Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (CNSL) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Abby, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Consolidated Communications Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

女士們，先生們，早上好。我叫艾比，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加聯合通信第四季度收益電話會議。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。 （操作員說明）

Thank you. And I will now turn the call over to Philip Kranz, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Philip, you may begin your conference.

謝謝。我現在將把電話轉給投資者關係高級總監 Philip Kranz。菲利普，你可以開始你的會議了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining Consolidated Communications' fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Our earnings release, financial statements and presentation are posted on the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.consolidated.com. Please review the safe harbor provisions on Slide 2 of the presentation. Today's discussion includes forward-looking statements about expected future events and financial results that involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed today. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in Consolidated's filings with the SEC. In addition, during this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are defined and reconciled in our earnings presentation and press release.

早上好，感謝您參加 Consolidated Communications 的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。我們的收益發布、財務報表和演示文稿發佈在我們網站 ir.consolidated.com 的投資者關係部分。請查看演示文稿幻燈片 2 中的安全港條款。今天的討論包括有關預期未來事件和財務結果的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與今天表達的結果大不相同。對可能影響未來結果的因素的討論包含在 Consolidated 提交給 SEC 的文件中。此外，在本次電話會議中，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標，這些指標在我們的收益報告和新聞稿中進行了定義和調整。

With me today are Bob Udell, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Fred Graffam, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions.

今天和我在一起的是總裁兼首席執行官 Bob Udell；和我們的首席財務官 Fred Graffam。在他們準備好的發言之後，我們將公開提問。

I will now turn the call over to Bob Udell.

我現在將把電話轉給 Bob Udell。

Thank you, Philip, and good morning, everyone. Before I provide an update on the fourth quarter, I'll start on Slide 4 and discuss our journey from a copper-based telecom to a leading fiber broadband provider. In early 2021, after solidifying our capital structure, we started the most aggressive fiber expansion plan in our company's 128-year history. Over the last 2 years, we've made remarkable progress on this growth plan. Our mission is to turn technology into solutions, connecting people and enriching how they work and live. Our service commitment has never been stronger as we deliver world-class fiber broadband to the communities that need it the most, unserved and underserved alike.

謝謝菲利普，大家早上好。在我提供第四季度的更新之前，我將從幻燈片 4 開始討論我們從銅線電信到領先的光纖寬帶提供商的旅程。 2021 年初，在鞏固我們的資本結構之後，我們啟動了公司 128 年曆史上最激進的光纖擴張計劃。在過去的兩年裡，我們在這個增長計劃上取得了顯著進展。我們的使命是將技術轉化為解決方案，連接人們並豐富他們的工作和生活方式。我們的服務承諾從未如此堅定，因為我們向最需要它的社區提供世界一流的光纖寬帶，無論是未得到服務還是服務不足的社區。

Our commitment is born out of the belief that access to education, health care, employment, entertainment and the larger world is what creates vibrant communities and a better quality of life. During 2022, we achieved several key milestones that demonstrate progress on our ongoing transformation and puts us on a path to return to revenue growth. Our total consumer broadband connections grew in 2022, fueled by the addition of more than 40,000 fiber subscribers during the year. The increase in fiber net adds of more than 2.5x drove our 2021 cohort penetration rate of just over 15%, which exceeded our 1-year target. On the heels of another strong build year in 2022, we surpassed 1 million total gigabit fiber locations at year-end and now have extended fiber to nearly 40% of our addressable market. This is nearly a 4x increase from the start of our plan in 2021, an important inflection point.

我們的承諾源於這樣一種信念，即獲得教育、醫療保健、就業、娛樂和更大的世界是創造充滿活力的社區和更好的生活質量的因素。在 2022 年期間，我們實現了幾個關鍵里程碑，這些里程碑表明我們正在進行的轉型取得了進展，並使我們走上了恢復收入增長的道路。受年內新增 40,000 多名光纖用戶的推動，我們的消費者寬帶連接總數在 2022 年有所增長。纖維淨增加超過 2.5 倍，推動我們 2021 年的隊列滲透率略高於 15%，超過了我們的 1 年目標。繼 2022 年又一個強勁的建設年之後，我們在年底的千兆位光纖位置總數超過了 100 萬個，現在已將光纖擴展到我們可尋址市場的近 40%。這比我們 2021 年計劃開始時增長了近 4 倍，這是一個重要的轉折點。

Also, we bolstered our liquidity and aligned our business with over $600 million of aggregate divestitures during the year. We'll prudently redeploy these funds to support our continued fiber expansion plans. Longer term, we're looking to 2024 for another inflection point with year-over-year revenue and EBITDA growth. Specifically, we are targeting a compound annual growth rate in the mid-teens for EBITDA beginning in 2024 and meaningful margin expansion as our fiber business becomes the majority of our overall broadband revenue. To this end, we believe our EBITDA margins have upside to the mid- to high 40% levels over the long term. We are committed to our plan of reaching over 70% fiber coverage across our markets.

此外，我們加強了我們的流動性，並在這一年中將我們的業務與超過 6 億美元的資產剝離總額保持一致。我們將審慎地重新部署這些資金，以支持我們持續的光纖擴張計劃。從長遠來看，我們期待 2024 年出現收入同比增長和 EBITDA 增長的另一個拐點。具體來說，我們的目標是從 2024 年開始，EBITDA 的複合年增長率達到十幾歲左右，並隨著我們的光纖業務成為我們整體寬帶收入的大部分，實現有意義的利潤率擴張。為此，我們認為我們的 EBITDA 利潤率在長期內有上升到 40% 的中高水平。我們致力於在我們的市場中實現超過 70% 的光纖覆蓋率的計劃。

Through continued execution on our transformation, I am confident that we will generate significant shareholder value as we increase penetration in our fiber markets and grow fiber broadband revenue within consumer and commercial and data transport. I'm incredibly excited to enter 2023 with a newly aligned leadership team that supports our evolving company and growth strategy. This includes the addition of 3 highly talented industry executives who collectively have decades of telecom experience at major service providers as well as substantial experience driving fiber penetration and a demonstrated track record of delivering growth.

通過繼續執行我們的轉型，我相信，隨著我們提高在光纖市場的滲透率並增加消費者、商業和數據傳輸領域的光纖寬帶收入，我們將創造可觀的股東價值。我非常高興能與新調整的領導團隊一起進入 2023 年，該團隊支持我們不斷發展的公司和增長戰略。這包括增加 3 名才華橫溢的行業高管，他們在主要服務提供商共同擁有數十年的電信經驗，以及推動光纖普及的豐富經驗和實現增長的良好記錄。

To drive our customer acquisition strategy across our consumer broadband business, we most recently brought on Gaurav Juneja as President of Consumer. Gaurav brings a proven track record in the telecom industry with experience and success gaining significant market penetration and growing consumer fiber revenue, and I'm really excited to have him on our team. Gaurav most recently led MetroNet's go-to-market strategy and his work scaling new fiber services and establishing the infrastructure to accelerate performance will lead pillars of his work with us growing Fidium and driving penetration across our expanded fiber base.

為了在我們的消費者寬帶業務中推動我們的客戶獲取戰略，我們最近任命 Gaurav Juneja 為消費者總裁。 Gaurav 在電信行業取得了良好的業績記錄，在獲得顯著的市場滲透和不斷增長的消費者光纖收入方面取得了豐富的經驗和成功，我很高興他能加入我們的團隊。 Gaurav 最近領導了 MetroNet 的上市戰略，他在擴展新光纖服務和建立基礎設施以加速性能方面的工作將引領他與我們一起發展 Fidium 並推動我們擴展的光纖基礎的滲透的支柱。

In early January, Dan Stoll joined the company as President of our Commercial Carrier business. He'll oversee our commercial and carrier go-to-market strategy and is eager to help us capitalize on our broadband fiber investments and continue to grow commercial and carrier data services. Dan has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and fiber network infrastructure industry. Most recently, he served in key senior leadership roles at Zayo.

1 月初，Dan Stoll 加入公司，擔任商業運營商業務總裁。他將監督我們的商業和運營商上市戰略，並渴望幫助我們利用我們的寬帶光纖投資並繼續發展商業和運營商數據服務。 Dan 在電信和光纖網絡基礎設施行業擁有 20 多年的經驗。最近，他在 Zayo 擔任重要的高級領導職務。

In December, Fred Graffam joined us as Chief Financial Officer. His experience spans 30 years and includes financial management, operational leadership and expertise within the technology and telecom industries at both public and private companies, including Level 3 and Comcast. He's already had an influence on our planning process, our priority and his passion around the unit economics is contagious. He looks forward to meeting with the members of this investment community throughout the year. We have also realigned various leadership functions. John Lunny, who previously served as our CIO became our Chief Technology Officer. He will lead the combined areas of network planning, business intelligence and IT and will leverage his past experience leading these areas.

