Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Lumen Technologies Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call.

您好，歡迎參加 Lumen Technologies 2020 年第三季度收益電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, Wednesday, November 4, 2020.

（操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議將於 2020 年 11 月 4 日星期三進行錄製。

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Valerie Finberg, Vice President, Investor Relations.

現在我很高興將會議交給投資者關係副總裁瓦萊麗·芬伯格 (Valerie Finberg)。

Please go ahead, Valerie.

請繼續，瓦萊麗。

Thank you, France.

謝謝你，法國。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Lumen Technologies Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call.

大家下午好，感謝您參加 Lumen Technologies 2020 年第三季度財報電話會議。

Joining me on the call today are Jeff Storey, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Neel Dev, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼首席執行官傑夫·斯托里 (Jeff Storey)；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Neel Dev。

Before we begin, I need to call your attention to our safe harbor statement on Slide 2 of our 3Q '20 presentation, which notes that this conference call may include forward-looking statements subject to certain risks and uncertainties.

在我們開始之前，我需要提請您注意我們 20 年第 3 季度演示文稿幻燈片 2 上的安全港聲明，其中指出本次電話會議可能包括受某些風險和不確定性影響的前瞻性聲明。

All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements on Slide 2 and in the risk factors in our SEC filings.

所有前瞻性陳述均應與幻燈片 2 上的警示性陳述以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中的風險因素一起考慮。

During today's call, we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures and can be found in our earnings press release.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及某些非公認會計原則財務指標，這些指標與最具可比性的公認會計原則指標一致，可以在我們的收益新聞稿中找到。

In addition, certain metrics discussed today exclude transformation costs and other special items as detailed in our earnings materials, all of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of the Lumen website.

此外，今天討論的某些指標不包括我們的收益材料中詳述的轉型成本和其他特殊項目，所有這些都可以在 Lumen 網站的投資者關係部分找到。

Finally, I want to remind everyone that the FCC's quiet period rules are in effect for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction 904, which began last week.

最後，我想提醒大家，FCC的靜默期規則對上週開始的農村數字機會基金拍賣904生效。

Therefore, any comments we make around RDOF will be very limited.

因此，我們圍繞 RDOF 所做的任何評論都將非常有限。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

這樣，我就把電話轉給傑夫。

Thanks, Valerie, and thank you to everyone joining us today for our first earnings call as Lumen.

謝謝瓦萊麗，也感謝今天加入我們的 Lumen 第一次財報電話會議的所有人。

On today's call, I'll take a few minutes to touch on the third quarter highlights and then go into the launch of Lumen and the opportunities we see ahead.

在今天的電話會議上，我將花幾分鐘時間談談第三季度的亮點，然後討論 Lumen 的推出以及我們未來看到的機會。

After that, Neel will review our third quarter financial results, and then we will open up the call for your questions.

之後，尼爾將審查我們第三季度的財務業績，然後我們將開啟電話詢問您的問題。

We delivered another solid quarter, improving our year-over-year revenue performance and delivering sequential EBITDA as we continue to transform our business.

隨著我們繼續進行業務轉型，我們又實現了一個穩健的季度，收入業績同比有所改善，並實現了連續的 EBITDA。

Customers rely on Lumen to enable their digital transformation, and we're seeing that in our sales trends.

客戶依靠 Lumen 來實現數字化轉型，我們在銷售趨勢中看到了這一點。

Following a strong second quarter, sales for IGAM and Enterprise segments were good, and sales for SMB customers were in line with our expectations.

繼第二季度強勁表現之後，IGAM 和企業細分市場的銷售情況良好，中小企業客戶的銷售符合我們的預期。

We're encouraged by the steady demand we see, but expect sales cycles will continue to be affected by the uncertain environment particularly for SMB customers.

我們對穩定的需求感到鼓舞，但預計銷售週期將繼續受到不確定環境的影響，尤其是對中小企業客戶而言。

We delivered another strong quarter for consumer broadband revenue with both year-over-year and sequential revenue growth and recorded our 11th consecutive quarter of growth in broadband ARPU.

我們的消費者寬帶收入又一個強勁的季度，收入同比和環比均增長，寬帶 ARPU 連續 11 個季度增長。

This quarter, we added 46,000 gigabit subscribers, surpassing the record we set last quarter.

本季度，我們增加了 46,000 個千兆位用戶，超過了上季度創下的記錄。

Our results confirm our thesis for the Consumer business.

我們的結果證實了我們關於消費者業務的論點。

We win customers where we invest in fiber, simplify the experience and use micro-targeting in selecting the areas we serve.

我們通過投資光纖、簡化體驗並使用微觀目標來選擇我們服務的區域來贏得客戶。

We believe our consumer fiber offering is the best in the market, and our customer satisfaction results are showing consumers value dedicated and reliable bandwidth.

我們相信我們的消費光纖產品是市場上最好的，我們的客戶滿意度結果表明消費者重視專用和可靠的帶寬。

As you've heard me say many times, our operational improvements lead to highly satisfied customers, more durable revenue and they allow us to reduce the cost of our operations.

正如您多次聽到我說過的那樣，我們的運營改進可以帶來高度滿意的客戶、更持久的收入，並使我們能夠降低運營成本。

Our relentless focus in these areas is delivering results you can see in 2 ways this quarter.

我們對這些領域的不懈關注將在本季度通過兩種方式帶來成果。

First, despite higher seasonal expenses, we delivered sequential adjusted EBITDA growth.

首先，儘管季節性費用較高，但我們實現了調整後 EBITDA 的環比增長。

Second, we were recently recognized by Newsweek on their 2021 list of Top Customer Service Brands, scoring the highest of all named Internet service providers.

其次，我們最近被《新聞周刊》評為 2021 年最佳客戶服務品牌名單，在所有指定互聯網服務提供商中得分最高。

We've made a lot of progress and see additional opportunities to improve.

我們已經取得了很大進步，並看到了更多改進的機會。

Overall, I am pleased with our results this quarter.

總的來說，我對本季度的業績感到滿意。

We are focused on improving top line revenue and driving EBITDA growth.

我們專注於提高營收並推動 EBITDA 增長。

We also remain committed to the capital allocation strategy summarized on Slide 4 and the leverage targets we set at the beginning of last year.

我們還仍然致力於幻燈片 4 中總結的資本配置策略以及我們去年初設定的槓桿目標。

Our first priority is to invest in the business, driving growth, transforming our customer experience and improving our operating costs.

我們的首要任務是投資業務、推動增長、改變我們的客戶體驗並提高我們的運營成本。

Our second objective is to reduce leverage, and we further strengthened the balance sheet this quarter through several capital market transactions, continuing to reduce both leverage and interest expense.

我們的第二個目標是降槓桿，本季度我們通過幾次資本市場交易進一步強化了資產負債表，繼續降低杠桿率和利息支出。

Finally, we remain committed to returning capital to shareholders through our dividend and are very comfortable with a dividend payout ratio in the 30s, one of the lowest payout ratios compared to our large peers.

最後，我們仍然致力於通過股息向股東返還資本，並且對 30 多歲的股息支付率感到非常滿意，這是與我們的大型同行相比最低的支付率之一。

We believe the balance we achieved through this 3-pronged capital allocation has served us well through the COVID pandemic and the uncertainty in the economy, giving us ample liquidity to continue to invest for growth, reduce debt and return capital through our dividend.

我們相信，通過這種三管齊下的資本配置實現的平衡在新冠疫情和經濟的不確定性中為我們提供了良好的幫助，為我們提供了充足的流動性，可以繼續投資促進增長、減少債務並通過股息返還資本。

Within the company, our mostly work-from-home team continues to excel as a distributed workforce.

在公司內部，我們大部分在家工作的團隊作為分佈式勞動力繼續表現出色。

We have maintained small dedicated teams to drive speed and collaboration on our key product and operational initiatives and continue to use data-oriented technologies to operate at the highest levels in service delivery and service assurance.

