(CHTR) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Charter's First Quarter 2022 Investor Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎來到憲章的 2022 年第一季度投資者電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）

I will now hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Stefan Anninger. Sir, you may begin.

我現在將會議交給您今天的第一位發言人 Stefan Anninger。先生，您可以開始了。

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

早上好，歡迎來到 Charter 的 2022 年第一季度投資者電話會議。本次電話會議隨附的演示文稿可在我們的網站 ir.charter.com 的財務信息部分下找到。

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.

在我們繼續之前，我想提醒您，我們的 SEC 文件中包含許多風險因素和其他警示性聲明，包括我們最近提交的 10-K 和今天早上提交的 10-Q。我們不會在本次電話會議上審查這些風險因素和其他警示性聲明。但是，我們鼓勵您仔細閱讀它們。

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上就預期、預測、計劃和前景發表的各種評論構成前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受到可能導致實際結果與歷史或預期結果不同的風險和不確定性的影響。任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理層當前的觀點，Charter 不承擔修改或更新此類陳述或在未來做出額外前瞻性陳述的義務。

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，我們將參考我們收益材料中定義和核對的非公認會計原則措施。這些由憲章定義的非公認會計原則措施可能無法與其他公司使用的具有類似名稱的措施相比較。另請注意，除非另有說明，否則本次電話會議和演示文稿中提到的所有增長率都是按年計算的。

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

在今天的電話會議上，我們有董事長兼首席執行官 Tom Rutledge；我們的首席運營官克里斯·溫弗瑞；和我們的首席財務官 Jessica Fischer。有了這個，讓我們把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Stefan. We continue to grow our business by offering superior converged connectivity products. During the quarter, we added 129,000 customer relationships and 185,000 Internet customers. Customer relationship churn remains low due to current consumer behavior while connect activity opportunities also remain low as a result.

謝謝你，斯特凡。我們通過提供卓越的融合連接產品來繼續發展我們的業務。本季度，我們增加了 129,000 個客戶關係和 185,000 個互聯網客戶。由於當前的消費者行為，客戶關係流失率仍然很低，而連接活動機會也因此很低。

We continued to see very strong mobile line growth with net additions of 373,000. Over the last year, we've grown our mobile lines by nearly 50%. We now have over 4 million total mobile lines.

我們繼續看到非常強勁的移動線路增長，淨增加 373,000 條。去年，我們的移動產品線增長了近 50%。我們現在擁有超過 400 萬條移動線路。

Financials were also strong in the first quarter. First quarter revenue and EBITDA each grew by 5.4%. And when excluding a onetime payment, free cash flow grew by 9% year-over-year.

第一季度金融股也表現強勁。第一季度收入和 EBITDA 均增長 5.4%。如果不包括一次性付款，自由現金流同比增長 9%。

As always, we remain focused on our primary goal of driving customer growth and market share, leading to higher free cash flow. We're doing that in a number of ways, including expanding our footprint with good returns on investment; upgrading our network to ensure that we're offering our latest and fastest high-quality connectivity services and continuing to invest in high-quality customer service; and finally, investing in the mobile business to drive convergence of fixed and mobile connectivity products and earn a higher share of monthly household communication spend by saving customers money.

與往常一樣，我們仍然專注於推動客戶增長和市場份額的主要目標，從而帶來更高的自由現金流。我們正在通過多種方式做到這一點，包括以良好的投資回報擴大我們的足跡；升級我們的網絡，以確保我們提供最新、最快的高質量連接服務，並繼續投資於高質量的客戶服務；最後，投資移動業務，推動固定和移動連接產品的融合，並通過為客戶節省資金，在每月家庭通信支出中獲得更高份額。

Our rural construction initiative is also progressing as planned, and we've started to work in all 24 of the states where we won Rural Digital Opportunity Fund bids. Our multiyear, multibillion-dollar rural construction project will deliver gigabit high-speed broadband access to more than 1 million unserved rural customer locations across the country. Through RDOF, we'll add over 100,000 miles of new network infrastructure to our approximately 800,000 existing miles over the next 5 or so years.

我們的農村建設計劃也在按計劃進行，我們已經開始在我們贏得農村數字機會基金投標的所有 24 個州開展工作。我們的多年、數十億美元的農村建設項目將為全國超過 100 萬個未提供服務的農村客戶地點提供千兆高速寬帶接入。通過 RDOF，我們將在未來 5 年左右的時間里為我們現有的大約 800,000 英里增加超過 100,000 英里的新網絡基礎設施。

And our construction is not limited to RDOF commitments. We continue to build in other rural areas and are pursuing opportunities to receive other broadband stimulus funds. In addition, we regularly expand our network to additional residential, SMB and enterprise passing wherever it's economically attractive.

而且我們的建設不僅限於 RDOF 承諾。我們繼續在其他農村地區建設，並正在尋求獲得其他寬帶刺激資金的機會。此外，我們定期將我們的網絡擴展到更多的住宅、中小型企業和企業，只要它具有經濟吸引力。

Ultimately, our rural construction initiative is not only good for the millions of rural customers that will finally have access to fast and reliable Internet, but it's also good for Charter and its shareholders. The expansion of our footprint will help us drive additional customer growth by growing customers in unserved and underserved areas.

歸根結底，我們的農村建設計劃不僅有利於最終將獲得快速可靠互聯網的數百萬農村客戶，而且也有利於查特及其股東。擴大我們的足跡將幫助我們通過在服務不足和服務不足的地區增加客戶來推動額外的客戶增長。

Demand for our customers for greater connectivity speeds and data throughput continue to grow at a very fast pace. During the quarter, Internet customers who do not buy traditional video from us used approximately 700 gigabytes per month, more than 35% higher than pre-pandemic levels. And nearly 25% of those customers now use a terabyte or more of data per month.

我們的客戶對更高連接速度和數據吞吐量的需求繼續以非常快的速度增長。在本季度，不從我們這裡購買傳統視頻的互聯網客戶每月使用約 700 GB，比大流行前的水平高出 35% 以上。近 25% 的客戶現在每月使用 1TB 或更多的數據。

To meet that growing demand, we're both expanding the capacity and reallocating capacity within our network. And the technology to both expand and reallocate plant bandwidth is developing rapidly. Today, we're implementing high splits or what we prefer to call spectrum splits, which allocate more plant capacity to the upstream, all using our DOCSIS 3.1 infrastructure. In turn, we're able to offer our customers higher symmetrical speeds and multi-gigabit speeds.

為了滿足不斷增長的需求，我們正在擴大我們網絡內的容量並重新分配容量。擴展和重新分配工廠帶寬的技術正在迅速發展。今天，我們正在使用我們的 DOCSIS 3.1 基礎設施實施高拆分或我們更喜歡稱之為頻譜拆分的方式，將更多的工廠容量分配給上游。反過來，我們能夠為客戶提供更高的對稱速度和數千兆位速度。

Additionally, by expanding and reallocating plant capacity, we reduced our network augmentation capital spending, including node split spending going forward. And the vast majority of our deployed modems are already spectrum split-capable, allowing us to provide faster service to our existing customers without swapping out their CPE.

此外，通過擴大和重新分配工廠產能，我們減少了網絡擴充資本支出，包括未來的節點拆分支出。而且我們部署的絕大多數調製解調器已經具備頻譜分割能力，使我們能夠為現有客戶提供更快的服務，而無需更換他們的 CPE。

We've been increasing the number of spectrum split projects in our service areas, and we'll continue to do so. And as the technology develops further, we'll shift our strategy dynamically to further expand the capacity of our plant and reallocate bandwidth as necessary to meet customer needs by deploying additional technologies, including DOCSIS 4.0, which will allow us to deliver even greater capacity, offering consumers the fastest and lowest latency connectivity products in a highly capital-efficient way, driving customer and market share growth and free cash flow.

我們一直在增加我們服務領域的頻譜分割項目的數量，我們將繼續這樣做。隨著技術的進一步發展，我們將動態轉變我們的戰略，進一步擴大我們工廠的產能，並根據需要通過部署其他技術（包括 DOCSIS 4.0）重新分配帶寬以滿足客戶需求，這將使我們能夠提供更大的產能，以高度資本效率的方式為消費者提供最快和最低延遲的連接產品，推動客戶和市場份額的增長以及自由現金流。

In mobile, we continue to improve and enhance our products in a number of ways, differentiating our offering, helping to drive customer growth and improving mobile business economics. In April, we began the market rollout of mobile speed boost. Mobile speed boost allows Spectrum Mobile customers to receive speeds up to 1 gigabit per second on their Spectrum Mobile service devices when inside their homes even when their provisioned wireline Internet speed is less than a gigabit. The rollout of our first trial of our CBS small cells in full market area continues to progress nicely.