12 月，Fred Graffam 加入我們，擔任首席財務官。他擁有 30 年的經驗，包括在上市公司和私營公司（包括 Level 3 和康卡斯特）的技術和電信行業的財務管理、運營領導和專業知識。他已經對我們的規劃過程、我們的優先事項和他對單位經濟學的熱情產生了影響。他期待著全年與這個投資界的成員會面。我們還重新調整了各種領導職能。之前擔任我們 CIO 的 John Lunny 成為了我們的首席技術官。他將領導網絡規劃、商業智能和 IT 的綜合領域，並將利用他過去領導這些領域的經驗。

Gabe Waggoner continues as our Executive Vice President of Operations and now has responsibilities for all aspects of our fiber deployments, allowing for all areas associated with fiber construction to be integrated into one team. [Proactively], this new team streamlined functions providing added efficiencies with a focus on increasing market penetration through the ramp of additional sales channels. I am more confident and energized than ever before in our ability to carry out and achieve our growth plans.

Gabe Wagoner 繼續擔任我們的運營執行副總裁，現在負責我們光纖部署的各個方面，允許將與光纖建設相關的所有領域整合到一個團隊中。 [主動]，這個新團隊精簡了職能，提高了效率，重點是通過增加額外的銷售渠道來提高市場滲透率。對於我們執行和實現增長計劃的能力，我比以往任何時候都更有信心和活力。

We remain extremely bullish on fiber and will leverage our fiber investments to grow across all areas of our business. Fiber is a superior product offering symmetrical speeds not available from cable or fixed wireless. Fiber provides decades of runway to meet customers' evolving broadband needs as demand for data continues to rise. Put quite simply, fiber is best suited to serve our communities today and for years to come. Importantly, and central to our investment thesis is that we enjoy several distinct structural advantages as we continue on our transformation. This includes our incumbent position. We know our fiber expansion markets very well, given our long operating history and our historical deployment of fiber hubs deep into these communities. We have a fiber-rich carrier-class network that we can cost-effectively extend including existing conduit capacity for buried facilities and pole access, where we have aerial [plant]. These network advantages provide us with favorable unit cost and with significant return economics as we execute on our plan.

我們仍然非常看好光纖，並將利用我們的光纖投資在我們業務的所有領域實現增長。光纖是一種卓越的產品，可提供電纜或固定無線無法提供的對稱速度。隨著數據需求的持續增長，光纖提供了數十年的跑道來滿足客戶不斷變化的寬帶需求。簡而言之，光纖最適合今天和未來幾年為我們的社區服務。重要的是，我們投資主題的核心是，在我們繼續轉型的過程中，我們享有幾個明顯的結構優勢。這包括我們的現任職位。鑑於我們悠久的運營歷史以及我們深入這些社區的光纖集線器的歷史部署，我們非常了解我們的光纖擴展市場。我們有一個富含光纖的運營商級網絡，我們可以經濟高效地擴展它，包括用於埋地設施和電線桿接入的現有管道容量，我們有天線 [plant]。當我們執行我們的計劃時，這些網絡優勢為我們提供了有利的單位成本和顯著的回報經濟。

Now let's turn to Slide 10, where I'll update you on our fiber build plan. In the fourth quarter, we upgraded 60,700 locations and completed more than 400,000 upgrades in 2022. Our total fiber passings now extends to just over 1 million locations or 38% of our overall service area, up from 10% in 2020. By reaching this critical milestone, we've seen an inflection point in consumer broadband such that we are now generating positive broadband adds on the strength of our fiber business. This also was the catalyst for achieving consumer broadband revenue growth in both Q4 and for all of 2022.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 10，我將在其中向您更新我們的光纖構建計劃。在第四季度，我們升級了 60,700 個站點，並在 2022 年完成了超過 400,000 個升級。我們的總光纖通行點現在已擴展到剛剛超過 100 萬個站點，占我們整體服務區域的 38%，高於 2020 年的 10%。通過達到這一關鍵里程碑，我們已經看到了消費者寬帶的拐點，因此我們現在正在為我們的光纖業務帶來積極的寬帶增長。這也是在第四季度和 2022 年全年實現消費者寬帶收入增長的催化劑。

Looking forward to the next few years, we plan to build fiber to more than 70% of passings by mid-2026. While this is roughly 2 quarters later than we previously predicted, it's consistent with our plan to maximize public private partnerships as we execute on our builds. Once complete, this will mark a 7x increase in fiber passings from 2020. As a result, for 2023, we are targeting a minimum 225,000 new fiber locations. I'll note our 2023 build target is a moderated level versus the prior 2 years as we focus on driving penetration within our existing base of fiber passing, and we benefit from broadband revenue growth as a result of reaching the previously mentioned critical fiber coverage level of nearly 40%, and also actively pursue any grant or infrastructure funding opportunities that align with our build plans that we can maximize the economies of our builds for complete areas.

展望未來幾年，我們計劃到 2026 年中期將光纖建設到 70% 以上的通行率。雖然這比我們之前的預測晚了大約 2 個季度，但這符合我們在執行構建時最大化公私合作夥伴關係的計劃。一旦完成，這將標誌著光纖通過量比 2020 年增加 7 倍。因此，到 2023 年，我們的目標是至少新增 225,000 個光纖位置。我會注意到我們的 2023 年建設目標與前 2 年相比有所緩和，因為我們專注於推動現有光纖傳輸基礎的滲透，並且由於達到前面提到的關鍵光纖覆蓋水平，我們受益於寬帶收入增長近 40%，並積極尋求與我們的建設計劃相一致的任何贈款或基礎設施融資機會，我們可以最大限度地提高整個地區建設的經濟效益。

With governmental funding opportunities, which we will continue to sink with our build plans help to offset rural high-cost passing and extend our reach to entire communities allowing a return consistent with our model. As we've noted in the past, this is an important aspect of our expansion strategy. In fact, since 2019, we've been awarded approximately $150 million of broadband partnership and grant funding to support projects across just a few of our states. I am happy to report a recent award from the New Hampshire Office of Broadband Initiatives of roughly $40 million to support our build of approximately 25,000 locations across rural New Hampshire.

有了政府資助的機會，我們將繼續通過我們的建設計劃來幫助抵消農村的高成本傳遞，並將我們的影響範圍擴大到整個社區，從而獲得與我們的模型一致的回報。正如我們過去指出的那樣，這是我們擴張戰略的一個重要方面。事實上，自 2019 年以來，我們已經獲得了大約 1.5 億美元的寬帶合作夥伴關係和贈款資金，以支持我們幾個州的項目。我很高興地報告，新罕布什爾州寬帶計劃辦公室最近撥款約 4000 萬美元，用於支持我們在新罕布什爾州農村地區建設約 25,000 個地點。

When combined with our own investment of capital, the entire project will provide reliable fiber Internet services to more than 57,000 homes across the states. Another recent award includes $16.7 million as part of the state of Maine Connect the Ready grants that will support our fiber build of more than 18,000 locations within our footprint. These awards reflect the recognition of Consolidated as a quality partner through its incumbent advantages with a stellar track record of building fiber. We are really excited to bring Fidium Fiber superfast symmetrical Internet service to additional communities in both Maine and New Hampshire, and this is just the beginning.

結合我們自己的資本投資，整個項目將為全州 57,000 多戶家庭提供可靠的光纖互聯網服務。最近的另一項獎勵包括 1670 萬美元作為緬因州 Connect the Ready 贈款的一部分，該贈款將支持我們在我們足跡內的 18,000 多個地點建設光纖。這些獎項反映了對 Consolidated 作為優質合作夥伴的認可，該合作夥伴憑藉其現有優勢以及在建築纖維方面的出色記錄。我們非常高興能將 Fidium Fiber 超高速對稱互聯網服務帶到緬因州和新罕布什爾州的更多社區，而這僅僅是個開始。

We are tracking roughly $100 million additional broadband government partnership opportunities across our markets and feel well positioned to provide partnering communities the best fiber broadband service at the best value. We are confident in our plan and bullish on fiber, which is our future. We are proceeding with a prudent build pace in 2023, and we have proven that we can ramp and build quickly as circumstances warrant. Over the last 2 years, we have averaged just over 90,000 upgrades per quarter, and we remain ready to quickly ramp fiber expansion as planned (inaudible).

