Frontier Communications Parent Inc (FYBR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Thank you for attending today's Frontier Communications' second quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Cole, and I'll be the moderator for today's call. (Operator Instructions) I'd now like to turn it over to Spencer Kurn. Please go ahead.

早安.感謝您參加今天 Frontier Communications 的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我叫科爾，我將擔任今天電話會議的主持人。（操作員指示）我現在想把它交給 Spencer Kurn。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to Frontier Communications' second quarter 2024 earnings call. This is Spencer Kurn, Frontier's Head of Investor Relations, and I'm joined on the call today by Nick Jeffery, our President and CEO; and Scott Beasley, our CFO. Today's presentation can be followed within the webcast available in the Events and Presentations section of our Investor Relations website.

早安，歡迎參加 Frontier Communications 的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我是 Frontier 投資者關係主管 Spencer Kurn，我們的總裁兼執行長 Nick Jeffery 也加入了我今天的電話會議。和我們的財務長 Scott Beasley。您可以透過我們投資者關係網站的活動和演示部分的網路廣播觀看今天的演示。

Before we start, please see our Safe Harbor disclaimer on slide 2. This is a reminder that this conference call may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed today. During the call, we may also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are defined and reconciled in our earnings materials. With that I'll turn the call over to Nick.

在開始之前，請參閱投影片 2 上的安全港免責聲明。謹提醒您，本次電話會議可能包含涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與今天所表達的結果有重大差異。在電話會議期間，我們也可能會參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，這些指標在我們的收益資料中進行了定義和調整。我會把電話轉給尼克。

Thanks, Spencer. Good morning, everybody. I'm here with Scott, and I'm excited to share the highlights from our second quarter results. As you saw in our press release this morning, we delivered another strong quarter of financial and operational results. We said that 2024 is the year that we would return to full year revenue growth, and we're proving this out quarter after quarter.

謝謝，史賓塞。大家早安。我和史考特在一起，我很高興分享我們第二季業績的亮點。正如您在今天早上的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們再次實現了強勁的季度財務和營運業績。我們說過，2024 年我們將恢復全年營收成長，我們正在逐季證明這一點。

Q2 was our second consecutive quarter of revenue growth and our fastest quarter of organic growth in more than a decade. This acceleration was driven by record fiber broadband net ads and strong ARPU growth. Combined with disciplined cost management, we delivered another quarter of solid mid-single-digit EBITDA growth, and further expanded our EBITDA margins.

第二季是我們營收連續第二季成長，也是十多年來有機成長最快的季度。這項加速是由創紀錄的光纖寬頻網路廣告和強勁的 ARPU 成長所推動的。結合嚴格的成本管理，我們的 EBITDA 又實現了一個季度中個位數的穩定成長，並進一步擴大了我們的 EBITDA 利潤率。

From the onset, our team has relentlessly focused on executing our strategy and delivering the long-term value proposition of fiber as we build Gigabit America. This focus has positioned Frontier for growth, separating us from the pack of other fiber builders, and elevating us as a more attractive alternative than legacy cable. Let's talk about the strategy behind these results.

從一開始，我們的團隊就不懈地專注於執行我們的策略並在我們建立千兆美國的過程中提供光纖的長期價值主張。這項重點為 Frontier 的成長奠定了基礎，使我們從其他光纖製造商中脫穎而出，並使我們成為比傳統電纜更具吸引力的替代品。讓我們來談談這些結果背後的策略。

On slide 4, you can see the four pillars of our strategy. Build fiber, sell fiber, improve service for all of our customers, and increase our operational efficiency. It all starts with our fiber build. In 2021, we set an initial target to pass 10 million locations with fiber, and this quarter, we exceeded 7 million passings in total. We built our fiber network into a prized asset.

在投影片 4 上，您可以看到我們策略的四大支柱。建造光纖、銷售光纖、改善所有客戶的服務並提高我們的營運效率。一切都始於我們的光纖建置。2021年，我們設定的初步目標是光纖通過1000萬個地點，本季度，我們總共超過700萬個。我們將光纖網路打造成寶貴的資產。

We now have nearly twice as many passings as the next closest pureplay fiber provider, and have significantly more than the long tail of smaller fiber providers. Our second pillar is sell fiber. In Q2, we added a record 92,000 new fiber broadband customers. And for context, that's 37% more than last year. And when you look at the first half of the year, we've grown our fiber customer base by 19%.

現在，我們的通過次數幾乎是第二接近的純光纖提供者的兩倍，並且比較小光纖提供者的長尾要多得多。我們的第二個支柱是銷售纖維。第二季度，我們新增光纖寬頻客戶達到創紀錄的 92,000 名。就背景而言，這比去年增加了 37%。回顧今年上半年，我們的光纖客戶群成長了 19%。

On this, I'd like to share an anecdote to give you a sense of how our culture supports our business acceleration. Last year, we started a program called Take the Lead to incentivize our employees to sell fast, reliable Internet. The way it works is that anyone in the company can submit a lead to the sales team, and earn a commission once our fiber is installed in a customer's home or business.

就此，我想分享一個軼事，讓您了解我們的文化如何支持我們的業務加速。去年，我們啟動了一項名為「帶頭」的計劃，以激勵我們的員工銷售快速、可靠的網路。其工作原理是，公司中的任何人都可以向銷售團隊提交線索，並在我們的光纖安裝在客戶的家中或企業後賺取佣金。

What's incredible is that so far this year, almost two-thirds of our techs in the field have submitted leads. That's almost double from a year ago. And importantly, they aren't just selling fiber, they're delivering premium service to our customers, which I'll talk about in a few minutes.

令人難以置信的是，今年到目前為止，我們該領域近三分之二的技術人員已經提交了線索。這幾乎是一年前的兩倍。重要的是，他們不僅銷售光纖，還為我們的客戶提供優質服務，我將在幾分鐘後討論這一點。

I also want to highlight that we reached a major milestone selling fiber this quarter. We crossed the 45% penetration threshold in our base fiber footprint. Why does this matter? Well, it matters, because our base fiber markets are our most mature with full cable competition, and where our brand has historically been weakest.

我還想強調的是，本季我們在光纖銷售方面實現了一個重要里程碑。我們的基礎光纖足跡突破了 45% 的滲透閾值。為什麼這很重要？嗯，這很重要，因為我們的基礎光纖市場是我們最成熟的、具有全面電纜競爭的市場，也是我們品牌歷史上最弱的市場。

Crossing our goal of at least 45% market share in these markets demonstrates that fiber is a superior product that commands high market share and that our brand has fully recovered. It's also evidence of our ability to achieve sustainable and attractive returns on our fiber investment.

跨越我們在這些市場中至少 45% 市場份額的目標，表明纖維是一種優質產品，擁有很高的市場份額，並且我們的品牌已完全恢復。這也證明了我們有能力在纖維投資上實現可持續且有吸引力的回報。

If we can achieve our penetration goals in our base markets, we can do it everywhere. And it's important to note that we are increasing penetration, whilst also growing ARPU.

如果我們能夠在我們的基礎市場中實現滲透目標，那麼我們就可以在任何地方做到這一點。值得注意的是，我們正在提高滲透率，同時 ARPU 也在成長。

Our third pillar is to improve customer service. When we started our turnaround, we were one of the most unloved brands in one of the most hated sectors. Three years ago, this leadership team made a commitment to put the customer back at the center of our universe. This philosophy is now deeply ingrained across our business.

我們的第三個支柱是改善客戶服務。當我們開始扭虧為盈時，我們是最令人討厭的行業之一中最不受歡迎的品牌之一。三年前，這個領導團隊承諾將客戶重新置於我們宇宙的中心。這一理念現已在我們的業務中根深蒂固。

Over the last few years, our leadership team has met every Friday for two hours to examine all of the reasons why our customers were calling us in the first place. And then we worked systematically to remove thousands and thousands of tiny and sometimes major customer irritations.

在過去的幾年裡，我們的領導團隊每週五都會開會兩個小時，以檢查客戶最初打電話給我們的所有原因。然後我們有系統地努力消除成千上萬的微小的、有時甚至是重大的客戶煩惱。

The results speak for themselves. Today, we have more customers. They stay with us longer, calls are down, our brand has improved, and our customers are significantly more satisfied. And while I'm pleased with this progress, we have an opportunity to be even better. And we will not stop until we run out of things to fix.

結果不言而喻。今天，我們有更多的客戶。他們在我們這裡停留的時間更長，電話數量減少，我們的品牌也得到改善，我們的客戶也明顯更滿意。雖然我對這項進展感到滿意，但我們有機會做得更好。我們不會停止，直到我們解決不了問題。

Our fourth pillar is to become more operationally efficient. Efficiency is a team sport here at Frontier, with employees identifying areas where we can remove complexity and cost, while our IT teams drive scales with new digital tools and automation. Last year, we shared that we achieved cost savings of double our initial target, and we continue to uncover cost saving opportunities.

我們的第四個支柱是提高營運效率。在 Frontier，效率是一項團隊運動，員工會確定可以消除複雜性和成本的領域，而我們的 IT 團隊則透過新的數位工具和自動化來擴大規模。去年，我們表示我們實現了成本節約，是最初目標的兩倍，我們將繼續發現成本節約的機會。

Being a simpler, more digital organization gives us the benefit of speed, compared to our larger, more hierarchical legacy competitors. Over the last three years, a relentless execution has brought us to where we are today, the largest pureplay fiber Internet company in America with growing revenues and growing profitability.

與我們規模更大、更高等級的傳統競爭對手相比，成為一個更簡單、更數位化的組織為我們帶來了速度的優勢。在過去的三年裡，堅持不懈的執行使我們取得了今天的成就，成為美國最大的純光纖網路公司，收​​入和獲利能力不斷增長。

You can see on slide 5 that fiber represents the majority of our customers, revenue and EBITDA. We've always said that as fiber becomes a greater share of our business, we become an even stronger company. While the success of our strategy is evident in our improving financial performance, it also shows up in our net promoter scores.

您可以在幻燈片 5 中看到，纖維代表了我們的大部分客戶、收入和 EBITDA。我們總是說，隨著纖維在我們業務中所佔的份額越來越大，我們就會成為一家更強大的公司。雖然我們策略的成功明顯體現在我們財務表現的改善上，但它也反映在我們的淨推薦值上。

On slide 6, you'll see that our progress here has been nothing short of astonishing. NPS is the outcome of everything that we do. It's why so many industries rely on this measure as a leading indicator of performance. Here's what the third-party data is saying. Our fiber NPS has dramatically improved by approximately 20 points over the past year. Our NPS is now 6 times higher than our closest legacy cable competitor.

