減少，這對影片產生了影響。因此視訊流失率保持相對穩定。但是，網路銷售機會減少，視訊附加率下降，再加上我們確實在第一季內轉嫁了節目成本增加，導致了本季的視訊損失。

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?

我確實認為，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們在混合線性模型中添加更多這些 DTC 的捆綁，我認為我們有能力阻止大量流失，並實際上將來自潛在新呼叫的總增加量加回來，而且對互聯網的附加率也更高，主要是因為我們為包提供了更多的價值，這抵消了我們被迫承受的顯著的編程成本增加。這能回答你想要達到的目標嗎？

Yes, that's perfect.

是的，那就完美了。

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.

也許只是稍微了解一下 EBITDA 前景。傑西卡，上個季度，您就今年的一些費用項目向我們提供了一些有用的指導。我認為程式設計、服務成本和行銷會浮現在腦海中。我不知道您是否對其中一些令人感動的內容有任何更新。我只是想檢查一下。

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，對你們中的任何一個或你們兩個來說，只是寬頻競爭。您能否花一點時間談談您如何看待您的產品目前與固定無線產品的競爭，固定無線產品無處不在或在很多市場，然後是有線過度建設？因為本季產業層級的固定無線網路增加量，或只是為了維持品牌形象的手機網路增加量較去年同期下降，而且至少比我們預期的要少一些。所以看起來該產品在這裡確實開始成熟。但您也指出了市場上有線線路過度定價的折扣。因此，我很想聽聽您對今年正在考慮的競爭框架的最新想法。

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.

因此，本，關於我們今年早些時候提供的行項目費用指南，我沒有對任何這些特定項目的更新。但我要告訴你的是，由於我們圍繞整個業務的費用所做的一些工作，我認為我們的收入可能低於我們一開始的指導水平。我沒有修改，但我認為我們可能處於低位。

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

好的。即使您之前發表了壞帳評論？

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.

所以這是一個公平的呼籲。與 ACP 相關的壞帳的確切金額很難預測，因為這取決於不付款的客戶和以其他方式聯繫您的客戶之間的混合。所以這是公平的呼籲。

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

除此之外，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.

您擁有較低的交易環境，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，也許只是退後一步，更詳細地討論營運環境和競爭以及在這種情況下的結果。

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?"

我認為首先要記住的是，我們的客戶流失率仍然處於或低於歷史低點，所以非常好。請耐心聽我說，但實際上我們第一季在競爭性轉換方面的表現比去年要好一些。然後有人說：“好吧，等一下，這是如何運作的？”

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.

真正的問題是，市場上的寬頻銷售機會實際上比去年同期要低得多，這是由同比搬家率和家庭形成率持續較低所推動的。過去兩個季度，行動裝置的使用水準有所恢復。

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，手機互聯網的擴張仍然存在，而這正在與低得多的機會集進行競爭。因此，如果再加上這一點，那麼從 2 月初開始取消 ACP 連線所產生的一點影響，就導致我們失去了大約 70,000 個網路。

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，如您所知，在這種環境下，特別是總增加量的微小變化，甚至是客戶流失（事實並非如此），它確實對淨增加量產生了巨大的影響。因此，正如我之前提到的，第二季的情況肯定會如此，隨著 ACP 的結束，所有這些本質上都是暫時的。

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.

我認為更大的問題是我們在做什麼？正如我所提到的，我們仍然知道，而且我想每個人都同意，我們擁有最好的產品。我們以最優惠的總價格提供它，特別是當您將寬頻和移動結合起來時，這在許多情況下都是我們的競爭對手。我們的網路向對稱和多千兆有線和無線功能演進，並且我們以每次傳輸 100 美元的低成本實現這一目標。正如我所提到的，我們將一流的網路和整合產品擴展到當今沒有寬頻的家庭。

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.

因此，從本質上講，我們正在做的事情仍然非常有競爭力，並用最快的產品為客戶節省大量資金。我們透過 100% 內部陸上服務結構來做到這一點。當你把這一點與我在準備好的評論中提到的客戶對數據的需求持續增加結合起來時，這意味著我們已經做好了隨著時間的推移恢復可持續增長的準備。

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，關鍵是同時，我們要認真執行。這並不意味著我們沒有短期機會。我們在上市方面不遺餘力。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，我們也正在努力做的事情，特別是您提到的有線過度建設，在定價方面仍然非常嚴格，因為我們知道我們產品的價值。因此，我們看到一些過度建設者在本季度稍微向下游發展。我們抵制住了去那裡的誘惑，因為我們知道我們的有線和無線服務的價值以及我們可以長期為客戶帶來的價值。

The next question comes from Jonathan Chaplin at New Street.