我們正在跟踪我們市場中大約 1 億美元的額外寬帶政府合作機會，並認為能夠以最佳價值為合作社區提供最佳光纖寬帶服務。我們對我們的計劃充滿信心，並看好光纖，這是我們的未來。我們將在 2023 年以審慎的建設步伐繼續前進，並且我們已經證明我們可以在情況允許的情況下快速提升和建設。在過去 2 年中，我們平均每個季度進行了 90,000 多次升級，並且我們隨時準備按計劃（聽不清）快速擴展光纖。

Our cumulative 2021 cohort fiber penetration at the 12-month mark is 15.1%, which is above our target of 14%. We've achieved this largely through penetration of the Single-Family Home or SFU channel on passings that are ready for sale. We have a comprehensive strategy to increase penetration across all cohorts. First, we doubled our door-to-door sales team headcount since the end of the year. Second, we introduced the Fidium Fiber brand in November 2021. Based on this timing, several of our communities where we constructed fiber prior to that date didn't have a chance to experience the game-changing customer experience that we are offering with Fidium. We are doubling back or rerouting these areas highlighting the Fidium value proposition driving additional penetration.

我們在 12 個月大關的 2021 年累計光纖滲透率為 15.1%，高於我們 14% 的目標。我們在很大程度上是通過單戶住宅或 SFU 渠道對準備出售的通行證的滲透來實現這一目標的。我們有一個全面的戰略來提高所有人群的滲透率。首先，自年底以來，我們的上門銷售團隊人數翻了一番。其次，我們在 2021 年 11 月推出了 Fidium Fiber 品牌。基於這個時間點，我們在該日期之前建造光纖的幾個社區沒有機會體驗我們通過 Fidium 提供的改變遊戲規則的客戶體驗。我們正在加倍或重新規劃這些區域，以突出 Fidium 推動額外滲透的價值主張。

Third, we've expanded our alternative channels recently adding several new consumer sales partners to augment digital door-to-door and call center sales efforts across select markets. And fourth, we recently launched Fidium@Work, a simple, highly competitive fiber broadband service with the Attune@Work WiFi app to support small businesses. Fidium@Work leverages a digital online sales channel to offer plans, including 2 gig over a 10 gig capable network targeting the small business or home office customer at a highly competitive price.

第三，我們最近擴大了我們的替代渠道，增加了幾個新的消費者銷售合作夥伴，以加強特定市場的數字門到門和呼叫中心銷售工作。第四，我們最近推出了 Fidium@Work，這是一種簡單、極具競爭力的光纖寬帶服務，帶有 Attune@Work WiFi 應用程序，可支持小型企業。 Fidium@Work 利用數字在線銷售渠道提供計劃，包括以極具競爭力的價格為小型企業或家庭辦公室客戶提供超過 10 gig 網絡的 2 gig。

Now let's turn to Slide 13, where I will cover the momentum we're experiencing in the consumer fiber business, which is contributing to overall consumer broadband growth. This is a key catalyst for us as we progress towards year-over-year growth in revenue and EBITDA in 2024. In Q4, we added 10,600 Fidium Fiber subscribers, an increase of more than 2x the prior year. Fiber broadband revenue normalized for Kansas was $23.7 million, up 51% year-over-year and 12% increase from the third quarter, and positive traction we are generating in fiber contributed to overall consumer broadband revenue growth of 5% in the fourth quarter and 3% for the full year of 2022.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 13，我將在其中介紹我們在消費光纖業務中所經歷的勢頭，這對整體消費寬帶增長做出了貢獻。隨著我們在 2024 年實現收入和 EBITDA 的同比增長，這對我們來說是一個關鍵的催化劑。在第四季度，我們增加了 10,600 名 Fidium Fiber 用戶，比上一年增長了 2 倍多。堪薩斯州標準化的光纖寬帶收入為 2370 萬美元，同比增長 51%，比第三季度增長 12%，我們在光纖領域產生的積極推動力促成了第四季度整體消費者寬帶收入增長 5% 和2022 年全年 3%。

Fiber subscriber trends remain consistent with over 70% choosing a 1 gig service while the vast majority are new subscribers. Our shift to the fiber from copper is evident as fiber now makes up a full 1/3 of our consumer broadband connection, which is up from 22% a year ago. Looking at ARPU, fiber ARPU exceeds copper by over $13 or 25%. This is a healthy spread, and it provides us with ample upside to continue to drive meaningful revenue and EBITDA as our mix shifts to fiber. In the fourth quarter, consumer fiber broadband ARPU was up 4.5% year-over-year, driven by the increase in speed mix.

光纖用戶趨勢保持一致，超過 70% 選擇 1 gig 服務，而絕大多數是新用戶。我們從銅纜到光纖的轉變是顯而易見的，因為光纖現在占我們消費者寬帶連接的 1/3，高於一年前的 22%。從 ARPU 來看，光纖 ARPU 超過銅纜超過 13 美元或 25%。這是一個健康的利差，它為我們提供了充足的上升空間，可以在我們的組合轉向光纖時繼續推動有意義的收入和 EBITDA。第四季度，在速度組合增加的推動下，消費者光纖寬帶 ARPU 同比增長 4.5%。

Now I'd like to turn to Slide 14, where I will outline the tremendous opportunity that lies ahead for us within consumer broadband as we provide our communities with a superior fiber broadband product and continue our positive momentum. We completed 2022 with roughly 123,000 consumer fiber broadband customers or penetration of 12% on our fiber passings of 1 million. As we look to 2026, we believe we can grow our fiber customer base to over 500,000, the equivalent of 25% penetration on our targeted fiber passings of 2 million. Under this scenario, our fiber broadband revenue would approximate $450 million in 2026, up from $80 million in 2022, an increase of more than 5x. Further, with fiber projected to represent over 80% of our consumer broadband revenues, we expect considerable margin expansion as we leverage our revenue growth with improved efficiencies that come from fiber.

現在我想轉到幻燈片 14，在這裡我將概述我們在消費者寬帶領域面臨的巨大機遇，因為我們為我們的社區提供優質的光纖寬帶產品並繼續保持積極的勢頭。到 2022 年，我們擁有大約 123,000 個消費者光纖寬帶客戶，或者我們的光纖傳輸量為 100 萬，滲透率為 12%。展望 2026 年，我們相信我們的光纖客戶群可以增加到超過 500,000，相當於我們目標光纖通過量 200 萬的滲透率達到 25%。在這種情況下，我們的光纖寬帶收入將在 2026 年達到約 4.5 億美元，高於 2022 年的 8000 萬美元，增幅超過 5 倍。此外，由於光纖預計將占我們消費者寬帶收入的 80% 以上，我們預計利潤率將大幅增長，因為我們利用光纖帶來的收入增長來提高效率。

Let's turn to our commercial and carrier channels, where we experienced data transport growth in both the fourth quarter and the full year normalized for Kansas. An advantage in our commercial go-to-market strategy is our ability to differentiate with high-quality and scalable fiber-based network connectivity. This is supported by our cloud service tool kit, including UCaaS, ProConnect Voice, SD-WAN and data security enabling solutions, which meet our customers' needs and help to reduce churn. In carrier, we benefited from capacity upgrades in the fiber-to-the-tower business and a favorable delay in tower negotiations, which have largely offset expected market rate adjustments during 2022.

讓我們轉向我們的商業和運營商渠道，我們在第四季度和堪薩斯州標準化的全年都經歷了數據傳輸增長。我們的商業上市戰略的一個優勢是我們能夠通過高質量和可擴展的基於光纖的網絡連接脫穎而出。這由我們的雲服務工具包提供支持，包括 UCaaS、ProConnect 語音、SD-WAN 和數據安全支持解決方案，可滿足客戶的需求並幫助減少客戶流失。在運營商方面，我們受益於光纖到塔業務的容量升級和塔式談判的有利延遲，這在很大程度上抵消了 2022 年預期的市場費率調整。

New fiber passings within our consumer routes provide opportunities for us to leverage the same fiber to grow both carrier and commercial data and transport services. We increased our lit buildings by 7% in the fourth quarter after normalizing for Kansas, which correlates to higher margins, increased opportunity to upsell and greater ability to ensure the best customer experience and more opportunities for Fidium@Work.

在我們的消費者路線中通過的新光纖為我們提供了利用相同光纖來發展運營商和商業數據和傳輸服務的機會。在為堪薩斯州標準化後，我們在第四季度將我們的照明建築增加了 7%，這與更高的利潤率、更多的追加銷售機會以及更大的能力確保最佳客戶體驗和 Fidium@Work 的更多機會相關。

I will now turn the call over to Fred, who'll provide more insights on our fourth quarter financial results. Fred?