在投影片 6 上，您會看到我們的進展簡直令人驚訝。NPS 是我們所做一切的結果。這就是為什麼如此多的行業依賴這項指標作為領先的績效指標。這是第三方數據的說法。去年，我們的纖維 NPS 顯著提高了約 20 個百分點。我們的 NPS 現在比我們最接近的傳統電纜競爭對手高出 6 倍。

Think about that, cable is our main competitor and customers are saying that, they are 6 times more satisfied with our fiber Internet than they are with the legacy cable product. We also have the highest NPS of any fixed Internet provider, which means Frontier has now set the new standard for our industry. You can see here that our NPS has consistently improved over the past two years. And this demonstrates that the increase is the result of our systematic approach to improving our customer journeys.

想想看，電纜是我們的主要競爭對手，客戶表示，他們對我們的光纖網路的滿意度是傳統電纜產品的 6 倍。我們還擁有所有固定網路供應商中最高的 NPS，這意味著 Frontier 現在為我們的行業樹立了新標準。您可以在這裡看到我們的 NPS 在過去兩年中持續改善。這表明，這一成長是我們採用系統方法改善客戶旅程的結果。

Now let's take a look at our financial highlights on slide 7. A couple of quarters ago, I talked about our model for driving sustainable growth. We put fiber in the ground, we connect more customers to our superior fiber product, we offer higher gigabit speeds and value added services delivering higher ARPU, all of which leads to revenue growth. And we invest that revenue growth back in our company for the benefit of our customers, our shareholders, and our business. It's a repeatable flywheel that's driving our growth.

現在讓我們來看看幻燈片 7 上的財務亮點。幾個季度前，我談到了我們推動永續成長的模式。我們將光纖埋入地下，將更多客戶連接到我們卓越的光纖產品，我們提供更高的千兆位元速度和增值服務，從而帶來更高的 ARPU，所有這些都會帶來收入成長。我們將營收成長投資回公司，以造福我們的客戶、股東和業務。這是一個可重複的飛輪，推動著我們的成長。

And here's how it played out in Q2. We passed a record number of homes and businesses with fiber. We grew fiber broadband customers by double-digits, proving that we have the very best product in the market. We grew ARPU, because our customers are increasingly choosing gigabit speeds and value added services to enhance their Internet experience, and they're willing to pay for it.

這就是第二季的情況。我們擁有光纖的家庭和企業數量創下了紀錄。我們的光纖寬頻客戶成長了兩位數，證明我們擁有市場上最好的產品。我們提高了 ARPU，因為我們的客戶越來越多地選擇千兆位元速度和增值服務來增強他們的網路體驗，並且他們願意為此付費。

As a result, we accelerated fiber revenue growth to 13% and lifted our overall company revenue growth to 2% year over year. And when you combine our accelerating revenue growth with our continuous focus on cost efficiency, we delivered 5% EBITDA growth again this quarter.

因此，我們將光纖收入成長加快至 13%，並將公司整體收入年增至 2%。當您將我們不斷加速的營收成長與我們對成本效率的持續關注結合起來時，我們本季的 EBITDA 再次實現了 5% 的成長。

Before I turn it over to Scott, let's turn to slide 8 to recap our 2024 priorities. And our priorities have not changed. This year, we're focused on driving three simple outcomes, maintain strong operational momentum, hit our revenue growth milestone, and accelerate our EBITDA growth. As you can see from our results, we're on track to meet or exceed all of these targets.

在我將其交給 Scott 之前，讓我們轉到幻燈片 8 來回顧我們 2024 年的優先事項。我們的優先事項沒有改變。今年，我們的重點是推動三個簡單的成果，保持強勁的營運勢頭，達​​到營收成長里程碑，並加速 EBITDA 成長。正如您從我們的結果中看到的，我們有望達到或超過所有這些目標。

We'll provide more detail on our longer-term financial goals, and the path for driving increased shareholder value at our forthcoming investor update. As we said last quarter, the timing of our investor update will depend on our strategic review process, which is still in flight. So we look forward to this update, and we'll keep everybody posted on timing as soon as we have something to share.

我們將在即將發布的投資者更新中提供有關長期財務目標的更多詳細信息，以及推動股東價值增加的途徑。正如我們上季度所說，我們投資者更新的時間將取決於我們的策略審查流程，該流程仍在進行中。因此，我們期待這次更新，一旦有東西要分享，我們將立即通知大家。

Before I wrap up, I want to say thank you to the builders of Gigabit America. As we've turned around our business, we've also turned around morale and pushed ourselves to innovate for the benefit of our customers. You may have seen the announcement last week that we were the first provider to successfully trial speeds of up to 100 gigabits over a single strand of fiber.

在結束之前，我想對 Gigabit America 的建造者表示感謝。在我們扭轉業務的同時，我們也扭轉了士氣，並推動自己進行創新，以造福客戶。您可能已經看到上週的公告，我們是第一家成功試驗單股光纖高達 100 GB 速度的供應商。

We hosted this test in partnership with Nokia at our Fiber Innovation Lab here in Texas. This trial proves that we can use our existing fiber network to support future technologies of up to at least 100 gig. This is an industry-first, led by our brilliant team of big thinkers and innovators. Our Fiber Labs team is an impressive group, has been awarded more patents in the last three years than in Frontier's entire history.

我們與諾基亞合作在德州的光纖創新實驗室舉辦了這項測試。這次試驗證明我們可以使用現有的光纖網路來支援至少 100 GB 的未來技術。這是業界首創，由我們傑出的思想家和創新者團隊領導。我們的纖維實驗室團隊是一個令人印象深刻的團隊，在過去三年中獲得的專利比 Frontier 整個歷史上的專利還要多。

I'm proud of what we've accomplished and more confident than ever in the power of our technology to change lives and communities. You can read more about our progress building a truly extraordinary company in our 2023 sustainability report, which we published in the second quarter. And with that, I'll turn it over to Scott to cover our quarterly results and updated guidance.

我為我們所取得的成就感到自豪，並且對我們的技術改變生活和社區的力量比以往任何時候都更有信心。您可以在我們第二季發布的 2023 年永續發展報告中詳細了解我們在打造真正非凡的公司方面取得的進展。至此，我將把它交給斯科特來介紹我們的季度業績和更新的指導。

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. Our strong operational and financial performance from Q1 continued in the second quarter. Let's start with our operational highlights on slide 10. We added a record 388,000 fiber passings in the quarter and remain on track to achieve our goal of 1.3 million passings this year.

謝謝你，尼克，大家早安。我們第一季的強勁營運和財務業績在第二季持續延續。讓我們從幻燈片 10 中的營運亮點開始。本季我們增加了創紀錄的 388,000 次光纖傳輸，並有望實現今年 130 萬次光纖傳輸的目標。

As Nick shared, we also added a record 92,000 fiber broadband customers in Q2, while growing ARPU at a rate of 3.5%. Consumer fiber broadband churn was solid in the quarter, remaining roughly flat versus last year's 1.4%.

正如尼克所分享的，我們在第二季度也增加了創紀錄的 92,000 名光纖寬頻客戶，同時 ARPU 以 3.5% 的速度成長。本季消費者光纖寬頻流失率穩定，與去年的 1.4% 基本持平。

Our cost savings initiatives continued. We have achieved $580 million of savings since we started the program in 2021. Last, we completed our second fiber securitization on July 1, raising $750 million. As we previously announced, we used part of the proceeds to refinance a portion of our term loan, while extending the remainder of our term loan to 2031.

我們的成本節約措施仍在繼續。自 2021 年啟動該計劃以來，我們已節省 5.8 億美元。最後，我們在 7 月 1 日完成了第二次光纖證券化，籌集了 7.5 億美元。正如我們先前宣布的，我們使用部分收益為部分定期貸款再融資，同時將剩餘定期貸款延長至 2031 年。

On slide 11, let's review our financial highlights. Our second quarter revenue was $1.48 billion, up 2% versus Q2 of last year. As Nick highlighted at the beginning of the call, this was our second quarter in a row of revenue growth and our fastest quarter of organic revenue growth in more than a decade.

在投影片 11 上，我們回顧一下我們的財務亮點。我們第二季的營收為 14.8 億美元，比去年第二季成長 2%。正如尼克在電話會議開始時所強調的那樣，這是我們連續第二季的收入成長，也是我們十多年來有機收入成長最快的季度。

We reported $123 million of net loss, primarily due to a non-cash pension re-measurement, as well as a $25 million one-time legal settlement. Our $560 million of adjusted EBITDA represents our fourth consecutive quarter of adjusted EBITDA growth. We also generated $374 million of net cash from operations, bringing this total to $1.4 billion over the trailing 12 months.

我們報告了 1.23 億美元的淨損失，主要是由於非現金退休金重新計量以及 2500 萬美元的一次性法律和解。我們 5.6 億美元的調整後 EBITDA 代表我們連續第四個季度調整後 EBITDA 成長。我們也從營運中產生了 3.74 億美元的淨現金，使過去 12 個月的淨現金總額達到 14 億美元。

Slide 12 shows our continued progress growing our fiber customer base. We grew total fiber broadband customers by 19% versus last year. This number is up more than 60% since the end of 2020. In our base fiber footprint of 3.2 million locations, our penetration rose 190 basis points year over year to 45.3%.

幻燈片 12 顯示了我們在擴大光纖客戶群方面所取得的持續進展。與去年相比，我們的光纖寬頻客戶總數增加了 19%。自 2020 年底以來，這一數字增加了 60% 以上。在我們 320 萬個基礎光纖足跡中，我們的滲透率年增 190 個基點，達到 45.3%。

Since we started our turnaround more than three years ago, we have targeted terminal fiber penetration of 45% or better, and this is an important indication that the goal is achievable. We are still growing our customer base in these mature markets, even in the face of legacy cable competition and fixed wireless availability. And we see room for our base penetration to climb even higher.

自從三年多前我們開始轉型以來，我們的目標是終端光纖滲透率達到 45% 或更高，這是一個重要的跡象，表明該目標是可以實現的。即使面對傳統有線競爭和固定無線可用性，我們仍在這些成熟市場中擴大客戶群。我們看到我們的基礎滲透率還有進一步攀升的空間。

In tandem with our customer growth, we are delivering healthy ARPU growth in our fiber markets. This quarter, we grew ARPU by 3.5% year over year, right in line with our long-term target range of 3% to 4%.