我們維持了小型專門團隊，以推動關鍵產品和運營計劃的速度和協作，並繼續使用面向數據的技術在服務交付和服務保證方面以最高水平運營。

In fact, we've been using this time and our own experience to understand and develop solutions for the fourth Industrial Revolution and a work-from-anywhere mindset.

事實上，我們一直在利用這段時間和我們自己的經驗來理解和開發第四次工業革命的解決方案和隨時隨地工作的心態。

Turning to the launch of Lumen.

談到 Lumen 的推出。

A couple years ago, we challenged ourselves to chart a bold vision for what kind of company we wanted to be.

幾年前，我們挑戰自己，為我們想要成為什麼樣的公司製定了大膽的願景。

During that effort, it became obvious that the company was firmly in a position to successfully help our customers acquire, analyze and act on their data.

在此過程中，很明顯，該公司完全有能力成功幫助我們的客戶獲取、分析他們的數據並根據他們的數據採取行動。

Lumen does this through the use of applications securely delivered across a hybrid cloud, from massive data centers all the way to the edge.

Lumen 通過使用跨混合雲（從大型數據中心一直到邊緣）安全交付的應用程序來實現這一點。

In that moment, Lumen was born with the goal of delivering the fastest, most secure platform for next-gen applications and data.

在那一刻，Lumen 誕生了，其目標是為下一代應用程序和數據提供最快、最安全的平台。

In September, we rebranded to Lumen Technologies to introduce this new vision to the market.

9 月，我們更名為 Lumen Technologies，向市場推出這一新願景。

Lumen is more than just a new name and logo.

Lumen 不僅僅是一個新名稱和標誌。

In a world that is rapidly changing, it signals a new era for our company where we combine an all-digital delivery model, software-defined networking and one of the very best fiber and network infrastructures into a platform of capabilities designed to drive our customers' success.

在瞬息萬變的世界中，它標誌著我們公司進入了一個新時代，我們將全數字交付模型、軟件定義網絡以及最好的光纖和網絡基礎設施之一整合到一個旨在驅動客戶發展的功能平台中' 成功。

Although we've been in a rapidly changing industry for the past 30 years, with the advent of the fourth Industrial Revolution, the pace of change is accelerating.

儘管過去30年我們一直處於快速變化的行業，但隨著第四次工業革命的到來，變化的步伐正在加快。

And I believe Lumen is uniquely positioned to enable and benefit from this rapid change.

我相信 Lumen 具有獨特的優勢，能夠實現這一快速變化並從中受益。

The Lumen platform, grounded on a broad, fiber-based foundation and delivering virtualized network, cloud, security and voice services, continues to be essential to customers as we see them augment their capabilities to support new work environments and emerging technologies.

Lumen 平台建立在廣泛的光纖基礎上，提供虛擬化網絡、雲、安全和語音服務，對於客戶來說仍然至關重要，因為我們看到他們增強了支持新工作環境和新興技術的能力。

Lumen's capabilities lie at the heart of enabling that demand.

Lumen 的功能是滿足這一需求的核心。

And as you can see on the Slide 5, the Lumen platform is designed to bring together all of our assets, IP, services and expertise to deliver the world-class experience customers expect from Lumen.

正如您在幻燈片 5 中看到的那樣，Lumen 平台旨在匯集我們所有的資產、IP、服務和專業知識，以提供客戶期望從 Lumen 獲得的世界一流的體驗。

We give our customers access to cloud edge facilities, hosting critical applications within 5 milliseconds of digital transactions, enabling IoT and other next-gen use cases; software-defined networks that can create new connections around the world in seconds; network-based threat intelligence that protects our customers' data and proactively stops malicious factors; and massive network infrastructure with long-haul fiber and IP networks, providing connectivity to private data centers, public data centers, cloud service providers, 5G operators and the array of global networks serving end users.

我們為客戶提供雲邊緣設施的訪問權限，在數字交易的 5 毫秒內託管關鍵應用程序，從而實現物聯網和其他下一代用例；軟件定義的網絡可以在幾秒鐘內在世界各地創建新的連接；基於網絡的威脅情報，保護客戶數據並主動阻止惡意因素；以及具有長途光纖和 IP 網絡的大規模網絡基礎設施，為私有數據中心、公共數據中心、雲服務提供商、5G 運營商以及為最終用戶提供服務的一系列全球網絡提供連接。

As amazing as our capabilities are today, we continue to invest to ensure our platform offers the fastest, most capable and resilient fiber-based services to support our customers' application and data needs.

儘管我們今天的能力令人驚嘆，但我們將繼續投資，以確保我們的平台提供最快、最有能力和有彈性的基於光纖的服務，以支持客戶的應用程序和數據需求。

This approach enables us to deliver a continually improving platform that will help improve our revenue trajectory and take advantage of the growing addressable markets for these services.

這種方法使我們能夠提供一個不斷改進的平台，這將有助於改善我們的收入軌跡並利用這些服務不斷增長的潛在市場。

I'm also very pleased with the pace at which we are simplifying and digitizing the way businesses purchase and consume their networking, cloud edge and security solutions from us.

我還對我們簡化和數字化企業從我們這裡購買和使用網絡、雲邊緣和安全解決方案的方式的速度感到非常滿意。

We are driving a digital-first culture that allows our customers to configure, order and rapidly deploy our services through an all-digital, self-service set of tools.

我們正在推動一種數字優先的文化，使我們的客戶能夠通過全數字自助服務工具集配置、訂購和快速部署我們的服務。

We are certainly known for our fiber infrastructure, but over that infrastructure, we deliver digital services like Lumen Hyper WAN, Lumen Dynamic Connections, Lumen DDoS mitigation, that are completely transforming how we serve our customers, allowing them to consume our platform services in ways that are flexible and easy.

我們當然以光纖基礎設施而聞名，但通過該基礎設施，我們提供Lumen Hyper WAN、Lumen 動態連接、Lumen DDoS 緩解等數字服務，這些服務徹底改變了我們為客戶提供服務的方式，使他們能夠以多種方式使用我們的平台服務靈活且簡單。

Beyond enabling fast, secure connections and simplifying our customer experience, Lumen is also enabling partners to use our platform to deliver best-of-breed capabilities while also speeding our time to market.

除了實現快速、安全的連接和簡化我們的客戶體驗之外，Lumen 還使合作夥伴能夠使用我們的平台提供最佳的功能，同時加快我們的上市時間。

As an example is our partnership with Zoom.

我們與 Zoom 的合作就是一個例子。

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an explosion in demand for Internet-based collaboration services.

隨著 COVID-19 大流行，我們看到對基於互聯網的協作服務的需求激增。

Zoom is a market leader in this space as well as a longtime valued customer of Lumen.

Zoom 是該領域的市場領導者，也是 Lumen 的長期尊貴客戶。

We are delighted our platform supports the amazing services they provide.

我們很高興我們的平台支持他們提供的出色服務。

In late September, we announced a new partnership to incorporate Zoom into Lumen's portfolio of voice and collaboration services and are excited by the early commercial traction we've already seen.

9 月底，我們宣佈建立新的合作夥伴關係，將 Zoom 納入 Lumen 的語音和協作服務組合，並對我們已經看到的早期商業吸引力感到興奮。

Long term, we think we can develop enhanced customer experiences by further integrating Zoom's technology with the rich capabilities and deep reach of the Lumen platform.

從長遠來看，我們認為通過進一步整合 Zoom 的技術與 Lumen 平台的豐富功能和深入影響力，我們可以增強客戶體驗。

The second example is the partnership we announced with VMware, a significant collaboration covering edge compute, networking and security.

第二個例子是我們宣布與 VMware 的合作夥伴關係，這是一項涵蓋邊緣計算、網絡和安全的重要合作。

Utilizing the VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud solution and the recently announced VMware secure access service edge platform, we have the ability to integrate VMware services to deliver a work-from-anywhere platform on our global edge infrastructure to create solutions for businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries.