在移動領域，我們繼續以多種方式改進和增強我們的產品，使我們的產品與眾不同，幫助推動客戶增長並改善移動業務的經濟性。 4 月，我們開始了移動提速的市場推廣。移動速度提升允許 Spectrum Mobile 客戶在家中時在其 Spectrum Mobile 服務設備上接收高達每秒 1 Gb 的速度，即使他們配置的有線互聯網速度低於 1 Gb。我們在全市場範圍內首次試用 CBS 小型基站的工作繼續順利進行。

In the first quarter, we completed the build-out of our mobile core network for the upcoming trial. We expect the trial to begin in the middle of the year and to offer faster speeds, a better overall mobile experience, all the while saving us costs. Ultimately, with our mobile product, we're offering to consumers a unique and superior fully converged connectivity service package while saving customers hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

第一季度，我們為即將到來的試驗完成了移動核心網絡的建設。我們預計該試驗將在年中開始，提供更快的速度、更好的整體移動體驗，同時為我們節省成本。最終，通過我們的移動產品，我們將為消費者提供獨特且卓越的完全融合連接服務包，同時每年為客戶節省數百或數千美元。

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

我們在家庭連接支出中的份額，包括移動和固定寬帶，仍然非常低。事實上，在我們的足跡範圍內，我們在有線和移動連接上的家庭支出不到 30%。因此，我們有很大的機會通過為客戶節省資金來增加市場份額。通過我們最新的產品，我們可以做到這一點，從而提高連接、減少客戶流失並推動客戶增長。

Before turning the call over to Jessica, I wanted to make a few comments about the joint venture with Comcast that we announced earlier this week. Our joint venture will provide video delivered by apps, a competitive app store, on-TV applications and is capable of aggregation, navigation, search and curation, billing and content security. It will give consumers new devices and content providers new opportunities to create customer relationships on a platform designed to help them sell video effectively.

在將電話轉給傑西卡之前，我想對我們本週早些時候宣布的與康卡斯特的合資企業發表一些評論。我們的合資企業將提供由應用程序、有競爭力的應用程序商店、電視應用程序提供的視頻，並能夠聚合、導航、搜索和管理、計費和內容安全。它將為消費者提供新的設備和內容提供商新的機會，在旨在幫助他們有效銷售視頻的平台上建立客戶關係。

Comcast has created excellent IP for this venture, and we have high expectations that we can work together to continue its development and distribution. We have a history of success in our mobile JV operating systems, demonstrated by the fact that between our 2 respective mobile businesses, we added more mobile lines in the first quarter of this year than the rest of the mobile industry added collectively.

康卡斯特為這家合資企業創造了優秀的 IP，我們寄予厚望，希望我們能夠共同努力，繼續其開發和發行。我們在移動合資操作系統方面擁有成功的歷史，這一事實證明，在我們各自的兩個移動業務之間，我們在今年第一季度增加的移動線路數量超過了移動行業其他部門的總和。

Now I'll turn the call over to Jessica.

現在我將把電話轉給傑西卡。

Thanks, Tom. Let's now turn to our customer results on Slide 5. We grew total residential and SMB customer relationships by 129,000 in the first quarter. Including residential and SMB, we grew our Internet customer relationships by 185,000 in the quarter. We continue to see record low combined competitive and move churn, which has reduced our selling opportunities and very low nonpay churn across our footprint.

謝謝，湯姆。現在讓我們看看幻燈片 5 上的客戶結果。第一季度，我們的住宅和 SMB 客戶關係總數增加了 129,000 個。包括住宅和中小企業，我們在本季度的互聯網客戶關係增加了 185,000 人。我們繼續看到創紀錄的低綜合競爭和搬家流失率，這減少了我們的銷售機會和非常低的非付費流失率。

Similar to the fourth quarter, we saw both lower Internet churn and lower Internet connects than in the first quarters of 2021, 2020 and 2019. And this was true across our footprint regardless of competing technology.

與第四季度類似，我們看到與 2021 年、2020 年和 2019 年第一季度相比，互聯網流失率和互聯網連接率都較低。無論競爭技術如何，這在我們的足跡中都是如此。

Turning to video. Video customers declined by 112,000 in the first quarter. Wireline voice declined by 150,000, and we added 373,000 mobile lines. Despite the lower number of selling opportunities from reduced activity levels, we continue to drive mobile growth with our high-quality, attractively priced service.

轉向視頻。第一季度視頻客戶減少了 112,000 人。有線語音下降 150,000 條，我們增加了 373,000 條移動線路。儘管活動水平降低導致銷售機會減少，但我們繼續通過高質量、價格優惠的服務推動移動業務增長。

Moving to financial results, starting on Slide 6. Over the last year, we grew total residential customers by 674,000 or 2.3%. Residential revenue per customer relationship increased by 1% year-over-year driven by promotional rate step-ups and video rate adjustments that pass through programming rate increases. These effects were partially offset by the same bundle and mix trends we've seen over the past year, including a higher mix of nonvideo customers and a higher mix of low-priced video packages within our base.

轉向財務業績，從幻燈片 6 開始。在過去一年中，我們的住宅客戶總數增加了 674,000 或 2.3%。由於促銷率的提高和通過節目費率的提高而進行的視頻費率調整，每個客戶關係的住宅收入同比增長了 1%。這些影響被我們在過去一年中看到的相同捆綁和組合趨勢部分抵消，包括非視頻客戶的更高組合和我們基礎內低價視頻包的更高組合。

Additionally, this quarter's revenue was negatively impacted by $20 million in adjustments related to sports network rebates, which we intend to credit to qualified video consumers. These rebates are also reflected in lower programming expense this quarter with no impact to adjusted EBITDA.

此外，本季度的收入受到與體育網絡回扣相關的 2000 萬美元調整的負面影響，我們打算將其歸功於合格的視頻消費者。這些回扣也反映在本季度較低的節目費用上，對調整後的 EBITDA 沒有影響。

Excluding the impact of sports network credit I just mentioned, our residential ARPU grew by 1.2% year-over-year. Also, keep in mind that our residential ARPU does not reflect any mobile revenue or video programming pass-through increases announced late in the first quarter.

排除我剛才提到的體育網絡信用的影響，我們的住宅 ARPU 同比增長 1.2%。此外，請記住，我們的住宅 ARPU 並未反映第一季度末宣布的任何移動收入或視頻節目傳遞增長。

As Slide 6 shows, residential revenue grew by 3.7% year-over-year and by 3.9% year-over-year when excluding the sports network credit.

如幻燈片 6 所示，住宅收入同比增長 3.7%，如果不包括體育網絡信貸，則同比增長 3.9%。

Turning to commercial. SMB revenue grew by 4.6% year-over-year, reflecting SMB customer growth of 4.4%. Enterprise revenue was up by 3.7% year-over-year. Excluding all wholesale revenue, enterprise revenue grew by 6.5%, and enterprise PSUs grew by 5.2% year-over-year.

轉向商業。中小企業收入同比增長 4.6%，反映中小企業客戶增長 4.4%。企業收入同比增長 3.7%。剔除所有批發收入，企業收入增長 6.5%，企業 PSU 同比增長 5.2%。

First quarter advertising revenue grew by 11.5% year-over-year or by 5.1% excluding political revenue, primarily due to our growing advanced advertising capabilities.

第一季度廣告收入同比增長 11.5% 或不包括政治收入增長 5.1%，這主要是由於我們不斷增長的先進廣告能力。

Mobile revenue totaled $690 million with $292 million of that revenue being device revenue. Other revenue increased by 5.2% year-over-year and includes 2 months of rural construction initiative subsidies totaling $19 million. In total, consolidated first quarter revenue was up 5.4% year-over-year.

移動收入總計 6.9 億美元，其中 2.92 億美元是設備收入。其他收入同比增長 5.2%，其中包括 2 個月的農村建設倡議補貼總額 1900 萬美元。總體而言，第一季度合併收入同比增長 5.4%。

Moving to operating expenses and EBITDA on Slide 7. In the first quarter, total operating expenses grew by $410 million or 5.4% year-over-year. Programming costs declined by 0.4% year-over-year due to a decline in video customers of 2.1%, a higher mix of lighter video packages, a $20 million benefit related to sports network rebates that I mentioned and $34 million of other favorable adjustments, much of which was not unique year-over-year. All of that was mostly offset by higher programming rates. Excluding both of the adjustments I just mentioned, programming costs grew by 1.4%.

轉向幻燈片 7 上的運營費用和 EBITDA。第一季度，總運營費用同比增長 4.1 億美元或 5.4%。節目成本同比下降 0.4%，原因是視頻客戶下降 2.1%、更輕量級視頻套餐的組合增加、我提到的與體育網絡回扣相關的 2000 萬美元收益以及 3400 萬美元的其他有利調整，其中大部分不是逐年獨特的。所有這些都被更高的編程率所抵消。排除我剛才提到的兩項調整，編程成本增長了 1.4%。

And looking at the full year 2022, we now expect programming cost per video customer to grow in the low to mid-single-digit percentage range versus mid-single digits previously.