隨著客戶的成長，我們在光纖市場上實現了 ARPU 的健康成長。本季度，我們的 ARPU 年增 3.5%，與我們 3% 至 4% 的長期目標範圍一致。

Our ARPU growth was the result of three drivers, faster customer speed tiers, annual price adjustments, and the expansion of our value-added services. In Q2, over 60% of new customers took speeds of 1 gig or faster, and over 50% of new customers purchased at least one value-added service, including products like YouTube TV and whole home Wi-Fi.

我們的 ARPU 成長是三個驅動因素的結果：更快的客戶速度等級、年度價格調整以及增值服務的擴展。第二季度，超過 60% 的新客戶採用 1 GB 或更快的速度，超過 50% 的新客戶至少購買了一項增值服務，包括 YouTube TV 和全家庭 Wi-Fi 等產品。

This quarter, we've also simplified our penetration reporting. As you saw in our trending schedule, we will report base and expansion penetration each quarter. This adjustment eliminates the complexity of reporting on four years of quarterly build cohorts and better lines with the industry and how we manage our business.

本季度，我們也簡化了滲透率報告。正如您在我們的趨勢時間表中看到的那樣，我們將每個季度報告基礎和擴展滲透率。這項調整消除了報告四年季度建立隊列的複雜性，並更好地與行業以及我們管理業務的方式保持一致。

On slide 13 you can see how our strong sales momentum is translating into revenue growth. Together, our customer and ARPU growth drove a 21% increase in fiber broadband revenue, which more than offset legacy product declines.

在投影片 13 上，您可以看到我們強勁的銷售動能如何轉化為營收成長。我們的客戶和 ARPU 成長共同推動光纖寬頻收入成長 21%，這足以抵消傳統產品的下降。

Consumer revenue grew for the fourth consecutive quarter, and business and wholesale grew 4%, leading to consolidated revenue growth of 2%. For the balance of the year, we expect consumer revenue to continue to grow in the low-single-digit range, and business and wholesale revenue to land in the higher end of our plus or minus 1% to 2% range.

消費者收入連續第四個季度成長，商業和批發收入成長 4%，綜合收入成長 2%。對於今年餘下的時間，我們預計消費者收入將繼續在低個位數範圍內成長，而商業和批發收入將在正負 1% 至 2% 的較高範圍內增長。

Our fiber revenue growth and our disciplined approach to cost management continue to drive EBITDA growth. For the second quarter in a row, we achieved 5% adjusted EBITDA growth. The team continues to successfully grow revenue from fiber products, while strategically managing our legacy copper declines.

我們的纖維收入成長和嚴格的成本管理方法繼續推動 EBITDA 成長。我們連續第二季實現了 5% 的調整後 EBITDA 成長。團隊繼續成功增加光纖產品的收入，同時策略性地管理我們遺留的銅纜下降。

On slide 15, you can see that our capital investment declined in Q2 as expected. We had cash capital investment of $678 million in the quarter. This was down approximately $350 million sequentially as working capital normalized. It was also down approximately $380 million year over year, as our build continued to consume pre-work and inventory that we built up in 2022 and 2023.

在投影片 15 上，您可以看到我們的資本投資在第二季出現了預期的下降。本季我們的現金資本投資為 6.78 億美元。隨著營運資金正常化，這一數字比上一季減少了約 3.5 億美元。由於我們的建造繼續消耗我們在 2022 年和 2023 年建立的前期工作和庫存，因此它也比去年同期減少了約 3.8 億美元。

We expect to continue to reduce inventory and we expect Q3 and Q4 capital investment to be roughly flat with Q2. For the year, we remain on track to deliver lower capital investment in 2024 than 2023. We are confident that our peak-build CapEx is behind us.

我們預計庫存將繼續減少，預計第三季和第四季的資本投資將與第二季大致持平。今年，我們仍有望在 2024 年實現比 2023 年更低的資本投資。我們相信我們的資本支出高峰期已經過去了。

Going forward, an increasing portion of our spend will be on success-based customer acquisition CapEx, as we connect more new fiber customers. Importantly, we remain confident that our fiber build will deliver IRRs in the mid-to-high teens, well above our cost of capital. Once we are through the investment phase, we are confident that our business will unleash significant growing free cash flow.

展望未來，隨著我們連接更多新光纖客戶，我們的支出將越來越多地用於基於成功的客戶獲取資本支出。重要的是，我們仍然相信我們的光纖建設將帶來中高十幾歲的內部報酬率，遠高於我們的資本成本。一旦我們完成投資階段，我們相信我們的業務將釋放顯著成長的自由現金流。

On the next slide, we review our capital structure and discuss the benefits of our recent fiber securitization. A few weeks ago, we closed on $750 million of securitized debt in our North Texas markets, bringing total securitized debt in North Texas to $2.3 billion. I'll make a few points on the importance of our fiber securitizations.

在下一張投影片中，我們回顧了我們的資本結構並討論了我們最近的纖維證券化的好處。幾週前，我們在北德州市場完成了 7.5 億美元的證券化債務，使北德州的證券化債務總額達到 23 億美元。我將就我們的光纖證券化的重要性提出幾點觀點。

First, they provide a clear path to fully fund our fiber build. We've securitized approximately 730,000 fiber locations to date, which is only 10% of our current fiber passings. Second, fiber securitization has attracted a new pool of investment grade long-term investors into our capital structure, which should reduce our cost of capital over time.

首先，它們提供了一條明確的途徑來充分資助我們的光纖建設。到目前為止，我們已經對大約 73 萬個光纖位置進行了證券化，這僅占我們目前光纖傳輸量的 10%。其次，纖維證券化吸引了一群新的投資等級長期投資者進入我們的資本結構，隨著時間的推移，這應該會降低我們的資本成本。

Our most recent securitization priced at a weighted average yield of 7.4%, which was roughly 140 basis points lower than our first securitization in August of 2023. Finally, we expect our long-term capital structure to include a balance of securitized and traditional debt.

我們最近的證券化定價為 7.4% 的加權平均收益率，比 2023 年 8 月的首次證券化低約 140 個基點。最後，我們預期我們的長期資本結構將包括證券化債務和傳統債務的平衡。

In our most recent securitization, we used roughly $400 million of proceeds to repay a portion of our term loan, which was floating at the higher rate of 9.2%. We also proactively extended the maturity of our term loan from 2027 to 2031, thereby improving our near-term maturity profile. These transactions illustrate that fiber securitization is an attractive tool for raising new capital, refinancing, and lowering our overall cost of capital over time.

在我們最近的證券化中，我們使用了大約 4 億美元的收益來償還部分定期貸款，該貸款的利率為 9.2%。我們也主動將定期貸款期限從 2027 年延長至 2031 年，從而改善了我們的近期到期狀況。這些交易表明，纖維證券化是籌集新資本、再融資和隨著時間的推移降低整體資本成本的有吸引力的工具。

Finally, slide 17 outlines our updated 2024 guidance. Given our outperformance in the first half of the year, we are raising the low end of our 2024 EBITDA guidance, while reiterating the other key components. Our updated guidance of $2.22 billion to $2.25 billion represents growth of 5% at the midpoint, which would be a significant acceleration versus our 2% growth last year.

最後，投影片 17 概述了我們更新的 2024 年指南。鑑於我們上半年的優異表現，我們提高了 2024 年 EBITDA 指導的下限，同時重申了其他關鍵組成部分。我們更新後的指導值為 22.2 億美元至 22.5 億美元，中間值增長 5%，與去年 2% 的增長相比，這將是一個顯著的加速。

Before we open it up for questions, I want to say thank you again to the Frontier team for delivering another solid quarter. I'm proud of the work we are doing to build Gigabit America. And I'm confident that our strong financial and operational momentum will continue in the second half of the year. Operator, we'll now open the line for questions.

在我們開始提問之前，我想再次感謝 Frontier 團隊提供了另一個穩定的季度表現。我為我們為建設千兆美國所做的工作感到自豪。我相信，我們強勁的財務和營運動能將在今年下半年持續下去。接線員，我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示）Jim Schneider，高盛。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Nick, we've seen a number of announcements from industry players, including two mobile in recent weeks, which kind of suggest that fiber buildouts of your competitors are going to be increasing. So directionally, does that make you more or less likely to accelerate your own fiber passing plans, either organically or by finding one or more capital partners?

早安.感謝您提出我的問題。尼克，我們看到了行業參與者的許多公告，包括最近幾週的兩個行動公告，這表明您的競爭對手的光纖建設將會增加。那麼從方向上來說，這是否會讓您或多或少更有可能加速自己的光纖傳輸計劃，無論是有機地還是透過尋找一個或多個資本合作夥伴？

Yeah, hi, Jim. Thanks for the question. I mean, first of all, I'm encouraged that others across the industry see fiber as an attractive market opportunity. This is something we spotted three or four years ago. And I think I'm very pleased that we were the first to really scale up, kind of build across our footprint.

是的，嗨，吉姆。謝謝你的提問。我的意思是，首先，令我感到鼓舞的是，整個行業的其他人都將光纖視為一個有吸引力的市場機會。這是我們三、四年前發現的。我想我很高興我們是第一個真正擴大規模的公司，在我們的足跡上進行了建設。

Of course, that's been reinforced by government coming in behind us with the BEAD program, again signaling strongly that fiber infrastructure is something this country needs, and therefore, given the market structure and the returns we can get from it, is a very attractive thing.

當然，政府透過 BEAD 計畫加強了這一點，再次強烈表明光纖基礎設施是這個國家所需要的，因此，考慮到市場結構和我們可以從中獲得的回報，這是一件非常有吸引力的事情。

Do I see it materially impacting our ability to build? Not really, not necessarily accelerating, as I said on previous calls, we've scaled our build very much to act in harmony with the rest of our business. So our ability to sell, our ability to service, our ability to provision customers, all needs to work in harmony to make sure that we're maximizing returns for investors across the entirety of our investment, not just our build. So thanks, good question. Operator, next question, please.

我認為它會對我們的建構能力產生重大影響嗎？正如我在之前的電話會議中所說，並不是真的，也不一定是加速，我們已經大大擴展了我們的建設，以便與我們的其他業務協調一致。因此，我們的銷售能力、服務能力、為客戶提供服務的能力，所有這些都需要協調一致，以確保我們在整個投資過程中為投資者帶來最大化回報，而不僅僅是我們的建設。謝謝，好問題。接線員，請下一個問題。

Batya Levi, UBS.