下一個問題來自新街的喬納森·卓別林。

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?

我想傑西卡的第一個目標就是您的槓桿目標向範圍中點的變化。我很想了解更多關於其背後的想法的背景資訊。您在腳本前面提到，利率上升的風險並不是一個重大問題。因此，槓桿範圍的下降只是反映了對現金的信心下降——考慮到競爭環境，企業的現金產生能力如何？

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，我想說我們對業務的信心沒有改變。根據我們的前景，我們對 4 至 4.5 倍的範圍仍然感到滿意。但我認為，在投資週期的高峰期，我們認為創造一點空間是合適的。

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.

我們不斷重新評估我們的立場。我們將繼續這樣做。但我們仍然相信業務的長期發展軌跡。我們認為我們正在進行的投資將帶來豐厚的回報。我們知道，維持槓桿股權策略，包括某種回購和整體槓桿水平，對於繼續推動價值非常重要。

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.

我想補充一點——只是補充一點，傑西卡說，0 缺乏信心。今天，我們擁有良好、強勁的自由現金流，甚至還在不斷增長的自由現金流，而且當我們完成這些一次性投資時，自由現金流會更加強勁。正如傑西卡已經說過的那樣，這確實是為了確保我們擁有投資級結構。這對我們很重要，對我們的債務持有人很重要，對我們的股權持有人也很重要。

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，只是後續行動。評級機構是否要求您將槓桿率降低到該範圍內？您可以在業務中尋找哪些東西，讓您放心地在接下來的幾個季度內回到該範圍的高端？

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，我們與所有 3 個評級機構保持定期聯繫。當然，我認為考慮到我們業務的資本支出較高以及對自由現金流造成的短期壓力，債務持有人和評級機構之間進行了一些額外的對話。

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.

考慮到大盤的基調，您可能已經看到標準普爾在上週末發布了一份樣片，其中涉及 ACP 和競爭環境。我認為他們的擔憂與股東的擔憂相似，儘管他們在其中指出，儘管他們可能會稍微調整觸發因素，但他們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，他們預計投資級評級也不會受到任何影響。

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.

所以我們不斷地和他們溝通。我認為考慮到我們所處的位置，我們創造一點空間是有意義的。正如我所說，我們不斷重新評估。當然，我們有可能在某個時間點回到這個範圍內，特別是當你考慮到隨著投資的結束，自由現金流的成長會回歸時。

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，我認為這一點要具有響應能力，同時，考慮到目前的股價，我們希望在這種響應能力範圍內盡我們所能。

Yes.

是的。

The next question comes from Craig Moffett at MoffettNathanson.

下一個問題來自 MoffettNathanson 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──也許有兩個問題。一個更廣泛的更具戰略性的問題，然後傑西卡做出了一個澄清。關於第一個問題，你不久前對我說了一些我一直在思考的事情，關於你對融合的看法。您將 Spectrum One 產品描述為並非真正的產品，而是新產品類別。

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?

我想知道您是否可以稍微談談這一點，特別是在 AT&T 經常談論他們在其擁有的業務範圍內提供融合產品的情況下。 T-Mobile 昨天完成了 Lumos 交易，顯然是在尋找融合產品。有多少市場實際上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?

然後，傑西卡，我需要澄清一點。您能否告訴我們商業服務市場的批發還剩多少？這樣我們就可以了解什麼時候我們可能會開始看到整體成長率開始看起來更像您業務的非批發部分？

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，我將從第一個關於收斂的問題開始。我認為最好的方法是我也花很多時間在內部討論它，如果我在 15 年前問你，你的網路連線速度是多少？您可以連接到廚房的電腦背面，僅此而已。十年前，可能是這樣，它就在我沙發或露台上的 WiFi 上。

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，如果你把車駛出車道，然後我說：“現在誰是你的互聯網提供商？”你會說，“我不知道，我不在乎。它必須能工作，而且必須要快。”如果人們對寬頻連線的定義越來越多，那麼我們就是我們足跡中唯一能夠以無縫連接方式提供統一、無所不在的寬頻網路的供應商。

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.

所以我們有了網路。我們有無線網路。當網路和 WiFi 不可用時，我們的 5G 蜂窩網路是一種備用服務。上次我們報道稱，我們 87% 的流量透過 WiFi 傳輸，並且越來越多地透過 CBRS。

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。這是我們網路中最慢的部分。當你以我認為我們獨特的能力將所有這些結合在一起時，我們就有能力在市場上提供一些東西。

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.