我現在將把電話轉給弗雷德，他將對我們第四季度的財務業績提供更多見解。弗雷德？

Thanks, Bob, and good morning to everyone. I'll start by saying I am excited to have joined Consolidated at such a unique point in our history, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this management and board as we transform the company and realize the benefits of our ongoing fiber expansion through accelerated revenue and EBITDA growth.

謝謝鮑勃，大家早上好。首先，我很高興能在我們歷史上如此獨特的時刻加入 Consolidated，我很高興有機會與管理層和董事會一起工作，因為我們正在改造公司並實現我們正在進行的光纖擴張的好處通過加速收入和 EBITDA 增長。

I'll now provide an overview of our fourth quarter results. This year, we simplified the company with over $600 million of asset divestitures, which has significantly bolstered our liquidity in support of our fiber expansion plans. Most recently, we closed on the Kansas divestiture on November 30 for approximately $82 million in gross proceeds. To help provide some context on our results in certain parts of our discussion today, I will provide normalized results to exclude the impact of Ohio and Kansas divestitures from the appropriate periods. When doing so, I will refer to this as normalized.

我現在將概述我們第四季度的業績。今年，我們通過資產剝離超過 6 億美元簡化了公司，這大大增強了我們的流動性，以支持我們的光纖擴張計劃。最近，我們於 11 月 30 日完成了堪薩斯資產剝離，總收益約為 8200 萬美元。為了幫助提供有關我們今天討論的某些部分的結果的一些背景信息，我將提供標準化的結果，以排除俄亥俄州和堪薩斯州資產剝離在適當時期的影響。這樣做時，我將其稱為規範化。

Total operating revenue for the fourth quarter was $296 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $101.7 million. Our normalized revenues in Q4 was $288.3 million, a decline of $15.8 million or 5.2% versus the prior year. Approximately 64% of the decline was driven by lower other products and services revenues of $5.7 million due largely to reduced recognition of public private partnership construction projects and lower subsidy revenue of $4.3 million. The lower subsidy revenue reflects the CAF II step-down and transition to RDOF, which was partly offset by the recognition of Texas High Cost Fund settlements related to prior years.

第四季度總營業收入為 2.96 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.017 億美元。我們在第四季度的標準化收入為 2.883 億美元，比上年下降 1580 萬美元或 5.2%。大約 64% 的下降是由於其他產品和服務收入減少 570 萬美元，這主要是由於對公私合作建設項目的認可減少以及補貼收入減少 430 萬美元。較低的補貼收入反映了 CAF II 的逐步減少和向 RDOF 的過渡，這部分被承認與前幾年相關的德州高成本基金結算所抵消。

The remaining decline was primarily due to lower voice and video services revenue. Importantly, we experienced healthy revenue growth across the strategic areas of our business, including consumer broadband and commercial and carrier data transport, which partly offset these declines. In 2024, we expect these areas of our business to drive improved revenue and EBITDA as we leverage our fiber infrastructure investments. The decline in reported adjusted EBITDA of $24.5 million was impacted by the factors mentioned above, in addition to lower wireless partnership distributions of $5.7 million. The fourth quarter marks the last quarter for these distributions given the sale of our 5 wireless limited partnership interest to Verizon, which closed in September 2022.

其餘的下降主要是由於語音和視頻服務收入下降。重要的是，我們在業務的戰略領域實現了健康的收入增長，包括消費者寬帶和商業以及運營商數據傳輸，這部分抵消了這些下降。到 2024 年，隨著我們利用光纖基礎設施投資，我們預計這些業務領域將推動收入和 EBITDA 的提高。報告的調整後 EBITDA 下降 2450 萬美元，除了無線合作夥伴分配減少 570 萬美元外，還受到上述因素的影響。第四季度標誌著這些發行版的最後一個季度，因為我們將 5 個無線有限合夥權益出售給了 Verizon，該交易於 2022 年 9 月結束。

Now I'll review revenue by customer channel. Turning to our consumer channel, normalized total revenue was $112 million, down 2.8% compared to a year ago. Normalized consumer broadband revenue was $67.9 million, up 5.3% driven by strong consumer fiber revenue growth of 51%. Consumer fiber net adds were up more than 2x from a year ago as Fidium Fiber continues to gain momentum. For the full year, we delivered consumer positive broadband net adds of [724], a significant turnaround from nearly [60,800] net consumer broadband losses in 2021.

現在我將按客戶渠道查看收入。轉向我們的消費者渠道，標準化總收入為 1.12 億美元，比一年前下降 2.8%。歸一化的消費者寬帶收入為 6790 萬美元，增長 5.3%，這得益於 51% 的強勁消費者光纖收入增長。隨著 Fidium Fiber 繼續獲得增長勢頭，消費類光纖的淨增加量比一年前增長了 2 倍以上。全年，我們實現了 [724] 消費者寬帶淨增加，這是 2021 年近 [60,800] 消費者寬帶淨損失的重大轉變。

With fiber coverage of almost 40%, we are well positioned to continue generating positive net adds moving forward. Consumer fiber ARPU was $67.14 in the fourth quarter, up sequentially and year-over-year, driven by speed mix as customers continue to take higher speeds of our fiber services. The fiber speed mix of Gig+ is up 15 percentage points on a year-over-year basis. Consumer voice revenue normalized was $34 million, down $4.6 million or 11.8%, primarily due to continued erosion of access lines and associated services.

憑藉近 40% 的光纖覆蓋率，我們有能力繼續產生積極的淨增長。消費者光纖 ARPU 在第四季度為 67.14 美元，環比和同比增長，受速度組合的推動，因為客戶繼續採用我們光纖服務的更高速度。 Gig+ 的光纖速度組合同比增長 15 個百分點。標準化的消費者語音收入為 3400 萬美元，下降 460 萬美元或 11.8%，這主要是由於接入線路和相關服務的持續侵蝕。

Video revenue normalized was $10.2 million, a decline of $2.1 million or 17% year-over-year as we continue to deemphasize our linear video. With the Kansas divestiture, we reduced our video revenues by nearly 18%. Further, we are accelerating our efforts to transition customers to streaming over-the-top video services to drive higher speed broadband adoption. The transition from video is also driving a reduction in video programming costs, plus improving margins and free cash flow. Commercial revenue normalized was $97.7 million, down $2.1 million or 2.1%. Data services revenue normalized was $53.7 million in the fourth quarter, up 1.3% year-over-year, primarily driven by direct Internet access growth.

由於我們繼續淡化我們的線性視頻，標準化視頻收入為 1020 萬美元，同比下降 210 萬美元或 17%。隨著堪薩斯資產剝離，我們的視頻收入減少了近 18%。此外，我們正在加快努力，將客戶過渡到流式 Over-the-top 視頻服務，以推動更高速的寬帶採用。視頻的轉型也推動了視頻節目成本的降低，以及利潤率和自由現金流的提高。標準化的商業收入為 9770 萬美元，下降 210 萬美元或 2.1%。第四季度標準化數據服務收入為 5370 萬美元，同比增長 1.3%，主要受直接互聯網訪問增長的推動。

Looking ahead, our fiber expansion provides opportunities for commercial data growth with new products such as our recent launch of Fidium@Work. Voice services revenue normalized was $33.9 million, down $1.8 million or 5.1% in the recent quarter, primarily driven by a decline in traditional voice services led by long distance and associated voice services. Carrier revenue normalized was $37.6 million, up $0.7 million or 1.9% versus the prior year. Data and transport services revenue normalized was $33.6 million, up $1.2 million or 3.7% from a year ago. Our Q4 carrier transport revenue benefited from capacity upgrades in the fiber-to-the-tower business and a favorable delay in tower negotiations, which have largely offset expected market rate adjustments.

展望未來，我們的光纖擴展為商業數據增長提供了新產品的機會，例如我們最近推出的 Fidium@Work。語音服務正常化收入為 3390 萬美元，比最近一個季度下降 180 萬美元或 5.1%，這主要是由於長途和相關語音服務導致的傳統語音服務下降所致。標準化運營商收入為 3760 萬美元，比上年增加 70 萬美元或 1.9%。標準化的數據和傳輸服務收入為 3360 萬美元，比一年前增加 120 萬美元或 3.7%。我們第四季度的運營商運輸收入受益於光纖到塔業務的容量升級和塔式談判的有利延遲，這在很大程度上抵消了預期的市場費率調整。

As previously discussed, our fiber-to-the-tower business is under pricing pressures due to contract renewal negotiations with the major wireless providers. Specifically for the full year 2022, including the effect of churn and pricing step-downs, we had expected to see revenue reductions in the range of $6 million to $7 million. Based primarily on the timing of finalizing some of the contracts during 2022, we ultimately recognized approximately $4 million of lower revenue.