利用VeloCloud 的VMware SD-WAN 解決方案和最近發布的VMware 安全訪問服務邊緣平台，我們能夠集成VMware 服務，在我們的全球邊緣基礎設施上提供隨時隨地工作的平台，從而為各種規模的企業創建解決方案橫跨各個行業。

As I've mentioned, customers need to move processing capabilities from remote data centers or the core of the cloud to the very edge of the network, close to where the data is generated.

正如我所提到的，客戶需要將處理能力從遠程數據中心或云核心轉移到網絡的最邊緣，靠近數據生成的地方。

Whether providing bare metal as a service or full-blown edge computing resources, the cloud edge and network as a service capabilities of the Lumen platform are integrated into a single experience for the customer and deliver low latency connectivity to more than 95% of the U.S. enterprises within 5 milliseconds.

無論是提供裸機即服務還是成熟的邊緣計算資源，Lumen 平台的雲邊緣和網絡即服務功能都集成到客戶的單一體驗中，並為美國 95% 以上的地區提供低延遲連接。 5毫秒內企業。

The edge computing market is forecasted to be anywhere from $10 billion to $40 billion over the next several years, and we are very focused on leveraging our widely distributed fiber and edge data facilities to aggressively pursue this opportunity.

預計未來幾年邊緣計算市場規模將達到 100 億至 400 億美元，我們非常注重利用廣泛分佈的光纖和邊緣數據設施來積極抓住這一機會。

I'm pleased to say that we're already making great progress on our cloud edge plans.

我很高興地說，我們的雲邊緣計劃已經取得了巨大進展。

We just turned up the first block of cloud edge nodes, and subsequent blocks are well underway.

我們剛剛打開了第一個雲邊緣節點塊，後續塊正在順利進行中。

Even before we officially launched the product, a major media company began using our cloud edge platform to deliver live sporting events, and it is providing them exactly the capabilities and performance they hoped.

甚至在我們正式推出該產品之前，一家大型媒體公司就開始使用我們的雲邊緣平台來直播體育賽事，並且它正在為他們提供他們所希望的功能和性能。

A very different type of enterprise customer already deploying on the Lumen cloud edge is CyberReef.

Cyber​​Reef 是一種非常不同類型的企業客戶，已經在 Lumen 雲邊緣進行了部署。

CyberReef provides remote learning solutions for public school systems, and the COVID pandemic is driving tremendous growth for their services.

Cyber​​Reef 為公立學校系統提供遠程學習解決方案，新冠疫情正在推動其服務的巨大增長。

CyberReef's Kids Internet Defense Shield required highly distributed compute resources combined with high-capacity network connections and deeply tiered Internet infrastructure, placing their security tools close to the school systems they support.

Cyber​​Reef 的兒童互聯網防禦盾需要高度分佈式的計算資源，結合高容量網絡連接和深層互聯網基礎設施，將其安全工具放置在靠近其支持的學校系統的位置。

In other words, Lumen's cloud edge platform and the Lumen network were a perfect fit for this customer and a great example of how high-performance networking combined with distributed compute can deliver next-generation services.

換句話說，Lumen 的雲邊緣平台和 Lumen 網絡非常適合該客戶，也是高性能網絡與分佈式計算相結合如何提供下一代服務的一個很好的例子。

Lastly, in the quarter, we turned out our Lumen cloud edge experience center in Denver where customers, partners and vendors can remotely deploy edge compute technologies on our platform and test them with live networking under real-life conditions.

最後，在本季度，我們在丹佛推出了 Lumen 雲邊緣體驗中心，客戶、合作夥伴和供應商可以在我們的平台上遠程部署邊緣計算技術，並在現實條件下通過實時網絡對其進行測試。

Within a couple of days of the launch of the experience center, a major cloud service provider loaded their cloud extension software to begin testing, and we are working with other partners and customers to begin testing their applications as well.

體驗中心推出後的幾天內，一家主要的雲服務提供商加載了他們的雲擴展軟件並開始測試，我們正在與其他合作夥伴和客戶合作開始測試他們的應用程序。

As a result and in partnership with multiple cloud service providers, software as a service providers and other key partners, we expect to deliver capabilities like artificial intelligence, machine learning and distributed analytics for enterprises over the Lumen platform.

因此，我們希望與多家云服務提供商、軟件即服務提供商和其他主要合作夥伴合作，通過 Lumen 平台為企業提供人工智能、機器學習和分佈式分析等功能。

As you can see on Slide 6, while Lumen is the name of our company and our flagship brand for serving enterprise and wholesale markets, we also launched Quantum Fiber.

正如您在幻燈片 6 中看到的，雖然 Lumen 是我們公司的名稱，也是我們服務企業和批發市場的旗艦品牌，但我們還推出了 Quantum Fiber。

Quantum Fiber is our brand for serving fiber-based services to small business and consumer customers.

Quantum Fiber 是我們為小型企業和消費者客戶提供基於光纖的服務的品牌。

And just as with Lumen enterprise customers, we're offering our Quantum customers a simplified, highly digital customer experience with expanded tools for managing the Quantum platform with mass market efficiency.

與 Lumen 企業客戶一樣，我們為 Quantum 客戶提供簡化、高度數字化的客戶體驗，並提供擴展工具來管理 Quantum 平台，提高大眾市場效率。

As we continue deploying Quantum Fiber services to the small business segment, we intend to utilize our more than 170,000 on-net, fiber-fed buildings as a starting point, targeting small businesses in tens of thousands of existing buildings.

隨著我們繼續向小型企業領域部署量子光纖服務，我們打算利用超過 170,000 座聯網光纖饋送建築作為起點，瞄準數万座現有建築中的小型企業。

We know that bandwidth is critical for these customers, and our simple, resilient, all-digital Quantum services are well positioned to meet those needs.

我們知道帶寬對於這些客戶至關重要，而我們簡單、有彈性的全數字 Quantum 服務能夠很好地滿足這些需求。

While Lumen's primary focus is enterprise, we have a dedicated leadership team whose sole focus is to leverage our Quantum investments to grow the consumer and small business markets.

雖然 Lumen 的主要關注點是企業，但我們擁有一支專門的領導團隊，其唯一的重點是利用我們的量子投資來發展消費者和小型企業市場。

Finally, the CenturyLink brand will remain in place for our consumer and small business customers who receive traditional services over traditional hybrid fiber copper networks.

最後，CenturyLink 品牌將繼續為通過傳統混合光纖銅纜網絡接收傳統服務的消費者和小型企業客戶保留。

As a quick recap, Lumen is more than just a new name.

快速回顧一下，Lumen 不僅僅是一個新名稱。

We are more excited than ever about the opportunity in front of us and the work we've done over the past 2.5 years to capture that opportunity and to launch Lumen.

對於擺在我們面前的機會以及我們在過去 2.5 年中為抓住這個機會並推出 Lumen 所做的工作，我們比以往任何時候都更加興奮。

As our customers embrace the fourth Industrial Revolution, the Lumen platform delivers adaptive, secure and resilient capabilities over one of the world's best fiber infrastructures.

隨著我們的客戶擁抱第四次工業革命，Lumen 平台通過世界上最好的光纖基礎設施之一提供自適應、安全和彈性的功能。

We are focused on enabling our customers' success and integrating those capabilities within their own operating environment.

我們致力於幫助客戶取得成功，並將這些功能集成到他們自己的運營環境中。

We are very excited about the future.

我們對未來感到非常興奮。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Neel.

這樣，我就把電話轉給尼爾。

Neel?

尼爾？

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝杰夫，大家下午好。

During the third quarter, we continued to execute on our plan and made substantial progress transforming and positioning the company for the future.

