Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Charter's First Quarter 2021 Investor Call. (Operator Instructions)

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加Charter航空公司2021年第一季投資者電話會議。 （操作說明）

I'd now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stefan Anninger. Please go ahead.

現在我把會議交給今天的演講嘉賓斯特凡·安寧格。請開始吧。

Good morning, and welcome to Charter's first quarter 2021 investor call. The presentation that accompanies this call can be found on our website, ir.charter.com, under the Financial Information section.

早安，歡迎參加Charter公司2021年第一季投資人電話會議。本次電話會議的簡報可在本公司網站ir.charter.com的「財務資訊」欄位下找到。

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks, Stefan. We continue to execute well in the first quarter, even in an environment with lower consumer move activity. We added over 300,000 customer relationships during the quarter, with growth of 5.8% year-over-year. We also added 355,000 Internet customers in the quarter and 2 million over the last year for a year-over-year growth of 7.3%. We added 300,000 mobile lines, and we grew our adjusted EBITDA by 12.5% and our free cash flow by nearly $500 million or 35%.

謝謝 Stefan。即使在消費者流動性降低的環境下，我們第一季的業績依然表現良好。本季我們新增了超過 30 萬個客戶關係，年增 5.8%。此外，本季我們新增了 35.5 萬個網路用戶，去年同期新增 200 萬個網路用戶，較去年同期成長 7.3%。我們新增了 30 萬條行動線路，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 12.5%，自由現金流成長了近 5 億美元，增幅達 35%。

COVID has continued to have an impact on our operations, but the economy as -- as the economy reopens and normal activities resume, we expect more sales opportunities to develop during the second half of the year, and we remain confident in our ability to grow our customers, EBITDA and free cash flow at healthy rates given the investments we've made in our network, which enable us to offer superior products and services.

新冠疫情持續對我們的營運造成影響，但隨著經濟的重新開放和正常活動的恢復，我們預計下半年將出現更多銷售機會，鑑於我們對網路的投資，我們仍然有信心以健康的速度增長客戶、EBITDA 和自由現金流，這些投資使我們能夠提供卓越的產品和服務。

While the last year has focused on our successful operations and execution through the pandemic, May 18 will mark the fifth anniversary of the closing of our transaction to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Since then, we've added more than 7 million Internet customers, and our annual EBITDA has expanded from $13.6 billion to over $19 billion, and our enterprise value has increased by $100 billion.

過去一年，我們專注於成功應對疫情並實現營運目標，而5月18日將是我們完成對時代華納有線電視和Bright House Networks收購交易五週年紀念日。自那時以來，我們新增了超過700萬網路用戶，年度EBITDA從136億美元成長至超過190億美元，企業價值也增加了1,000億美元。

Since the start of 2016, we've invested over $40 billion in infrastructure and technology. And over the last 5 years, we've extended serviceability to approximately 5 million homes and businesses. We've also committed to extending our network to reach more rural areas.

自2016年初以來，我們已在基礎設施和技術方面投資超過400億美元。過去五年，我們的服務覆蓋範圍已擴展至約500萬戶家庭和企業。我們也致力於擴展網絡，覆蓋更多農村地區。

Over the next 6 years, we expect to spend at least $5 billion, offset by $1.2 billion in RDOF subsidies to reach over 1 million unserved consumer locations with gigabit Internet speeds. And we're actively exploring additional opportunities to further expand our rural build potential.

未來六年，我們預計將投入至少50億美元，並利用農村發展基金（RDOF）提供的12億美元補貼，為超過100萬個尚未接入千兆網路的消費者地點提供千兆網路服務。同時，我們也積極探索更多機會，以進一步擴大我們在農村地區的網路建設潛力。

Since our transactions closed, we've also enhanced the quality and efficiency of our operations. We've hired thousands of new employees into good jobs by bringing all of our work back to the U.S., and we committed to a minimum wage of $20 per hour to provide the best service possible, which fuels our growth.

自交易完成以來，我們也提升了營運品質和效率。我們透過將所有工作遷回美國，為數千名新員工提供了優質就業機會，並承諾最低時薪20美元，以提供盡可能最好的服務，這推動了我們的發展。

Since close, we prepared the launch of mobile broadband products at scale, and our customers now have the fastest and least expensive mobile and wireline broadband products available in the market. Importantly, we continue to improve our connectivity products as demand for data in the home continues to grow at a very rapid pace.

自公司成立以來，我們已做好大規模推出行動寬頻產品的準備，現在我們的客戶可以享受到市場上速度最快、價格最實惠的行動和有線寬頻產品。更重要的是，隨著家庭數據需求的快速增長，我們將持續改進我們的連接產品。

During the first quarter, we continued to see significant growth in data usage per Internet customer. On average, non-video customers used about 700 gigabytes per month in the first part of the quarter. And for the full quarter, average usage by non-video customers was up nearly 20% year-over-year.

第一季度，我們持續看到每位網路使用者的數據使用量顯著成長。第一季前半段，非視訊用戶平均每月使用約 700 GB 的數據。而整個季度，非視訊用戶的平均數據使用量較去年同期成長近 20%。

Close to 20% of our nontraditional video Internet customers now use a terabyte or more of data per month. The growth in demand for data is and will be driven by a number of factors, including the growth in IP video services, including video conferencing and gaming, also the growing number of IP devices connected to our network, which now totals nearly 450 million devices, and new and emerging products and services that are being developed as we speak, such as e-learning for telemedicine and 4K, virtual reality or holographic formats, for example.

我們近20%的非傳統視訊網路客戶每月使用的資料量達到或超過1TB。數據需求的成長是由多種因素驅動的，並將繼續如此，其中包括IP視訊服務（如視訊會議和遊戲）的增長，以及連接到我們網路的IP設備數量的不斷增加（目前已接近4.5億台），還有正在開發中的新興產品和服務，例如遠距醫療的線上學習以及4K、虛擬實境或全息格式等。

We're continuously increasing the capacity in our core and hubs and augmenting our network to improve speed and performance at a pace dictated by customers in the marketplace. We have a cost-effective approach to using DOCSIS 3.1, which we've already deployed, to expand our network capacity to 1.2 gigahertz, which gives us the ability to offer multi-gigabit speeds in the downstream and at least 1 gigabit per second in the upstream.

我們正持續提升核心網和樞紐網的容量，並根據市場客戶的需求，持續增強網路效能和速度。我們已部署了經濟高效的 DOCSIS 3.1 技術，將網路容量擴展至 1.2 GHz，從而能夠提供下行多千兆位元/秒的速度和上行至少 1 千兆位元/秒的速度。

In addition, we have DOCSIS 4.0 and other emerging technologies to cost efficiently offer multi-gigabit speeds in both the downstream and in the upstream, serving heavy data usage needs of our customers with quality connectivity services.

此外，我們擁有 DOCSIS 4.0 和其他新興技術，能夠以經濟高效的方式提供下行和上行多千兆位元的速度，透過高品質的連接服務滿足客戶大量的資料使用需求。

While we have a great network asset, which is fully deployed and has a capitally efficient path to deliver even higher capabilities, our strategy is founded on saving customers' money, while providing state-of-the-art products. Mobile and wireline broadband are converging into a single connectivity service package, which is delivered over a combination of mobile and fixed networks.

我們擁有強大的網路資產，已全面部署，並具備高效的資本投入路徑，能夠提供更強大的功能。然而，我們的策略核心在於為客戶節省成本，同時提供最先進的產品。行動寬頻和有線寬頻正在融合為單一的連線服務包，並透過行動網路和固定網路的組合提供該服務。

Our share of household connectivity spend, including mobile and fixed broadband, is low, and we remain very much underpenetrated relative to our long-term opportunity. An average household served by the big 3 mobile broadband competitors, with 2-plus lines of mobile broadband and wireline broadband, spends approximately $200 a month on its telecom services. Today, Charter only generates $33 a passing and $65 a customer of that $200 of combined monthly spend on mobile and wireline broadband service.

我們在家庭網路連線支出（包括行動和固定寬頻）中所佔份額很低，與我們的長期發展潛力相比，市場滲透率仍然很低。平均而言，使用三大行動寬頻業者服務的家庭，如果擁有兩條以上的行動寬頻和固定寬頻線路，每月在電信服務上的支出約為 200 美元。而如今，Charter 僅能從這 200 美元的行動和固定寬頻月度總支出中，從每個過路用戶那裡獲得 33 美元，從每個客戶那裡獲得 65 美元。

By choosing Charter as their full-service connectivity provider, customers can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars per year with better product capabilities and service. And so our goal is to do the same with mobile in our service area as we did with wireline voice, where we made Charter the predominant wireline phone carrier by reducing consumer telephone bills by over 70%, meaning Charter can grow for a long time because we remain underpenetrated and our growth will reduce customer costs.

選擇Charter作為其全方位連接服務供應商，客戶每年可節省數百甚至數千美元，同時享受更優質的產品功能和服務。因此，我們的目標是在服務區域內，像在固話領域一樣，在行動領域也取得同樣的成就。我們透過將消費者電話費降低70%以上，使Charter成為固話領域的主導營運商。這意味著Charter能夠長期發展，因為我們的市場滲透率仍然很低，而我們的成長將降低客戶的成本。

Now I'll turn the call over to Chris.

現在我把電話交給克里斯。

Thanks, Tom. Before getting into the details of the quarter, a few comments regarding our outlook and reporting.