巴蒂亞‧萊維，瑞銀集團。

Great. Thank you. Can you provide a little bit more color on the strength of broadband ads we saw in the quarter, any specific region or cohort that did better? And how should we think about second half with potential ACP impact and against the typical seasonal boost you get?

偉大的。謝謝。您能否提供更多關於我們在本季度看到的寬頻廣告實力的信息，以及表現更好的任何特定地區或群體？我們應該如何看待下半年潛在的 ACP 影響以及典型的季節性成長？

And then, just quick follow up on ARPU growth. Can you also provide some color in terms of the -- maybe the deceleration in the growth that we saw? Any impact from the credits that you gave to the customers potentially due to the disruption? That'd be helpful. Thanks so much.

然後，快速跟進 ARPU 成長情況。您能否就我們所看到的成長減速提供一些資訊？由於中斷，您向客戶提供的信用可能會受到任何影響嗎？那會有幫助的。非常感謝。

Sure, Batya. This is Scott. Let me make a few points on ACP that was embedded in your question, and then I'll talk a little more broadly about Q3, and then follow up with ARPU. So you asked about ACP, it's a relatively small portion of our customer base, about 4%. We've said before, we've developed a number of transition plans to serve this quadrant of the market, including our 200 meg plan, but timing is still a bit uncertain. We saw some voluntary disconnects from ACP in Q2, but we expect the impact to be larger in Q3 and Q4.

當然，巴蒂亞。這是斯科特。讓我就您的問題中包含的 ACP 提出幾點觀點，然後我將更廣泛地討論第三季度，然後跟進 ARPU。所以你問到了 ACP，它只占我們客戶群的一小部分，大約是 4%。我們之前說過，我們已經制定了許多過渡計劃來服務這個市場象限，包括我們的 200 兆計劃，但時機仍然有點不確定。我們在第二季度看到了一些自願斷開 ACP 的情況，但我們預計第三季和第四季的影響會更大。

Now kind of broadening out to our view of Q3, we expect it to be very healthy. We have strong momentum in our sales channels. We're selling across an expanding fiber footprint. Q3 tends to be the seasonally strongest quarter of the year and the primary headwind we have is ACP, like I mentioned. When you put all those factors together, we expect Q3 net ads to be up significantly year over year, and our team is working hard to beat the record that we just set in Q2.

現在我們對第三季的看法有所擴大，我們預計它會非常健康。我們的銷售通路勢頭強勁。我們正在不斷擴大光纖足跡。第三季度往往是一年中季節性最強的季度，正如我所提到的，我們面臨的主要阻力是 ACP。當你把所有這些因素放在一起時，我們預計第三季的淨廣告將同比大幅增長，並且我們的團隊正在努力打破我們剛剛在第二季度創下的記錄。

Now pivoting to your question on ARPU, I'd say we're delivering very healthy growth in ARPU. Q1 was up 6%. Q2 is up 3.5% year over year. We do expect Q3 to be roughly flat sequentially, as we work through the ACP transition plans, and particularly the 200 meg plan, but then we expect more of an ARPU pickup in Q4 to end the year right in line in a 3% to 4% range that we've given as our long-term target.

現在轉向您關於 ARPU 的問題，我想說我們的 ARPU 正在實現非常健康的成長。第一季成長 6%。第二季年增 3.5%。我們確實預計第三季將大致持平，因為我們正在實施 ACP 過渡計劃，特別是 200 兆計劃，但我們預計第四季度 ARPU 會有所回升，年底將增長 3% 至 4%我們給出的長期目標百分比範圍。

Yeah. And Scott, perhaps if I can just do a build on that to remind everybody on the call. We have, as we've said previously, three very strong drivers of ARPU in the business. The first is kind of core product pricing, which is, of course, aligned to the high value of the service we provide, but also in a generally price inflationary market tends to go up over time year over year.

是的。斯科特，也許我可以在此基礎上提醒每個人。正如我們之前所說，我們在業務中擁有三個非常強大的 ARPU 驅動因素。第一個是核心產品定價，當然，這與我們提供的服務的高價值是一致的，但在普遍價格通膨的市場中，價格往往會隨著時間的推移而逐年上漲。

The second is speed. As data and device trends require faster speeds and as we introduced new speed tiers and so on, as we've done over the last few years, we see customers very actively migrating up our speed price ladder, and that's a strong indicator of underlying demand and our ability to grow ARPU sustainably over time.

第二是速度。由於數據和設備趨勢需要更快的速度，並且隨著我們引入新的速度等級等，正如我們在過去幾年中所做的那樣，我們看到客戶非常積極地向我們的速度價格階梯遷移，這是潛在需求的強大指標以及我們隨著時間的推移持續成長 ARPU 的能力。

And then the third lever we have is value-added services. So these are all the kind of extra things that people buy to deliver a really great in-home Wi-Fi experience. Things like Wi-Fi extenders, home Wi-Fi, YouTube TV, premium tech support, all those sorts of things. And whilst we only launched that portfolio relatively recently, it has been incredibly successful for us.

我們擁有的第三個槓桿是加值服務。因此，這些都是人們購買的額外東西，以提供真正出色的家庭 Wi-Fi 體驗。Wi-Fi 擴展器、家庭 Wi-Fi、YouTube TV、高級技術支援等等。雖然我們最近才推出該產品組合，但它對我們來說取得了令人難以置信的成功。

And we've got a long roadmap of new value-added services that we'll be bringing to market. And we're very, very confident that customers are going to buy those and that we can sell them across all of our channels. And when you combine those three levers over time, you end up with the ingredients that gives us a high degree of confidence we can grow ARPU in the 3% to 4% range sustainably, as we've said. Operator, next question.

我們已經制定了將推向市場的新加值服務的長期路線圖。我們非常非常有信心客戶會購買這些產品，我們可以透過所有管道銷售它們。隨著時間的推移，當你將這三個槓桿結合起來時，你最終會得到讓我們充滿信心的成分，我們可以將ARPU 可持續地增長在3% 到4% 的範圍內，正如我們所說的。接線員，下一個問題。

Jonathan Chaplin, New Street Research.

喬納森·卓別林，新街研究。

Thanks, guys. Just following up from Batya's question on ARPU. Was there an impact from the hack on ARPU growth this quarter? And can you give us what the impact was from gift cards going away, but from last year to this year? And then, more importantly, when I look at the pace of gross ads, it's up close to 30%, despite, well, I guess looking at year over year, seasonality wouldn't be a factor.

謝謝，夥計們。剛剛跟進 Batya 關於 ARPU 的問題。駭客攻擊對本季 ARPU 成長有影響嗎？您能否告訴我們從去年到今年禮品卡取消的影響是什麼？然後，更重要的是，當我查看總廣告的成長速度時，它接近 30%，儘管我想逐年來看，季節性並不是一個因素。

But despite an impact from ACP and despite an impact from the hack, that's pretty phenomenal growth in growth ads, particularly given that industry growth is down 30% to 40%. Can you give us some context? Is this sort of the new level of gross ads that you expect to be able to be able to maintain? Is there anything one-time that helps you this quarter? And then, I know that you've sort of put in cost to acquire over the course of the last two quarters. Are you at a level of spend that you can maintain and you expect to leverage from here? Thank you.

但儘管受到 ACP 和駭客攻擊的影響，成長型廣告的成長還是相當驚人的，特別是考慮到產業成長下降了 30% 到 40%。您能給我們一些背景資訊嗎？這是您期望能夠維持的新的廣告總收入水準嗎？本季有什麼一次性的事情可以幫助您嗎？然後，我知道您在過去兩個季度中投入了收購成本。您的支出水準是否可以維持並期望從這裡發揮作用？謝謝。

Jonathan, thanks. That's not sure you're sticking to the one question rule, obviously. And we got all of those. But Scott, perhaps you start.

喬納森，謝謝。顯然，這並不確定您是否遵守「一問一答」規則。我們得到了所有這些。但是斯科特，也許你開始了。

Yeah. Let me unpack those. So first, on your question on the cyber event, as we noted before, we don't believe that the event had any material impact on our financial or operational results. That would include ARPU. So I'll just reiterate that point today that was in a previous 8-K.

是的。讓我把它們拆開。首先，關於您關於網路事件的問題，正如我們先前指出的，我們認為該事件不會對我們的財務或營運業績產生任何重大影響。這將包括 ARPU。因此，今天我將重申先前 8-K 中提到的這一點。

Your second question on impact of gift cards, we're no longer breaking that out in the training schedule, but it was roughly similar to last quarter. We don't have a big impact from gift cards because those were largely discontinued about a year ago.

關於禮品卡影響的第二個問題，我們不再在培訓計畫中詳細說明，但與上季大致相似。禮品卡對我們影響不大，因為這些禮品卡大約在一年前就已經停止使用。

I'm going to pass it to Nick for kind of questions on broader industry trends. I will say, just adding to your question on the impact of the cyber event on the net ads, we largely recovered throughout the quarter. The team did a great job getting everything back online, getting customers installed. So we don't expect it had a material impact in Q2, nor any real catch up in Q3, but I'll pass to Nick on the broader industry trend.

我將把它轉給尼克，詢問有關更廣泛的行業趨勢的問題。我想說的是，只要補充一下你關於網路事件對網路廣告影響的問題，我們整個季度就基本恢復了。團隊出色地完成了所有工作，讓一切恢復正常，並為客戶安裝了設備。因此，我們預計它不會在第二季度產生重大影響，也不會在第三季度產生任何真正的追趕，但我將向尼克介紹更廣泛的行業趨勢。

Yeah, I mean, look, on the kind of fiber gross net ad performance, we're very, very pleased with the trajectory that we've got here. And of course, as we're building more fiber, every single quarter, and just to remind everybody, we're building at a rate of about 3,500 fiber passings a day. And that means our feedstock is, of course, getting bigger.

是的，我的意思是，看看，就光纖毛淨廣告表現而言，我們對目前的發展軌跡非常非常滿意。當然，隨著我們每季建造更多光纖，謹提醒大家，我們每天的建設速度約為 3,500 條光纖。當然，這意味著我們的原料越來越大。

But if we take a step back a little bit, I think there are some fundamentals at play here that are now beginning to show through in our numbers. The first of which is we just have a better product. The cable companies' legacy kind of product, copper-based product was great in its time, but fiber is the product that the market wants now.

但如果我們退一步，我認為這裡有一些基本面正在發揮作用，這些基本面現在開始在我們的數據中顯現出來。首先是我們有更好的產品。電纜公司的傳統產品－銅基產品在當時非常出色，但光纖是現在市場想要的產品。

And we see this in so many countries around the world, where fiber penetration just goes up and up and up. Because it's a better product, because it's future proof, indeed as our recent 100 gig trial with Nokia absolutely proves the fiber network is the last network any customer will ever have to buy.