第三季度，我們繼續執行計劃，在公司未來轉型和定位方面取得了實質性進展。

As Jeff mentioned, we rebranded to Lumen and made a purposeful shift in aggressively going after emerging opportunities with growing addressable markets.

正如傑夫提到的，我們更名為 Lumen，並做出了有目的地轉變，積極尋找不斷增長的潛在市場中的新興機會。

We had solid third quarter results, which highlights the resilience and relevance of the products and services we offer particularly given the current backdrop of economic uncertainty.

我們第三季度的業績強勁，這凸顯了我們提供的產品和服務的彈性和相關性，特別是在當前經濟不確定的背景下。

I'll start with our financial summary on Slide 8. Total revenue performance improved compared to the year ago quarter.

我將從幻燈片 8 上的財務摘要開始。與去年同期相比，總收入表現有所改善。

We had another quarter of steady progress on our cost transformation savings initiatives.

我們的成本轉型節約計劃又取得了一個季度的穩步進展。

While we incurred higher costs due to seasonally high utility expenses, a global brand launch and the cost and efficiencies of operating in the current environment, we grew adjusted EBITDA on a sequential basis.

雖然由於季節性高公用事業費用、全球品牌推出以及當前環境下的運營成本和效率而導致我們產生了更高的成本，但我們調整後的 EBITDA 環比增長。

We continue to invest in the business while delivering solid free cash flow.

我們繼續投資業務，同時提供穩定的自由現金流。

During the quarter, we also made good progress on our deleveraging and refinancing initiatives.

本季度，我們的去槓桿和再融資舉措也取得了良好進展。

Turning to revenue.

轉向收入。

On a year-over-year basis, total revenue declined 3.4% to $5.167 billion compared to a decline of 4.8% in the third quarter of 2019.

總收入同比下降 3.4%，至 51.67 億美元，而 2019 年第三季度下降 4.8%。

Sequentially, total revenue declined 0.5%.

隨後，總收入下降了 0.5%。

Moving to Slide 9. In revenue by business segment on a year-over-year basis, International and Global Accounts, or IGAM, revenue declined 3.6% and declined 2.6% on a constant currency basis primarily driven by COVID resurgence and related weakness in our international business.

轉到幻燈片 9。按業務部門劃分的收入同比下降了 3.6%，按固定匯率計算下降了 2.6%，這主要是由於新冠疫情死灰復燃以及我們的相關疲弱所致。國際業務。

On a sequential basis, IGAM declined 1.6% and 2.4% on a constant currency basis.

按固定匯率計算，IGAM 環比下跌 1.6% 和 2.4%。

We continue to see good demand from a subset of our largest customers whose business models are benefiting from the current environment.

我們繼續看到部分最大客戶的良好需求，他們的業務模式正受益於當前環境。

However, during the quarter, we saw a reduced level of activity due to COVID in our international business, particularly across Europe and Latin America.

然而，在本季度，由於新冠疫情，我們的國際業務活動有所減少，特別是在歐洲和拉丁美洲。

Moving to our Enterprise segment.

轉向我們的企業部門。

On a year-over-year basis, revenue increased by 0.8%.

與去年同期相比，收入增長了0.8%。

This compares to a 0.9% increase in the third quarter of 2019.

相比之下，2019 年第三季度增長了 0.9%。

On a sequential basis, Enterprise grew 0.4%.

Enterprise 環比增長 0.4%。

Both sequential and year-over-year performance benefited from strength in our federal business and installs from sales earlier this year.

環比和同比業績都受益於我們聯邦業務的實力以及今年早些時候銷售的安裝量。

SMB revenue decreased 5.8% year-over-year primarily driven by continued declines in legacy voice services.

中小企業收入同比下降 5.8%，主要是由於傳統語音服務持續下降。

As we have mentioned before, we expect COVID would likely have a disproportionate impact on this segment, and we continue to monitor this closely.

正如我們之前提到的，我們預計新冠疫情可能會對這一細分市場產生不成比例的影響，我們將繼續密切關注這一情況。

In general, while we haven't seen an increase in churn, as you might expect, we have seen a decrease in sales both year-over-year and sequentially.

總的來說，雖然我們沒有看到客戶流失率增加，但正如您所預料的那樣，我們看到銷售額同比和環比都有所下降。

Additionally, during the quarter within SMB, we sold our legacy correctional facility communications business.

此外，在中小企業內部的本季度，我們出售了原有的懲教設施通信業務。

The sale of this business at the end of August impacted revenue by about $5 million in the third quarter and will have a full quarter impact of about $15 million in the fourth quarter.

8 月底出售該業務對第三季度收入產生約 500 萬美元的影響，並將對第四季度整個季度產生約 1500 萬美元的影響。

Wholesale revenue decreased 6.7% year-over-year.

批發收入同比下降6.7%。

This compares to an average decline of 7% over the prior 4 quarters.

相比之下，前 4 個季度平均下降 7%。

Sequentially, revenue was flat.

隨後，收入持平。

As a reminder, in the third quarter of 2019, we did see a benefit from a carrier settlement of approximately $15 million.

提醒一下，在 2019 年第三季度，我們確實看到了約 1500 萬美元的運營商和解收益。

In terms of products, this quarter, the trajectory of legacy voice revenue returned to pre-COVID levels.

在產品方面，本季度傳統語音收入的軌跡恢復到了新冠疫情之前的水平。

But as expected, customers are meeting that need for higher collaboration by transitioning volume and spend to our other connectivity products and services.

但正如預期的那樣，客戶正在通過將數量和支出轉移到我們的其他連接產品和服務來滿足更高程度的協作需求。

In summary, across our business groups and as we have all seen across the broader economy, the acceleration of the digital economy is impacting every business.

總之，正如我們在整個經濟領域所看到的那樣，在我們的業務部門中，數字經濟的加速正在影響著每一個企業。

While some are able to lean into it and we are seeing good demand from those customers, others are challenged in this environment and delaying buying decisions.

雖然有些人能夠利用它，並且我們看到這些客戶的良好需求，但其他人在這種環境中面臨挑戰並推遲了購買決定。

Turning to Consumer on Slide 10.

轉向幻燈片 10 上的消費者。

For the third quarter 2020, revenue declined 4.1% year-over-year compared to 9.7% in the year ago quarter.

2020 年第三季度，收入同比下降 4.1%，而去年同期下降 9.7%。

On a sequential basis, revenue declined 0.5% primarily driven by ongoing legacy voice declines offset by growth in broadband.

收入環比下降 0.5%，主要是由於傳統語音業務的持續下滑被寬帶增長所抵消。

Broadband revenue for the third quarter 2020 grew 1.7% year-over-year and 0.6% on a sequential basis.

2020 年第三季度寬帶收入同比增長 1.7%，環比增長 0.6%。

In the third quarter, in speeds of 100 meg and above, we added 62,000 subs.

第三季度，在 100 兆及以上的速度下，我們增加了 62,000 個潛艇。

From a mix perspective, 13% of our total broadband subs now have greater than 100 meg speeds compared to 5% at the beginning of last year.

從混合角度來看，我們寬帶用戶總數中的 13% 目前速度超過 100 兆兆，而去年初這一比例為 5%。

We now have approximately 2.3 million homes passed with fiber compared to about 2 million at year-end 2019.

目前，大約有 230 萬個家庭使用了光纖，而 2019 年底這一數字約為 200 萬個。

As we have mentioned before, we expect that future performance will be largely driven by our execution around our fiber to the home investment strategy in driving up penetration of our competitive assets.

正如我們之前提到的，我們預計未來的業績將在很大程度上取決於我們圍繞光纖到戶投資戰略的執行，以提高我們競爭性資產的滲透率。

Our revenue performance has been driven by this focus on our competitive assets where we can support higher speeds, tend to have higher ARPU and generally see lower churn.