現在的挑戰是，這並不是它的銷售方式。如今，客戶在如何購買服務方面並沒有明確的思考方式。因此，我們的包裝、定價和行銷方式存在教育方面的挑戰。我們將產生有意義的影響。

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.

另一種思考方式是，今天的行動（事實上我認為一直如此）只是網路連線的延伸。它真的是產品嗎？手機是一種產品嗎？或者它只是一個擴展？因為即使在 15 年前，這實際上也是一種到塔的有線服務，而這只是擴展寬頻連線。今天，我們透過家中或戶外的 WiFi 來實現這一點。我們有能力以具有競爭力的普遍方式提供該服務。

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.

因此，Spectrum One 的想法是如何教育市場並嘗試以不同的方式改變購買習慣。隨著時間的推移，行動裝置真的是一種產品嗎？在測試和突破市場極限的過程中，我認為我們擁有競爭優勢，可能需要一點時間才能完全實現。

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.

但我們今天就是這樣的服務供應商，不僅是我們自己的服務供應商，而且我們實際上正在為我們的 WiFi 路由器上的外國蜂巢設備提供回程服務。我們幾乎是所有蜂巢流量的回程和骨幹。因此，這為我們在未來利用這一點提供了一個獨特的機會。

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

另一方面，克雷格（Craig）表示，批發業務僅佔企業總收入的 20% 以下。

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

其中，真正推動的部分是蜂窩塔回程…

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

是的，這其實還不到那篇文章的一半。

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

正確的。因此，傳統的批發相對穩定，如果你願意的話，蜂窩塔回程正在系統性下降。

The next question comes from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Bryan Kraft。

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.

如果可以的話我有2個。首先，傑西卡，與自由現金流有關。我想知道您是否可以為我們計算第一季影響自由現金流的一次性付款的規模。另外，您是否可以幫助我們了解您對今年營運資金使用的看法。

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?

然後，克里斯，關於網路中立性。我想知道您是否可以分享您對 SEC 最近重新制定網路中立規則的看法。對規則有任何疑問嗎？它們是否會以任何方式影響您的業務運作方式，無​​論是家庭寬頻還是行動裝置？

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。所以布萊恩，一次性付款對自由現金流的影響約為 1.5 億至 1.8 億美元，在這個範圍內。然後從營運資本的角度來看，第一季對我們來說始終是負營運資本季。我完全預計，在這一年中，我們的負營運資本將恢復到接近持平的水平。剔除營運資金，第一季不包括行動裝置或行動端。顯然，由於設備銷售，行動業務繼續拖累營運資金，因此您應該預期這部分業務會繼續下去。

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，我會從一開始就開始。我們不——關鍵的擔憂不是網路中立性。值得關注的是第二章制度。我們沒有阻止。我們不進行付費優先排序。我們不節流，甚至沒有資料上限。我們相信客戶應該可以無限制地使用他們付費的服務。

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.

問題實際上是圍繞著第二章及其帶來的問題，即對利率監管的寬容，這可能導致對產品的監管產生額外的意想不到的後果，如果沒有監管，這種類型的監管已經非常成功幾十年來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.

我想說的是，我們在與聯邦通訊委員會的第二章辯論中，沒有任何意外。這正是每個人都認為我們會達到的目標，我們將繼續經歷這個過程。不幸的是，這種情況似乎已經持續了很多年，現階段可能又回到了法庭。希望隨著時間的推移，我們能夠得到國會制定的標準，一勞永逸地解決這個問題。這一直是希望。但我認為第二章並不是規範我們已經做得很好的事情的正確方法。

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 效能，您能否分析一下本季 Spectrum One 促銷活動帶來的好處？隨著越來越多的客戶開始恢復到正常的費率水平，這種規模的潛在好處如何在這一年中發揮作用？

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，在相當長一段時間的新聞稿中，您提到了客戶，我希望我的表述是正確的，他們是寬頻用戶，其他包機服務的收款可能已暫停。我很好奇如果 ACP 終止，這些客戶會怎麼樣？這些揭露是否提供了有關如何量化該計劃終止後的潛在客戶風險或流失風險的見解？

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。所以從網路上的第一個 ARPU 開始。 Spectrum One 分配對我們本季的 ARPU 淨成長造成了 70 個基點的同比拖累。因此 GAAP 網路 ARPU 成長了 1.7%。如果不包括免費線路的行動分配，則為 2.4%。一般來說，我預計這兩個成長率的差距在這一年中應該會縮小，因為隨著促銷活動的結束，免費線路的基礎變得更加穩定。

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，我談到我們將為所有 ACP 客戶提供一年的免費行動電話線路。根據該計劃的成功程度，如果我們確實看到免費線路數量重新加速，那麼這兩件事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.