謝謝，湯姆。在詳細介紹本季業績之前，我想先就我們的展望和報告做一些說明。

On last quarter's conference call, I spent some time walking through the outlook for 2021, that commentary related to our customer and financial growth expectations given the difficult comparability to prior year results due to the effects of COVID in 2020. Those comments were intended to help investors update their models for 2021 and understand the backdrop for what should be a very good 2022.

在上個季度的電話會議上，我花了一些時間闡述了2021年的展望，其中涉及我們對客戶和財務成長的預期，因為受2020年新冠疫情的影響，今年的業績與去年相比難以比較。這些評論旨在幫助投資者更新他們對2021年的預測模型，並了解2022年（預計會是非常好的一年）的背景。

So while I won't repeat everything I said on the last earnings call, our outlook in general has not changed. 2019 remains the better customer growth comparison for 2021, where we expect Internet and customer relationships to be at or above 2019 net additions. And we will continue to reference the COVID schedules we've provided last year and included again on Slide 17 and 18 of today's presentation to help with the year-over-year financial comparisons.

因此，雖然我不會重複上次財報電話會議上所說的所有內容，但我們的整體展望並沒有改變。 2019 年仍然是 2021 年客戶成長的更佳對比基準，我們預計 2021 年的網路和客戶關係淨新增量將達到或超過 2019 年的水準。我們將繼續參考去年提供的、並在今天簡報第 17 和 18 頁再次列出的 COVID 疫情相關時間表，以幫助進行同比財務比較。

Secondly, bundle allocation rules as required by GAAP continue to have a significant impact on our residential Internet, video and voice product revenues. Because of the declining utility of individual product revenues to investors, it's likely that, at some point, we'll collapse all residential product revenues into one residential revenue line.

其次，根據公認會計準則（GAAP）的規定，捆綁銷售分配規則繼續對我們的住宅網路、視訊和語音產品收入產生重大影響。由於單一產品收入對投資者的效用不斷下降，我們很可能在某個時候將所有住宅產品收入合併為一個住宅收入項目。

Turning to our results on Slide 5. Customer activity levels in the marketplace, specifically move churn and nonpay churn, have still not returned to normal levels, which means, on the one hand, we benefit from the lower operating expense from reduced service transactions and significantly lower bad debt, but it also means there are fewer selling opportunities in the market generally. Those trends are on a slow path to normalization.

接下來看一下投影片5的結果。市場上的客戶活躍度，特別是流失率和非付費流失率，尚未恢復正常。這意味著，一方面，我們受益於服務交易減少帶來的營運成本降低和壞帳大幅減少；但另一方面，也意味著市場上的銷售機會總體上有所減少。這些趨勢正在緩慢恢復正常。

Despite a lower sales environment, we continue to gain share across our footprint, and we remain the share leader in Internet in all of our markets, regardless of competing infrastructure.

儘管銷售環境不景氣，但我們仍在業務範圍內不斷擴大市場份額，並且在所有市場中，無論競爭的基礎設施如何，我們都保持著互聯網市場份額的領先地位。

We grew total residential and SMB customer relationships by over 1.7 million in the last 12 months and by 302,000 in the first quarter. Including residential and SMB, we grew our Internet customers by 355,000 in the quarter and by 2 million or 7.3% over the last 12 months. Video declined by 138,000; wireline voice declined by 88,000; and we added 300,000 higher ARPU mobile lines.

過去12個月，我們的住宅用戶和中小企業客戶總數增加了170多萬，僅第一季就增加了30.2萬。包括住宅用戶和中小企業用戶在內，我們的網路用戶在本季增加了35.5萬，過去12個月增加了200萬，增幅達7.3%。視訊用戶減少了13.8萬；固話用戶減少了8.8萬；我們新增了30萬條ARPU值更高的行動線路。

In residential Internet, we added a total of 334,000 customers in the quarter, lower than the 398,000 that we gained during a strong first quarter in 2019 for the reasons I mentioned. Our residential video customers declined by 156,000, consistent with the loss of 152,000 we saw in the first quarter of 2019. In wireline voice, we lost 102,000 residential customers in the quarter, also similar to the loss of 120,000 in the first quarter of 2019.

本季度，我們在住宅互聯網業務方面新增了33.4萬用戶，低於2019年第一季強勁增長的39.8萬用戶，原因我已在前面提及。我們的住宅視訊用戶減少了15.6萬，與2019年第一季減少的15.2萬用戶基本持平。在固話業務方面，本季我們流失了10.2萬住宅用戶，同樣與2019年第一季流失的12萬用戶情況類似。

Turning to mobile. We added 300,000 mobile lines in the quarter. And as of the end of the quarter, we had 2.7 million mobile lines with a good mix of both Unlimited and By the Gig lines. We continue to be pleased with the results and trajectory of Spectrum Mobile, with less EBITDA loss per line as the business scales to expected standalone profitability.

再來看行動業務。本季我們新增了30萬條行動線路。截至季末，我們的行動線路總數達到270萬條，其中無限流量套餐和按流量計費套餐的比例均衡。我們對Spectrum Mobile的業績和發展軌跡依然感到滿意，隨著業務規模的擴大，每條線路的EBITDA虧損也在減少，最終實現預期的獨立盈利。

Over the last year, we grew total residential customers by 1.6 million or 5.8%. Residential revenue per customer relationship declined by 0.5% year-over-year given a higher mix of nonvideo customers, higher mix of choice, essentials and stream customers within our video base, lower pay-per-view and video-on-demand revenue and lower installation revenue given higher self-install rates. Keep in mind that our residential ARPU does not reflect any mobile revenue.

過去一年，我們的住宅用戶總數增加了160萬，增幅為5.8%。由於非視訊用戶比例上升，以及視訊用戶群中選擇付費、基本服務和串流服務的用戶比例上升，加之按次付費和視訊點播收入下降，以及由於自助安裝率上升導致安裝收入下降，住宅用戶每客戶關係收入同比下降了0.5%。請注意，我們的住宅用戶平均收入不包含任何行動收入。

As Slide 6 shows, residential revenue grew by 5.8% year-over-year, reflecting customer relationship growth.

如投影片 6 所示，住宅收入年增 5.8%，反映了客戶關係的成長。

Turning to commercial. SMB revenue grew by 1.6%, a bit faster than last quarter's growth. Enterprise revenue was up by 2.5% year-over-year, also a bit better than last quarter, and grew by 7.2%, excluding wholesale revenue. Enterprise PSUs grew by 2.8% year-over-year.

再來看商業領域。中小企業營收成長1.6%，略高於上一季的成長速度。企業營收年增2.5%，也略高於上一季度，若不計批發收入，則成長7.2%。企業電源單元（PSU）較去年同期成長2.8%。

First quarter advertising revenue declined by 5.8% year-over-year due to less political revenue. Our nonpolitical revenue grew by 5.3% year-over-year primarily due to some COVID impacts late last March and our growing advanced advertising capabilities.

第一季廣告收入較去年同期下降5.8%，主要原因是政治廣告收入減少。非政治廣告收入年增5.3%，主要得益於去年3月下旬新冠疫情的一些影響以及我們不斷增強的高級廣告能力。

Other revenue declined by 2% year-over-year driven by lower late fees, partly offset by higher RSN revenue. Mobile revenue totaled $492 million, with $228 million of that revenue being device revenue. In total, consolidated first quarter revenue was up 6.7% year-over-year.

其他收入較去年同期下降2%，主要原因是滯納金減少，但部分被區域體育網絡（RSN）收入的成長所抵消。行動業務收入總計4.92億美元，其中設備收入為2.28億美元。第一季合併總營收年增6.7%。

Moving to operating expenses on Slide 7. In the first quarter, total operating expenses grew by $235 million or 3.2% year-over-year. Programming increased 3.3% year-over-year due to higher rates, offset by a higher mix of lighter video packages, such as Choice, Essentials and Stream, and lower pay-per-view expenses year-over-year tied to the lower pay-per-view revenue I mentioned.

接下來是投影片 7 中的營運費用部分。第一季度，總營運費用年增 2.35 億美元，增幅為 3.2%。節目製作費用年增 3.3%，主要原因是價格上漲，但部分原因是精選套餐、基礎套餐和串流媒體套餐等輕量級視訊套餐佔比增加，以及付費點播費用同比下降（這與我之前提到的付費點播收入下降有關）。

Regulatory, connectivity and produced content grew by 8.9% driven by more Laker games than normal this quarter, resulting from the delayed start to the NBA season, combined with fewer games in the prior year period when sports leagues played fewer games due to COVID. Excluding those sports rights costs related to our RSNs, this expense line item grew by 2.1% year-over-year.

受本季湖人隊比賽場次較往常增加的推動，監管、連接和內容製作成本增加了 8.9%。湖人隊比賽場次較往年有所增加，這是由於 NBA 賽季開賽時間推遲，加上去年同期受新冠疫情影響，體育聯盟比賽場次減少。若不計入與區域體育網絡 (RSN) 相關的體育版權成本，該支出較去年同期成長 2.1%。

Cost to service customers declined by 2.4% year-over-year compared to 5.8% customer relationship growth. The decline was driven by $100 million in lower bad debt, which continues to benefit from record payment trends similar to 2020, though our expectation remains that bad debt trends should normalize over the course of this year.