如前所述，由於與主要無線提供商的合同續簽談判，我們的光纖到塔業務面臨定價壓力。具體到 2022 年全年，包括客戶流失和定價下降的影響，我們預計收入將減少 600 萬至 700 萬美元。主要基於 2022 年完成部分合同的時間，我們最終確認了約 400 萬美元的收入減少。

With that said, for 2023, we expect to see an impact in the $14 million range, an increase of approximately $10 million versus the impact experienced in 2022. We believe there remains meaningful upside in our carrier business and our carrier team is pursuing new revenue opportunities through capacity upgrades for our wireless and wholesale customers as well as adding new towers. Wireless tower connections under contract totaled approximately 4,100, up 9% versus last year.

話雖如此，到 2023 年，我們預計會產生 1400 萬美元的影響，比 2022 年的影響增加約 1000 萬美元。我們相信我們的運營商業務仍有明顯的上升空間，我們的運營商團隊正在尋求新的收入通過為我們的無線和批發客戶進行容量升級以及增加新塔的機會。合同下的無線塔連接總數約為 4,100，比去年增長 9%。

Our team continues to leverage our core network upgrades to provide a path to 10 gig backhaul capabilities at the tower site for carriers. Network access revenues normalized totaled $26 million, down $1.2 million or 4.3%, primarily due to declines in special access circuit revenue as carriers move from TDM to Ethernet-based transport solutions. Cost of services and products expense declined $4.2 million, largely due to savings from lower video programming costs, including the impact of the sale of our Kansas operations and a decline in IRU fiber costs related to additional PPP initiatives in the prior year, partially offset by higher utility and fuel expense.

我們的團隊繼續利用我們的核心網絡升級為運營商在塔站點提供 10 gig 回程能力的途徑。正常化的網絡接入收入總計 2600 萬美元，下降 120 萬美元或 4.3%，這主要是由於運營商從 TDM 轉向基於以太網的傳輸解決方案導致特殊接入電路收入下降。服務成本和產品費用下降了 420 萬美元，這主要是由於視頻節目成本降低帶來的節省，包括出售堪薩斯業務的影響以及與上一年額外的 PPP 計劃相關的 IRU 光纖成本下降，部分抵消了更高的公用事業和燃料費用。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $8.9 million, primarily due to marketing and advertising expenses related to the expansion of the company's consumer fiber product, higher professional fees for customer service and process improvement initiatives as well as severance costs. Net interest expense was $33.2 million, a decrease of $4.9 million compared to a year ago. The decrease was primarily a result of noncash interest of $7.3 million in 2021 on the Searchlight note, which was converted to perpetual preferred stock in connection with the second stage closing of its investment in December 2021.

銷售、一般和管理費用增加了 890 萬美元，這主要是由於與公司消費纖維產品擴展相關的營銷和廣告費用、客戶服務和流程改進計劃的專業費用增加以及遣散費。淨利息支出為 3320 萬美元，比一年前減少 490 萬美元。減少的主要原因是探照燈票據在 2021 年產生了 730 萬美元的非現金利息，該票據在 2021 年 12 月第二階段投資結束時轉換為永久優先股。

Partially offsetting the decrease was higher interest on the term loan. Committed capital expenditures totaled $124.3 million in the fourth quarter and were $601.1 million for the full year. We had strong execution of our fiber build, upgrading nearly 403,000 passings, which exceeded our target for 2022. Included in our CapEx spend in the fourth quarter was the acceleration of certain pre-committed inventory purchases, which will have a beneficial impact for us in 2023. In addition, as previously discussed, during 2022, we experienced some inflationary pressures in the form of equipment surcharges and increased contractor labor.

定期貸款的利息增加部分抵消了下降。第四季度承諾的資本支出總額為 1.243 億美元，全年為 6.011 億美元。我們的光纖建設執行力很強，升級了近 403,000 次，超過了我們 2022 年的目標。我們第四季度的資本支出中包括加速某些預先承諾的庫存採購，這將對我們產生有利影響2023. 此外，如前所述，在 2022 年期間，我們經歷了一些以設備附加費和承包商勞動力增加形式出現的通脹壓力。

A significant portion of our build activity in 2023 will continue to be in our Northern New England markets, where we are ultimately targeting 70% of our fiber upgrades. We have significant cost to build advantages in M&A, which results in a favorable cost to pass. We continue to estimate our average cost per passing to be approximately $650 in 2023 per passing build. This remains significantly below our peer group.

我們在 2023 年的大部分建設活動將繼續在我們的新英格蘭北部市場進行，我們最終的目標是 70% 的光纖升級。我們在併購中建立優勢的成本很高，這導致了有利的轉嫁成本。我們繼續估計到 2023 年每次通過構建的平均成本約為 650 美元。這仍然明顯低於我們的同行。

Looking to 2023, we are in good shape with our supply chain, having thoughtfully purchased inventory to support our build as well as CPE to support continued growth in our fiber business. Our average direct cost to connect is in the $750 to $800 range. This is up in part due to some inflationary pressures combined with our use of WiFi extenders to improve the customer service experience. Even with the slightly elevated cost to connect, the unit economics of the fiber business remains strong.

展望 2023 年，我們的供應鏈狀況良好，我們深思熟慮地購買了庫存以支持我們的建設以及 CPE 以支持我們光纖業務的持續增長。我們連接的平均直接成本在 750 美元到 800 美元之間。這部分是由於一些通貨膨脹壓力以及我們使用 WiFi 擴展器來改善客戶服務體驗。即使連接成本略有上升，光纖業務的單位經濟效益仍然強勁。

On the strategic front, we will continue to review all markets in our portfolio for investment or monetization. We view any such asset divestitures as further funding to execute on our fiber expansion plan. Our criteria in this market-by-market review includes evaluating the economics of the fiber build, market level competition and potential valuations.

在戰略方面，我們將繼續審查我們投資組合中的所有市場以進行投資或貨幣化。我們將任何此類資產剝離視為執行我們光纖擴張計劃的進一步資金。我們在逐個市場審查中的標準包括評估纖維構建的經濟性、市場水平競爭和潛在估值。

Moving to our capital structure. Approximately 77% of our total debt is fixed. Recall that we have $500 million interest rate hedge against our $1 billion term loan through July 2023. Further, our $1.1 billion of senior notes have fixed coupons. Notwithstanding the heightened interest rate environment, our overall average cost of debt is 6.48%, up nominally from 6.2% in the prior quarter. Our net debt leverage was 4.18x at December 31. As of December 31, the company maintained liquidity with cash and short-term investments of approximately USD414 million and USD225 million of available borrowing capacity on our revolving credit facility, subject to certain covenant ratios. As announced in late November, we extended the maturity of our $250 million revolving credit facility from 2025 to 2027, subject to a springing maturity and enhanced our financial flexibility. With ample liquidity, we are well positioned to continue executing on our growth plans with no debt maturities until 2027.

轉向我們的資本結構。我們總債務的大約 77% 是固定的。回想一下，到 2023 年 7 月，我們有 5 億美元的利率對沖我們的 10 億美元定期貸款。此外，我們的 11 億美元優先票據有固定息票。儘管利率環境升高，但我們的總體平均債務成本為 6.48%，名義上高於上一季度的 6.2%。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的淨債務槓桿率為 4.18 倍。截至 12 月 31 日，公司維持流動性的現金和短期投資約為 4.14 億美元，我們的循環信貸額度的可用借貸能力為 2.25 億美元，受特定契約比率約束。正如 11 月下旬宣布的那樣，我們將 2.5 億美元的循環信貸額度的期限從 2025 年延長至 2027 年，並提高了我們的財務靈活性。憑藉充足的流動性，我們有能力繼續執行我們的增長計劃，直到 2027 年都沒有到期的債務。

Today, we are providing 2023 guidance, which is outlined on Slide 18. It is as follows. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $310 million to $330 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $425 million to $445 million. Our capital allocations are approximately 42% supporting the fiber build, 40% supporting success-based opportunities and 18% for maintenance and digital transformation initiatives. Cash interest expense is expected to be in the range of $145 million to $155 million. Cash income taxes are expected to be below $10 million. Given our NOLs, we do not expect to be a meaningful federal cash taxpayer until 2026.