縱觀 2022 年全年，我們現在預計每位視頻客戶的節目成本將在中低個位數百分比範圍內增長，而之前的中個位數。

Regulatory connectivity and produced content declined by 7.4% primarily driven by lower Lakers RSN costs, lower video CPE sold to customers and lower regulatory and franchise fees. The decline in Lakers costs was primarily driven by the delayed start to the NBA season in 2020, which drove more Lakers games charges into Q1 of 2021, making for an easier comparison this year. Excluding the RSN costs from both years, regulatory connectivity and produced content declined by 5.6%.

監管連通性和製作內容下降了 7.4%，主要是由於湖人隊 RSN 成本降低、向客戶銷售的視頻 CPE 降低以及監管和特許經營費降低。湖人隊成本下降的主要原因是 2020 年 NBA 賽季推遲開賽，這導致湖人隊在 2021 年第一季度的比賽費用增加，這使得今年的比較更容易。剔除這兩年的 RSN 成本，監管連通性和製作內容下降了 5.6%。

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

對於 2022 年全年，我們預計監管連通性和製作內容費用將與 2021 年相比下降中個位數百分比範圍，這主要是由於向客戶出售的視頻 CPE 減少以及考慮到去年湖人隊比賽異常安排的 RSN 成本降低。

Cost to service customers increased by 5.3% year-over-year. The increase was primarily driven by higher bad debt, given unusually low bad debt in the first quarter of 2021 when bad debt was down $100 million versus the first quarter of 2020, benefiting from the government stimulus packages. In fact, payment trends in the first quarter continue to be very good. And excluding bad debt from both years, cost to service customers grew by 1.8% primarily due to a larger customer base, previously planned wage increases to $20 per hour starting wage for hourly field operations and call center employees and higher health benefit and fuel costs.

服務客戶的成本同比增長 5.3%。這一增長主要是由於壞賬增加，因為受益於政府的刺激計劃，2021 年第一季度的壞賬異常低，與 2020 年第一季度相比，壞賬減少了 1 億美元。事實上，第一季度的支付趨勢繼續非常好。剔除這兩年的壞賬，服務客戶的成本增長了 1.8%，這主要是由於客戶群擴大、之前計劃的每小時現場操作和呼叫中心員工的起薪提高到每小時 20 美元，以及更高的健康福利和燃料成本。

As the year progresses, prior year bad debt expense normalizes and should drive meaningfully slower growth in cost to service expense line during the second half of the year.

隨著時間的推移，上一年的壞賬費用正常化，並應會在下半年推動服務成本費用線的顯著放緩。

Marketing expenses grew by 10.1% year-over-year due to higher labor costs driven by previously planned wage increases and temporarily greater staffing levels as Charter completes the in-sourcing of its inbound sales and retention call centers with a focus on providing better service to new and existing customers. For the full year 2022, we expect marketing expense to grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range versus 2021, although marketing expense growth is likely to remain at elevated levels in the second quarter.

營銷費用同比增長 10.1%，原因是先前計劃的工資增長導致勞動力成本增加，以及由於 Charter 完成了對內銷售和保留呼叫中心的內包，專注於為客戶提供更好的服務，臨時增加的人員配備水平新客戶和現有客戶。對於 2022 年全年，我們預計與 2021 年相比，營銷費用將在中個位數百分比範圍內增長，儘管第二季度營銷費用增長可能會保持在較高水平。

Mobile expense totaled $760 million and were comprised of mobile device costs tied to device revenue, customer acquisition and service and operating costs.

移動費用總計 7.6 億美元，包括與設備收入、客戶獲取和服務以及運營成本相關的移動設備成本。

And other expenses increased by 12.5% primarily driven by a favorable nonrecurring adjustment in the prior year period, making for a challenging comparison this year and higher labor costs.

其他費用增長了 12.5%，主要是由於去年同期有利的非經常性調整，使得今年的比較具有挑戰性以及勞動力成本上升。

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 5.4% year-over-year in the quarter.

本季度調整後的 EBITDA 同比增長 5.4%。

A quick note about inflation before moving on to net income. Certain costs of operating our business such as labor and fuel costs are currently subject to inflationary pressure. But given our previously planned move to a $20 per hour starting wage and our long-term relationships and contracts for goods and services, we haven't yet seen a significant impact on inflation in our P&L.

在轉向淨收入之前快速說明通貨膨脹。某些經營我們業務的成本，例如勞動力和燃料成本，目前面臨通脹壓力。但考慮到我們之前計劃的每小時 20 美元的起薪以及我們在商品和服務方面的長期關係和合同，我們還沒有看到我們的損益表對通貨膨脹有重大影響。

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

我還要指出，我們的消費者正面臨通脹壓力，但鑑於寬帶補貼的可用性以及我們通過轉向我們的融合連接產品每年為客戶節省數百美元的重點，我們相信我們已經為不斷變化的市場做好了準備。

Turning to net income on Slide 8. We generated $1.2 billion of net income attributable to Charter shareholders in the first quarter versus $800 million last year. The year-over-year increase was driven by a nonrecurring litigation settlement charge in other operating expenses for the first quarter of 2021 and higher adjusted EBITDA.

轉向幻燈片 8 的淨收入。我們在第一季度產生了 12 億美元歸屬於憲章股東的淨收入，而去年為 8 億美元。同比增長是由 2021 年第一季度其他運營費用中的非經常性訴訟和解費用以及更高的調整後 EBITDA 推動的。

Turning to Slide 9. Capital expenditures totaled $1.9 billion in the first quarter, just above last year's first quarter spend of $1.8 billion. We spent a total of $232 million on our rural construction initiative in the quarter. Most of that spend relates to design, walk out and make ready and as expected, has not yet resulted in significant passings growth. And the vast majority of that spend is accounted for in line extensions.

轉到幻燈片 9。第一季度的資本支出總額為 19 億美元，略高於去年第一季度的 18 億美元。本季度，我們在農村建設計劃上總共花費了 2.32 億美元。大部分支出與設計、走出去和做好準備有關，正如預期的那樣，尚未導致顯著的傳球增長。絕大多數支出都用於線路擴展。

We spent $74 million on mobile-related CapEx, which is mostly accounted for in support capital and was driven by investments in back-office systems.

我們在與移動相關的資本支出上花費了 7400 萬美元，這主要用於支持資本，並由對後台系統的投資推動。

As Slide 10 shows, we generated $1.8 billion of consolidated free cash flow this quarter, a decrease of $55 million or 3% year-over-year. Excluding a onetime litigation payment of $220 million made in the first quarter, free cash flow grew by $165 million or 8.9% year-over-year.

如幻燈片 10 所示，本季度我們產生了 18 億美元的合併自由現金流，同比減少 5500 萬美元或 3%。不計第一季度一次性支付的 2.2 億美元訴訟費，自由現金流同比增長 1.65 億美元或 8.9%。

Please note that in the second quarter, we'll begin making quarterly cash tax payments for fiscal year 2022. These payments are consistent with the cash tax outlook that we provided in our fourth quarter investor call.

請注意，在第二季度，我們將開始為 2022 財年支付季度現金稅。這些支付與我們在第四季度投資者電話會議中提供的現金稅前景一致。

We finished the quarter with $94.9 billion in debt principal. Our current run rate annualized cash interest is $4.4 billion. As of the end of the first quarter, our ratio of net debt to last 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 4.43x. We intend to stay at or just below the high end of our 4 to 4.5x target leverage range.

我們在本季度結束時的債務本金為 949 億美元。我們目前的年化現金利息為 44 億美元。截至第一季度末，我們的淨債務與過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的比率為 4.43 倍。我們打算保持在或略低於我們 4 至 4.5 倍目標槓桿範圍的高端。

During the quarter, we repurchased 6 million Charter shares and Charter Holdings common units totaling about $3.6 billion at an average purchase price of $600 per share. And since September of 2016, we've repurchased $60.4 billion or nearly 42% of Charter's equity.

本季度，我們以每股 600 美元的平均購買價格回購了 600 萬股 Charter 股票和 Charter Holdings 普通單位，總計約 36 億美元。自 2016 年 9 月以來，我們已經回購了 604 億美元或近 42% 的 Charter 股權。

Our path to continue to grow our business remains strong, and we will do that by furthering convergence in our connectivity business, allowing us to capture additional share, focusing on expanding our footprint and by continuing to improve the customer experience and extending customer lives. By executing on those items, we will drive customer and share growth, free cash flow growth and shareholder value.