我們在世界上許多國家都看到了這一點，這些國家的纖維滲透率不斷上升。因為它是更好的產品，因為它面向未來，事實上，我們最近與諾基亞進行的 100 GB 試驗絕對證明光纖網路是任何客戶必須購買的最後一個網路。

But perhaps I'll give you a little insight as well into some of the work we've been doing internally, which I haven't shared on previous calls. And that is, you may have heard me talk about the very intense work we've done with our Executive Committee on customer service, and removing and eliminating customer irritations over the past three years or four years. Well, over the course of this year, we've turned the same kind of intensity to our sales channels.

但也許我也會向您介紹我們內部所做的一些工作，這些工作我在之前的電話會議中沒有分享過。也就是說，您可能聽我談論過我們與執行委員會在過去三年或四年裡在客戶服務以及消除和消除客戶煩惱方面所做的非常緊張的工作。嗯，今年以來，我們對銷售通路採取了同樣的力道。

Every 10 days or so, the entire Executive Committee plus relevant other leaders meets to go through all of the sales channel data in granular detail, figuring out what's working where, in which city, which town, which street, which state, which channel, what are the little hiccups, what are the things we've missed, how do we optimize, how do we finetune, how do we learn from promotions, how do we experiment with price, how do we scale different channels, how do we work with different partners, going through all of that at an incredibly granular level and then adjusting, optimizing, reviewing, adjusting, optimizing, reviewing, again.

每隔 10 天左右，整個執行委員會和其他相關領導都會開會，詳細檢查所有銷售管道數據，弄清楚什麼在哪裡、在哪個城市、哪個城鎮、哪個街道、哪個州、哪個管道在起作用，有哪些小問題，我們錯過了什麼，我們如何優化，我們如何微調，我們如何從促銷中學習，我們如何試驗價格，我們如何擴展不同的管道，我們如何工作與不同的合作夥伴一起，以令人難以置信的粒度水平經歷所有這些，然後調整、優化、審查、調整、優化、審查，再次。

And I think we're beginning to see that flow through into improved sales momentum, improved delivery momentum, just exactly as we did in our customer care organization. And you've seen the results that, that had in our NPS results. I'm very confident we're going to see the same thing in our sales results as well. Operator, next question.

我認為我們開始看到這種趨勢會轉化為銷售動力、交付動力的改善，就像我們在客戶服務組織中所做的那樣。您已經在我們的 NPS 結果中看到了結果。我非常有信心我們也會在銷售業績中看到同樣的情況。接線員，下一個問題。

Sam McHugh, BNP Paribas.

薩姆·麥克休，法國巴黎銀行。

Good morning, guys. I want to talk about the self-installs. I see you finally launched them in July. There's actually two parts. One is, can you just describe what that actually involves, if I'm a person in the house, so I have to drill in my own wall, any color on like what the process actually looks like? And then, secondly, how should we think about that impacting the cost to connect homes? If you give us a bit of color on how that's trending and how you think that might trend? That'd be great. Thank you.

早安，夥計們。我想談談自安裝。我看到你們終於在七月推出了它們。實際上有兩個部分。一是，你能描述一下這實際上涉及到什麼嗎？其次，我們應該如何考慮這對家庭連結成本的影響？您能否向我們介紹它的趨勢以及您認為它可能會如何發展？那太好了。謝謝。

Yea, thanks, Sam. Yeah, look, self-install is a new thing for us, as you've spotted, and that's primarily because we're still building our network. And because as we build a network, we have to go out and install. The first time we have a customer, we have to install an ONT and set them up and so on. But as that base of installed fiber customers grows, then when people move out of an existing connected home and somebody else moves in, the self-install process becomes really easy.

是的，謝謝，山姆。是的，看，自助安裝對我們來說是一件新鮮事，正如您所發現的，這主要是因為我們仍在建立我們的網路。因為當我們建立網路時，我們必須出去安裝。當我們第一次有客戶時，我們必須安裝 ONT 並進行設定等等。但隨著已安裝光纖客戶群的成長，當人們搬離現有的連網家庭並由其他人搬進來時，自助安裝過程變得非常容易。

They just have to plug the router into the socket in the wall, set it up over the app, and away they go. And that, therefore, becomes an opportunity for us in the future to significantly reduce truck rolls, reduce cost to connect, and so on. And that will continue to grow over time as our base of installed customers just grows as we grow our fiber base. But Scott, do you want to talk about the cost implication fees?

他們只需將路由器插入牆上的插座，透過應用程式進行設置，然後就可以離開了。因此，這成為我們未來大幅減少上門服務、降低連線成本等的機會。隨著我們光纖基礎的擴大，我們的安裝客戶群也會隨著時間的推移而不斷成長。但是史考特，你想談談成本費用嗎？

Sure, Sam, the cost to connect, we've said before the target range is $600 to $800 per connection. We're at the higher end of the range now, but with self-install unlocking a much bigger portion of our customer base, for self-install that should reduce cost in three areas. You no longer have to do a drop. The ONT is already in the house and you no longer have to send a technician.

當然，Sam，連接成本，我們之前說過，目標範圍是每次連接 600 到 800 美元。我們現在處於該範圍的高端，但透過自助安裝解鎖了我們更大一部分的客戶群，自助安裝應該在三個方面降低成本。你不再需要做一個下降。ONT 已經在家裡，您不再需要派遣技術人員。

So with those cost improvements, it'll take us down overall much closer to the low end of the range, potentially even below that low end of the range over time. Thanks operator. Operator, next question.

因此，隨著成本的改善，我們的整體成本將更加接近該範圍的低端，隨著時間的推移，甚至可能低於該範圍的低端。感謝運營商。接線員，下一個問題。

Sebastiano Petti, JPMorgan.

塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂，摩根大通。

Hi, good morning. And thanks for the question. Just a quick follow-up on the consumer fiber ARPU comment about flat, was that meant to be in terms of dollars, is that how we should be thinking about that or year-on-year growth.

嗨，早安。謝謝你的提問。快速跟進消費者光纖 ARPU 關於持平的評論，這意味著以美元為單位，這就是我們應該如何考慮這一點或同比增長。

And then relatedly on EBITDA, it's nice to see the raising the low end of the guide, but it does seem still -- it does imply a bit of a slowdown in the back half I mean marginally. Is there anything we should be thinking about there? And I guess zooming out related to that EBITDA comment. Should we anticipate, obviously the pace of fiber ads is encouraging and you know particularly in light of ACP?

然後，與 EBITDA 相關的是，很高興看到指南的低端有所提高，但它似乎仍然如此——這確實意味著後半部分的放緩，我的意思是略微放緩。那裡有什麼值得我們思考的嗎？我猜縮小與 EBITDA 評論有關。我們是否應該預期，纖維廣告的步伐顯然令人鼓舞，尤其是考慮到 ACP？

But is this just maybe embedding some expectations for SG&A, and maybe cost to connect particularly in light of kind of what you just said there, with the cost of connecting a little bit higher? Is that's why maybe there's a little conservatism in the guide? Sorry it's a long winded and multi-faceted kind of question asking about, is there conservatism in the EBITDA guidance for the year? Thank you, guys.

但這是否只是嵌入了對 SG&A 的一些期望，以及可能的連接成本，特別是考慮到您剛才所說的情況，連接成本稍微高一點？這就是為什麼指南中可能有一點保守主義嗎？抱歉，這是一個冗長且多方面的問題，我們要問的是，今年的 EBITDA 指引是否保守？謝謝你們，夥計們。

Sure, thanks Sebastiano. I'll take those. On ARPU, we said it would be flat, roughly flat dollar wise sequentially that would mean it's up year over year. But with Q3, we said there's some transition there related to ACP and lower price plans to serve that quadrant of the market, before picking up again in Q4. So that's our expectation on ARPU.

當然，謝謝塞巴斯蒂亞諾。我會接受那些。在 ARPU 方面，我們表示它將持平，以美元計，連續持平，這意味著它將逐年上升。但在第三季度，我們表示，在第四季度再次回升之前，有一些與 ACP 相關的過渡以及為該市場象限提供服務的較低價格計劃。這就是我們對 ARPU 的預期。

On EBITDA the first point I'd make is that we adjusted our midpoint higher, which shows the confidence that we have in the underlying fundamentals of the business, the fiber flywheel that Nick described has a lot of momentum.

關於 EBITDA，我要說的第一點是我們將中點調高，這表明我們對業務的基本面充滿信心，尼克描述的纖維飛輪有很大的動力。

The midpoint now implies 5% percent growth in the second half, which is roughly the same as the 5% growth that we achieved in the first half, and a big step up versus 2% growth last year. So overall, we feel good about that growth rate.

現在的中點意味著下半年成長5%，這與我們上半年實現的5%成長大致相同，比去年2%的成長有了很大的進步。總的來說，我們對這一增長率感到滿意。

And then your final question about some headwinds, there are some headwinds in the second half. We've discussed most of those ACP, could be a slight headwind. We typically have much higher energy costs in Q3, it's the seasonally hottest quarter. And then business and wholesale can be lumpy. We had a really strong first half there, but that business is a little tougher to project with a perfect estimate.

然後是關於一些逆風的最後一個問題，下半年有一些逆風。我們已經討論了大部分 ACP，可能會帶來輕微的阻力。第三季的能源成本通常要高得多，這是季節性最熱的季度。然後商業和批發可能會變得不穩定。我們的上半年表現非常強勁，但要以完美的估計來預測這項業務有點困難。

So overall, we feel really good about the momentum heading into the second half, which should carry us nicely into next year. Operator, we'll take the next question.

總的來說，我們對進入下半年的勢頭感到非常滿意，這應該會帶我們很好地進入明年。接線員，我們將回答下一個問題。

Greg Williams, TD Cowen.

格雷格·威廉斯，TD·考恩。

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just dovetailing off your last comment Scott, can you help us think about the third quarter EBITDA, how much seasonal costs or energy costs will you incur? Should it be sort of a similar cadence versus last year because you're obviously doing cost savings too, so some moving parts there? Helping us think about it would be great.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。也許只是與您最後的評論斯科特吻合，您能幫助我們考慮第三季的 EBITDA，您將承擔多少季節性成本或能源成本？是否應該與去年類似的節奏，因為您顯然也在節省成本，所以那裡有一些移動部件？幫助我們思考這個問題會很棒。

Second question is on your commercial revenue, you're now strong momentum and guiding high end of plus or minus 2% were there any one-time benefits to speak of, or just tell us about the momentum and what you're doing there to achieve a solid performance? Thanks.