客戶服務成本較去年同期下降2.4%，而客戶關係成長率為5.8%。成本下降主要得益於壞帳減少1億美元，這得益於與2020年類似的創紀錄的付款趨勢。不過，我們仍預期今年壞帳趨勢將趨於正常化。

On the other direction, we saw pressure from outsized hourly wage increases that we put through in March of last year and again in March of this year, which we've discussed previously and related to our commitment to reach a $20 minimum starting wage in 2022. Excluding bad debt, cost to service customers grew by 3.2% year-over-year, including the minimum starting wage increase and reflecting the 5.8% relationship growth.

另一方面，我們看到了去年 3 月和今年 3 月大幅提高小時工資帶來的壓力，我們之前已經討論過這一點，這與我們承諾在 2022 年實現 20 美元最低起薪有關。不計壞賬，客戶服務成本年增 3.2%，其中包括最低起薪的成長，並反映了 5.8% 的客戶關係成長。

Marketing and sales expenses declined by 2% year-over-year. Mobile expenses totaled $572 million and were comprised of mobile device cost tied to device revenue, customer acquisition and service and operating costs. And other expenses declined by 5.5% primarily driven by a nonrecurring adjustment to bonuses related to COVID.

行銷和銷售費用較去年同期下降2%。行動業務費用總計5.72億美元，包括與設備收入相關的行動裝置成本、客戶獲取成本以及服務和營運成本。其他費用下降5.5%，主要原因是與新冠疫情相關的非經常性獎金調整。

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 12.5% in the quarter. Excluding mobile and bad debt in both years, our EBITDA growth rate would have been 3.6 percentage points lower.

本季調整後 EBITDA 成長 12.5%。若剔除行動業務及這兩年的壞賬，我們的 EBITDA 成長率將降低 3.6 個百分點。

Turning to net income on Slide 8. We generated $807 million of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the first quarter versus $396 million last year. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher adjusted EBITDA.

請參閱第8頁投影片，以了解淨利潤狀況。第一季歸屬於Charter股東的淨利為8.07億美元，而去年同期為3.96億美元。年成長主要得益於調整後EBITDA的成長。

Turning to Slide 9. Capital expenditures totaled $1.8 billion in the first quarter, an increase of $360 million year-over-year, driven by higher scalable infrastructure spend primarily related to augmentation of our network capacity at our normal pace for customer growth and usage, with incremental spending to reclaim the network headroom we maintained prior to COVID. We also spent more on line extensions due to continued network expansion, including to rural areas. This does not include any RDOF spend, which we will incur and start to disclose later this year.

請看投影片9。第一季資本支出總額為18億美元，年增3.6億美元，主要原因是可擴展基礎設施支出增加，主要與以正常速度提升網路容量以滿足客戶成長和使用需求有關。此外，我們還增加了支出以恢復新冠疫情前的網路容量。由於網路持續擴張，包括向農村擴展網絡，我們在線路延伸方面也投入了更多資金。以上支出不包括任何區域發展基金（RDOF）支出，我們將在今年稍後開始揭露這些支出。

The cost of build-outs tends to be front-loaded with design, make ready and construction before passings are activated, so it will take well into next year before our construction cadence lets any cost per passing metric to be meaningful.

建設成本往往集中在設計、準備和施工階段，在通道啟用之前就已投入大量資金，因此要到明年，我們的施工進度才能使每次通行成本指標具有意義。

We spent $112 million on mobile-related CapEx this quarter, which is mostly accounted for in support capital and was driven by investments in back-office systems and mobile store build-outs. For the full year 2021, we expect cable capital expenditures, excluding any RDOF investments, to be relatively consistent as a percentage of cable revenue versus 2020.

本季我們在行動相關資本支出方面投入了 1.12 億美元，其中大部分為支持性資本支出，主要用於投資後台系統和行動商店建設。我們預計，2021 年全年，不包括任何 RDOF 投資在內的有線電視資本支出佔有有線電視收入的比例將與 2020 年基本持平。

As Slide 10 shows, we generated $1.9 billion of consolidated free cash flow this quarter, an increase of 35% year-over-year. We finished the quarter with $84.3 billion in debt principal. With the current run rate annualized cash interest, pro forma for financing activity completed in April is $4 billion. As of the end of this -- the first quarter, our net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 4.38x, and we intend to stay at or just below the high end of our 4 to 4.5x leverage range.

如投影片10所示，本季我們實現了19億美元的合併自由現金流，年增35%。本季末，我們的債務本金為843億美元。以目前的年化現金利息運轉速度計算，4月完成的融資活動預計為40億美元。截至本季末（即第一季末），我們的淨負債與過去12個月調整後EBITDA之比為4.38倍，我們計劃將槓桿率維持在4至4.5倍區間的上限或略低。

During the quarter, we repurchased 6.3 million shares -- Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units, totaling about $4 billion at an average price of $627 per share. Since September of 2016, we've repurchased $43 billion or 34% of Charter's equity at an average price of $408 per share.

本季度，我們回購了630萬股股票－包括Charter股票和Charter Holdings普通股，總計約40億美元，平均每股價格為627美元。自2016年9月以來，我們已回購了價值430億美元（佔Charter股權的34%）的股票，平均每股價格為408美元。

Turning to taxes on Slide 13. We don't anticipate becoming a meaningful federal cash tax payer until 2022, and we expect the bulk of our existing NOL to be utilized by the end of this year. Subject to any corporate tax rate changes for the years 2022 to 2024, we expect our federal and state cash taxes to approximate our consolidated EBITDA, less our capital expenditures and less our cash interest expense, multiplied by 23% to 25%, with a tax rate in 2022 to be a bit lower than that range given some carryover tax attributes.

請參閱第13頁投影片以了解稅務狀況。我們預計到2022年才會成為重要的聯邦現金納稅人，並且預計我們現有的大部分淨營業虧損（NOL）將在今年年底前用完。在2022年至2024年期間，如果企業所得稅稅率發生變化，我們預計聯邦和州現金稅額將大致相當於我們的合併EBITDA減去資本支出和現金利息支出，再乘以23%至25%。考慮到一些結轉的稅收優惠，2022年的實際稅率可能會略低於這個範圍。

That estimate includes partnership tax distributions to Advance/Newhouse, which are captured separately in cash flows from financing in the financial statements. There are multiple factors that impact what I just described, and we're always looking for ways to improve our cash tax profile.

此估算包含了支付給 Advance/Newhouse 的合夥企業稅款分配，這些分配在財務報表的融資現金流量中單獨列示。我剛剛描述的受多種因素影響，我們一直在尋求改善現金稅務狀況的方法。

Our operating model of growing by saving customers' money, our network capabilities now and in the future and our balance sheet strategy all work together over long periods of time. And we expect our results to reflect a growing infrastructure asset with a lot of ancillary products to use for and sell on top of our core connectivity services, with good value and service to our customers to grow cash flow with tax-advantaged levered equity returns.

我們透過為客戶節省成本來實現成長的營運模式、我們目前及未來的網路能力以及我們的資產負債表策略，在長期發展中相輔相成。我們預計，隨著基礎設施資產的不斷增長，以及眾多可用於核心連接服務並可與之配套銷售的輔助產品，我們的業績將反映出不斷增長的基礎設施資產，同時，我們將為客戶提供優質的產品和服務，並透過享有稅收優惠的槓桿股權回報來增加現金流。

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

操作員，我們現在可以進入問答環節了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Doug Mitchelson with Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞士信貸的道格·米切爾森。

One for Tom, one for Chris. Tom, I feel like you threw down the gauntlet a bit on fixed wireless convergence -- fixed wireline convergence. I think the -- including the entire mobile market in your target market of $200 a home of telecom spending, does your commentary suggest a more aggressive posture regarding wireless marketing?

給湯姆一個問題，給克里斯一個問題。湯姆，我覺得你剛才在固定無線融合——也就是固定有線融合——方面下了點狠話。考慮到你把整個行動市場都納入了目標市場（每戶家庭電信支出200美元），你的這番話是不是暗示著你在無線行銷方面會採取更積極的策略？

You already have a pretty healthy growth pace of lines already. And when you look out 5 or 10 years, if that's where the market is headed, I know you've been asked this -- asked and answered in the past, but wouldn't that suggest at some point you need owner's economics on the wireless side to match up with what you have on the wireline side?

你們目前的線路成長速度已經相當健康了。展望未來5到10年，如果市場朝著這個方向發展，我知道你們之前已經被問過這個問題——也回答過——但這難道不意味著在某個時候，你們需要讓無線業務的收益與有線業務的收益相匹配嗎？

And then, Chris, can you talk about the returns investors should expect on the $5 billion of build-out CapEx, the - -or the $3.8 billion net CapEx spend over the next 5 years?

那麼，克里斯，你能談談投資者應該預期從 50 億美元的建設資本支出，或者未來 5 年 38 億美元的淨資本支出中獲得什麼回報嗎？

Sure. So Doug, yes, I think that our opportunity over a multiyear period is significant, and I think that we have an opportunity to -- when you look at the penetration of those mobile products, we have an opportunity to continue to grow rapidly. And so we are moving to make sure that happens in terms of the way we position and sell our products and in terms of their -- both product attributes and the price that we charge.

當然。所以道格，是的，我認為我們未來幾年的發展機會非常巨大，而且我認為，從行動產品的滲透率來看，我們有機會繼續快速成長。因此，我們正在採取措施，確保在產品定位和銷售方式、產品屬性以及定價方面實現這一目標。

My -- the purpose of that exposition on how much telecom spend there is, is just to show that there's lots of runway in front of us and a significant market opportunity there for us to create value for Charter while, at the same time, creating value for consumers.