我們繼續發展業務的道路依然強勁，我們將通過進一步融合我們的連接業務來實現這一目標，使我們能夠獲得更多份額，專注於擴大我們的業務範圍，並繼續改善客戶體驗和延長客戶壽命。通過執行這些項目，我們將推動客戶和份額增長、自由現金流增長和股東價值。

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

接線員，我們現在準備好進行問答了。

(Operator Instructions) And your first question will come from Craig Moffett with Moffett.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題將來自 Craig Moffett 和 Moffett。

Well, I have a few questions if I could. First, with respect to broadband, the pace of homes passed, excluding RDOF, decelerated a little bit. I'm wondering if you can just talk about the rate at which you expect homes passed for broadband to grow and how you think about that as a floor for broadband growth rate going forward?

好吧，如果可以的話，我有幾個問題。首先，在寬帶方面，不包括 RDOF 的入戶速度略有放緩。我想知道你是否可以談談你期望家庭通過寬帶增長的速度，以及你如何看待它作為未來寬帶增長率的底線？

And then with respect to the JV that you announced with Comcast, is there a vision where you take the Flex box and actually make it your primary video delivery platform, where all your video is IP and that you sort of reclaim that capacity?

然後關於你與康卡斯特宣布的合資企業，你是否有一個願景，你將 Flex 盒子作為你的主要視頻交付平台，你所有的視頻都是 IP 並且你在某種程度上收回了這種能力？

And then finally, one related question, Tom. I sort of -- I can't resist asking if you just want to comment on password sharing and a little bit of an I told you so...

最後，一個相關的問題，湯姆。我有點——我忍不住問你是否只想評論密碼共享和我告訴你的一點點……

Yes. Well, yes, I did tell you so. So yes, Craig, the pace of broadband homes passed, I think, is an interesting driver of potential growth. And you're right to point it out.

是的。嗯，是的，我確實告訴過你。所以，是的，克雷格，我認為寬帶家庭的步伐已經過去，是潛在增長的一個有趣的驅動力。你指出這一點是對的。

Over the last 5 years or so, we've added about 1 million passings a year. And that's comprised of new construction of housing developments, plus fill-in, plus plant expansion into areas where it's economic to serve passings that are contiguous to some of that development. And so that's a driver of future growth. There's really 4 drivers that drive the future growth of our broadband business, and that's a significant one.

在過去 5 年左右的時間裡，我們每年增加了大約 100 萬人次。這包括新的住房開發建設，加上填充，以及工廠擴建到為與該開發項目相鄰的通道提供服務的經濟區域。所以這是未來增長的驅動力。確實有 4 個推動我們寬帶業務未來增長的驅動因素，這是一個重要的驅動因素。

Another one is the household in growth -- the growth in households using broadband, which is today in the mid-80s. But I think that will continue to increase as digital literacy increases and people continue to want to be part of the connected world. And so I think that moves up to the vacancy rate over time.

另一個是增長中的家庭——使用寬帶的家庭的增長，現在是 80 年代中期。但我認為隨著數字素養的提高以及人們繼續希望成為互聯世界的一部分，這將繼續增加。所以我認為隨著時間的推移，空置率會上升。

And we also have then this whole RDOF opportunity, which we've just begun to develop. We've just started to activate the subsidized plant expansion through RDOF. And we've actually won quite a few bids at the state level. And there's $42 billion of additional funding that's going to be distributed probably next year for additional expansion into rural areas, and that's an opportunity of growth for us.

我們還擁有整個 RDOF 機會，我們剛剛開始開發。我們剛剛開始通過 RDOF 激活補貼的工廠擴建。我們實際上已經在州一級贏得了很多投標。明年可能會分配 420 億美元的額外資金，用於進一步擴展到農村地區，這對我們來說是一個增長機會。

And then finally, we have the opportunity of -- which we expect to realize, the opportunity of increasing our share of market of existing broadband customers. And we can do that by packaging, which we've always done successfully, our products into a value proposition that's better than what the individual component pieces that they're currently buying from various providers. And so the current mobile growth is a key factor in that opportunity.

最後，我們有機會 - 我們期望實現，增加我們現有寬帶客戶市場份額的機會。我們可以通過將我們的產品包裝成比他們目前從各個供應商處購買的單個組件更好的價值主張來做到這一點，我們一直成功地做到這一點。因此，當前的移動增長是這一機會的關鍵因素。

So that's how we expect to grow it. And what's going on in the homes passed marketplace? I mean, there are construction issues going on right now. There are supply chain issues that are affecting activations of housing developments and that kind of thing. But over the longer term, I think that, that pace that we've experienced over the last 5 years continues.

所以這就是我們期望的增長方式。房屋通過市場發生了什麼？我的意思是，現在有建設問題。供應鏈問題正在影響住房開發的激活等。但從長遠來看，我認為，我們在過去 5 年中所經歷的這種步伐仍在繼續。

The second part of your question about the JV and IP, yes, yes. The answer is yes. I expect that incrementally, most of our customer base will be all IP, and that spectrum will be recaptured -- that's currently used over time, and there's various ways of compressing that spectrum as you market your way into the IP space. And that plant capacity that's being realized will be available to increase broadband speeds and/or handle broadband capacity that's required as a result of the use of overall data.

關於合資企業和知識產權的問題的第二部分，是的，是的。答案是肯定的。我希望逐漸地，我們的大多數客戶群都將是 IP，並且該頻譜將被重新捕獲——隨著時間的推移，目前正在使用該頻譜，並且當您在 IP 領域推銷自己的方式時，有多種壓縮該頻譜的方法。並且正在實現的工廠容量將可用於提高寬帶速度和/或處理由於使用整體數據而需要的寬帶容量。

And lastly, on password sharing, yes. We knew it's a problem. It's not just a problem for the company that's not controlling their passwords, but it's a problem for everybody in the industry because all that content that's used without anybody paying for it affects the supply and demand of all content, not just the provider that's selling the content, which diminishes the value of content for everybody, which is the point we have been trying to make for years.

最後，關於密碼共享，是的。我們知道這是個問題。這不僅是不控制密碼的公司的問題，也是行業中每個人的問題，因為所有在沒有任何人付費的情況下使用的內容都會影響所有內容的供需，而不僅僅是銷售內容，這降低了內容對每個人的價值，這是我們多年來一直試圖提出的觀點。

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

您的下一個問題將來自新街的喬納森卓別林。

I know traditionally, you prefer not to give context around sort of like a forward-looking view of the broadband market. But given that we're just in an environment of heightened uncertainty, I'm wondering if you'd stray from your normal policy and at least give us some more context for what you're seeing from -- in the market generally in terms of the move activity as we came out of 1Q into 2Q.

我知道，傳統上，您不喜歡圍繞寬帶市場的前瞻性觀點提供背景信息。但鑑於我們正處於一個高度不確定性的環境中，我想知道你是否會偏離你的正常政策，至少給我們一些關於你所看到的情況的更多背景——在市場上一般而言當我們從 1Q 進入 2Q 時的移動活動。

Competition, are you seeing an impact now that's more discernible from fixed wireless broadband? And has that changed over the course of the quarter going into 2Q? And then how should we think about seasonality off of the results that you guys just produced in 1Q? Should we think of seasonality through the year as being the normal trend?

競爭，您現在是否看到了從固定無線寬帶更明顯的影響？在進入第二季度的季度過程中，這種情況是否發生了變化？然後我們應該如何考慮你們剛剛在第一季度產生的結果的季節性？我們是否應該將全年的季節性視為正常趨勢？

Look, Chris, why don't you take that?

聽著，克里斯，你為什麼不接受呢？

Jonathan, we expected a question along these lines, and I have some thoughts. We expected the market to return to normal actually last year, including seasonality. So difficult to say.

喬納森，我們預計會有這樣的問題，我有一些想法。我們預計去年市場實際上會恢復正常，包括季節性因素。這麼難說。

But as Jessica mentioned, transaction volume in the market, it remains low, particularly mover churn, which is a key source of net subscriber acquisition for us.

但正如 Jessica 所說，市場上的交易量仍然很低，尤其是移動客戶流失率，這是我們獲得淨用戶的關鍵來源。

There are some facts that put our lower year-over-year growth in context. Our churn rates of all kinds and across all footprint types remains at record lows. The pace of gigabit overlap increases within our footprint so far has remained consistent with the past few years despite commentary about acceleration.

有一些事實表明我們的同比增長率較低。我們所有類型和所有足跡類型的客戶流失率都保持在歷史最低水平。儘管有關於加速的評論，但到目前為止，我們足跡中千兆位重疊的增長速度與過去幾年保持一致。

So we have competition everywhere we operate, and we always have. And our largest wireline competitor had negative residential wireline net additions in the quarter while we continue to grow.

所以我們在我們經營的任何地方都有競爭，而且我們一直都有。在我們繼續增長的同時，我們最大的有線競爭對手在本季度的住宅有線淨增加量為負。

So compared to last year's first quarter with already low market activity, our gross addition rate in the first quarter of this year was lower in both overbuild and our non-overbuild footprint by the same amount. Together with record low churn, this illustrates the biggest driver remains lower selling opportunities from overall market activity and churn.