我們的收入表現是由對競爭性資產的關注推動的，我們可以支持更高的速度，往往具有更高的 ARPU 並且通常會看到更低的客戶流失率。

Moreover, our digital customer experience initiatives will not only improve customer interactions but are expected to continue to improve the margin profile of our consumer broadband business.

此外，我們的數字客戶體驗計劃不僅將改善客戶互動，而且預計將繼續改善我們消費者寬帶業務的利潤狀況。

We also remain committed to supporting our customers that are working through the current economic uncertainty or who have participated in the Keep Americans Connected Pledge.

我們還繼續致力於支持正在應對當前經濟不確定性或參與“讓美國人保持聯繫”承諾的客戶。

As a reminder, those customers have been subtracted from our sub counts and were the primary driver of the change in low-speed sub counts this quarter.

提醒一下，這些客戶已從我們的子數量中減去，並且是本季度低速子數量變化的主要驅動力。

Turning to adjusted EBITDA on Slide 11.

轉向幻燈片 11 上的調整後 EBITDA。

For the third quarter 2020, adjusted EBITDA was $2.190 billion compared to $2.261 billion in the third quarter 2019 and $2.174 billion in the second quarter of 2020.

2020 年第三季度，調整後 EBITDA 為 21.90 億美元，而 2019 年第三季度為 22.61 億美元，2020 年第二季度為 21.74 億美元。

Despite a global brand rollout, seasonally higher utility costs and COVID-related inefficiencies, as a result of our focus on profitable revenues and cost transformation initiatives, we grew adjusted EBITDA sequentially.

儘管品牌在全球範圍內推出，公用事業成本季節性上升以及與新冠疫情相關的效率低下，但由於我們專注於盈利收入和成本轉型計劃，調整後的 EBITDA 仍連續增長。

Specific to bad debt, our expense this quarter was down $10 million sequentially and roughly $15 million higher than pre-COVID levels.

具體到壞賬，我們本季度的支出比上一季度減少了 1000 萬美元，比新冠疫情爆發前的水平高出約 1500 萬美元。

Our DSOs have been relatively stable, and we continue to work closely with our customers on payment arrangements.

我們的 DSO 相對穩定，我們繼續與客戶就付款安排密切合作。

Given our current experience, we expect our bad debt expense to continue to decrease sequentially to pre-COVID levels.

根據我們目前的經驗，我們預計壞賬支出將繼續下降至新冠疫情爆發前的水平。

Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 42.4% compared to 42.3% in the year ago quarter.

本季度調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 42.4%，去年同期為 42.3%。

As of the end of the third quarter, we achieved approximately $730 million of annualized run rate adjusted EBITDA transformation savings compared to $620 million as of the end of the previous quarter.

截至第三季度末，我們實現了約 7.3 億美元的年化運行率調整後 EBITDA 轉型節省，而上一季度末為 6.2 億美元。

Given the challenges related to COVID, we continue to be pleased with the run rate savings we achieved this year.

考慮到與新冠疫情相關的挑戰，我們對今年實現的運行率節省仍然感到滿意。

We also remain confident in our 3-year transformation plans, and we continue to expect to achieve the $800 million to $1 billion in annualized run rate adjusted EBITDA savings.

我們對 3 年轉型計劃仍然充滿信心，我們繼續期望實現年化運行率調整後 EBITDA 節省 8 億至 10 億美元。

Integration and transformation costs and special items incurred in the third quarter of 2020 impacted adjusted EBITDA by $78 million and free cash flow by $111 million.

2020 年第三季度發生的整合和轉型成本以及特殊項目對調整後 EBITDA 造成 7800 萬美元的影響，對自由現金流造成 1.11 億美元的影響。

For the third quarter 2020, capital expenditures were $988 million.

2020 年第三季度，資本支出為 9.88 億美元。

This compares to third quarter 2019 CapEx of $957 million.

相比之下，2019 年第三季度的資本支出為 9.57 億美元。

We are investing in the products and services that support the Lumen platform.

我們正在投資支持 Lumen 平台的產品和服務。

We also continue to invest in expanding our fiber footprint and our digital customer and employee experience.

我們還繼續投資擴大我們的光纖足跡以及我們的數字客戶和員工體驗。

In the third quarter of 2020, the company generated free cash flow of $917 million.

2020年第三季度，該公司產生了9.17億美元的自由現金流。

This compares to free cash flow of $983 million in the third quarter 2019.

相比之下，2019 年第三季度的自由現金流為 9.83 億美元。

Turning to capital markets activity on Slide 12.

轉向幻燈片 12 上的資本市場活動。

During the third quarter, we paid down $550 million in debt obligations and refinanced $2 billion of debt at lower rates.

第三季度，我們償還了 5.5 億美元的債務，並以較低的利率為 20 億美元的債務進行了再融資。

We have refinanced $19 billion since we announced the deleveraging plan last year and reduced and extended maturities through 2025 by around $15 billion.

自去年宣布去槓桿計劃以來，我們已進行了 190 億美元的再融資，並將期限減少並延長至 2025 年約 150 億美元。

We remain focused on getting to our target leverage ratio of 2.75 to 3.25x net debt to adjusted EBITDA.

我們仍然致力於實現淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 2.75 至 3.25 倍的目標槓桿率。

As we move to our financial outlook on Slide 13, we continue to see uncertainty as the level of impact and buyer behaviors vary widely across our very diverse customer base.

當我們轉向幻燈片 13 上的財務展望時，我們繼續看到不確定性，因為我們非常多樣化的客戶群中的影響程度和買家行為差異很大。

Over the long term, we think the demand dynamics and the acceleration of the digital economy is net positive for our business.

從長遠來看，我們認為需求動態和數字經濟的加速對我們的業務產生淨積極影響。

However, in the short term, we will likely see customers being cautious as they work through their return-to-work plans.

然而，在短期內，我們可能會看到客戶在執行重返工作計劃時保持謹慎。

Despite the overall market uncertainty, we are optimistic about the resilience of our business and for the fourth quarter, we expect sequential growth in adjusted EBITDA from $2.19 billion this quarter.

儘管整體市場存在不確定性，但我們對我們業務的彈性持樂觀態度，對於第四季度，我們預計調整後 EBITDA 將從本季度的 21.9 億美元環比增長。

Additionally, given continued progress in our deleveraging initiatives and aided by current market conditions, we are lowering and narrowing our cash interest expense to a range of $1.62 billion to $1.65 billion from our previous range of $1.65 billion to $1.7 billion.

此外，鑑於我們的去槓桿化舉措持續取得進展，並在當前市場狀況的幫助下，我們將現金利息支出從之前的 16.5 億美元至 17 億美元降低並收窄至 16.2 億美元至 16.5 億美元。

Our net cash interest expense this year is expected to be about $500 million lower compared to 2018.

我們今年的淨現金利息支出預計比 2018 年減少約 5 億美元。

To summarize, our results continue to highlight that our business and the products we sell are resilient.

總而言之，我們的結果繼續凸顯我們的業務和我們銷售的產品具有彈性。

We are delivering strong bottom line results while we are leaning in and investing to improve our revenue trajectory.

我們正在交付強勁的利潤，同時我們正在努力並投資以改善我們的收入軌跡。

Our balance sheet and liquidity position remains strong and are continually improving.

我們的資產負債表和流動性狀況依然強勁，並且不斷改善。

We continue to execute on our capital allocation policy we laid out early last year.

我們繼續執行去年初制定的資本配置政策。

We are investing to position the company for the future, deleveraging to our target leverage range of 2.75 to 3.25x and returning over $1 billion to shareholders through the dividend with a payout ratio that we continue to expect to be in the 30s as a percentage of free cash flow.

我們正在進行投資，為公司的未來做好定位，將槓桿率降低至2.75 至3.25 倍的目標槓桿範圍，並通過股息向股東返還超過10 億美元，我們預計派息率將繼續保持在30 多倍的水平。自由現金流。

With that, we'll open it up for your questions.