我之所以要闡述電信支出規模，只是為了表明我們面前還有很大的發展空間，並且存在著巨大的市場機會，讓我們在為 Charter 創造價值的同時，也能為消費者創造價值。

In terms of convergence, we already are moving toward convergence in many ways, and we have owners' economics in many ways. And we also have a good relationship as an MVNO. The owners' economics we get are in the CBRS spectrum that we purchased and its deployment, in the WiFi network that we've deployed and the traffic that we carry over it. And there's continued opportunities to take advantage of that in the near term and the long term to create additional value for our customers and for the company's cost structure.

就融合而言，我們已經在許多方面朝著融合的方向發展，並且在許多方面都實現了所有者的經濟效益。作為行動虛擬網路營運商（MVNO），我們也保持著良好的合作關係。我們從所有者那裡獲得的收益體現在我們購買並部署的CBRS頻譜、我們部署的WiFi網路以及我們透過該網路承載的流量。在短期和長期內，我們都有機會繼續利用這些優勢，為我們的客戶和公司的成本結構創造更多價值。

On the RDOF spend, Doug, the way we think about that $5 billion just in Phase 1 of RDOF, we think there may be more opportunities over time, either through federal programs or through what we call white space areas that might be a product of the additional rural investing that we make that open up new opportunities.

關於 RDOF 的支出，Doug，我們認為，僅在 RDOF 第一階段投入的 50 億美元，隨著時間的推移，可能會有更多的機會，無論是透過聯邦項目，還是透過我們所說的空白領域，這些空白領域可能是我們額外農村投資的產物，從而開闢了新的機會。

But when you think about this in terms of project financing, these construction projects have a much higher cost per passing than what we've typically built, and they have a longer payback. But as a result of them being as expensive as they are, we have a real high confidence in our ability to penetrate these markets with a broadband service that's needed and desired.

但從專案融資的角度來看，這些建設項目每次通行成本遠高於我們以往的建設項目，而且投資回收期也更長。正因如此，我們對能夠以用戶所需且渴望的寬頻服務打入這些市場充滿信心。

And so what that means is, together with low-risk assumptions on ARPU, you can have pretty high confidence in terms of what the financial model is going to look like, both from a cost and revenue perspective over time. So I think I've mentioned in the past that we'd expect the payback -- the cash-from-cash payback for these type of projects to be double digits in terms of years, so over 10 years, but the IRR can be mid-teens. And so we think those attractive investment with a low risk in terms of our ability to achieve those types of returns.

這意味著，結合對每位使用者平均收益（ARPU）的低風險假設，您可以對財務模型的長期成本和收入走勢抱有相當高的信心。我之前提到過，我們預期這類專案的投資回收期（即現金回收期）將達到兩位數，也就是超過10年，而內部報酬率（IRR）可以達到15%左右。因此，我們認為這些投資具有吸引力，風險較低，我們有能力實現這樣的回報。

What we haven't factored into any of that is what does that open for additional building opportunities on the edge of those networks as well as some of these rural communities by having broadband can actually have more fill in or become more suburban like, which could open up opportunities, which aren't built into our model.

我們沒有考慮到的是，寬頻的普及可能會為這些網路邊緣以及一些農村社區帶來更多的建設機會，使這些社區變得更加像郊區，從而帶來一些我們模型中沒有包含的機會。

We think it's consistent to build this way as part of our strategy, and we think it's the right thing to do for the extended communities that we serve. And we think it's attractive for shareholders as a way to continue to grow our broadband footprint over time.

我們認為，這種建設方式符合我們的策略規劃，也符合我們所服務的廣大社區的利益。同時，我們認為，這種方式對股東也很有吸引力，因為它能幫助我們持續擴大寬頻覆蓋範圍。

So another alternative way to think about it is when you think about those type of economics, it's actually not that different from cable M&A at a point in time where there just hasn't been unfortunately as much cable M&A that we would have liked to have done.

所以，換個角度想，當你考慮這類經濟學問題時，它實際上與有線電視併購並沒有太大區別，只是遺憾的是，有線電視併購的數量並沒有達到我們希望的水平。

Our next question comes from the line of Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ben Swinburne。

Tom, I was wondering if we could get your perspective. This came up on yesterday's Comcast call on sort of the consumer demand and opportunity for Charter to offer symmetric products and sort of the need for the network to offer symmetric service and kind of how you get there.

湯姆，我想聽聽你的看法。昨天康卡斯特的電話會議上討論了這個問題，主要談到了消費者對Charter提供對稱產品的需求和機遇，以及網路提供對稱服務的必要性以及如何實現這一點。

You touched on 3.1 and 4.0 in your prepared remarks, but if you could give us a little sense of the pass and time line in your mind, and I guess the cost, whether it would move capital intensity around enough that we would notice.

您在準備好的發言稿中提到了 3.1 和 4.0，但如果您能給我們一些關於您心中的時間和進度安排，以及成本方面的情況，以及它是否會改變資本密集度，以至於我們能夠注意到，那就太好了。

And then I was just wondering, Chris, this sort of subdued activity level we're seeing, which is helping bad debt hurting gross adds, I know it's impossible to know, but could this end up sort of lasting through the year? I mean, it seems like even though we're seeing vaccinations ramp back up, the consumer -- we're seeing this across a lot of companies. This churn is at like record lows, so like unusually low levels. I'm just wondering if you're seeing any signs that things are normalizing or if that's just an expectation you have.

克里斯，我一直在想，我們現在看到的這種低迷的交易活動水平，雖然有助於降低壞賬並影響新增毛利，但我知道現在下結論還為時過早，這種情況會不會持續到年底？我的意思是，儘管疫苗接種率正在逐步恢復，但消費者——我們在許多公司都看到了這種情況——流失率似乎處於歷史低位，非常低。我想知道你是否看到了任何跡象表明情況正在恢復正常，或者這只是你的一種預期。

So Ben, the issue of capacity and where it's needed and how it's used is a complicated discussion. But basically, our view is that if you think about the way networks are used, and I said people are using 700 gigs a month in the presentation today, and a lot of our customers are using over a terabyte per month, most of that is television being delivered through IP to households. And the actual upstream usage is quite sufficient for all the current uses that we have.

所以，本，關於容量問題，包括容量需求、容量使用方式等等，這是一個複雜的問題。但總的來說，我們的觀點是，想想網路的使用方式——我在今天的演示中提到，人們每月使用700GB的流量，而我們許多客戶每月使用超過1TB的流量，其中大部分是透過IP網路向家庭用戶傳輸電視訊號。實際上，目前的上行流量足以滿足我們所有現有需求。

So we don't have an immediate need to expand the capacity of the plant, and the plant is actually used in a very asymmetric way by the products that are currently on it. And we don't see that changing in the near term. But we do have the capability from a technical perspective to upgrade our network based on changing market dynamics, however they may develop in terms of how products develop.

因此，我們目前沒有擴大工廠產能的迫切需求，而且該工廠目前產品的利用率非常不均衡。我們預計這種情況短期內不會改變。但從技術角度來看，我們有能力根據不斷變化的市場動態（包括產品發展方向）來升級我們的生產網路。

We don't see an immediate need to do that, but we do think our network from a competitive point of view is well positioned from a capital intensity perspective to make those upgrade costs at much lower cost than alternative means. And so we think that we're positioned to grow in the marketplace in a very efficient way and serve products that we need to serve up based on the way the market develops. But today, we should continue to operate our network with more capacity downstream than upstream.

我們認為目前沒有立即升級的必要，但從競爭角度來看，我們的網路在資本密集度方面具有優勢，能夠以遠低於其他方案的成本完成升級。因此，我們認為我們有能力以非常有效率的方式在市場中發展，並根據市場發展提供我們所需的產品。但就目前而言，我們應該繼續保持下游網路容量大於上游網路容量的營運模式。

Ben, on the lower level of activity, it's true. It's normalizing slightly slower than what we would have expected or hoped for. Like I said in the prepared remarks, the benefit is that we have really significant EBITDA growth as a result of last year's subscriber growth and this year -- this quarter's subscriber growth, compounded by the lower level of activity in the marketplace, which is driving down transaction costs and churn and bad debt, which produces an outsized temporary financial result.

本，你說得沒錯，市場活動水準確實有所下降。它的恢復速度比我們預期的要慢一些。正如我在事先準備好的發言稿中所說，好處在於，由於去年和今年（本季）用戶數量的增長，加上市場活動水平的下降，我們實現了非常顯著的EBITDA增長。市場活動水準的下降降低了交易成本、客戶流失率和壞賬，從而帶來了顯著的短期財務收益。

Our preference would be to put a little bit of pressure on those financial results by increasing our sales and marketing through commissions and through normalizing the market through a higher level of move activity, which opens up additional selling opportunities for us as a share taker.

我們更傾向於透過增加佣金來提高銷售額和行銷，並透過提高交易活躍度來使市場正常化，從而給這些財務業績施加一些壓力，這為我們作為股票收購者創造了額外的銷售機會。

As a share-taker, we'd like to be on the offensive and to acquire customers and save them money, and that opportunity is what contributes to net adds and what contributes to short-term financial pressure to have a higher long-term EBITDA and free cash flow.

作為一家股份收購公司，我們希望採取積極主動的策略，獲取客戶並為他們省錢，而這種機會正是淨新增客戶數量以及短期財務壓力帶來更高長期 EBITDA 和自由現金流的原因。

We have seen the market slowly coming back, and so it is moving in the right direction. It's just not moving as fast as some of us would like. That includes from move churn slight -- not as much on nonpay because of all the subsidy that's out there today, which is a different topic. I think it's going to start getting back to normal here pretty quick.