因此，與去年第一季度市場活動已經很低的情況相比，我們今年第一季度的總增加率在過度建設和非過度建設方面都低了相同的數量。再加上創紀錄的低流失率，這說明最大的驅動因素仍然是整體市場活動和流失率降低的銷售機會。

Jonathan, there are additional factors which could also contribute to lower gross addition rates. First, lower household growth rates Tom just talked about, which we, along with others, have seen. There's still a lingering pull-forward effect from the shift to our higher-quality broadband during the pandemic. It comes from DSL, VDSL and mobile-only customers, which accelerated the conversion rates of that same base, which we would have seen today.

喬納森，還有其他因素也可能導致總添加率降低。首先，湯姆剛才談到的較低的家庭增長率，我們和其他人已經看到了這一點。在大流行期間，轉向我們更高質量的寬帶仍然會產生揮之不去的拉動效應。它來自 DSL、VDSL 和僅限移動設備的客戶，它們加快了我們今天看到的相同基礎的轉換率。

Finally, that mix-related impact of a small increase and more competitive overlap on gross addition rates would be the smallest contributor and really no different than what we've seen in the prior years. We do not see -- I know it's a question. We don't see direct impacts from fixed wireless access in our churn or our gross additions.

最後，小幅增長和更具競爭力的重疊對總添加率的混合相關影響將是最小的貢獻者，與我們在前幾年看到的情況沒有什麼不同。我們沒有看到——我知道這是一個問題。我們沒有看到固定無線接入對我們的流失或總增加產生直接影響。

So does that mean could fixed wireless access be converting DSL and mobile-only customers that would normally come to us? It's possible, and it would be hard to see at low volume across our entire footprint. But we would see that as a potential parking lot for conversion to our faster, more reliable and more ubiquitously marketed and deployed broadband offering.

那麼這是否意味著固定無線接入可以轉換通常會來找我們的 DSL 和僅限移動設備的客戶？這是可能的，而且在我們的整個足跡中很難看到低容量。但我們會認為這是一個潛在的停車場，可以轉換為我們更快、更可靠、更普遍營銷和部署的寬帶產品。

So we take all competition seriously, and it's not new for us. But I don't believe fixed wireless access is having any material impact on us today when compared to the factors I mentioned.

所以我們認真對待所有競爭，這對我們來說並不新鮮。但與我提到的因素相比，我認為固定無線接入對我們今天沒有任何實質性影響。

So overall activity levels remain low, and we will trial different tactics to stimulate more competitive churn, but market activity and mover churn will return. And when it does, we expect our Internet net addition rate to normalize.

所以整體活動水平仍然很低，我們將嘗試不同的策略來刺激更具競爭力的流失，但市場活動和推動者流失將會回歸。當它發生時，我們預計我們的互聯網淨增加率會正常化。

Our already very strong mobile line growth should get even better with higher attach and upgrade rates to the fastest and really the only real converged Internet product in our footprint that also saves customers significant money. As Tom mentioned, our various construction initiatives should provide a larger recurring footprint expansion for customer acquisition as we get to the end of this year.

我們已經非常強勁的移動線路增長應該會隨著更高的附加和升級率而變得更好，從而達到我們足跡中最快且真正唯一真正的融合互聯網產品，這也為客戶節省了大量資金。正如湯姆所提到的，隨著我們到今年年底，我們的各種建設計劃應該會為客戶獲取提供更大的經常性足跡擴展。

So I don't have a guidance or an outlook. But I think those are the biggest drivers of what we're seeing today, and hopefully, that's helpful to the question you asked.

所以我沒有指導或展望。但我認為這些是我們今天看到的最大驅動力，希望這對你提出的問題有所幫助。

That's really helpful. I appreciate it, Chris.

這真的很有幫助。我很感激，克里斯。

Okay. Thanks, Jonathan.

好的。謝謝，喬納森。

Your next question will come from Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

您的下一個問題將來自高盛的 Brett Feldman。

You've obviously continued to show great traction with the wireless net adds even as your selling opportunity against customer gross adds has gone down. So it looks like the recent adjustments you've made to pricing and packaging is resonating with the base.

即使您的銷售機會與客戶總增加量相比，您的銷售機會已經下降，但您顯然繼續在無線網絡增加方面表現出巨大的吸引力。因此，您最近對定價和包裝所做的調整似乎與基礎產生了共鳴。

You're still going to market differently than the big 3. They increasingly are looking at things like handset promos, they pack a lot of value into their higher tiers whether it's tethering or true unlimited or video.

與三大巨頭相比，你的市場仍然會有所不同。他們越來越關注手機促銷之類的東西，無論是網絡共享、真正的無限或視頻，他們都在更高的層次中包含了很多價值。

So I guess I'm just wondering, how are you thinking about whether it makes sense to start going after the wireless consumer who values those things and the assessment you're doing as to whether the additional costs you incur would ultimately be worth it? And does that math start to change if you were at the point where you actually were putting a more significant amount of their macro traffic onto a CBRS network?

所以我想我只是想知道，您如何考慮開始追求重視這些東西的無線消費者是否有意義，以及您正在評估您所產生的額外成本最終是否值得？如果您實際上將更大量的宏流量放到 CBRS 網絡上，那麼這種數學計算是否會開始改變？

Yes. Well, I think the -- Brett, the answer to your question is we will use those tactics that make economic sense to us to drive our business and to drive our relationship growth in this mobile broadband space. And the -- as I said in my comments, we have very good growth, and we have greater growth than the rest of the mobile industry currently. So we're on track and doing the right things currently from a marketing perspective, and we think we can accelerate that growth.

是的。好吧，我認為-- Brett，你的問題的答案是我們將使用那些對我們具有經濟意義的策略來推動我們的業務並推動我們在這個移動寬帶領域的關係增長。而且——正如我在評論中所說，我們的增長非常好，而且我們目前的增長比移動行業的其他公司都要大。因此，從營銷的角度來看，我們目前正在做正確的事情，我們認為我們可以加速這種增長。

So there are various tactics that you see people who sell wireless do, and they're all related to trying to create a value proposition for customers, and some of them cost more than others.

因此，您看到銷售無線產品的人會採取各種策略，它們都與嘗試為客戶創造價值主張有關，其中一些策略的成本高於其他策略。

Fundamentally, we think that our CBRS and our WiFi offload continue to allow us to have low-cost mobile products with high capacity available to our customers, which gives us the ability to sell those products at value propositions for consumers, which ultimately is what we think drives our ability to shift -- drive market share.

從根本上說，我們認為我們的 CBRS 和我們的 WiFi 卸載繼續使我們能夠為我們的客戶提供具有高容量的低成本移動產品，這使我們能夠以對消費者的價值主張銷售這些產品，這最終是我們的目標思考推動我們轉變的能力——推動市場份額。

So we -- I don't put any marketing tactic on the side and say we won't do it or because we're not doing it today, we won't do it in the future. But our fundamental strategy is to use our network effectively and provide a high-quality, best-in-class service better than anyone else, in fact, right now, in terms of speed capability, and sell that for a lower price. And we think that, that value is what consumers will ultimately recognize.

所以我們 - 我不會把任何營銷策略放在一邊，說我們不會這樣做，或者因為我們今天不這樣做，所以我們將來不會這樣做。但我們的基本戰略是有效地使用我們的網絡並提供比其他任何人都更好的高質量、一流的服務，事實上，就速度能力而言，現在就以更低的價格出售。我們認為，這種價值是消費者最終會認識到的。

How we package that up in various marketing tactics, I think, is open to what is successful. And we constantly experiment with marketing tactics to see what resonates best. But we think the core concept is the driver of our opportunity.

我認為，我們如何將其包裝在各種營銷策略中，對於成功的東西是開放的。我們不斷嘗試營銷策略，看看什麼最能引起共鳴。但我們認為核心概念是我們機會的驅動力。

Brett, a good example of that, we do -- we have a premium plus $10 package in our mobile. So even that at $39.99, so our standard is $29.99 when you take 2 mobiles or more. But at $39.99, the premium package, the take up on it is very low. And the reason it's very low is for the reason that Tom just mentioned.

布雷特，這是一個很好的例子，我們確實這樣做了——我們的手機中有一個保費加 10 美元的套餐。所以即使是 39.99 美元，所以當您攜帶 2 部或更多手機時，我們的標準是 29.99 美元。但是，在 39.99 美元的高級套餐中，它的使用率非常低。而它非常低的原因是湯姆剛才提到的原因。

Already, they get the fastest mobile product in the country through the standard unlimited offer that we have at $29.99. And because our network works better together with WiFi, and you've got 85% offload with the nation's fastest broadband and therefore, the nation's fastest mobile, there really hasn't been much of a need or a desire even at that attractive price point to take what you would call a premium product.