今天，我們提供 2023 年的指導，幻燈片 18 對此進行了概述。如下所示。調整後的 EBITDA 預計在 3.1 億美元至 3.3 億美元之間。資本支出預計在 4.25 億美元至 4.45 億美元之間。我們的資本分配大約有 42% 用於支持光纖建設，40% 用於支持基於成功的機會，18% 用於維護和數字化轉型計劃。現金利息支出預計在 1.45 億美元至 1.55 億美元之間。現金所得稅預計將低於 1000 萬美元。鑑於我們的 NOL，我們預計在 2026 年之前不會成為有意義的聯邦現金納稅人。

Now let me provide an EBITDA bridge from 2022 to 2023. Reported EBITDA for 2022 was approximately $414 million. The lower level of projected EBITDA in our guidance versus 2022 includes approximately $50 million resulting from 2022 asset sales, including Kansas and our wireless partnerships, an expected $20 million reduction in legacy voice, the fiber-to-the-tower contract pricing step downs of approximately $10 million in the carrier business, as well as increased marketing and sales expenses. Again, I am excited for the future of Consolidated and I look forward to getting to know each of you in the upcoming weeks.

現在讓我提供一個從 2022 年到 2023 年的 EBITDA 橋樑。報告的 2022 年 EBITDA 約為 4.14 億美元。在我們的指導中，與 2022 年相比較低水平的預計 EBITDA 包括 2022 年資產出售產生的約 5000 萬美元，包括堪薩斯州和我們的無線合作夥伴關係，遺留語音預計減少 2000 萬美元，光纖到塔合同定價下降約 1000 萬美元的運營商業務，以及增加的營銷和銷售費用。再一次，我對 Consolidated 的未來感到興奮，我期待著在接下來的幾週內認識你們每個人。

Now I'll turn the call back to Bob.

現在我會把電話轉回給鮑勃。

Thank you, Fred. Before opening for questions, let me highlight on Slide 16, our key strategic priorities in 2023. Our transformation to a fiber-first broadband company is progressing well. We've reached several important milestones over the past 2 years, and we intend to reach several more as we execute on our growth plan in this year. Accordingly, our first priority is increasing fiber penetration across what we call our 3Cs, consumer, commercial and carrier channels. On a normalized basis, we grew strategic revenue across our 3Cs in 2022. With over 1 million fiber passings, we now have a solid fiber infrastructure and expanding sales channels that we will leverage across our business to generate additional material growth.

謝謝你，弗雷德。在開始提問之前，讓我在幻燈片 16 上強調一下我們 2023 年的主要戰略重點。我們向光纖優先寬帶公司的轉型進展順利。在過去的 2 年裡，我們已經達到了幾個重要的里程碑，並且我們打算在今年執行我們的增長計劃時達到更多的里程碑。因此，我們的首要任務是提高我們所謂的 3C、消費者、商業和運營商渠道的光纖滲透率。在標準化的基礎上，我們在 2022 年增加了 3C 的戰略收入。通過超過 100 萬次光纖，我們現在擁有堅實的光纖基礎設施和不斷擴大的銷售渠道，我們將利用這些渠道在我們的業務中產生額外的材料增長。

Our second priority is to deliver an improved customer experience through higher NPS scores, which will result in increased customer retention and referrals. With an industry-leading NPS score with Fidium Fiber, we know how to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Success with this priority means we reduce churn and turn our customers into promoters of our company, making our job a little bit easier. Our third priority for the year is to drive operational efficiencies, improving unit costs across our business by reducing costs associated with repeatable activities as we optimize processes and productivity.

我們的第二要務是通過更高的 NPS 分數提供更好的客戶體驗，這將增加客戶保留率和推薦率。憑藉 Fidium Fiber 行業領先的 NPS 分數，我們知道如何提供卓越的客戶體驗。這一優先事項的成功意味著我們減少了客戶流失，將我們的客戶變成了我們公司的推動者，使我們的工作變得更容易一些。我們今年的第三個優先事項是提高運營效率，通過在優化流程和生產力的同時降低與可重複活動相關的成本來提高我們整個業務的單位成本。

And as Consolidated transforms into a fiber-first broadband company, we remain committed to sustainability and our ESG priorities. As we build fiber, we are building a more sustainable network. We continue to make good progress with our ESG goals, and we're excited to share an update with you when we release our annual ESG report in the coming months. With new go-to-market key leaders on board, driving additional sales channels and market penetration supported by an exceptional Fidium customer experience and a strong liquidity position, we've entered 2023 with tons of energy and excitement and look forward to reaching additional milestones as we execute on our fiber transformation.

隨著 Consolidated 轉變為光纖優先的寬帶公司，我們仍然致力於可持續發展和我們的 ESG 優先事項。當我們建設光纖時，我們正在建設一個更可持續的網絡。我們在 ESG 目標方面繼續取得良好進展，我們很高興在未來幾個月發布年度 ESG 報告時與您分享最新情況。隨著新的上市關鍵領導者的加入，在卓越的 Fidium 客戶體驗和強大的流動性狀況的支持下，推動了更多的銷售渠道和市場滲透，我們已經進入 2023 年，充滿活力和興奮，並期待達到更多的里程碑當我們執行我們的纖維轉換時。

Operator, we will now take questions at this time.

接線員，我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) And we will take our first question from Greg Williams with Cowen.

（操作員說明）我們將與 Cowen 一起回答 Greg Williams 的第一個問題。

Great. First one is just on the subscriber cadence. It looks like you lost 184 subs, and I think that excludes Kansas. I just want to make sure and help us with the cadence and how you think about getting back to positive net adds? And just unpacking that, I think you said that the vast majority of your fiber adds are new. So that implies most of your copper is going somewhere else. Are they going to cable or is fixed wireless encroaching unit territory?

偉大的。第一個只是關於訂戶節奏。看起來你失去了 184 個訂閱者，我認為這不包括堪薩斯州。我只是想確定並幫助我們了解節奏，以及您如何考慮回到積極的淨增加？打開包裝，我想你說過你添加的絕大多數纖維都是新的。因此，這意味著您的大部分銅都流向了其他地方。他們是要使用有線還是固定無線來侵占單位領土？

Second question is just on CapEx and the fiber-to-the-home pullback. It sounds like CapEx is coming in lighter than the $500 million range we're sort of expecting. And it sounds like it's a function of the fiber-to-the-home pullback from your original plan. Is that essentially the decision of why you pulled back to save on CapEx? Is this like a financial decision or is it more of an operational decision? Like a couple of days ago, your peers were saying they wanted to synchronize their installs and distributions with their aggressive builds. And just trying to figure out if this was more of a -- done for financial reasons rather than operational.

第二個問題只是關於資本支出和光纖到戶的回調。聽起來資本支出比我們預期的 5 億美元範圍要輕。這聽起來像是從您的原始計劃中撤迴光纖到戶的功能。這本質上是您退出以節省資本支出的決定嗎？這更像是一項財務決策，還是更像是一項運營決策？就像幾天前一樣，您的同行說他們希望將他們的安裝和分發與他們積極的構建同步。只是想弄清楚這是否更多是出於財務原因而不是出於運營原因而完成的。

Yes. Thanks, Greg, and appreciate the question. Let me start with that point first on the CapEx. And so when you look at our plan, the overall objective has been to get to 70% fiber coverage, and we're going to exceed that. If you do the math with the sale of Kansas City and normalize it out, we know that we're going to be greater than 70%. We just don't know how far. And so we feel like we've made excellent progress on the build-out. And we can see in some markets that we're -- our trajectory is good towards the second year and others were not quite satisfied.

是的。謝謝，格雷格，感謝這個問題。讓我先從資本支出的那一點開始。因此，當您查看我們的計劃時，總體目標是達到 70% 的光纖覆蓋率，我們將超越這一目標。如果你對堪薩斯城的出售進行計算並將其標準化，我們知道我們將超過 70%。我們只是不知道有多遠。所以我們覺得我們在擴建方面取得了很好的進展。我們可以在一些市場上看到我們 - 我們的軌跡在第二年很好，而其他人則不太滿意。

And so we're still having started really robust with the digital channel. We're still building out the post build rally plan for the re-rally areas, the second and third wave, if you will. And we don't have the synchronized customer acquisition engine to go back into the even pre-Fidium locations as well as those approaching the post 1-year, second year phase of the next growth. So we're not far off, but we just can see that we need to strengthen and build out that channel. And thus, you see grabbing one of the premier executives we think that can help lead that from a go-to-market strategy.