我們看到市場正在緩慢復甦，所以它正朝著正確的方向發展。只是復甦的速度沒有我們一些人預期的那麼快。這包括人員流動略有減少——由於目前各種補貼的存在，非工資方面的流動並不多，但這又是另一個話題了。我認為情況很快就會恢復正常。

A lot of us who have been in the office every day through the pandemic that we're just noting this morning that the pickup in traffic, even in the New York and Connecticut area, it's pretty symbolic in terms. It's going to normalize, and we think that will start to -- it will continue to take place across the rest of the country. And so we're optimistic about our ability to sell and net add through the rest of the year.

我們這些在疫情期間每天都在辦公室上班的人，今天早上才注意到，即使在紐約和康乃狄克地區，交通流量也開始回升，這具有相當重要的象徵意義。交通將會恢復正常，我們認為這種情況會開始——並且會持續到全國其他地區。因此，我們對今年剩餘時間的銷售和淨增業務能力持樂觀態度。

Next question comes from the line of Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼。

I'm going to kind of stick with a similar theme. I appreciate that moves creates a lot of jump balls for the company, but you only serve half the households in your footprint. The vast majority of those you don't serve, I think, are poorly served, and that's probably becoming increasingly apparent to them.

我打算繼續沿用類似的思路。我理解業務拓展會為公司帶來很多挑戰，但你們的服務範圍只涵蓋了一半的家庭。我認為，你們服務範圍之外的絕大多數家庭都無法獲得應有的服務，他們可能也越來越意識到這一點。

Does the math on marketing dollars become more favorable, meaning looking to potentially force the issue a bit as opposed to just waiting for a natural shift in volumes in the market?

行銷投入的收益是否會變得更有利，這意味著是否應該考慮主動出擊，而不是只等待市場銷售的自然變化？

And then also, I'm curious how significant is an assumption that, that sort of reverts to normalized levels in terms of thinking about the margin profile of the company this year. And the reason I asked, it would seem like all the things going on in the background are favorable to bad debt, whether it's an expectation that the economy is going to continue to recover and also just the government continuing to show a prioritization and making sure that people not only have access to good broadband, but are able to sustain that access, including through additional subsidy programs. It all just seems to be moving in your favor from a bad debt standpoint.

此外，我還想知道，假設壞帳率恢復到正常水平，對於今年公司利潤率的評估有多重要。我之所以這麼問，是因為目前看來，所有不利因素都對壞帳有利，例如經濟預期將持續復甦，以及政府持續重視並確保民眾不僅能接入優質寬頻，還能透過額外補貼計畫來維持這種接觸。從壞帳角度來看，所有這些因素似乎都朝著有利於貴公司的方向發展。

So 2 separate topics. One, I'm not sure if Tom would differ. But we feel we're pretty aggressive on the sales and marketing side. And to the extent that we could be more aggressive, and we thought that it would have the ability to add more subscribers, we would do it. And so we're always looking for that, and we're not afraid to spend if we think we can drive customer acquisition.

所以這是兩個不同的話題。首先，我不確定湯姆是否會有不同的看法。但我們覺得我們在銷售和行銷方面已經相當積極進取了。如果我們能更積極一些，並且認為這樣做能夠增加訂閱用戶，我們就會去做。所以我們一直在尋找這樣的機會，如果我們認為能夠有效促進客戶獲取，我們並不吝惜投入。

Some of the difficulty is that you're digging out customers and they're inert, and so you have to keep coming back and back and back. And as attractive as our products are and as much as we can save customers money, it takes a while to pry them loose, and it's disruptive to swap out one, if not all, of your services in the household.

困難之一在於，你得費盡心思才能挖出客戶，而他們卻遲遲不願改變，所以你必須不斷地反覆拜訪。儘管我們的產品很有吸引力，也能為客戶省錢，但要讓他們徹底放棄你的服務仍然需要時間，而且更換家中一項甚至全部服務都會對他們的生活造成乾擾。

And despite the economics that we can provide and the better quality speeds and service, it just takes a little bit of time. But we're always looking for ways to be more aggressive. And as Tom mentioned, I think mobile, because of the additional outsized amount of dollars that we can save customers, is a really interesting tool, together with the combined benefits of products that we can provide that most cannot.

儘管我們能提供更經濟實惠的價格、更快的速度和更優質的服務，但這確實需要一些時間。不過，我們一直在尋找更積極的發展方式。正如湯姆所提到的，我認為行動端是一個非常有趣的工具，因為它能為客戶節省大量資金，再加上我們能夠提供大多數公司無法提供的產品優勢，行動端將更具吸引力。

I agree with that.

我同意。

Okay. Good. Good for me. And bad debt, and look, there's a bull case that the market could start to move and our selling opportunities could increase, which would drive higher commissions and transaction costs to acquire and provision and install these customers. And the bull case would be at the same time we have that because the level of subsidy that is out in the marketplace and might continue that our bad debt could remain low, and it could actually open up -- those subsidies could open up portions of the market from an affordability standpoint that could drive more sales.

好的。很好。對我來說是好事。壞帳方面，你看，樂觀的情況是市場可能會開始好轉，我們的銷售機會可能會增加，這將推高獲取、配置和安裝這些客戶的佣金和交易成本。同時，由於市場上的補貼水平可能還會持續，我們的壞帳可能會保持在較低水平，而這些補貼實際上可能會從可負擔性的角度打開部分市場，從而促進銷售。

And so could you end up with the best of the both worlds? Maybe, but that's not something that we're betting on. It's an environment we've never really seen before, and that's not factored into any of the kind of outlook or forward-looking statements that we've provided.

所以最終有可能兩全其美嗎？也許吧，但我們並不指望這一點。這是一個我們從未真正經歷過的環境，而這並未納入我們提供的任何展望或前瞻性聲明中。

I don't think we want to depend on third parties to drive our growth. And it may be the case that, that's how it turns out. But right now, we're focused on just selling more cables and minimizing the churn to the extent that we can things that are in our control.

我認為我們不想依賴第三方來推動成長。雖然最終結果可能確實如此，但目前我們的重點是提高線纜銷量，並盡可能降低客戶流失率，這些都是我們所能達到的。

What I would say is that we're in an unusual climate, and it's still unusual. And when it normalizes, which I expect it to normalize, our cost structure will revert to what it was historically, and that includes non-pay, bad debt. And as a result of that, growth could accelerate, but growth also can create cost as -- well, when you're comparing it to someone who isn't growing, and so that has an impact on margins.

我想說的是，我們目前身處一個不尋常的環境，而且這種不尋常的狀態仍在持續。我預計這種情況會恢復正常，屆時我們的成本結構將回歸歷史水平，這也包括未支付款項和壞帳。因此，成長可能會加速，但成長也會帶來成本——尤其是在與那些沒有成長的公司相比時——這必然會對利潤率產生影響。

But the overall trajectory of our business, notwithstanding the current circumstances, which are really unprecedented, the fundamental cost to serve our customers continues to come down because of our digitization of the sales and marketing and service infrastructure of the company and our ability to do self-service and self-installation. And the relative ease of delivery going forward creates long-term advantages, and the cost of CPE continues to come down on a relative basis.

儘管目前情況前所未有，但我們業務的整體發展軌跡仍然保持良好，這得益於公司銷售、行銷和服務基礎設施的數位轉型，以及我們為客戶提供自助服務和自助安裝的能力。此外，未來交付的便利性也帶來了長期優勢，客戶終端設備（CPE）的相對成本也持續下降。

So we have long-run trends, which are favorable to our cost structure. We have short-term trends, which are favorable to our cost structure, which I expect to go away.

因此，我們存在一些長期趨勢，這些趨勢有利於我們的成本結構。我們也存在一些短期趨勢，這些趨勢也有利於我們的成本結構，但我預期這些短期趨勢將會消失。

Our next question comes from the line of Craig Moffett with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig Moffett 和 MoffettNathanson 的連線。

Two questions, if I could. Chris, I want to push you to just return to what you were just talking about of stimulus. And just given the size of the stimulus with about 4x as much stimulus in dollars, about $20 billion as the annual growth rate of the entire U.S. band market, how do we think about quantifying that?

如果可以的話，我想問兩個問題。克里斯，我想請你回到剛才提到的刺激經濟的話題。考慮到刺激經濟的規模，大約是美國整個樂團市場年增率的四倍（以美元計），約200億美元，我們該如何量化這個數字？

I know you said it's not in your numbers, but can you just talk about what you as a company have done to prepare in terms of applications and what have you for the e-PPP and the E-rate? And what impact do you think that might have on your business?

我知道您說過這不在您的預算範圍內，但您能否談談貴公司在申請e-PPP和E-rate方面做了哪些準備工作？您認為這會對您的業務產生什麼影響？

And then a second somewhat unrelated question, just if you could talk about the business services segment, perhaps, and that's still growing significantly more slowly than residential. Are you more or less through the repricing of the TWC customers now, so that we can expect that to return to being a growth driver rather than, just mathematically today, being a growth drag?