這樣，我們將打開它來回答您的問題。

France, will you please explain the process?

法國，請您解釋一下整個過程嗎？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question from the line of Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼（Brett Feldman）。

Just to follow up on the EBITDA guidance that you gave for the fourth quarter, the outlook for sequential improvement.

只是為了跟進您為第四季度提供的 EBITDA 指導，以及連續改善的前景。

I'm wondering if you can maybe just give us a little more insight as to what you expect to drive that.

我想知道您是否可以給我們更多關於您期望推動這一目標的見解。

I'm not sure if that's predominantly seasonal or if there are other factors involved.

我不確定這是否主要是季節性的，或者是否還涉及其他因素。

And you had also highlighted that the year-over-year change in EBITDA and revenue, I believe, has improved this quarter.

您還強調，我相信本季度 EBITDA 和收入的同比變化有所改善。

Are you expecting a similar dynamic on a year-over-year basis to play out in the fourth quarter?

您是否預計第四季度會出現類似的同比動態？

And if so, what's behind that?

如果是這樣，背後是什麼？

Sure, Brett.

當然，布雷特。

So in terms of fourth quarter, obviously, we've had a good quarter for our cost transformation savings.

因此，就第四季度而言，顯然，我們在成本轉型節省方面度過了一個不錯的季度。

And so we expect that to continue going into fourth quarter, and offsetting some of that savings are some of the investments that we're making.

因此，我們預計這種情況將持續到第四季度，並且我們正在進行的一些投資將抵消部分節省。

So we are making -- you've seen us spend a little bit more on capital.

所以我們正在——你已經看到我們在資本上花費了更多一點。

We have, similarly, investment in the brand and investment in our products and services, a lot of which Jeff touched on in his remarks.

同樣，我們對品牌以及我們的產品和服務進行了投資，傑夫在他的講話中談到了其中的很多內容。

Utilities will come down, which is seasonal.

公用事業將會下降，這是季節性的。

We expect bad debt to continue to come down.

我們預計壞賬將繼續下降。

And the remainder will be driven by our performance on revenue.

其餘的將由我們的收入表現驅動。

So at a high level, that's kind of the primary drivers from a sequential EBITDA performance standpoint.

因此，從較高的層面來看，從連續的 EBITDA 績效角度來看，這是主要驅動因素。

From year-over-year, we did see good improvement in revenue, like I mentioned, 3.4% versus the 4.8%.

與去年同期相比，我們確實看到了收入的良好改善，正如我提到的，收入增長了 3.4%，而 4.8%。

We have a good funnel, and we feel good about the quarter.

我們有一個很好的漏斗，我們對這個季度感覺很好。

But the only thing that we're a little cautious about is some of the resurgence we're seeing and how that impacts customer activity.

但我們唯一有點謹慎的是我們看到的一些復甦以及這對客戶活動的影響。

If you don't mind if I just ask one quick follow-up question on that as you referenced the funnel.

如果您不介意我在您提到漏斗時就此事問一個快速的後續問題。

I believe last quarter in Enterprise, you had called out very strong bookings.

我相信企業上個季度的預訂量非常強勁。

I think there was a year-on-year improvement from what had been a very strong second quarter in 2019.

我認為與 2019 年第二季度非常強勁的情況相比，情況有所改善。

How much of that ended up actually converting into the revenue run rate that we saw for Enterprise in the third quarter?

其中有多少最終實際轉化為我們在第三季度看到的 Enterprise 收入運行率？

Is it all there?

都在那裡嗎？

Or could there still be a little benefit that would flow into the fourth quarter?

或者第四季度還會帶來一些好處嗎？

A significant part of that was already installed in the third quarter, so you can see that benefit in the Enterprise line item.

其中很大一部分已在第三季度安裝，因此您可以在企業行項目中看到這一優勢。

Our next question is from the line of Simon Flannery with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·弗蘭納里。

Neel, on the transformation, I think you said you had good progress, $730 million.

尼爾，關於轉型，我想你說過你取得了良好的進展，7.3億美元。

You're close to the low end of the range at $800 million at this point as you go on to $1 billion.

此時，您已經接近該範圍的下限，即 8 億美元，而接下來的金額將達到 10 億美元。

Perhaps you could just update us on what you think the potential is over the next year or so to get maybe to the higher end or even above the higher end.

也許您可以向我們通報您認為在明年左右達到更高水平甚至更高水平的潛力。

And I know COVID had limited some of your ability.

我知道新冠疫情限制了你的一些能力。

It sounds like you're back on track.

聽起來你又回到正軌了。

But any color around there?

但周圍有顏色嗎？

And just one clarification on the broadband.

關於寬帶的問題僅作一澄清。

You were talking about the Keep America Connected impact.

您剛才談論的是“保持美國聯繫”的影響。

Could you just size that for us?

您能為我們確定一下尺寸嗎？

How much of the impact was from that?

其影響有多大？

Sure.

當然。

So on the cost savings, Simon, I think like we mentioned, we're very comfortable with the $800 million to $1 billion.

因此，關於成本節約，西蒙，我認為就像我們提到的那樣，我們對 8 億至 10 億美元感到非常滿意。

We'll certainly get there.

我們一定會到達那裡。

But it's not going to be an ongoing effort for us.

但這對我們來說不會是一項持續的努力。

So all the areas that we're going after and how we're changing the customer experience and the employee experience, that will be a several-year effort.

因此，我們正在追求的所有領域以及我們如何改變客戶體驗和員工體驗，這將是幾年的努力。

Similarly, on rightsizing the infrastructure as we see declines in legacy revenues, that's also going to be a several-year effort.

同樣，當我們看到遺留收入下降時，在調整基礎設施規模方面，這也將是一項數年的努力。

So we don't really see any limitations in terms of the savings that we can achieve over the next handful of years.

因此，我們確實認為未來幾年我們可以實現的節省沒有任何限制。

In terms of your question on Keep America Connected -- Americans Connected, what we're doing is really for the non-pay customers, we're working closely with them.

關於你關於“讓美國保持聯繫——美國人保持聯繫”的問題，我們所做的實際上是為了非付費客戶，我們正在與他們密切合作。

We're reserving the revenue, and you don't see it in our units either.

我們正在保留收入，但您在我們的單位中也看不到它。

So incrementally, it impacted our units by about 35,000 units.

因此，它逐漸對我們的單位產生了約 35,000 單位的影響。

Okay.

好的。

Great.

偉大的。

And just one clarification on the Lumen new business divisions.

只是對 Lumen 新業務部門的一項澄清。

Are you going to give us some color around what the Quantum kind of financials are, how the different businesses split out along that kind of those silos?

您是否打算向我們介紹一下量子金融是什麼，不同的業務如何沿著這種孤島進行劃分？

Yes.

是的。

We'll have more to say about that when we report fourth quarter.

當我們報告第四季度時，我們將對此進行更多討論。

But certainly, we're thinking through what's the best way to give you visibility to where we're seeing traction.

但當然，我們正在考慮什麼是讓您了解我們所看到的吸引力的最佳方式。

Our next question is from the line of Eric Luebchow with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Eric Luebchow。

So I was curious about the Zoom partnership that you mentioned and that was announced in late September.

所以我對你提到的、9 月底宣布的 Zoom 合作夥伴關係很好奇。

How much should we expect that to positively impact your voice and collaboration revenue line item?

我們預計這會對您的語音和協作收入項目產生多大的積極影響？

And then also, should we see an incremental benefit as well in your network transport business?

另外，我們是否應該在您的網絡傳輸業務中看到增量收益？

So it's still early days.

所以現在還為時尚早。

But if you think about the Zoom partnership, we view it as a synergistic partnership where the capabilities that we bring to bear really enhances the experience, and it also helps us have an app that we can utilize to really address what our customers want from a voice and video capability.