他們已經通過我們提供的 29.99 美元的標準無限優惠獲得了該國最快的移動產品。而且由於我們的網絡與 WiFi 配合使用效果更好，並且您使用全國最快的寬帶，因此，全國最快的移動設備可以減輕 85% 的負載，即使在這個有吸引力的價格點上，也確實沒有太大的需求或願望採取你所謂的優質產品。

Your next question will come from Phil Cusick with JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Phil Cusick。

A couple if I can. First, I think, Tom, you said the mobile network trial is now in mid-'23. Is that right? And is that delayed? And what does that mean for CapEx this year, for mobile CapEx?

如果可以的話，一對夫婦。首先，我想，湯姆，你說移動網絡試驗現在是在 23 年中期。是對的嗎？那是延遲了嗎？這對今年的資本支出和移動資本支出意味著什麼？

No, it's not -- it's mid this year. If I said that, I didn't mean it. It's mid-'22.

不，不是——今年年中。如果我這麼說，我不是這個意思。現在是 22 年中旬。

Okay. All right. That makes sense. Maybe I misheard. And then second of all, have you started to book RDOF revenue? And how quickly should we see that revenue come in from here?

好的。好的。這就說得通了。也許我聽錯了。其次，您是否開始計入 RDOF 收入？我們應該多快看到收入來自這裡？

Yes. Jessica?

是的。傑西卡？

Yes, we did start booking RDOF revenue in Q1, Phil. They're 2 months in for the total of $19 million. And the run rate on the RDOF booking will be at that. So it gets booked in over the 10-year period that we receive the funds. So we'll have it at that just over $9 million a month from now until 10 years from now.

是的，Phil，我們確實在第一季度開始預訂 RDOF 收入。他們兩個月的總收入為 1900 萬美元。 RDOF 預訂的運行率將是這樣。因此，它會在我們收到資金的 10 年期間入賬。因此，從現在到 10 年，我們每月的收入將超過 900 萬美元。

Your next question will come from Jessica Reif Ehrlich with BofA Securities.

您的下一個問題將來自美國銀行證券的 Jessica Reif Ehrlich。

Okay. I have 2 questions. A follow-up on the Comcast JV. I think the press release said that you guys are investing $900 million. Over what time period is that? And how do you expect to monetize the offer? I think it starts next year. Is it mostly advertising or revenue split?

好的。我有 2 個問題。康卡斯特合資公司的後續行動。我認為新聞稿說你們投資了 9 億美元。那是在什麼時間段內？您希望如何通過報價獲利？我想明年開始。主要是廣告還是收入分配？

And then your margins on the cable side are over 42%. Where do you think peak cable margins will be?

然後你在有線電視方面的利潤率超過 42%。您認為峰值電纜利潤會在哪裡？

Well, the opportunity, Jessica, is to create advertising revenue and to create transaction revenue on the product. And so those are the money drivers. And that requires, obviously, having full set of content opportunities and using your IP and your marketing skills in the digital space to drive consumer activity and viewing. And so that's the opportunity from the platform from a monetization perspective.

好吧，傑西卡，機會是創造廣告收入和創造產品交易收入。所以這些是金錢驅動因素。顯然，這需要擁有全套內容機會，並使用您的 IP 和您在數字空間中的營銷技能來推動消費者活動和觀看。從貨幣化的角度來看，這就是平台的機會。

Our capital commitment, we haven't disclosed that. But it's in the grand scheme of things, from a development point of view, it's relatively minor, especially when you consider the CPE business that we've always been in, where we've actually had to buy CPE. This, in many cases, will be a retail product. So -- and lastly...

我們的資本承諾，我們尚未披露。但從發展的角度來看，這是一個宏大的計劃，它相對較小，尤其是當你考慮到我們一直從事的 CPE 業務時，我們實際上不得不購買 CPE。在許多情況下，這將是一種零售產品。所以——最後……

The last one was a question on margins and where we think margins ultimately could go. I mean, it's hard to comment on margins in the context of our business because your mix of video product makes such a difference. And ultimately, we're trying to sell the right mix of products to the consumer that drives the most cash flow per customer, which doesn't necessarily drive the most margin on a financial statement presentation sort of basis.

最後一個問題是關於利潤率以及我們認為利潤率最終會走向何方的問題。我的意思是，很難在我們的業務背景下評論利潤率，因為您的視頻產品組合會產生如此大的差異。最終，我們正在嘗試向消費者銷售正確的產品組合，以推動每位客戶的現金流量最大，這並不一定會在財務報表演示文稿的基礎上推動最大的利潤。

So I would say on that one, it's hard to speculate on where exactly margins would go as a percentage. But ultimately, we think that what we're doing by capturing additional share in the mobile market, using that and capturing additional share in the broadband market, which drives sort of the most cash flow off of our assets and in our other services as well, we think that, that's the right thing to do to drive cash flow for the business and to continue to grow regardless of what the margin line ultimately shows.

所以我會說，很難推測利潤率的確切百分比。但最終，我們認為我們正在做的事情是通過在移動市場上獲得更多份額、使用它並在寬帶市場上獲得更多份額，這推動了我們資產和其他服務的最大現金流量，我們認為，無論利潤線最終顯示什麼，這是推動業務現金流並繼續增長的正確做法。

Yes. We don't manage to margins. We managed to return on investment. And so we try to generate as much cash on each asset that we deploy as we can and has really nothing to do with margins when you have a mix of products with different kinds of margins in them. And so it's only in a static environment that a margin relative -- relative margin has any value as an analysis tool in our -- from our point of view.

是的。我們無法獲得利潤。我們設法獲得了投資回報。因此，我們嘗試在我們部署的每項資產上盡可能多地產生現金，並且當您擁有具有不同類型利潤率的產品組合時，這實際上與利潤率無關。因此，從我們的角度來看，僅在靜態環境中，相對邊距 - 相對邊距作為我們的分析工具才有任何價值。

You can have a really high margin by not growing at all.

你可以通過根本不增長來獲得非常高的利潤。

Exactly.

確切地。

That hasn't always worked out for those people.

對於那些人來說，這並不總是奏效。

And your next question will come from Doug Mitchelson with Credit Suisse.

您的下一個問題將來自瑞士信貸的 Doug Mitchelson。

I think a few more questions around broadband, if you don't mind. The first is how many DSL customers are left in your footprint? And what do you think the broadband penetration is overall in your footprint? How much is left to go from just more folks getting broadband? And a couple of follow-ups.

如果你不介意的話，我想還有幾個關於寬帶的問題。首先是您的足跡中有多少 DSL 客戶？您認為寬帶普及率在您的足跡中總體表現如何？讓更多人獲得寬帶還剩下多少？以及一些後續行動。

Doug, this is Chris. Look, for competitive reasons, I don't want to go deep into the remaining broadband penetration. People have statistics. They know what's out there. There's still a sizable opportunity for us to grow the market, which Tom talked about.

道格，這是克里斯。看，出於競爭原因，我不想深入探討剩餘的寬帶普及率。人們有統計數據。他們知道外面有什麼。湯姆談到，我們仍然有很大的機會來發展市場。

And in terms of DSL, it's declining, but there's still a decent base. You really need to think about not just DSL, but really the VDSL. That's really the new DSL.

就 DSL 而言，它正在下降，但仍有一個不錯的基礎。您確實需要考慮的不僅僅是 DSL，而是真正的 VDSL。這真的是新的 DSL。

I talked a little bit about to the extent that fixed wireless access is building up potentially in the areas that we're moving into from a rural perspective, that's in the future DSL pile or parking lot of subscribers that we can go acquire. So it's DSL today, it's VDSL and it's inferior broadband product relationships that are getting created today that provides that fuel for growth for us in the future from a mix standpoint.

我談到了固定無線接入可能在我們從農村的角度進入的地區建立的程度，即未來我們可以獲取的 DSL 堆或訂戶停車場。所以它是今天的 DSL，它是 VDSL，它是今天創建的劣質寬帶產品關係，從混合的角度來看，它為我們未來的增長提供了動力。

And Chris, you mentioned, I think, relative to gross additions, no difference in competitive fiber footprints versus noncompetitive fiber footprints. Is it the same for churn as well? I just wanted to confirm that sort of year-over-year churn changes are no different in the 2 footprints.

克里斯，你提到，我認為，相對於總增加量，競爭性纖維足跡與非競爭性纖維足跡沒有區別。流失也一樣嗎？我只是想確認這兩個足蹟的逐年流失變化沒有什麼不同。

Yes, we see churn down in both types of footprints at a similar amount, and we see the almost -- well, not almost, the exact same reduction in gross addition rate in both overbuild and non-overbuild footprint, which really completely validates that this isn't a competitive phenomenon that you see in the marketplace. It's the market activity, a low mover churn environment. And we're stimulating in a lot of different ways, and some of that will have some success, but the bigger driver will just be when the market starts to normalize. So yes, you understood it correctly.