談論你在腳註中看到的內容和老化。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們制定了一個流程，將客戶保存到 ACP 中。因此，如果有一位客戶從事多種業務，請說他們是網路和視訊客戶，並且他們正在向我們付款。然後進入無薪狀態，但他們有資格享受 ACP。

Or in it, in most cases.

或者在大多數情況下，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.

或已經在 ACP 中。我們要做的就是將客戶降級為純互聯網產品，該產品完全由 ACP 補貼覆蓋，從而使他們能夠繼續使用互聯網服務。但隨後他們將不再擁有帳戶上的任何附加服務。我們已經持有這些餘額，儘管它們已完全保留。因此，它們處於應收帳款中，但它們也已經在壞帳準備金流程中完全沖銷了。

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.

但腳註中的數字是正確的，然後您可以看到過去某個時候進入非付費流程但在一段時間內獲得 ACP 全額補貼的客戶群。

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.

如果您僅從客戶的角度考慮問題以及我們如何努力響應政府的要求，我們希望確保這些透過視訊或電話進入收集週期的客戶不會以某種方式抑制他們繼續收集資訊的能力獲得ACP 權益並繼續獲得連接。這是我們將要解決的客戶群的典型例子，正如我在收集週期中所談到的。並為這些客戶做正確的事情，盡一切努力確保他們隨著時間的推移保持與互聯網的連接。但那裡也存在挑戰。

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?

您是否選擇在 4 月底實施 ACP 逐步結束？或者您打算與客戶一起度過五月中旬嗎？

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.

我們將根據政府的概述，在 5 月實施部分 ACP。這將是 14 美元的部分抵扣，我們同意將其定為 15 美元，只是為了四捨五入並讓客戶明白並公平。這就是我們五月要做的事。

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，鑑於您專注於改善視訊消費者主張，我認為您很快就會簽訂相當大的節目合約。以及迪士尼協議中[你看到的]情況。您能否談談，是否存在很大的[機會]來調整與此類頻道組合相關的節目成本？

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，我看到你們的回購授權約為 2.6 億美元。這是要重新升級的東西嗎？

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.

所以關於第一個問題，連接有點斷，所以我們會在這次通話後向您出售 Spectrum Mobile。

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我認為你問的問題。看，我們沒有詳細介紹個人節目續訂，多年來我們在續訂方面總體上非常成功。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，我們的目標首先是真正確保我們真正改變模式，以便再次為客戶創造價值。首先是不要求他們為同一產品支付兩次費用，這是我們歷史上一直存在的爭論，也是我們設定新模式的地方。

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.

但這也意味著在我們所有的交易續約中都要接近市場並說：“看，我們必須為客戶而戰。”如果他們有辦法獲得同等的產品，或者在某些情況下，甚至以更低的價格獲得更好的產品，我們就應該銷售該產品，這就是我們進入市場的方式。

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.

我們可以有能力進行傳統的線性混合。我們可以出售 DTC。我們可以將它們捆綁出售。我們在銷售和保留方面擁有 25,000 名內部銷售代表。因此，我們擁有一支非常有能力成為線性混合動力 DTC 分銷引擎的員工團隊。我們擁有龐大的寬頻客戶群，沒有人能超越我們，我們可以利用這一點，這是獨一無二的。我們希望以一種為消費者創造價值的方式做到這一點。

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，當我們以不同的方式進入市場時，它會引起恐慌，因為它是非常不同的東西。但我們的目標實際上是創建一個為客戶服務並提供實用性和價值的視訊生態系統。再次強調，透過 Xumo 實現效用，透過我們以不同方式打包的能力，以合理的價格滿足客戶的需求，實現價值。最終，雖然一路上可能會很痛苦，但實際上再次為程式設計師和發行商創造了價值，並重新創建了一個適合每個人的視訊生態系統。

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，我們並不是只出於省錢的目的來解決這個問題。我們只是想透過添加更多產品讓他們付出的價格物有所值，或為他們省錢，因為他們無論如何都想包裝，從而真正為客戶創造價值。我們可以在較低流失率的環境中以一種有利於程式設計師的方式做到這一點，而這只需要一點點就能完成。

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.

但我們的目標實際上是重建一個適合所有人的視訊生態系統。今天，情況並非如此。已經壞了，而且已經壞了一段時間了。我認為，也許是 20 年來，我們第一次可以做一些事情，我們有一個產品，我們很自豪很快就會將其列入我們的網路帳單。

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.