第二個問題是關於您的商業收入，您現在勢頭強勁，指導正負 2% 的高端是否有任何一次性好處可言，或者只是告訴我們這種勢頭以及您正在做什麼取得紮實的業績？謝謝。

Yeah, sure, Greg. On EBITDA in Q3, I mean we're obviously not giving specific quarterly guidance, but there are some seasonally heavier costs in Q3 primarily energy, but then also growth related SG&A. Q3, as we said, is typically the strongest seasonal quarter for customer growth. And so the marketing and commissions dollars that flow through SG&A are typically higher in Q3.

是的，當然，格雷格。關於第三季的 EBITDA，我的意思是，我們顯然沒有給出具體的季度指導，但第三季的季節性成本較高，主要是能源成本，但也有與成長相關的 SG&A。正如我們所說，第三季通常是客戶成長最強勁的季節性季度。因此，流經 SG&A 的行銷和佣金在第三季通常會更高。

We still expect to be well up year over year, but just want to caution people and remind them about the seasonality of Q3. But overall, the second half, we expect to grow 5%, which is a really healthy growth rate.

我們仍然預計同比會好轉，但只是想提醒人們注意第三季的季節性。但總體而言，下半年我們預計將成長 5%，這是一個非常健康的成長率。

Yeah, thanks. And on business and wholesale, as I've said on previous calls, I mean, this kind of revenue can be lumpy, when you can win a big deal in a quarter, or the time between winning a deal and converting it to revenue, and so on. That said, we significantly outperformed the industry last year, and that strong ongoing performance continued into the first half of this year.

是的，謝謝。在商業和批發方面，正如我在之前的電話中所說，我的意思是，當你可以在一個季度內贏得一筆大交易時，或者在贏得一筆交易和將其轉化為收入之間的時間之間，這種收入可能會不穩定，等等。也就是說，我們去年的表現明顯優於產業，而這種強勁的持續表現一直持續到今年上半年。

Our business and wholesale revenues grew 2% in the first half of the year, significantly better than the industry's high-single-digit declines. And I'm really encouraged by the underlying strength of our fiber growth in business and wholesale, which grew 9% through the first half of this year. So I expect this fiber growth to continue. It's part of the flywheel that I described and Scott just built on.

上半年我們的業務和批發收入成長了 2%，明顯優於業界高個位數的降幅。我們的纖維業務和批發業務成長的潛在實力令我深受鼓舞，今年上半年成長了 9%。因此，我預計這種纖維增長將持續下去。它是我所描述的飛輪的一部分，斯科特剛剛在其上建造。

And continue to offset the very predictable declines, we see in our legacy copper. So we're off to a strong start in business and wholesale this year. I expect us to come in towards the higher end of our previously expected plus or minus 1% to 2% growth range over 2024. Operator, next question, please.

並繼續抵消我們在傳統銅中看到的非常可預測的下跌。因此，我們今年的業務和批發業務有了一個很好的開始。我預計我們將在 2024 年達到之前預期的正負 1% 至 2% 成長範圍的高端。接線員，請下一個問題。

Michael Rollins, Citi.

麥可羅林斯，花旗銀行。

Thanks. Just a quick follow-up. Has there been anything when you look at the flattening of the copper business revenue, that's been helping that line item, and is that something that over time, just kind of goes back to sort of the way legacy businesses trend in this category?

謝謝。只是快速跟進。當你看到銅業務收入的扁平化時，是否有任何因素對該項目有所幫助，並且隨著時間的推移，這種情況是否會回歸到該類別中傳統業務的趨勢？

And then second, on a strategic front, I'm curious if the success that you're having in both core and expansion markets is influencing the strategic review, and the way you may consider the number of homes, you could build at good returns in wave three.

其次，在策略方面，我很好奇你們在核心市場和擴張市場所取得的成功是否會影響策略審查，以及你們考慮建造可帶來良好回報的房屋數量的方式在第三波中。

The quantum of markets that you may consider non-core and could be up for some form of monetization event, and the way in which, if you do a joint venture of some kind, the way in which you may want to own and control that, just given what you're seeing in the core and expansion.

您可能認為非核心且可能會發生某種形式的貨幣化事件的市場規模，以及如果您建立某種合資企業，您可能希望擁有和控制該市場的方式，只是考慮到您在核心和擴展中看到的內容。

Sure, Michael, this is Scott. Let me take the copper question, and then I'll pass to Nick. Your question overall on copper ARPU in particular, we've been in a broadly inflationary environment in the last few years, and the cost to run and maintain our network have risen, particularly in the copper side. We have to pass a portion of those onto our customers, and they understand that because they're seeing that in other parts of their business, or their personal lives as well. So that's point number one.

當然，邁克爾，這是斯科特。讓我回答銅問題，然後我將轉給尼克。你的問題總體上是關於銅纜 ARPU 的，特別是在過去幾年中，我們一直處於廣泛的通貨膨脹環境中，運行和維護我們的網路的成本已經上升，特別是在銅纜方面。我們必須將其中的一部分傳遞給我們的客戶，他們理解這一點，因為他們在業務的其他部分或他們的個人生活中也看到了這一點。這是第一點。

Point number two, when you look specifically at copper ARPU, as consumer speed requirements and data usage have continued to increase, we've actually stopped selling some of our lowest speed, lowest price copper Internet products, and that has had a lifting effect on overall ARPU. That's what's going on with copper ARPU.

第二點，當你特別關注銅纜 ARPU 時，隨著消費者速度要求和數據使用量持續增加，我們實際上已經停止銷售一些速度最低、價格最低的銅纜互聯網產品，這對總體 ARPU。這就是銅線 ARPU 的情況。

Yeah, and your question on the strategic --

是的，還有你關於策略的問題--

Oh, sorry, Scott, I was just asking about copper business revenue, where that's just the business revenue's been flat for the last three quarters where normally you see legacy copper business revenues fall?

哦，抱歉，斯科特，我只是問銅業務收入，這只是過去三個季度的業務收入持平，而通常您會看到傳統銅業務收入下降？

Yeah, I think it's the same dynamic that I just described. So deactivations have kind of been roughly flat. We've had some pricing actions to help offset cost increases. We're managing our copper decline both on the business side and the consumer side. I don't think it is flat yet, we're managing a still declining market, but we've had a good progress balancing those different objectives.

是的，我認為這與我剛才描述的動態相同。因此，停用情況大致持平。我們採取了一些定價措施來幫助抵銷成本增加。我們正在從商業方面和消費者方面來應對銅價的下跌。我認為它還沒有平穩，我們正在管理一個仍在下滑的市場，但我們在平衡這些不同的目標方面取得了良好的進展。

Yeah, thanks, Scott. And just the second half of your question on the strategic review. I mean, really our investor update, which we've talked about, goes hand-in-hand with the strategic review. We set out to build 10 million fiber passings in total, and that objective's now clearly in sight. So just to remind everybody that now is really a natural time for us to look at the next phase of growth and consider all the options for how we could deliver that.

是的，謝謝，斯科特。這只是你關於戰略審查的問題的後半部分。我的意思是，我們已經討論過的投資者更新確實與策略審查密切相關。我們計劃建造總共 1000 萬條光纖通道，這一目標現在已經清晰可見。因此，我想提醒大家，現在確實是我們考慮下一階段成長並考慮如何實現這一目標的所有選擇的自然時機。

And as I've said previously, that includes continuing optimization of our operations and financing structures, strategic partnerships of all sorts, joint ventures, divestitures, mergers, business combinations, and the management team and the Board are working very intensively on all of those things.

正如我之前所說，這包括持續優化我們的營運和融資結構、各種策略合作夥伴關係、合資、剝離、合併、業務合併，管理團隊和董事會正在密切關注所有這些問題。

Now of course, we've kind of, IRRs looking good, penetration looking good, revenue growing, EBITDA growing, customer numbers growing, the fact that we're past peak CapEx for build, the fact that our NPS has gone from industry worst to absolutely hands down industry best, means that we have increasing strategic optionality coupled with the fact that the market is becoming generally more convergent. And in a convergent market, you need, wireless access, which is readily available.

當然，現在我們的內部收益率看起來不錯，滲透率看起來不錯，收入增長，息稅折舊攤銷前利潤增長，客戶數量增長，事實上我們已經過了建設資本支出的峰值，事實上我們的淨推薦值已經從行業最差的水平走出來了絕對做到行業最佳，意味著我們擁有越來越多的戰略選擇，加上市場普遍變得更加趨同的事實。在融合市場中，您需要現成的無線存取。

And of course, fiber broadband, which is the scarcest of all the assets in a converging market. And as the largest pureplay fiber provider in America, that also brings us a lot of strategic optionality. And of course, all of those things need to be thought through. I mean, coupled probably even more so with the fact that we see, we predict probably, I think everybody would see interest rates perhaps tracking down in the future.

當然，還有光纖寬頻，它是融合市場中最稀缺的資產。作為美國最大的純光纖供應商，這也為我們帶來了許多戰略選擇。當然，所有這些事情都需要仔細考慮。我的意思是，再加上我們看到、我們可能預測的事實，我認為每個人都會看到未來利率可能會下降。

Improving the efficiency of our build, improving IRRs as well, so there's a lot of optionality, a lot of things we're thinking through there, all of which comes into the mix when we think about the answer to your question. Operator, next question, please.

提高我們建造的效率，也提高內部報酬率，所以有很多選擇，我們正在考慮很多事情，當我們思考你的問題的答案時，所有這些都會融入其中。接線員，請下一個問題。

Shipra Pandey, Bank of America.

希普拉潘迪，美國銀行。

Hi, thank you. Yeah, I mean, so probably you've kind of answered this in the prior question, but just more so thinking about your strategic review process and if you could provide any sort of update on visibility on the Analyst Day and how you're thinking about the timing and the structure of that Analyst Day.

你好，謝謝。是的，我的意思是，所以您可能已經在上一個問題中回答了這個問題，但更多的是考慮您的策略審查流程，以及您是否可以提供有關分析師日可見性的任何更新以及您的想法關於分析師日的時間安排和結構。

And more so on the strategic review as well, and any potential capital sources that may come about, how are you thinking about the best uses of capital that you might get from there? And I think you've mentioned doing a joint venture style partnership before and we just recently saw Bloomberg report that Frontier is in talks to former joint ventures. So how are you thinking about the right economic structure for your team and for Frontier, whether it's Open Access, and in region or out of region build, and where are you kind of planning phase on everything? Thank you.