但如果你考慮一下Zoom 合作夥伴關係，我們將其視為一種協同合作夥伴關係，我們所提供的功能確實增強了體驗，而且它還幫助我們擁有了一個應用程序，我們可以利用它來真正滿足客戶對產品的需求。語音和視頻功能。

So over the long term, it will help us have an alternative for our voice and collaboration brand.

因此，從長遠來看，它將幫助我們為我們的語音和協作品牌提供替代方案。

We hope to use that to mitigate some of the churn in that business.

我們希望利用它來減輕該業務的一些流失。

Also, keep in mind, when customers use Zoom or Microsoft Teams or any other voice app, there is a corresponding demand on the underlying network infrastructure.

另外，請記住，當客戶使用 Zoom 或 Microsoft Teams 或任何其他語音應用程序時，對底層網絡基礎設施有相應的需求。

And with our broad set of products and services, we usually lean into those upgrades as well.

憑藉我們廣泛的產品和服務，我們通常也會進行這些升級。

So there are several benefits.

所以有幾個好處。

Yes.

是的。

And I'll just add, if you think about our approach to partnering and our approach to the platform, it's an important capability for us to have on the Lumen platform.

我想補充一點，如果你考慮一下我們的合作方式和平台方式，就會發現這是我們在 Lumen 平台上擁有的一項重要功能。

And so we're working with them.

所以我們正在與他們合作。

But it's not something that we've just started over the last couple of months.

但這並不是我們過去幾個月才開始的。

Zoom has been a great partner to us.

Zoom 一直是我們出色的合作夥伴。

We've been a good provider to them, I hope, over the past few years.

我希望，在過去的幾年裡，我們一直是他們的良好提供者。

So we've got a very good, deep relationship and think they do an amazing job for their customers.

因此，我們建立了非常良好、深厚的關係，並且認為他們為客戶做了出色的工作。

And we're happy to have the ability to add those capabilities to our platform as we go directly to enterprises with a variety of services.

當我們直接向企業提供各種服務時，我們很高興能夠將這些功能添加到我們的平台中。

Great.

偉大的。

And I just had one more follow-up.

我剛剛又進行了一次跟進。

You mentioned that Europe and Lat Am had some reduced sales activity in the quarter.

您提到歐洲和拉丁美洲本季度的銷售活動有所減少。

So just wondering if you could provide some more color whether you think that's a temporary phenomenon and if you see any signs in the next quarter or 2 that, that will reverse and sales will return to a normal cadence.

因此，我想知道您是否可以提供更多顏色，您是否認為這是暫時現象，如果您在下一個或兩個季度看到任何跡象，情況將會逆轉，銷售將恢復正常節奏。

Yes.

是的。

I think it was a little hard to hear the question, but I think it was around the weakness we saw in EMEA and Lat Am.

我認為聽到這個問題有點困難，但我認為這是圍繞我們在歐洲、中東和非洲和拉丁美洲看到的弱點。

So if you think about it, the COVID-related shutdowns in Latin America, they were about a quarter or so behind North America, and so really impacted third quarter in terms of reduced levels of activity.

因此，如果你想一想，拉丁美洲與新冠病毒相關的停工，大約比北美落後四分之一左右，因此，就活動水平下降而言，確實對第三季度產生了影響。

And for EMEA, there's the resurgence, maybe -- halfway through the quarter, if you will.

對於歐洲、中東和非洲地區來說，如果你願意的話，也許會在本季度中期出現復甦。

So we really think that's really the primary driver, and we'll see how it goes over the next 10, [20] months.

因此，我們確實認為這確實是主要驅動力，我們將看看未來 10、[20] 個月的情況如何。

But really, that's what we see as the primary driver.

但實際上，這就是我們認為的主要驅動力。

As things return to normal, we expect things to pick back up.

隨著情況恢復正常，我們預計情況會好轉。

And I think that's a comment certainly that applies to Europe and Lat Am, but really our overall business.

我認為這當然適用於歐洲和拉丁美洲，但也適用於我們的整體業務。

There's near-term uncertainty associated with the economy and with COVID and all of those things.

近期經濟、新冠疫情等都存在不確定性。

But the fundamental drivers of our business, our customers' need to acquire, analyze and act on data, we don't see that changing.

但我們業務的根本驅動力，即客戶獲取、分析數據並根據數據採取行動的需求，我們認為這種情況不會發生變化。

So as we couple the Lumen platform with one of the world's best fiber infrastructures, we think those capabilities are very relevant going forward, very important to our customers.

因此，當我們將 Lumen 平台與世界上最好的光纖基礎設施之一結合起來時，我們認為這些功能與未來非常相關，對我們的客戶非常重要。

And this near-term uncertainty, we'll get passed.

我們會克服這種近期的不確定性。

Our next question from the line of Nick Del Deo with MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 Nick Del Deo 和 MoffettNathanson。

Jeff, Lumen seems to be making it through the recession in better shape than many would have expected when we're going into it.

傑夫，Lumen 似乎以比許多人在我們進入經濟衰退時預期的更好的狀態度過了經濟衰退。

As we look ahead, how does that influence your view of the likely trajectory of the business and your goal to be an EBITDA growth company?

展望未來，這將如何影響您對業務可能發展軌蹟的看法以及您成為 EBITDA 成長型公司的目標？

Well, we're investing through this.

嗯，我們正在通過這個進行投資。

One of the things that we're very pleased about is, is that as a result of some of the decisions we've made over the last couple of years, we're in a great position to keep investing.

我們非常高興的一件事是，由於我們過去幾年做出的一些決定，我們處於繼續投資的有利位置。

So if you look at our cloud edge strategy, we're deeply investing that.

因此，如果你看看我們的雲邊緣戰略，就會發現我們正在對此進行深入投資。

Neel referenced in one of his answers a minute ago that we're investing in people.

尼爾在一分鐘前的一個回答中提到我們正在對人才進行投資。

We have hundreds of people dedicated to cloud edge to make sure that we have the right capabilities in place for our customers.

我們有數百名致力於雲邊緣的人員，以確保我們為客戶提供合適的功能。

So we're investing through this cycle, looking at how to continue to grow the business.

因此，我們正在這個週期中進行投資，研究如何繼續發展業務。

And again, we see the Lumen platform as exactly what our customers are needing to help them usher in the fourth Industrial Revolution, but really deal with the quantity and the amount and the distribution of data.

再說一次，我們認為 Lumen 平台正是我們的客戶所需要的，可以幫助他們迎來第四次工業革命，但真正處理的是數據的數量、數量和分佈。

We know that they want the advantages of being able to have compute resources within a few milliseconds of where that data is created, and so our edge compute capabilities.

我們知道他們希望能夠在創建數據的幾毫秒內獲得計算資源，因此我們的邊緣計算能力也是如此。

But we also know that they want to be able to transport that data to any cloud service provider, any software as a service provider.

但我們也知道他們希望能夠將數據傳輸到任何云服務提供商、任何軟件即服務提供商。

And that's where our Dynamic Connections, which is essentially a network as a service product, but our Dynamic Connections helps them.

這就是我們的動態連接，它本質上是一個網絡即服務產品，但我們的動態連接可以幫助他們。

And so from a going-forward perspective, we think that the products, the capabilities that we're layering on top of the great fiber and network infrastructure that we have in place today really position us to grow revenue, and we'll continue to focus on that.

因此，從未來的角度來看，我們認為我們今天擁有的出色光纖和網絡基礎設施之上的產品和功能確實使我們能夠增加收入，我們將繼續專注於此。

Okay.

好的。

And then I also have 3 quick housekeeping ones for Neel.

然後我還為 Neel 準備了 3 個快速的家政服務。

So first, last quarter, you said the pandemic-related costs are probably in the low tens of millions.

首先，上個季度，您說與大流行相關的成本可能只有數千萬美元。

Did those decline in this quarter?

本季度這些數字有下降嗎？

And what do you expect next quarter?