因此，我們仍然在數字渠道上開始真正穩健。如果您願意，我們仍在為第二波和第三波重新拉力區製定後期集會計劃。而且我們沒有同步的客戶獲取引擎來回到 Fidium 之前的位置以及接近下一個增長的 1 年後、第二年階段的位置。所以我們離目標不遠，但我們可以看到我們需要加強和建立這個渠道。因此，您會看到一位我們認為可以幫助引領市場進入戰略的主要高管。

So then going back to the net positive for the year, yes, we were slightly under positive in the fourth quarter. We got hit pretty hard with weather in Northern New England. We've seen that subside in first quarter. And so we're very confident in being significantly positive in the 2023 year and look at fourth quarter as really nearly flat to being totally positive for the year.

那麼回到今年的淨正值，是的，我們在第四季度略低於正值。新英格蘭北部的天氣給我們帶來了沉重打擊。我們已經看到這種情況在第一季度有所消退。因此，我們非常有信心在 2023 年實現顯著積極，並將第四季度視為今年幾乎持平到完全積極。

Yes. And just to add your question about whether that is adjusted for Kansas, yes, the Kansas sale is not reflected in those numbers. So that is a true net add number for the quarter, excluding the impact of the sale of Kansas.

是的。並且只是添加您關於是否針對堪薩斯州進行了調整的問題，是的，堪薩斯州的銷售並未反映在這些數字中。所以這是本季度真正的淨增加數字，不包括出售堪薩斯的影響。

Got it. And anything on fixed wireless?

知道了。還有固定無線上的任何東西嗎？

Yes. In terms of fixed wireless and cable, we're seeing primarily a single competitor in 90% of our operating areas, and one competitor less. On the fixed wireless side, it's still around the edges. You're going to see that, I think, as an interim solution, but there's nothing that beats the symmetrical fiber product and the nature of a 10-gig capacity at the side of the house. So I think it's going to be out there, but it's not going to be a significant impact.

是的。在固定無線和有線方面，我們在 90% 的運營區域主要看到一個競爭對手，而一個競爭對手則更少。在固定無線方面，它仍然處於邊緣。我認為，您會看到它是一種臨時解決方案，但沒有什麼比對稱光纖產品和房屋一側 10 千兆容量的性質更好的了。所以我認為它會在那裡，但不會產生重大影響。

(Operator Instructions) And we will take our next question from Michael Rollins with Citi.

（操作員說明）我們將與花旗一起接受邁克爾羅林斯的下一個問題。

I have 2 questions. Two, if I could. First, on the EBITDA guidance for 2023, can you share a bit more of the bridge of what's causing the EBITDA to come down in '23 relative to what the right organic number is in 2022? And then maybe help us think a little bit more about that inflection going forward that you're describing? And then the second question is just on the CapEx side. So -- and thank you for breaking out some of the categories on the guidance slide.

我有兩個問題。兩個，如果可以的話。首先，關於 2023 年的 EBITDA 指南，您能否分享更多關於導致 23 年 EBITDA 相對於 2022 年正確有機數字下降的原因？然後也許可以幫助我們更多地考慮您所描述的這種變化？然後第二個問題就在資本支出方面。所以——感謝您在指導幻燈片上劃分了一些類別。

Curious if you could help us think about what the remaining CapEx looks like through 2026 when you're expecting to be largely done with your builds, where CapEx could fall to in 2027 and thinking about how much of this is related to the build? And then can you -- I think you gave it earlier, but just remind us what the total amount of public funds you currently have access to that can potentially offset some of that CapEx?

很好奇，如果您能幫助我們考慮到 2026 年剩餘的資本支出會是什麼樣子，當您期望在很大程度上完成您的構建時，資本支出可能會在 2027 年下降到哪裡，並考慮其中有多少與構建相關？然後你可以 - 我想你早些時候給了它，但只是提醒我們你目前可以獲得的公共資金總額有多少可能抵消部分資本支出？

Okay. Let me start with the first question, and Fred will take most of this, but let me give you the context. This is our inflection year. We've [crested] the net positive, and that's the focus is broadband net adds and predominantly shifting the mix to fiber or 1/3 fiber broadband and 2/3 copper. We started at 10% addressable network. We're at 38% as we wrap up 2022, and we'll be approaching 50% at the end of '23. If you look through history, it's about that ratio that is required to start the transition from copper to totally fiber and a new network platform, and that sets up for revenue positive and EBITDA positive. I'll let Fred take the bridge on the...

好的。讓我從第一個問題開始，弗雷德會回答大部分問題，但讓我給你介紹一下背景。這是我們的轉折年。我們已經 [達到] 淨正值，重點是寬帶淨增加，主要是將組合轉移到光纖或 1/3 光纖寬帶和 2/3 銅線。我們從 10% 的可尋址網絡開始。我們在 2022 年結束時達到 38%，到 23 年底我們將接近 50%。如果你回顧歷史，就會發現開始從銅纜過渡到完全光纖和新網絡平台所需的比率，並為收入和 EBITDA 正數做好準備。我會讓弗雷德接過橋...

Yes, we haven't provided normalized numbers for 2022. I will say that the major components of the year-over-year reduction is about $50 million for the asset sales that we had during the year, including the wireless partnerships, the Kansas sale. And we did have a handful of tower sales that are also reflected in that number. So that's the biggest piece of the reduction year-over-year. We noted another $20 million of legacy phone -- largely phone revenue that is part of that reduction year-over-year. We are also -- as we talked about -- I talked about in my script, the carrier business has seen some pressure, about $10 million we expect year-over-year. And then finally, we are investing more in marketing next year, and I think that's a good thing. We want to drive the fiber business. And so while we're not disclosing that number, that's also an element of the year-over-year change.

是的，我們還沒有提供 2022 年的標準化數字。我要說的是，同比減少的主要部分是我們在這一年進行的資產銷售，包括無線合作夥伴關係、堪薩斯州的銷售，約為 5000 萬美元.我們確實有一些塔樓銷售也反映在該數字中。所以這是同比減少的最大部分。我們注意到另外 2000 萬美元的遺留電話——主要是電話收入，這是同比減少的一部分。我們也——正如我們所說的那樣——我在我的劇本中談到，運營商業務已經看到了一些壓力，我們預計同比增長約 1000 萬美元。最後，明年我們將在營銷方面投入更多，我認為這是一件好事。我們想推動光纖業務。因此，雖然我們沒有透露這個數字，但這也是同比變化的一個因素。

And so I'd add before we get into the capital piece that I've got 3 new team members. And so we are going to do some marketing tests, some regional diversity and strategy to focus on maximizing our penetrations and build out a re-rally team that will allow us to be more aggressive in some of the base after the first wave from a construction perspective. So we're being aggressive to ensure that this is the turn here that we get the most out of as we exit 2023.

因此，在我們進入重要部分之前，我要補充一點，我有 3 名新團隊成員。因此，我們將進行一些營銷測試、一些區域多樣性和戰略，以專注於最大限度地提高我們的滲透率，並組建一支重新集結的團隊，這將使我們能夠在建設的第一波浪潮之後在某些基地更具侵略性看法。因此，我們正在積極確保這是我們在 2023 年結束時充分利用的轉折點。

Now going to capital, I'll comment on the public private partnership opportunities. We have roughly $150 million of opportunity that we either already captured or in the funnel -- I'm sorry, or in agreement and in the construction pipeline right now. Some of that, most recently won will possibly impact fourth quarter and give us upside on build and most of it will end up in 2024. So it's what gives me great confidence that we'll be well above the 70% of addressable market as we exit 2025 or even mid-2026. And so when you look at the overall cost per passing, that positively impacts that, and it allows us to build out complete markets, which improve the marketing efficiency.

現在轉向資本，我將評論公私合作機會。我們有大約 1.5 億美元的機會，我們要么已經抓住了，要么正在漏斗中——對不起，或者已經達成協議，現在正在建設中。其中一些，最近贏得的可能會影響第四季度，並給我們帶來上行空間，其中大部分將在 2024 年結束。所以這讓我充滿信心，我們將遠遠超過 70% 的目標市場，因為我們退出 2025 年甚至 2026 年年中。因此，當您查看每次通過的總體成本時，這會產生積極影響，並且它使我們能夠建立完整的市場，從而提高營銷效率。

Yes. And again, predicting 2027 is a bit of a challenge. I will point to 2 things. One, historically, the company has run at the $70 million-ish level of maintenance capital historically. So predicting 2027 total capital is really going to be driven by your assumptions on success-based. And so you can project out what we've given you cohort penetrations, we've actually given you a lot of data with respect to where we think we're going to be in 2026 on customers that sort of drives a level of net add activity. So I would use your assumptions on your capital per success-based acquisition to project out what you think the 2027 success-based numbers are. But the company historically from a maintenance or obligatory perspective has been in the $70 million range. You may want to put some assumptions with respect to some inflationary pressures, but that's how I would think about it.