更重要的是，在策略審查以及可能出現的任何潛在資本來源方面，您如何考慮可能從中獲得的資本的最佳用途？我想您之前曾提到過建立合資企業式的合作夥伴關係，而我們最近才看到彭博社報道稱 Frontier 正在與前合資企業進行談判。那麼，您如何考慮適合您的團隊和 Frontier 的經濟結構，無論是開放取用、區域內還是區域外建設，以及您對所有事情的規劃階段在哪裡？謝謝。

Yeah, thanks. As I just said, I think the investor update really goes hand-in-hand with our strategic review which is ongoing, very intense piece of work, but we really want to get some firm conclusions with that, before we come back and share those with the market. I mean, I think on joint ventures specifically, I mean, we won't comment on press speculation, of course.

是的，謝謝。正如我剛才所說，我認為投資者更新確實與我們的策略審查密切相關，這是一項正在進行的、非常緊張的工作，但在我們回來分享這些之前，我們真的希望得到一些堅定的結論與市場。我的意思是，我特別想到合資企業，我的意思是，我們當然不會對媒體的猜測發表評論。

But generically, I think the joint ventures that the industry has seen announced recently just underscore the building fiber in the US is an extremely attractive investment. And we view this increased interest as further validation of the long-term value and shareholder return profile from fiber. So it is a very positive thing. It's also clear that convergence is driving our competitors' recent decisions.

但總的來說，我認為該行業最近宣布的合資企業只是強調了美國的建築纖維是一項極具吸引力的投資。我們認為這種興趣的增加進一步驗證了纖維的長期價值和股東回報狀況。所以這是一件非常正面的事情。同樣明顯的是，融合正在推動我們競爭對手最近的決策。

And as I just said, Frontier is the largest pureplay fiber provider in the US and fiber is the scarcest and most difficult to replicate asset of all in a converging market. Scott, I don't know if you have any comments on capital allocation.

正如我剛才所說，Frontier 是美國最大的純光纖供應商，而光纖是融合市場中最稀缺且最難複製的資產。Scott，我不知道你對資本配置有什麼意見嗎？

Sure. Shipra, thanks for the question. Let me give you some color on how we think about our capital structure, and then put the recent transactions into that context. We have three main objectives. We want to reduce our cost of capital over time, increase our flexibility by maintaining liquidity to fund the build, and extending our maturities. And then, we want to maintain appropriate net leverage, eventually getting back to that target of mid-3s following our build.

當然。希普拉，謝謝你的提問。讓我向您介紹我們如何看待我們的資本結構，然後將最近的交易放在這個背景下。我們有三個主要目標。我們希望隨著時間的推移降低我們的資本成本，透過維持流動性來為建設提供資金來提高我們的靈活性，並延長我們的期限。然後，我們希望保持適當的淨槓桿率，最終在建造後回到 3 左右的目標。

And from the transactions that we did in Q2, I think we accomplished all three of those. Our securitization reduced our cost of capital. We extended the maturity of our term loan to 2031. And then, we used a portion of the securitization proceeds from North Texas to pay down first lien debt, thus keeping leverage relatively constant. So in the future, we'll look to do similar transactions that meet those long-term objectives. Thanks. Operator, we'll take the next question, please.

從我們在第二季所做的交易來看，我認為我們完成了這三項交易。我們的證券化降低了我們的資本成本。我們將定期貸款的期限延長至 2031 年。然後，我們使用北德克薩斯州的部分證券化收益來償還第一留置權債務，從而保持槓桿相對穩定。因此，未來，我們將尋求進行類似的交易來滿足這些長期目標。謝謝。接線員，我們將回答下一個問題。

Nick Del Deo, MoffettNathanson.

尼克·德爾·迪奧，莫菲特·內森森。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got one on SG&A and one on video. So adjusted SG&A expense was elevated for the second quarter in a row. I'm just trying to understand the degree to which that's a product of higher [sack] versus other factors. Is there any color you can share on that front? It would be great. And then with video getting smaller and smaller, at what point does it make sense to pull the plug?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。感謝您回答我的問題。我有一份關於 SG&A 的內容和一份關於影片的內容。因此，調整後的銷售、管理及行政費用連續第二季上升。我只是想了解這在多大程度上是更高[解僱]與其他因素的產物。前面有什麼顏色可以分享嗎？那就太好了。隨著影片變得越來越小，什麼時候停止播放才有意義呢？

Sure. Nick, this is Scott. Cost discipline, on the first question on SG&A, cost discipline remains very important for us. I'll dive deep into SG&A in a second, but let me take a step back and look at our overall cost base. In the first half of the year, we've been able to keep our total cost base flat despite absorbing significant growth-related SG&A. And most of that increase in SG&A has been in marketing and commissions to support the much higher growth that we had in the first half versus what we had last year.

當然。尼克，這是史考特。成本紀律，關於SG&A 的第一個問題，成本紀律對我們來說仍然非常重要。我稍後將深入探討 SG&A，但讓我退後一步，看看我們的整體成本基礎。今年上半年，儘管吸收了大量與成長相關的銷售、管理及行政費用，但我們仍能維持總成本基礎不變。SG&A 的成長大部分用於行銷和佣金，以支持我們上半年比去年高得多的成長。

In order to offset that SG&A and actually improve our margins, which we've done by more than 100 basis points, we've taken cost out of our fixed cost base, primarily network cost to serve, video content costs, and therefore, managed to improve our margins by more than 100 basis points despite that extra growth-related SG&A. Almost all that SG&A, like I described, is in marketing and commissions.

為了抵​​消 SG&A 並實際提高我們的利潤（我們已經提高了 100 多個基點），我們從固定成本基礎中扣除了成本，主要是網絡服務成本、視頻內容成本，因此，我們對儘管有額外的與增長相關的SG&A，我們的利潤率仍提高了100 個基點以上。正如我所描述的，幾乎所有的 SG&A 都來自於行銷和佣金。

On the second part of your question, video, you'll recall we made a strategic decision more than three years ago to stop selling linear video to new customers and instead focus on partnerships with leading over-the-top providers.

關於您的問題的第二部分，視頻，您會記得我們在三年多前做出了一項戰略決策，停止向新客戶銷售線性視頻，而是專注於與領先的頂級提供商的合作夥伴關係。

We did an industry-first partnership with YouTube TV that has been great for our customers, giving them access to YouTube TV, the industry-leading over-the-top provider, where they can receive a single bill from us, which is typically a pain point for customers. That's had excellent traction in the market and helped us bundle connectivity with TV and then often whole home Wi-Fi connectivity.

我們與 YouTube TV 建立了業界首創的合作夥伴關係，這對我們的客戶來說非常有利，他們可以使用業界領先的 OTT 提供者 YouTube TV，在那裡他們可以收到我們的單一帳單，這通常是客戶的痛點。這在市場上具有巨大的吸引力，並幫助我們將連接與電視捆綁在一起，然後通常是整個家庭的 Wi-Fi 連線。

At some point, you're right, the video base will get small enough, where it's not something we're going to support, but we're not there yet. Instead, we're focused on growing the over-the-top options for our customers. Thanks. Operator, we'll take the next question, please.

在某些時候，你是對的，影片庫會變得足夠小，我們不會支援它，但我們還沒有到那一步。相反，我們專注於為客戶提供更多的頂級選擇。謝謝。接線員，我們將回答下一個問題。

Simon Flannery, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙‧弗蘭納裡，摩根士丹利。

Great. Thank you very much. On the fiber ARPU, can you give us a little bit of color on what you're seeing in terms of the intake there? Is that -- given you're selling a lot of gig plus, is it well above the $65? So give a sense of where this can go over time.

偉大的。非常感謝。在光纖 ARPU 方面，您能否向我們介紹一下您所看到的光纖攝取量？是不是——考慮到你賣了很多演出附加費，它是否遠高於 65 美元？因此，請了解隨著時間的推移，情況會如何發展。

And then, any comments on low-end macro? There's a little bit of a tick up in the copper churn. You talked about ACP, but we obviously saw a weak unemployment number today. Cable's talked a little bit about softness. Are you seeing anything at the low end of the consumer? Thanks.

那麼，對於低端宏有何評論？銅攪拌機裡有一點滴答作響。你談到了 ACP，但我們今天顯然看到了疲軟的失業率數據。電纜談到了一些關於柔軟性的問題。您是否看到了低端消費者的需求？謝謝。

Yeah, thanks, Simon. Nick here. I'll start. Perhaps at the low end, I think the answer is no, we're not seeing any softening. In fact, as we've said on previous calls, we've been very active in experimenting with different price points in different markets, pulsing promotions in and out as a learning opportunity to really understand that sort of price speed dynamic in different segments, in different cities, different locations, and so on.

是的，謝謝，西蒙。尼克在這裡。我開始吧。也許在低端，我認為答案是否定的，我們沒有看到任何軟化。事實上，正如我們在先前的電話會議中所說，我們一直非常積極地嘗試不同市場的不同價格點，將促銷活動作為學習機會，以真正了解不同細分市場的價格速度動態，在不同的城市、不同的地點等等。

I mean, we've been really encouraged by what we found. In fact, we've moved our promo pricing up with no negative impact on volumes at all. And the thing that has been most interesting is the extent to which those promos have been incredibly successful at educating a new customer segment on our gig plus speeds, which they've very actively taken. So this has been a very good experiment for us.

我的意思是，我們的發現讓我們深受鼓舞。事實上，我們提高了促銷價格，但對銷量沒有任何負面影響。最有趣的是，這些促銷活動在教育新客戶群了解我們的演出和速度方面取得了令人難以置信的成功，他們非常積極地採取了這一點。所以這對我們來說是一個非常好的實驗。

It's worked economically very, very well, and doesn't indicate any softening at all at the low end with a fiber product. I mean, I can't talk to legacy cable copper products, that's a different sort of thing. But Scott, anything on the ARPU side?

它的經濟性非常非常好，在纖維產品的低端根本沒有任何軟化現象。我的意思是，我不能與傳統的銅纜產品交談，這是另一回事。但是斯科特，關於 ARPU 方面有什麼嗎？

Yeah, Simon. Intake ARPU, we've really bifurcated. We have great, now more than 60% of our customers taking our gig plus. That's typically additive to ARPU. We did have a higher mix in Q2 and expect in Q3 to be on some of the lower end, what we call the ACP transition plans of 200 meg, that's below the overall ARPU.