還有一個不太相關的問題，您能否談談商業服務領域？這個領域的成長速度仍然遠低於住宅用戶。 TWC 使用者的重新定價工作現在是否已經基本完成？我們是否可以預期商業服務領域能夠重新成為成長動力，而不是像目前這樣，僅僅從數學角度來看，成為成長的拖累因素？

So Craig, on the stimulus, a lot of that money is undifferentiated in the States and has broadband in front of it in the nomenclature, but it's -- it can go anywhere. And so yes, we're out through our business sales services groups, trying to orient that money, both to line extension and to products for schools and municipalities.

克雷格，關於經濟刺激計劃，美國這筆資金很多都沒有明確用途，雖然名稱裡都帶有“寬頻”字樣，但實際上它可以用於任何地方。所以，是的，我們正在透過我們的商業銷售服務團隊，努力引導這筆資金流向，既用於線路擴展，也用於學校和市政機構的產品。

And we have a full suite of products to sell. But how that money is allocated and how it gets spent in the States is difficult to say. And I think it will vary by location. So it's a huge opportunity, as you point out, and it's massive. And our sense is that the States are -- don't know how to spend it all, and so they're -- we'll see what happens, but there's an opportunity there.

我們有全套產品可供銷售。但這些資金如何分配，以及在美國將如何使用，很難說。我認為各地情況會有所不同。正如您所指出的，這是一個巨大的機遇，而且規模非常龐大。我們的感覺是，美國政府不知道該如何使用這些資金，所以他們——我們拭目以待，但其中確實存在機會。

As it relates to business services growth, there are really 2 separate categories here. One is SMB and enterprise. The repricing of the TWC base is essentially through for SMB. We have had some pressure recently through seasonality programs that we've offered to SMB customers through COVID that is winding down as well as the repricing being through.

就商業服務成長而言，其實可以分為兩大類：中小企業和大型企業。 TWC 基礎套餐針對中小企業的重新定價基本上已經結束。近期，由於我們在新冠疫情期間為中小企業客戶提供的季節性優惠計劃即將結束，加上重新定價已經完成，我們面臨一些壓力。

If you take a look at the unit growth on SMB, I think you can pretty quickly see a path for us to get revenue growth on SMB more closely aligned to the unit growth rate or the customer relationship growth rate. So I think the outlook on SMB from a revenue standpoint is positive.

如果你看一下中小企業的銷售成長情況，我認為你可以很快發現，我們可以讓中小企業的收入成長與銷售成長率或客戶關係成長率更加緊密地結合。所以我認為從收入角度來看，中小企業的前景是正面的。

The same applies for enterprise. Enterprise is a slightly different set of circumstances. The retail revenue growth rate, like SMB, has been accelerating. It's up sequentially, same as SMB. It's now at 7.2% for the retail portion of revenue for enterprise. And it's being held back slightly by wholesale, particularly cell tower backhaul, where that's becoming a lesser and lesser portion of the overall revenue mix in enterprise. And the more strategic piece for us is retail in any event.

企業市場的情況也類似。企業市場的具體情況略有不同。與中小企業市場一樣，零售收入的成長率也在加速成長。與中小企業市場一樣，零售收入較上季也呈現上升趨勢。目前，企業市場零售收入佔比已達7.2%。批發業務，尤其是基地台回傳業務，在一定程度上抑制了零售收入的成長，因為批發業務在企業整體收入結構中的比例正在不斷下降。無論如何，對我們而言，零售業務才是更具策略性的部分。

The enterprise business is selling more, is doing extremely well, both -- certainly compared to last year, but also compared to 2019, and that's despite the fact that these are complex fiber products where, today, less than 25% of the time, we're meeting our customers' CIOs in the office. So that's a difficult sell to make when you're not in person to have a complex fiber cell, whether it's for fiber Internet access, Ethernet, unified communications, SD-WAN, and yet our sales are increasing and accelerating despite the fact that we can't be on location to make those sales.

企業業務的銷售額持續成長，表現極為出色－不僅與去年相比，也與2019年相比。儘管這些光纖產品非常複雜，而我們目前只有不到25%的時間能在客戶辦公室與資訊長（CIO）面對面交流，但銷售額仍保持成長。因此，在無法親自到現場洽談複雜的光纖網路（無論是用於光纖網路存取、乙太網路、統一通訊或SD-WAN）的情況下，銷售難度很高。然而，即便我們無法親臨現場進​​行銷售，銷售額仍在持續成長並加速攀升。

So I'm optimistic about the enterprise retail side and what that's going to do for the overall revenue growth rate, not only for enterprise, but when you look at commercial combined together with SMB, which is also improving.

因此，我對企業零售業務及其對整體收入成長率的影響持樂觀態度，這不僅適用於企業客戶，也適用於將商業客戶與中小企業客戶結合起來看的情況，而中小企業客戶也在不斷改善。

Our next question comes from the line of Peter Supino with Bernstein.

我們的下一個問題來自彼得·蘇皮諾和伯恩斯坦的對話。

I wanted to ask about the mobile business. Do you expect to use device subsidies any more aggressively in the future? I know your unit economics have historically made that challenging and also have the sense that they're getting better. So any thoughts on that strategy for the long run would be great.

我想問一下關於行動業務的問題。您預計未來會更積極使用設備補貼嗎？我知道貴公司的單位經濟效益歷來都比較高，使得這項策略難以實施，但我也覺得情況正在好轉。所以，如果您能談談這項策略的長期發展方向，那就太好了。

We -- so far, we haven't done that much of that, and we like the way we're marketing it currently.

到目前為止，我們還沒有做太多這方面的工作，而且我們很喜歡我們目前的行銷方式。

It's not a great business, yes, in and of itself.

就其本身而言，這的確不是什麼了不起的生意。

We'll create customers if we can retain those customers and whatever works, but we're doing well without it.

如果我們能留住現有客戶，我們就能創造新客戶，只要行之有效就好，但即便沒有新客戶，我們目前也做得很好。

Our next question comes from the line of Phil Cusick with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的菲爾·庫西克。

A couple of sort of follow-ups. On broadband, Chris, can you talk about the drivers of seasonality in customer growth in a typical second quarter? And any differences we might see this year because of the pandemic? And do you think that could be offset somewhat by increasing win opportunities in EBB?

還有一些後續問題。克里斯，關於寬頻業務，你能談談通常第二季客戶成長的季節性驅動因素嗎？今年由於疫情的影響，我們可能會看到哪些不同？你認為增加EBB的成交機會能否在某種程度上抵銷這些影響？

And then second, on CapEx, higher or at least stable, but not stable to lower in the core cable business. What's changing there? Do you see more opportunities? Is that a function of mobile? What's happening?

其次，就資本支出而言，核心有線電視業務的支出增加或至少保持穩定，但並未出現穩定下降的情況。這方面發生了什麼變化？您認為是否出現了更多機會？這是否與行動業務的發展有關？究竟發生了什麼事？

Yes. On broadband, I don't see the broader seasonality differences that have always existed in Q2 with disconnects in Q3 with reconnects. A lot of that's college and back-to-school driven as well as the move season of people repositioning. And if anything, one hand, I think it will be normal. On the other hand, you could argue that things really do get back to a fully normalized level. There may be a pent-up demand for that type of new activity. So I don't know.

是的。就寬頻而言，我沒有看到像以往那樣明顯的季節性差異，例如第二季斷線，第三季重新連線。這很大程度上是受大學開學季、返校季以及人們搬家等因素所驅動的。一方面，我認為情況會恢復正常。另一方面，你也可以說一切真的會完全恢復到正常水平。或許人們對這類新活動有被壓抑的需求。所以我也說不準。

The 2 factors you mentioned, which could, around the edges, have an impact slightly, although I don't think it changes the overall curve, would be to the extent that the subsidies and stimulus continue to drive down nonpay, and at the same time, we had an acceleration of move churn, which is a lot more selling opportunities, maybe that could have a positive impact.

你提到的這兩個因素，雖然我認為不會改變整體趨勢，但可能會在某些方面產生輕微的影響。一方面，補貼和刺激措施會繼續降低非工資支出；另一方面，房屋搬遷速度加快，這意味著更多的銷售機會，這或許會產生正面的影響。

And the other one that you pointed out was the EBB program, which could have similar type of benefits, both on the non-pay as well as on the activation side. But I don't think that, fundamentally, the overall trend of Q2 compared to Q1 or Q3 or Q4 is going to be that much different.

您提到的另一個項目是EBB計劃，它可能帶來類似的益處，無論是在非付費方面還是激活方面。但我認為，從根本上講，第二季與第一季、第三季或第四季相比，整體趨勢不會有太大差異。

On CapEx, we slightly tweaked what we said from an outlook perspective, and it ties back to what I talked about with Ben in terms of the market is normalizing, but just at a slightly slower pace. But as that market has been -- remains slow to normalize, data usage remains high. And so that has an impact on the amount of headroom we planned for in terms of capacity and network augmentation.

關於資本支出，我們從展望的角度略微調整了先前的說法，這與我之前和Ben討論的內容有關，即市場正在逐步恢復正常，只是速度稍慢一些。但由於市場恢復正常的速度仍很慢，數據使用量依然居高不下。因此，這會對我們在容量和網路擴容方面預留的空間產生影響。

Now it's very much possible, our core cable capital intensity declines this year. But given the uncertainty, we updated the outlook slightly to say "relatively consistent" with last year. But I want to be clear, there's no change to our long-term outlook for core cable capital intensity to decline.