當我們去年談論這個問題時，這確實是一方面，我們的捆綁客戶流失更少。因此，高品質的視訊產品一直是一種資產。但是，當費率繼續上漲而價值下降，並且向客戶出售並要求他們支付兩次費用時，它就成為網路寬頻帳單上的負債。然後我認為我們需要重新思考我們銷售影片的方式以及它如何真正為客戶創造價值。

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

這就是我們去過的地方。我相信我們將繼續在這個領域取得進展。

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.

在回購授權方面。我將確保我們回答這個問題。正如您所指出的，截至本季末的授權比您通常看到的要低一些。有多種機制可以更新，並且自那時以來我們增加了回購授權。正是因為通讀了這一點，我想非常清楚地表明，即使我們去槓桿化，我們也希望能夠在這一年中維持回購。因此，您不應該將其視為有關該計劃方向的任何標誌。

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

接線員，我們將回答最後一個問題。

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·卡霍爾提出。

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，早些時候，您說過您對恢復長期增長充滿信心，並且您談到了很多關於您所看到的過度建設活動的情況。我認為我們許多人面臨的挑戰是，當我們把這一點寫下來並考慮光纖的滲透率，然後我們看看您的通過量增長並考慮滲透率時，很難看出用戶何時恢復增長一邊，也許是前農村。所以我想知道您是否可以給我們一些關於您的顏色和時機的想法，我們可能會開始看到訂戶成長重新加速到積極的水平。

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?

然後傑西卡剛剛回答了布萊恩的問題。您談到移動可能會拖累今年的營運資金。那麼，當您開始為行動裝置開發 ACP 產品線時，這是否會加速手機營運資本的拖累？或是您不希望客戶一定會購買新手機嗎？

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.

因此，我不會提供重新加速的詳細時間表，只是因為我想保持安全並認識到這是一個非常不穩定的空間。我的意思是，很明顯，我們現在正在進行 ACP，這將是一次性的打擊。手機網路將達到其容量，但具體時間尚不完全清楚。然後是光纖升級，這些升級已經宣布，但與實際宣布的相差甚遠。

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.

所以我認為，如果你把所有這些放在一起，然後翻轉過來，說，好吧，通過了 ACP，光纖升級的步伐相對穩定，我認為隨著時間的推移，實際上應該開始下降。手機網路容量將耗盡，您已經開始看到一些容量減少的跡象，所有這些都是好兆頭。

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.

然後你將這一點與以下事實結合起來：當你查看我們的互聯網產品的質量時，在 100% 的市場中，特別是在那些沒有演出重疊的地方（大約有一半），情況更是如此。然後，您將其與提供價格非常有吸引力的行動產品的獨特能力相結合，該產品實際上是業內速度最快的行動產品，因為它很大程度上依賴於我們的千兆位元無線基礎設施，我們現在和未來許多年都具有結構性優勢，不僅僅是質量，還有為客戶節省數百甚至數千美元的能力。

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.

所以我坐下來審視這一點並說，這不是一個是否的問題。這只是時間問題。隨著其中一些短期壓力的減輕，你會開始看到情況出現改善。

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.

老實說，我們並不是最擅長預測具體時間。所以我上個季度說過，我們擁有它。所以我要小心，不要在這裡過度擴張。但我認為更重要的是退一步看看我們擁有什麼產品，以及我們擁有什麼網路能力。情況只會變得更好。

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.

如果你接著提到你提到的前農村的農村路段，那麼我就做了前農村的事情。但如果你加上農村通行證補貼，這只是滲透率的數學，我們將在這項投資的支持下獲得的淨增加，我仍然認為憲章的未來非常非常光明。

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.

在行動營運資本方面，您毫無疑問地指出，對營運資本的拖累是由您銷售的受 EIP 票據約束的手機或其他行動裝置的數量造成的。因此，如果我們因 ACP 工作而擁有更多行動客戶而最終獲得額外設備，或者由於隨時升級計劃而最終獲得一些額外設備（這也是可能的），那麼可能會有一些該阻力中的加速度。

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，我要告訴您的是，由於我們一直在建立行動業務，因此我們沒有利用一些可用的融資選項，這些選項與將這些 EIP 票據作為我們的一部分有關。由於各種各樣的原因，它還沒有有意義，包括只是為這樣的項目建立規模以使其有意義。

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.

因此，我認為我們也有可能透過其中一些融資機制來抵銷營運資金的部分拖累。當然，隨著我們一直在建設，我認為我們已經達到了一個更可行的選擇的規模。

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

好的。好的，謝謝大家加入我們的電話會議。並期待下次與您再次交談。

Thanks, operator.

謝謝，接線生。