是的，西蒙。就 ARPU 而言，我們確實存在分歧。我們有很棒的服務，現在超過 60% 的客戶選擇了我們的零工附加服務。這通常會增加 ARPU。我們在第二季度確實有更高的組合，並預計第三季度會處於一些較低水平，我們稱之為 200 兆的 ACP 過渡計劃，低於整體 ARPU。

So it's kind of a bifurcation now in this transition period, but by Q4, we expect most of that transition to be complete, and then, our sequential ARPU to be growing again nicely, thus putting us on target for that 3% to 4% range by the end of the year. Operator, we'll take the next question.

因此，現在在這個過渡時期存在某種分歧，但到第四季度，我們預計大部分過渡將完成，然後，我們的連續 ARPU 將再次良好增長，從而使我們實現 3% 至 4% 的目標到年底的範圍。接線員，我們將回答下一個問題。

Frank Louthan, Raymond James.

弗蘭克·勞森，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Great, thanks. I know you've been asked this before, but maybe give us some thoughts on fixed mobile convergence. What point do you think it's appropriate and to need that type of a product? I mean, you say clearly fiber is the most, scarce resource, but at some point, how does that factor in?

太好了，謝謝。我知道您以前曾被問過這個問題，但也許您可以給我們一些關於固定移動融合的想法。您認為什麼時候合適且需要這種類型的產品？我的意思是，您顯然說光纖是最稀缺的資源，但在某些時候，這是如何影響的？

And then can you quantify the impact of some of the customer care efforts that you've done on your Friday AM group calls there, maybe give us in terms of amount of declines in inbound calls or fewer truck rolls, or any kind of tangible benefits from all of those improvements? Thanks.

然後，您能否量化您在周五上午小組通話中所做的一些客戶服務工作的影響，也許可以給我們帶來來電數量的減少或上門服務的減少，或者任何有形的好處所有這些改進？謝謝。

Yeah, Frank, thanks. I'll take the conversion one. Scott, perhaps you can talk about the impacts of improved care. Look, I mean, as we've said previously, that convergence is definitely happening in the US market. The data is adequately clear on that. And I'm sure you've all got the same data that we have access to. It's really led by the cable companies.

是的，弗蘭克，謝謝。我就拿轉換版來說吧。斯科特，也許你可以談談改善護理的影響。聽著，我的意思是，正如我們之前所說，美國市場肯定正在發生融合。數據對此非常清楚。我確信你們都獲得了與我們相同的數據。它實際上是由有線電視公司主導的。

And if I take a step back and think about my experience in Europe and other countries where I've seen convergence start and then develop and accelerate and mature. I mean a few observations, first of all, I don't think there's a market anywhere in the world where once convergence starts, it slows down or stops. So it tends to accelerate driven by asymmetry of market share, asymmetry of product availability, and asymmetry of technology cycles.

如果我退後一步，想想我在歐洲和其他國家的經歷，在那裡我看到了融合的開始，然後發展、加速和成熟。我的意思是一些觀察，首先，我認為世界上任何地方都沒有一個市場一旦開始融合就會減慢或停止。因此，在市場佔有率不對稱、產品可用性不對稱和技術週期不對稱的推動下，它往往會加速。

And there's always one or two players behind -- one or other of those axes. And as they tend to catch up through convergence, they start the convergence rate. And then everybody has to join in, or accept that they're going to lose share or price. So that's the dynamic that we're seeing in the US, I think, very, very much taking root. Of course, there is a question about at what speed does it go?

後面總是有一兩個玩家——其中一個或另一個。當他們傾向於透過收斂趕上時，他們開始加速收斂。然後每個人都必須加入，或接受他們將失去份額或價格。我認為這就是我們在美國看到的動態，非常非常紮根。當然，還有一個問題是它的速度是多少？

And that of course that varies between countries and whether it creates economic value or not. And you can read the reports on that as well as I can. And I think the evidence around the world is pretty clear on the answer to that. But nonetheless, once it is started, it doesn't stop, it doesn't slow down. Now what does that mean for Frontier? Well, first question is, should we launch a wireless offer?

當然，這因國家而異，也因它是否創造經濟價值而有所不同。你可以像我一樣閱讀有關這方面的報告。我認為世界各地的證據都非常清楚地回答了這個問題。但儘管如此，一旦開始，它就不會停止，也不會放慢速度。現在這對 Frontier 意味著什麼？好吧，第一個問題是，我們應該推出無線產品嗎？

And as I've said previously, we have a lot of wireless operational jobs in this business. I spent 16 years at Vodafone. Veronica Bloodworth, our Chief Network Officer, built and ran -- she didn't build, actually she ran AT&T's cellular networks. She certainly built their fiber network. We've got John Harrobin, who was the Head of Marketing of Verizon Wireless. John Stratton, of course, our Chairman, also deep experience at Verizon Wireless, Vishal Dixit, our Head of Wholesale and Strategy, again, ex-Vodafone.

正如我之前所說，我們在這個行業中有很多無線營運工作。我在沃達豐工作了 16 年。我們的首席網絡官維羅妮卡·布拉德沃斯 (Veronica Bloodworth) 負責構建和運營——她沒有構建，實際上她運營著 AT&T 的蜂窩網絡。她當然建造了他們的光纖網路。我們邀請了約翰‧哈羅賓 (John Harrobin)，他是 Verizon Wireless 的行銷主管。當然，我們的董事長約翰·斯特拉頓 (John Stratton) 在 Verizon Wireless 也擁有豐富的經驗，而我們的批發和戰略主管維沙爾·迪克西特 (Vishal Dixit) 也是前沃達豐員工。

We have a lot of expertise in wireless here. And because of that, we've been able to do all the kind of pre-work on our ability to launch a wireless offer if we had to. So we're kind of very well-prepared. We understand the economics. We understand the dynamics very, very well. The question is, should we do it now? And what I've always said is we will be led by the data on this.

我們在無線領域擁有豐富的專業知識。正因為如此，如果有必要的話，我們已經能夠完成所有關於推出無線產品的前期工作。所以我們已經做好了充分的準備。我們了解經濟學。我們非常非常了解動態。問題是，我們現在應該這樣做嗎？我一直說的是我們將以這方面的數據為指導。

And what the data is very clearly telling us at the moment, is we do not need to offer mobile yet. We surpassed our target of 45% fiber penetration in our base markets this quarter, and our churn remains low. And this indicates that the best current use of our capital continues to be building and selling fiber.

目前的數據非常清楚地告訴我們，我們還不需要提供行動服務。本季我們超越了基礎市場 45% 纖維滲透率的目標，而且我們的客戶流失率仍然很低。這表明目前我們資本的最佳用途仍然是建造和銷售光纖。

Without the distraction of new product launches for cellular, re-educating our channel, reconfiguring our web-based markets, and all of that sort of stuff. So we're prepared. We see the dynamic. We'll be led by the data, but it's not something that we currently feel we should be doing if our goal remains to be disciplined on the use of capital. Scott?

不受蜂窩新產品發布、重新教育我們的管道、重新配置我們基於網路的市場以及所有此類事情的干擾。所以我們已經準備好了。我們看到了動態。我們將以數據為指導，但如果我們的目標仍然是嚴格控制資本的使用，那麼我們目前認為我們不應該這樣做。史考特？

Sure, Frank. Let me talk about the customer service improvements. I'd point you to a few numbers. A healthy portion of our total $580 million of cost savings has been driven by customer service improvement. Our calls are down 50% over the last three years. 75% of our customer interactions are now digital.

當然，弗蘭克。讓我談談客戶服務的改進。我會向你指出幾個數字。我們總共節省了 5.8 億美元的成本，其中很大一部分是由客戶服務改進所推動的。過去三年我們的通話量減少了 50%。現在，我們 75% 的客戶互動都是數位化的。

And through those improvements, we've been able to drive margins up this quarter, they were up about 120 basis points to 38%. So it's a big part of our overall margin expansion, and we're not done yet. Operator, great, we'll take the next.

透過這些改進，我們本季的利潤率提高了約 120 個基點，達到 38%。因此，這是我們整體利潤擴張的重要組成部分，但我們還沒有完成。接線員，太好了，我們接下一個。

Peter Supino, Wolfe Research.

彼得‧蘇皮諾，沃爾夫研究中心。

Hi, good morning. I will ask you to return to the topic of the narrowed vintage penetration disclosure. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that peer companies report differently than you have been, and the new disclosure aligns more with how you manage the business. And we appreciate those points. But unlike peer companies, Frontier is allocating a huge amount of expansion capital.

嗨，早安。我想請您回到縮小年份滲透率揭露的話題。您在準備好的發言中提到，同業公司的報告與您的報告不同，新的揭露更符合您管理業務的方式。我們很欣賞這些觀點。但與同行公司不同的是，Frontier 正在分配大量擴張資金​​。

And many of us have valued the vintage disclosure in particular, because of the absence in your financial statements of really clear data for evaluating marginal returns on capital. And so in that light, I wondered if you could help us understand what changed and why you made the decision at this time and how you'd want us to think about marginal return on capital going forward? Thank you.

我們中的許多人都特別重視過去的揭露，因為你們的財務報表中缺乏評估資本邊際回報的真正清晰的數據。因此，我想知道您是否可以幫助我們了解發生了什麼變化以及您此時做出決定的原因以及您希望我們如何考慮未來的資本邊際回報率？謝謝。

Sure. Peter, this is Scott. So when we started building fiber in 2020, we thought it was important to give enhanced visibility at a very granular cohort level, because we hadn't built fiber before. But now in 2024, this is our fifth calendar year of the build. We've added more than 4 million passings.

當然。彼得，這是史考特。因此，當我們在 2020 年開始建造光纖時，我們認為在非常細粒度的隊列層級上提供增強的可見性非常重要，因為我們之前從未建造過光纖。但現在到了 2024 年，這是我們建構的第五個日曆年。我們已經添加了超過 400 萬次傳遞。

And reporting on quarterly cohorts for each of those five years has just become too complex. So it's the right time to simplify our reporting to separate it in the base and expansion and better match how we manage the business. Thanks, Peter.

這五年中每年的季度群組報告變得過於複雜。因此，現在是時候簡化我們的報告，將其分為基礎報告和擴展報告，並更好地匹配我們管理業務的方式。謝謝，彼得。

And with that, we'll conclude our second quarter 2024 earnings call. Thank you all for joining us.

我們的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議到此結束。感謝大家加入我們。