現在看來，我們核心有線電視業務的資本密集度今年下降的可能性很高。但考慮到不確定性，我們略微調整了預期，稱其與去年「基本持平」。但我要明確指出，我們對核心有線電視業務資本密集度下降的長期預期並沒有改變。

Chris, do you think that with mobile wireless broadband coming on, does that give you any pause on your assumption for a strong second half? Or is that sort of built in already?

克里斯，你認為隨著行動無線寬頻的普及，這是否會讓你對下半年強勁的預期有所動搖？還是說這種趨勢已經基本形成？

Mobile wireless broadband, you mean our own mobile wireless broadband?

您指的是我們自己的行動無線寬頻嗎？

Wireless -- sorry, no, competitive wireless broadband coming to the markets.

無線——抱歉，不是無線寬頻，而是有競爭力的無線寬頻即將進入市場。

We're mobile wireless broadband, but -- are you talking about somebody else's?

我們是行動無線寬頻，但是－您說的是別人的寬頻嗎？

Sorry. I mean T-Mobile and Verizon, T-Mobile and Verizon mid-band wireless offerings.

抱歉，我指的是T-Mobile和Verizon，以及T-Mobile和Verizon的中頻段無線服務。

Look, we're always concerned about competition, and we're watching for it. On the increment, I think there will be added pressure. We think it's a real product for certain areas of a customer base, and so it's something we're keeping an eye on. And we have our own mobile broadband wireless together with our fixed line broadband converged we think competes well, and it requires us to continue to invest in that space.

我們始終關注競爭，並密切關注事態發展。就增量而言，我認為競爭壓力會更大。我們認為它對特定客戶群來說是一款真正有價值的產品，因此我們會持續關注。我們擁有自己的行動寬頻無線服務，結合固定寬頻融合服務，我們認為它具有很強的競爭力，這也要求我們繼續在該領域進行投資。

And we'll be on that spectrum as well.

我們也會處於這個範圍。

Correct. From a C-Band perspective, that will be something we participate through the MVNO. And then we have our own CBRS, which you're aware of as well.

沒錯。從C頻段的角度來看，我們將透過虛擬營運商參與其中。此外，我們還有自己的CBRS頻段，您也知道這一點。

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Rollins with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

First, can you share your mix of broadband customers between entry level versus higher-level tiers and how you're looking at the ARPU opportunities and take to migrate customers to higher performance levels?

首先，您能否分享一下您的寬頻客戶組成（包括入門級和高級套餐），以及您如何看待 ARPU 機會，並採取措施將客戶遷移到更高性能的套餐？

And then secondly, just from your comments earlier, can you share what the fair average rate of estimated passings growth can be for Charter if you think about it on a 3- to 5-year horizon, and you could share that with or without RDOF?

其次，根據您先前的評論，如果您考慮未來 3 到 5 年的時間跨度，Charter 的預期通過率平均成長率應該是多少？您可以分享一下有 RDOF 和沒有 RDOF 兩種情況下的成長率。

In terms of the broadband customer base, most of our customer base is on entry-level package, meaning 200 megabits. So our basic strategy has been to have a very rich broadband product as our base product, and we've continuously taken that up.

就寬頻用戶群而言，我們的用戶大多使用入門級套餐，也就是200兆位元。因此，我們的基本策略是提供功能豐富的寬頻產品作為基礎產品，我們也一直在堅持這項策略。

And so in terms of opportunities to sell up, we have a lot of it. We haven't done much of that really. We do it. And obviously, we satisfy the market, but the bulk of our customer base is at the entry-level speed, which is quite high.

所以，就出售升級產品的機會而言，我們有很多這樣的機會。但我們實際上並沒有這樣做太多。我們確實會這樣做。顯然，我們滿足了市場需求，但我們的大部分客戶群都處於入門級速度區間，而這個速度區間的速度相當快。

Our -- I'm not sure I fully understood what you were going at with the passings growth, but it's really about housing starts and versus if you take out the RDOF out of it and what's that going to look like. And yes, we -- our footprint pretty much looks like the United States from a statistical perspective. And so if you look at housing starts and you have an opinion on that, that will probably mirror our passings growth.

我不太確定我是否完全理解您關於人口成長的觀點，但實際上，這指的是房屋開工量，以及如果您剔除農村發展基金（RDOF）的影響，情況會如何。是的，從統計角度來看，我們的經濟規模與美國整體情況非常相似。因此，如果您觀察房屋開工量並對此發表看法，那麼這可能與我們的人口成長相符。

Yes. I agree. That will be the variability driver. Just to put in context of what's going on today, we're building about -- we're constructing about 600,000 a year, much of which is rural extensions proactive on our part already before RDOF. The remainder of what you see of our passings growth is fill in and other type of what we call brownfield opportunities.

是的，我同意。這將是影響因素。為了更好地理解目前的情況，我們每年大約建造60萬套住房，其中大部分是我們在農村發展機會基金（RDOF）之前就已主動推進的農村住房擴建項目。其餘的成長部分則是填補現有住房空缺以及我們稱為「棕地開發機會」的其他類型項目。

Well, new developments.

嗯，有新的進展。

New developments.

最新進展。

In Texas and Florida.

在德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州。

Yes, certainly. That will all depend on the overall housing starts growth. And then during the period of RDOF, there's an additional over 1 million homes that we'll construct in these rural areas to address RDOF on top of whatever the organic growth rate is, which a big driver is the housing starts, as Tom mentioned.

當然。這完全取決於整體房屋開工量的成長。此外，在農村發展機會基金（RDOF）實施期間，除了自然成長率（正如湯姆所提到的，房屋開工量是自然成長率的主要驅動因素）之外，我們還將在這些農村地區額外建造超過100萬套住房，以滿足RDOF的需求。

Our next question comes from the line of Jessica Reif Ehrlich with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的傑西卡·雷夫·埃利希。

I have a question with, I guess, a two-parter on video, which hasn't come up at all. Are there any plans to offer a product similar to Comcast Flex? Can you -- maybe you could talk about the pros and cons from a Charter perspective? And then is there any difference in how you're approaching programmers that are now offering direct-to-consumer services that mirror or encompass a lot of the content they have on their pay TV channels?

我有一個問題，我想應該用兩段影片來講解，這個問題之前完全沒有被提及。 Charter是否有計劃推出類似Comcast Flex的產品？您能否從Charter的角度談談它的優缺點？另外，對於那些現在提供直接面向消費者服務、內容與付費電視頻道有很多重疊或涵蓋內容的節目製作商，Charter在處理這類服務方面有什麼不同的看法？

Jessica, the video business is under a lot of challenge, and it's going through a transformation. And we are -- we have over 10 million customers now who receive our service through an application as opposed to a set-top box.

傑西卡，視訊產業面臨許多挑戰，正在經歷轉型。而我們——現在有超過1000萬用戶透過應用程式而不是機上盒來獲取我們的服務。

And we have direct-to-consumer relationships, and we have new relationships with programmers developing that allow us to sell traditional content and bundles. We have different kinds of bundles, some are traditional cable TV packages, some are over-the-top packages and some are direct to consumers, where we're representing a direct-to-consumer relationship and really essentially acting in a consignment kind of mode.

我們擁有直接面向消費者的銷售管道，也與正在開發的節目製作商建立了新的合作關係，這使我們能夠銷售傳統內容和套餐。我們提供不同類型的套餐，包括傳統的有線電視套餐、OTT（Over-the-Top）套餐以及直接面向消費者的套餐。在這些套餐中，我們代表的是直接面向消費者的銷售模式，實際上我們扮演的是一種寄賣的角色。

So we have every business model you can imagine going on simultaneously, which I think over the long term creates opportunity for us. Right now, it's quite disruptive.

所以，你能想像到的所有商業模式都在同時進行，我認為這從長遠來看會給我們創造機會。但就目前而言，這確實具有一定的顛覆性。

And on approach to programmers.

以及對待程式設計師的態度。

Well, you mean how we deal with programmers from a content perspective, you mean?

你是說從內容角度來看，我們如何與程式設計師打交道嗎？

Yes. Has it changed because of the way that they're selling content into the...

是的。這是否因為他們向用戶銷售內容的方式而改變了？

Well, it's going to affect the value of content. And obviously, if content comes out of bundled packages and goes direct to consumer, its value in the bundle goes down.

這肯定會影響內容的價值。顯然，如果內容從捆綁包中分離出來直接面向消費者，那麼它在捆綁包中的價值就會下降。

Our next question comes from the line of Jonathan Chaplin with New Street.

我們的下一個問題來自喬納森·卓別林與新街的連結。

Two unrelated questions. First, Tom, I thought the message on the magnitude of investment you've put into building a future-proof network at the beginning of the call is pretty powerful, both in terms of what you've invested over the course of the last 5 years and what you'll invest over the course of next 5 years.

兩個不相關的問題。首先，湯姆，我認為你在通話開始時提到的為構建面向未來的網絡所投入的巨額資金非常有力，無論從過去5年的投入還是未來5年的投資計劃來看都是如此。

I'm wondering what you'd be able to share from the conversations you've been having with the administration around their ambitions for $100 billion in infrastructure investment in broadband. Wondering how -- specifically how you guys see the opportunity to benefit from that if it were to come to pass and where you see potential threats.

我想了解您與政府就其1000億美元寬頻基礎設施投資計畫進行的對話中，有哪些可以分享的觀點。具體來說，我想知道如果這項計劃最終實施，你們如何看待從中獲益的機會，以及你們認為可能存在哪些潛在威脅。

And then separately, I just looked back at where voice penetration of broadband customers peaked, and it peaked at 50%, and that probably understates your market share because it peaked at the end of '15 when the market was already declining. I'm wondering if you can remind us where market share of wired voice peaked for you guys. And is that basically where you're setting your expectation for mobile penetration to go over time?