是的，我們看到兩種類型的足跡都以相似的數量下降，而且我們看到過度建造和非過度建造足蹟的總添加率幾乎 - 好吧，不是幾乎完全相同的減少，這真的完全驗證了這不是您在市場上看到的競爭現象。這是市場活動，一個低波動的環境。我們以許多不同的方式進行刺激，其中一些會取得一些成功，但更大的驅動力將是市場開始正常化時。所以是的，你理解正確。

But another part of your question was what's the overall broadband penetration. And if you take all those smaller speed, slow speed products, it's in the mid-80s. And as I said earlier, I think that goes up towards the vacancy rate.

但是您問題的另一部分是總體寬帶普及率是多少。如果你拿所有那些速度較慢、速度較慢的產品，那是在 80 年代中期。正如我之前所說，我認為這會導致空置率上升。

Great. And the last question I wanted to get to, and I appreciate you taking all the questions. Competitors have a variety of pricing and go-to-market strategies for broadband and mobile. And you actually have, I think, a difference yourself on how you would bill a broadband customer and how you might bill a wireless customer. I think wireless, no contracts and no taxes or fees.

偉大的。最後一個我想回答的問題，感謝您回答所有問題。競爭對手對寬帶和移動有各種定價和進入市場的策略。我認為，您實際上對如何向寬帶客戶計費和如何向無線客戶計費有不同的看法。我認為無線，沒有合同，沒有稅費。

How are you thinking about evolving your pricing strategies, if at all, either in response to competitors or because you're finding more optimal ways to serve your customers?

您如何考慮制定定價策略，如果有的話，是為了響應競爭對手，還是因為您正在尋找更優化的方式來服務您的客戶？

Like I was speaking about marketing earlier, that's a form of price. We have lots of opportunity to mix and match various tactics to create value for customers, perceived value. But fundamental value is where we're really trying to drive our product, which is having superior products at lower prices than our competitors by doing smart investments and good technologies that allow us to have a lower cost structure and have a lower cost per bit, so to speak, available to consumers, both in the mobile space and in the broadband space and in the video space to the extent it's a separate business.

就像我之前談到的營銷一樣，這是一種價格形式。我們有很多機會混合和匹配各種策略，為客戶創造價值，感知價值。但基本價值是我們真正努力推動產品發展的地方，即通過明智的投資和良好的技術，以比競爭對手更低的價格提供優質的產品，使我們能夠擁有更低的成本結構和更低的每比特成本，可以這麼說，在移動領域、寬帶領域和視頻領域，消費者都可以使用，因為它是一個獨立的業務。

And we can mix and match those value propositions in a variety of ways depending on what we need to do to move customer perceptions about where the true value is in the product set.

我們可以以多種方式混合和匹配這些價值主張，具體取決於我們需要做些什麼來改變客戶對產品集合中真正價值所在位置的看法。

Thanks, Doug.

謝謝，道格。

Your next question will come from Vijay Jayant with Evercore.

您的下一個問題將來自 Evercore 的 Vijay Jayant。

I had one sort of big question about the video business. Obviously, your video losses seem to buck the trend relative to some of your peers. Can you just talk about how much flex is left on these lower-tier offers that you can still put out to customers? And any changes to sort of carriage minimums as you renegotiate programming deals?

我有一個關於視頻業務的大問題。顯然，與您的某些同行相比，您的視頻損失似乎逆勢而上。您能否談談您仍然可以向客戶提供的這些較低級別的優惠還有多少彈性？當你重新談判編程協議時，運輸最低限度有什麼變化嗎？

And then just for Jessica, you called out a lot of trends on the cost side. I just wanted to ask some questions on them. On bad debt, are we back to the pre-pandemic levels?

然後就傑西卡而言，你在成本方面提出了很多趨勢。我只是想問他們一些問題。在壞賬方面，我們是否回到了大流行前的水平？

And then just on CapEx. Obviously, you talked about core for cable. Should we assume RDOF CapEx sort of trend similar to this quarter in the low 200s a quarter, just for modeling purposes?

然後只是在資本支出上。顯然，您談到了電纜的核心。我們是否應該假設 RDOF 資本支出類似於本季度的趨勢，每季度低於 200 美元，僅出於建模目的？

Jessica, you want answer the bad debt question?

傑西卡，你想回答壞賬問題嗎？

Yes. So if I start on the expense items, Vijay, a bit. The bad debt, we're not back to pre-pandemic levels. I don't expect us actually to go all the way back to pre-pandemic levels. The subsidies for broadband that are available in the market have eased the impact on consumers of sort of what happens in the economy and just made it easier to pay for services overall.

是的。所以如果我從費用項目開始，維杰，有點。壞賬，我們沒有回到大流行前的水平。我不指望我們真的會回到大流行前的水平。市場上可用的寬帶補貼減輕了經濟中發生的某種情況對消費者的影響，並且使整體服務的支付變得更加容易。

And they are targeted, obviously, those consumers who are more prone to go nonpay in the first place. So nonpay churn overall continues to be at near-record lows. And I think that right now, we haven't seen yet sort of moves back towards pre-pandemic levels.

顯然，他們的目標是那些更容易不付錢的消費者。因此，總體而言，非薪酬流失率繼續處於接近歷史低點的水平。而且我認為，目前，我們還沒有看到恢復到大流行前水平的趨勢。

On the RDOF side, I think that spend in the rural construction initiative overall, I wouldn't expect it to sort of trend at a very steady level over time. There will be opportunities that we have to accelerate spend at points in time and as we have those opportunities because we think that continuing the build is important, we likely will take them.

在 RDOF 方面，我認為總體上農村建設計劃的支出，我不認為它會隨著時間的推移保持非常穩定的趨勢。我們將有機會在某個時間點加速支出，因為我們有這些機會，因為我們認為繼續建設很重要，我們可能會抓住它們。

I think we've accelerated right now some of the kind of spend that I talked about happening in this quarter, the design and make-ready type expenses. We're trying to pull those forward so that we can be ready to deploy as quickly as possible sort of to deploy more going into next year.

我認為我們現在已經加速了我在本季度談到的一些支出，即設計和準備類型的支出。我們正在努力推動這些進展，以便我們可以準備好盡快部署，以便在明年部署更多。

It's -- that's not a change in guide sort of on where we think we're going for overall. But I think as I said when we issued -- when we talked about the $1 billion that we hoped to spend for the year, we could spend more or we could spend less than that. And it's all based on what we're able to do. We're going as fast as we can.

這是 - 這不是我們認為我們整體目標的指南類型的變化。但我認為，正如我在發行時所說的那樣——當我們談到我們希望在這一年花費的 10 億美元時，我們可以花更多的錢，也可以花更少的錢。這一切都基於我們能夠做的事情。我們盡可能快地前進。

And with regard to video, why we're somewhat of an outlier, we try hard, for one thing. And again, we try to put value where we can for the consumer and think that there's still opportunity in video. And one of the things that we had success with is the creation of additional packaging and the mix of video products that we actually sell to consumers.

至於視頻，為什麼我們有點離群，我們努力，一方面。再一次，我們試圖為消費者創造價值，並認為視頻仍有機會。我們成功的一件事是創造額外的包裝和我們實際銷售給消費者的視頻產品組合。

And we're continuously improving the right structures around what we're able to sell. And it's been difficult because of the way historically video has been packaged in this very fat, expensive bundle that's driven by sports rights costs.

我們正在圍繞我們能夠銷售的產品不斷改進正確的結構。這很困難，因為歷史上視頻被打包在這個非常肥大、昂貴的捆綁包中，這是由體育版權成本驅動的。

And as we've been able to get some of the content out of that, the ecosystem and put into tiers, and we're successfully selling those. And I think over time, we'll be able to build a very nice video business.

由於我們已經能夠從中獲得一些內容，生態系統並放入層級，我們正在成功地銷售這些內容。我認為隨著時間的推移，我們將能夠建立一個非常好的視頻業務。

Thanks, Vijay.

謝謝，維杰。

And your next question will come from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題將來自摩根士丹利的 Ben Swinburne。

Tom and Chris, I had a couple of related questions around competition in broadband. I think in -- I'm not telling you anything you don't know. I think investor sentiment on cable is probably as poor as it's been since like maybe the mid-2000s when you were getting overbuilt by Fios and U-verse, particularly at Cablevision.

湯姆和克里斯，我有幾個關於寬帶競爭的相關問題。我想——我不會告訴你任何你不知道的事情。我認為投資者對有線電視的看法可能與 2000 年代中期一樣糟糕，當時你被 Fios 和 U-verse 過度建設，尤其是在 Cablevision。

Tom, do you see corollaries today to that period when you were running Cablevision and Verizon was building its network across half the footprint and how you compete and sort of navigate that overbuild?