是的。再次強調，預測 2027 年是一個挑戰。我會指出兩件事。第一，從歷史上看，該公司歷史上的維護資本水平為 7000 萬美元左右。因此，預測 2027 年的總資本實際上將取決於您基於成功的假設。因此，您可以預測出我們為您提供的同期群滲透率，我們實際上已經為您提供了大量數據，說明我們認為我們將在 2026 年達到的客戶水平，這會推動一定程度的淨增加活動。因此，我將使用您對每次基於成功的收購的資本的假設來預測您認為 2027 年基於成功的數字。但從歷史上看，該公司從維護或強制性角度來看一直在 7000 萬美元的範圍內。你可能想對一些通脹壓力做出一些假設，但這就是我的想法。

And just on that success-based piece, how much of that is related to the consumer and fiber piece versus the enterprise and wholesale piece that might not be tied directly to a gross add number or net add number that you're reporting?

就基於成功的部分而言，其中有多少與消費者和光纖相關，而與企業和批發相關的部分可能與您報告的總增加數或淨增加數沒有直接關係？

Yes. I would say it's 70:30, I believe, is where we landed for this year. So 70% success-based related to the fiber business, 30% related to the carrier and commercial business.

是的。我想說這是 70:30，我相信這是我們今年的目標。因此，70% 的成功與光纖業務相關，30% 與運營商和商業業務相關。

And we're incredibly disciplined on the commercial and carrier side on the success-based. That's why you've seen us be pretty consistent with the data transport growth there. And we're feeling even more excited about some network near-net opportunities that are built have provided for small biz and commercial.

我們在基於成功的商業和運營商方面非常自律。這就是為什麼您看到我們與那裡的數據傳輸增長非常一致。我們對為小型企業和商業提供的一些網絡近網機會感到更加興奮。

(Operator Instructions) And we will take our next question from Rob Williams with Octagon Credit Investors.

（操作員說明）我們將與 Octagon Credit Investors 一起接受 Rob Williams 的下一個問題。

I just wanted to get some color on how you guys think about the penetration rates as we move into that 2-year cohort. You have some 2020 builds that you completed and you have your 24% target on those. Can you just give us a little bit of color how those are tracking versus kind of the 15% at the 1-year mark?

當我們進入 2 年隊列時，我只是想了解一下你們如何看待滲透率。您完成了一些 2020 年的構建，並且您有 24% 的目標。您能否給我們一些顏色，說明這些跟踪與 1 年標記的 15% 相比如何？

Yes. If you look at the base fiber, we're in the 20% range, and most of that is going to be 2-year to 2.5-year, 3-year with a few exceptions. And so we think there's great upside to get that to the mid-30s, and giving it the full rally plan attention now that we have the Fidium brand out there and the customer experience that goes with it and the WiFi gear, it's just a resource allocation after the big push on build and new market launches. And so we felt good about the first year penetrations, but those are some of the areas where we're going back and re-rallying with the new brand. And then also in the first year builds where we've had more weather challenges with sales and feet on the street, we've got a hard press in those markets early this year as the weather continues to free up.

是的。如果你看一下基礎纖維，我們在 20% 的範圍內，其中大部分將是 2 年到 2.5 年，3 年，有少數例外。因此，我們認為將其帶到 30 年代中期有很大的好處，並且既然我們擁有 Fidium 品牌以及隨之而來的客戶體驗和 WiFi 設備，它只是一種資源在大力推動建設和新市場推出後的分配。因此，我們對第一年的滲透率感覺良好，但這些是我們要回歸併與新品牌重新集結的一些領域。然後，在第一年的建設中，我們在銷售和街道上遇到了更多的天氣挑戰，隨著天氣繼續好轉，我們在今年年初在這些市場上遇到了很大的壓力。

Bob, that's helpful. And then just you have year-over-year kind of inflection for financial results in 2024, but I think last call or call it before, you talked about kind of second half of '23 showing potentially sequential growth, maybe not year-over-year. Is that still the expectation kind of in light of the lighter guidance on the EBITDA side?

鮑勃，這很有幫助。然後只是你在 2024 年的財務業績出現了同比變化，但我認為最後一次通話或之前通話，你談到了 23 年下半年顯示潛在的連續增長，也許不是同比 -年。鑑於 EBITDA 方面的指導較輕，這仍然是一種預期嗎？

Yes, the -- we have said that before. The -- the trick for us is we're taking a hard look at the carrier business and the timing of the renegotiation of the contracts, which is actually a positive thing for us, the longer that delays presents a little bit of a challenge on predicting the sequential revenue growth for 2022. So we believe strongly the 20 -- I'm sorry, 2023, sorry, we believe strongly that we'll see growth in 2024, predicting when the turn happens, given some of the nuances of the carrier business, we decided not to reiterate that.

是的，我們之前已經說過了。對我們來說，訣竅是我們正在認真研究承運人業務和重新談判合同的時間，這對我們來說實際上是一件好事，延遲時間越長，對預測 2022 年的連續收入增長。因此，我們堅信 20 - 抱歉，2023 年，抱歉，我們堅信我們將在 2024 年看到增長，預測轉變何時發生，考慮到一些細微差別運營商業務，我們決定不再重申這一點。

Yes. And frankly, I've got 3 new team members, and we're doing a lot of work with the go-to-market strategy. And so while internally, we're absolutely focused on the turn and seeing that sequentially. We're trying to maximize the wireless backhaul opportunities, as Fred mentioned, and doing a lot of work on the go-to-market strategy on the consumer side and a new small base offering at Fidium@Work. So I'm pretty optimistic and feel great about the ramp through 2023, but the offset on the carrier contracts and wireless backhaul, it's just a little bit less predictable.

是的。坦率地說，我有 3 名新團隊成員，我們正在做大量的上市戰略工作。因此，在內部，我們絕對專注於轉彎並按順序查看。正如 Fred 提到的，我們正在努力最大限度地利用無線回程機會，並在消費者方面的上市戰略和 Fidium@Work 的新小型基礎產品方面做了大量工作。所以我非常樂觀，對到 2023 年的增長感到非常滿意，但運營商合同和無線回程的抵消，只是有點難以預測。

Got it. And then just kind of a follow-up on that, if I may. Thinking about how far through you guys are on the fiber-to-the-tower kind of renegotiations, and any expected additional pricing pressure from that front or do you feel like you're in a good spot now kind of going through the base and getting that behind you as this run rate into the numbers?

知道了。如果可以的話，然後只是對此進行跟進。想想你們在光纖到塔式的重新談判中走了多遠，以及來自那方面的任何預期的額外定價壓力，或者你覺得你現在處於一個很好的位置，有點像通過基地和當這個運行率進入數字時，你會把它拋在腦後嗎？

Yes, I am quite confident that we'll get that behind us in 2023, and it's opening a door for more towers. And so what we're essentially doing and the reason it's less predictable is we're trading some write-downs for new opportunity, and I feel good about that. The partnership tone is good. The relationships are solid. We're changing some partnerships in different markets based on access to capital for those partners. And so I think we're in a good spot. It's just in the mid negotiation stage, and so a little bit less predictable as to when we finish it up. But it's a...

是的，我非常有信心我們會在 2023 年把它拋在腦後，它為建造更多塔樓打開了一扇門。因此，我們基本上正在做的事情以及它難以預測的原因是我們正在用一些減記來換取新的機會，我對此感覺很好。合作基調很好。關係牢固。我們正在根據這些合作夥伴獲得資本的機會，改變不同市場的一些合作夥伴關係。所以我認為我們處在一個好位置。現在還處於談判的中期階段，所以我們什麼時候完成還不太可預測。但這是一個...

(Operator Instructions) Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have for questions today. I will now like to turn the call back over to Bob Udell for additional or closing remarks.

（操作員說明）女士們，先生們，這是我們今天所有的問題時間。我現在想將電話轉回給 Bob Udell 以進行補充或結束評論。

Thank you, and thank you all for joining the call today. We're very excited about our energy and the team dynamic we've developed with the restructuring of our team, and I'm very appreciative of your interest in Consolidated. So thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to updating you on our next call. Have a great day.

謝謝大家，感謝大家今天加入電話會議。我們對我們的團隊重組所產生的活力和團隊活力感到非常興奮，我非常感謝您對 Consolidated 的興趣。感謝您收聽，我們期待在下次通話時為您更新。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，我們感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。