另外，我剛剛查閱了寬頻用戶語音普及率的峰值，達到了50%，但這可能低估了你們的市場份額，因為峰值出現在2015年底，當時市場已經開始下滑。我想問一下，你們有線語音的市佔率高峰出現在什麼時候？你們對行動語音普及率的預期是否也大致如此？

Well, my hope is to have all the share over time. And so we have significant ambition. It will take a long, long time to get that, but if you do -- I don't have the wireline share off the top of my head, but it's significant.

嗯，我希望最終能佔據全部市場。所以我們雄心勃勃。這需要很長時間才能實現，但如果真的實現了——我一時想不起來具體的固網市場份額，但肯定相當可觀。

There were years and years and years where when we modeled and forecasted and realized what we were getting, it was always at 50% of broadband to your point. And so until the wireline substitution with mobile really took place in a significant way, that was pretty reliable for a long time. So I think that where you're going gives you what you're looking for.

多年來，我們透過建模、預測和實際測量，始終發現您所在位置的寬頻覆蓋率只有50%。因此，在行動網路真正大規模取代有線網路之前，這種網路狀況在很長一段時間內都相當可靠。所以我認為，您即將前往的地方能夠滿足您的需求。

If you look at how much of the wireline business we currently own...

如果你看看我們目前在有線通訊業務領域佔據多大份額…

Yes.

是的。

It's significant. And it's -- oddly, we got the right to be in -- to compete in the telephone business, and we are a telephone company now. And that's kind of strange when you think about it.

這意義重大。而且——說來也怪，我們獲得了進入電話行業競爭的權利，而我們現在也確實是一家電話公司了。仔細想想，這還挺奇怪的。

In terms of how we're communicating with regard to broadband buildout and subsidy and infrastructure subsidies, our view is that the job one is to get the unserved areas of the country served, and that subsidies should be directed to do that. And we're willing to help and invest and to make that happen.

關於寬頻建設、補貼和基礎設施補貼的溝通，我們的觀點是，首要任務是讓全國尚未涵蓋的地區都能享受到寬頻服務，補貼應該用於實現這一目標。我們願意提供幫助和投資，以實現這一目標。

And that the private capital that's been deployed in the United States in the communications networks, the capital that just got spent on Spectrum by the wireless companies and us and Comcast and the CBRS auction and the capital that's going into -- that has gone into and continues to go into the communications infrastructure in the country is good and held us in good stead in -- through the pandemic when we were able to operate networks at high capacity instantaneously, unlike Western Europe and other places where communication services and entertainment services were actually down-res'd.

而美國投入通訊網路的私人資本，無線公司、我們和康卡斯特在頻譜和 CBRS 拍賣上投入的資本，以及正在投入並將繼續投入到美國通信基礎設施的資本，都是有益的，並在疫情期間為我們提供了良好的保障，使我們能夠立即以高容量運行網絡，這與西歐和其他地方的通信服務和娛樂服務實際上被降級的情況截然不同。

So we think there's a good model there and an opportunity to serve the unserved. And you'd like to help and be part of it.

所以我們認為這是一個很好的模式，也是一個服務未被服務的群體的機會。而您也願意提供協助並參與其中。

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

我們的下一個問題將來自德意志銀行的布萊恩·克拉夫特。

I'm going to go off the beat and path a little bit here. Can you talk about how you're thinking about the future of your Los Angeles RSNs given the pressures on pay TV bundle volumes that you just talked about against your fixed rights and production costs? What's the right long-term model for the business? And also under your rights agreements, could you actually bundle it as an app with broadband outside of a bundled service?

我接下來要稍微偏離主題。鑑於您剛才提到的付費電視套裝銷售面臨的壓力，以及您固定的版權和製作成本，您能否談談您對洛杉磯地區體育頻道（RSN）未來發展的看法？對這項業務而言，合適的長期模式是什麼？另外，根據您的版權協議，您是否有可能將其作為應用程式與寬頻服務捆綁銷售，而不是作為捆綁服務的一部分？

Well, luckily, it's not a material part of our business. It's difficult, and it's expensive and the prices continue to go up. And it's hard to say how we could monetize it effectively over the long run.

幸運的是，這並非我們業務的主要組成部分。它難度高、成本高，而且價格還在不斷上漲。很難說我們如何在長期內有效地從中獲利。

And our last question comes from the line of Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Vijay Jayant。

I've got 2. Chris, given where you are on your wireless subscriber growth, I think you're sort of like 10% behind Comcast, and they've sort of broken even from a profitability standpoint.

我有兩個問題。克里斯，鑑於你目前的無線用戶成長情況，我認為你比康卡斯特落後了大約 10%，而從盈利的角度來看，他們已經基本收支平衡了。

Is that something we can extrapolate you're a quarter or two away that it's no longer -- wireless is no longer going to be sort of a headwind on EBITDA growth? It's not -- is there any reason in economics that changes that?

我們是否可以推斷，再過一、兩個季度，無線業務將不再對 EBITDA 成長構成阻礙？確實如此——經濟學上有什麼原因會改變這一點嗎？

And for Tom, your comments, even last quarter and this quarter, talked about obviously healthy broadband growth this year. But interestingly, you talked about acceleration in 2022. Can you sort of talk about what gives you the confidence on that? Is that RDOF contributions or just sort of natural on the core base?

湯姆，你上個季度和這個季度的評論都提到了今年寬頻業務的穩健成長。但有趣的是，你提到了2022年寬頻業務將加速成長。你能談談是什麼讓你對此充滿信心嗎？是RDOF的貢獻，還是核心用戶群的自然成長？

So on the wireless EBITDA, and our goal is -- it's going to sound bad, but our goal isn't to drive short-term EBITDA profitability. Our goal is to drive as much growth as we can because we know what the underlying profitability is and what it does for the overall business.

所以，關於無線業務的 EBITDA，我們的目標——聽起來可能不太好，但我們的目標並非追求短期 EBITDA 獲利。我們的目標是盡可能地實現成長，因為我們清楚其潛在的獲利能力以及它對整體業務的影響。

So I don't think we're going to be forecasting EBITDA breakeven on a consolidated wireless business basis, which isn't even how we look at the business because we think about it combined.

所以我認為我們不會以合併後的無線業務為基礎來預測 EBITDA 盈虧平衡，這甚至不是我們看待這項業務的方式，因為我們是把它作為一個整體來考慮的。

And that being said, we have essentially the same economics as Comcast, and so the model is very similar. And -- but we are focused on really driving as much subscriber acquisition as we can. The business itself, absent any subscriber acquisition costs, so absent any marketing and sales, already cleared profitability, absent growth costs at the 2 million lines mark. So we're well into that territory.

也就是說，我們的經濟模式與康卡斯特基本相同，因此商業模式也非常相似。但是，我們目前專注於盡可能多地獲取用戶。在不考慮任何用戶獲取成本（即行銷和銷售成本）的情況下，我們的業務在達到200萬用戶規模時就已經實現了盈利，無需承擔增長成本。因此，我們已經完全達到了這個目標。

So really, what you're looking at in terms of an EBITDA drag right now is really about new subscriber acquisition, and that's something, if we have the opportunity to push, we're going to go do that. And so I don't want to give necessarily a guidance or an outlook on that. But the trend continues to improve despite the fact that we have a very strong net addition rate on wireless lines.

所以，目前對 EBITDA 造成拖累的真正原因是新用戶獲取，如果我們有機會，我們會全力以赴。因此，我不想就此給予具體的指引或展望。儘管我們的無線線路淨新增用戶率非常強勁，但整體趨勢仍在持續改善。

And if I understand your question, it was why do we have confidence that broadband growth will accelerate and why '22 will be better than '21, I think that our basic view is that if you go back over the last few years that we've been on a growth track, and that growth track has been accelerating, and we had a very anomalous situation in 2020 that carries into '21, and that -- if you just sort of trend out that long-term line, it gets back on that line in '22, and that's really what we're saying. It's that simple.

如果我理解你的問題，你是想問為什麼我們有信心寬頻成長會加速，以及為什麼2022年會比2021年更好。我認為我們的基本觀點是，回顧過去幾年，我們一直處於成長軌道上，而且成長速度還在加快。 2020年我們遇到了非常異常的情況，這種情況延續到了2021年。如果你觀察長期趨勢，你會發現2022年成長會回到原來的軌道上，這就是我們想表達的觀點。就這麼簡單。

I don't think RDOF is going to be a significant contributor in 2022 just given the limited number of activated passings that will be there. So I don't think about that as a material driver. Think about it as the momentum and the ability to use mobile, which we've treated as an attribute to the broadband product as a way to continue to drive growth and to continue to improve retention on the broadband side.

我認為，鑑於2022年可用的行動數據有限，RDOF（行動數據流量優化）不會對2022年的成長做出顯著貢獻。因此，我不認為RDOF是實質的驅動因素。我們應該關注的是行動端的成長動能和使用能力，我們一直將行動端視為寬頻產品的重要功能，以此來持續推動成長並提高寬頻用戶留存率。

Thanks, Vijay, and thanks to everyone for listening. James, I'll pass it back to you.

謝謝Vijay，也謝謝大家的聆聽。 James，接下來交給你了。

This does conclude today's conference call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以斷開連線了。