湯姆，您是否看到今天與您運行 Cablevision 和 Verizon 建立其網絡覆蓋一半足蹟的那個時期的推論，以及您如何競爭和駕馭這種過度建設？

And then one thing that's happening I'm sure you guys are aware, there's a lot of sort of Tier 2 fiber overbuilds happening around the country. I'm sure there's some in your footprint. They're not massive, but a lot of private equity funded builds.

然後發生了一件事，我相信你們都知道，全國各地都在發生很多第 2 層光纖過度建設。我敢肯定你的腳印裡有一些。它們並不龐大，但有很多私人股本資助的建設。

We usually don't see cable companies acquire infrastructure assets in their footprint, at least in the U.S. I'd just be curious if you think that's long term what happens here or not for reasons that might be obvious because it would seem that there's a lot of capacity being built now on the wireline side. And there will need to be some rationalization, at least in some geographies long term.

我們通常不會看到有線電視公司在他們的足跡中收購基礎設施資產，至少在美國是這樣。我只是好奇你是否認為這是長期發生的事情，原因可能很明顯，因為似乎有一個現在在有線方面正在建設大量容量。並且需要進行一些合理化，至少在某些地區是長期的。

All right. Well, in terms of sentiment, yes, there have been periods in my business career in cable where sentiment has gone up and down. And my sentiment remains the same. And I think it's a great business, and I think we have great opportunity to take and to continue to grow the business successfully.

好的。好吧，就情緒而言，是的，在我的有線電視業務生涯中，情緒起伏不定。我的情緒保持不變。我認為這是一項偉大的業務，我認為我們有很好的機會來抓住並繼續成功地發展業務。

And so when everybody's euphoric, it's probably odd. And when everybody is pessimistic, it's odd, and I'm unchanged. And my experiences with Cablevision and other assets, I managed Time Warner assets as well prior to that and have managed competition. My first job as a general manager in 1980 was an overbuild actually.

所以當每個人都欣喜若狂時，這可能很奇怪。當每個人都悲觀時，這很奇怪，我沒有改變。根據我在 Cablevision 和其他資產方面的經驗，我在此之前也管理過時代華納的資產並管理過競爭。我在 1980 年擔任總經理的第一份工作實際上是過度建設。

And so I have lots of experience with it and lots of success in growing our businesses in that environment. So there's nothing unusual about what's going on now. And actually from a competitive environment, it's pretty much unchanged, the pace of what's been going on, notwithstanding that there are some small builds going on elsewhere with private equity, as you say, and that LEC expansion has continued. But it hasn't gone up in pace.

所以我在這方面有很多經驗，並且在這種環境下發展我們的業務方面取得了很多成功。所以現在發生的事情沒有什麼不尋常的。實際上，從競爭環境來看，它的發展速度幾乎沒有變化，儘管正如你所說，私募股權在其他地方正在進行一些小型建設，並且 LEC 的擴張仍在繼續。但它的速度並沒有上升。

So -- and we do quite well regardless of whether we're in a physical competition with a wireline builder or whether we're in competition with satellites or whether we're in competition with a fixed wireless asset.

所以 - 無論我們是與有線製造商進行物理競爭，還是與衛星競爭，還是與固定無線資產競爭，我們都做得很好。

We're pretty comfortable that we can continue to drive our value proposition and continue to grow our customer relationships. So my sentiment is unchanged. And are there opportunities for us to buy some infrastructure companies that would help us make our network better because they happen to be in the right place? There probably is.

我們很高興我們可以繼續推動我們的價值主張並繼續發展我們的客戶關係。所以我的情緒沒有改變。我們是否有機會購買一些能夠幫助我們改善網絡的基礎設施公司，因為它們恰好位於正確的位置？大概有。

Yes. I'd add to that, Ben. You've seen it as well, you've been around for a while. The history of these tertiary overbuilders is pretty demonstrated as well. And my experience is they all start out with a rosy story, and they get a lot of capital going in. And the early penetration is because there's something new and environment starts to look good. And as long as you can sell fast enough, you can do okay as a return.

是的。我要補充一點，本。你也看到了，你已經有一段時間了。這些三級過度建築商的歷史也得到了很好的證明。而我的經驗是，他們都從一個美好的故事開始，他們獲得了大量的資金。早期的滲透是因為有一些新的東西，環境開始看起來不錯。只要你能賣得足夠快，你就可以作為回報做得很好。

But the history is that they all go bankrupt, and they end up having to be recapitalized. And so I think there's that repeat that takes place every so often in the marketplace. And so you see some of that.

但歷史是它們都破產了，最終不得不進行資本重組。所以我認為市場上經常發生這種重複。所以你看到了一些。

And our job is just put our head down, be competitive like we always have and go dig out customers and continue to develop products, pricing and packaging that people can't replicate. So like Tom, I'm about as optimistic as you could be about where the business continues to go.

我們的工作就是低頭，像往常一樣保持競爭力，挖掘客戶，繼續開發人們無法複製的產品、定價和包裝。所以和湯姆一樣，我對業務的繼續發展方向持樂觀態度。

I was optimistic last year, and I was optimistic the year before that and I still am.

去年我很樂觀，前一年我很樂觀，現在仍然如此。

Yes. we're out of consensus now, Tom.

是的。我們現在沒有達成共識，湯姆。

Thanks, Ben.

謝謝，本。

Thanks, Ben.

謝謝，本。

Your last question will come from Michael Rollins with Citi.

您的最後一個問題將來自花旗銀行的邁克爾·羅林斯。

Just to follow up on a couple of things. First, just curious if you could share more of the timetable on the pace of broadband network upgrades for certain percentages of your coverage footprint when you think of the opportunity to increase upload speeds as well as to expand download speeds?

只是為了跟進幾件事。首先，只是想知道當您想到提高上傳速度和擴大下載速度的機會時，是否可以分享更多關於寬帶網絡升級速度的時間表，以覆蓋您的覆蓋足蹟的某些百分比？

And then secondly, as you consider a number of factors, rate environment, stock price, the company's view of forward growth, under what circumstances would you revise the current capital allocation plan and take net debt leverage targets higher or lower?

其次，考慮到利率環境、股價、公司對未來增長的看法等諸多因素，您會在什麼情況下修改當前的資本配置方案，調高或調低淨債務槓桿目標？

I guess I'll start on the leverage target question. If I think about where we are right now, rates have obviously increased versus where they've been in the recent past. In historical context, I think that rates are still quite low. And so maybe not low but in line with where we'd expect them to be.

我想我將從槓桿目標問題開始。如果我考慮一下我們現在所處的位置，與過去相比，利率明顯上升。在歷史背景下，我認為利率仍然很低。所以也許不低，但符合我們對它們的期望。

In the -- from a growth perspective, as you just heard from Tom and Chris, I think we continue to be quite optimistic about our growth opportunity. And on the sentiment side, our stock is trading at a multiple to free cash flow even that's just pretty low compared to where we've been.

從增長的角度來看，正如你剛剛從湯姆和克里斯那裡聽到的那樣，我認為我們繼續對我們的增長機會非常樂觀。在情緒方面，我們的股票的交易價格是自由現金流的倍數，即使與我們以前相比，這只是相當低的水平。

And so I think that we're happy with where we're sitting, targeting the high end of our 4 to 4.5x leverage ratio. We obviously continue to evaluate over time. It would be hard to sort of break out what scenario exactly would cause us to move off of that space. But I think that we're happy with where we are, and we'll continue to target at that level.

因此，我認為我們對我們所處的位置感到滿意，目標是 4 到 4.5 倍槓桿比率的高端。我們顯然會隨著時間的推移繼續評估。很難弄清楚究竟是什麼情況會導致我們離開那個空間。但我認為我們對我們所處的位置感到滿意，我們將繼續以這個水平為目標。

And in terms of the pace of upgrades, we're actually doing multiple upgrades in various parts of the country right now. And we're pacing ourselves in such a way that we're learning how to do it really effectively.

而就升級的速度而言，我們現在實際上正在全國各地進行多次升級。我們正在以這樣一種方式調整自己的節奏，以便我們正在學習如何真正有效地做到這一點。

The interesting thing about our capacity to do these upgrades is that they're quite simple electronic upgrades. They're relatively inexpensive, and we can do them rapidly across as much of our footprint as we need to do. And we're just actually putting ourselves in a position right now so that we can execute at the pace we need to execute, given where the demand for that kind of capacity will exist. And we haven't really forecasted that publicly in terms of how fast we're going to do that.

我們進行這些升級的能力的有趣之處在於它們是非常簡單的電子升級。它們相對便宜，而且我們可以在我們需要的範圍內快速完成它們。而且我們實際上只是將自己置於一個位置，以便我們能夠以我們需要執行的速度執行，考慮到對這種能力的需求將存在的地方。而且我們還沒有真正公開預測我們會以多快的速度做到這一點。

Thanks, Mike. And Peter, we're going to pass it back to you. That concludes our call. Thank you very much.

謝謝，邁克。彼得，我們會把它還給你。我們的電話到此結束。非常感謝你。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。