您對下個季度有何期望？

Second, what was the rebranding cost this quarter?

其次，本季度的品牌重塑成本是多少？

And third, looking at enterprise and -- enterprise transport and infrastructure, revenue was up about 10% sequentially.

第三，看看企業以及企業運輸和基礎設施，收入環比增長了約 10%。

Is that just a function of the install you called out?

這只是您調用的安裝的一個功能嗎？

Or is something else going on?

還是有其他事情發生？

So Nick, I think on the pandemic-related, it's really a high-level estimate.

所以尼克，我認為與大流行相關的，這確實是一個高水平的估計。

If you think about it, there's a lot of inefficiencies of operating in this environment.

如果您仔細想想，就會發現在這種環境下運營存在很多低效率問題。

So I think tens of millions is probably right, low tens of millions.

所以我認為幾千萬可能是對的，低幾千萬。

It's a similar amount on the branding side.

品牌方面的金額也類似。

But the important thing to keep in mind is that as you can see with our sequential EBITDA growth, that these are not net incremental.

但要記住的重要一點是，正如您從我們的 EBITDA 連續增長中看到的那樣，這些並不是淨增量。

We're offsetting that with other savings.

我們正在用其他節省來抵消這一點。

So similarly, on the branding front, we're not going to slow down.

同樣，在品牌方面，我們不會放慢腳步。

We're going to continue to invest in the brand for next several quarters probably at similar levels, but we'll be offsetting that with savings elsewhere.

我們將在接下來的幾個季度繼續以類似的水平對該品牌進行投資，但我們將用其他地方的節省來抵消這一投資。

So that's been our approach.

這就是我們的方法。

In terms of the products, it's mostly installs.

就產品而言，主要是安裝。

There's always a little bit of onetimes and settlements in Wholesale and in other -- especially in the Wholesale segment.

在批發和其他領域，尤其是在批發領域，總會有一些一次性和結算。

So there are some fluctuations driven by that.

因此，存在一些由此引發的波動。

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

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Phil Cusick。

First, Jeff, I think you sounded a bit ominous on SMB in the prepared remarks.

首先，Jeff，我認為您在準備好的發言中對 SMB 的態度聽起來有點不祥。

Neel said the churn hasn't picked up.

尼爾表示，客戶流失率還沒有上升。

But can you expand on what you see in payment trends and new activations?

但您能否詳細闡述一下您在支付趨勢和新激活中看到的情況？

And then second of all, to hit a topic we've hit a bunch of times in the past, but the fiber build-out in consumer, you talk about micro targeting.

其次，要討論我們過去多次討論過的話題，即消費者中的纖維增加，你談論的是微觀目標。

But there's a difficult history for companies that have cherry-picked parts of their markets getting to their target penetration, and an increasing number of those are post bankruptcy, pushing fiber much harder and building -- planning to build their entire footprint.

但對於那些精心挑選部分市場以達到目標滲透率的公司來說，他們有一段艱難的歷史，而且越來越多的公司在破產後，更加努力地推動光纖發展併計劃建立他們的整個足跡。

Why doesn't this make more sense for Lumen?

為什麼這對 Lumen 來說不更有意義？

Sure.

當然。

First of all, I don't want any of my comments around SMB to be interpreted as ominous.

首先，我不希望我關於 SMB 的任何評論被解讀為不祥之兆。

So if I said something that sound ominous, I didn't mean that.

因此，如果我說了一些聽起來不祥的話，我並不是那個意思。

Let me tell you what I did mean, which is we're not seeing massive churn pickup in SMB.

讓我告訴你我的意思，那就是我們沒有看到中小企業的大規模客戶流失。

We're seeing that the infrastructure we provide is absolutely critical to keep them in business and to support their businesses, but we're not seeing a lot of sales activity either.

我們發現我們提供的基礎設施對於維持他們的業務並支持他們的業務絕對至關重要，但我們也沒有看到大量的銷售活動。

If you look at our plan to grow Quantum Fiber outside the legacy CenturyLink footprint and brand-new buildings, we're going to have to wait for some of those customers to get back in the buildings before selling new services to them.

如果你看看我們在原有的 CenturyLink 足跡和全新建築之外發展量子光纖的計劃，我們將不得不等待其中一些客戶返回建築，然後再向他們出售新服務。

So there's nothing ominous going on, but we do think it creates uncertainty in the near term for them from a sales cycle.

因此，沒有什麼不祥的事情發生，但我們確實認為這在短期內給他們的銷售週期帶來了不確定性。

And we're very pleased with the churn level that we're seeing and our activities to support those businesses.

我們對所看到的客戶流失程度以及支持這些企業的活動感到非常滿意。

And we're being cognizant of the fact that they're going through a hard time, but nothing more than that.

我們認識到他們正在經歷一段艱難的時期，但僅此而已。

Neel, before I go to the cherry-picking, do you want to add?

尼爾，在我開始挑選之前，你想補充一下嗎？

Yes.

是的。

I would just note that if you look at our third quarter year-over-year revenue, it was down 5.8%.

我想指出的是，如果你看看我們第三季度的同比收入，就會發現它下降了 5.8%。

And if you look at the average of the prior 4 quarters, it was roughly about 6%.

如果你看一下前 4 個季度的平均值，你會發現大約為 6% 左右。

So you really have to put Jeff's comments in the context of the turnaround plan that we have for SMB.

因此，您確實必須將傑夫的評論放在我們為中小型企業製定的周轉計劃的背景下。

So we're a little disappointed that we're not making as much traction because of the focus and investments we've made on SMB, not so much from a performance standpoint because SMB has been holding up fairly well.

因此，我們有點失望的是，由於我們對 SMB 的關注和投資，我們沒有獲得那麼大的吸引力，從性能的角度來看，沒有那麼多，因為 SMB 一直保持得相當好。

And also, on the payment terms question, I think we're -- there's no issue there.

而且，關於付款條件問題，我認為我們——不存在任何問題。

We feel good about that.

我們對此感覺很好。

And with respect to cherry-picking, I don't -- I wouldn't describe what we're doing as cherry-picking.

至於挑選櫻桃，我不會——我不會將我們正在做的事情描述為挑選櫻桃。

We're looking at where we can get the greatest return on our investments and the fastest return on our investments to drive penetration.

我們正在尋找在哪裡可以獲得最大的投資回報以及最快的投資回報以推動滲透。

And so that -- it's a smart strategy for building out rather than just going out and building out an entire footprint.

因此，這是一個明智的擴建策略，而不僅僅是走出去並建造整個足跡。

Let's look at what makes sense for our business to help us prioritize how to grow and where to grow that investment.

讓我們看看什麼對我們的業務有意義，以幫助我們優先考慮如何增長以及在何處增長投資。

And so I don't view it as cherry-picking.

所以我不認為這是精挑細選。

On the small business side, we have 170,000 buildings that are lit in our footprint.

在小型企業方面，我們的足跡中有 170,000 座建築物被照亮。

I definitely want to go to every one of those buildings and focus on our business customers in those buildings.

我絕對想去每一棟大樓，並重點關注這些大樓中的商業客戶。

And so we'll take advantage of where our network is strong and where we can make it even stronger to support those types of customers.

因此，我們將利用我們強大的網絡以及可以使其變得更強大的地方來支持這些類型的客戶。

And we have plenty of market opportunity to do that.

我們有充足的市場機會來做到這一點。

There's not a limitation right now on us on where to go and build for our Quantum Fiber business, whether it's consumer or business customers.

現在，無論是消費者還是企業客戶，我們的量子光纖業務的發展方向都沒有限制。

Our next question is from the line of David Barden from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 David Barden。

I guess the first question I have is related to kind of the voice collaboration in aggregate.

我想我的第一個問題與語音協作的總體類型有關。

I think that last quarter, this was the most surprising category of revenue to be upside.

我認為上個季度，這是最令人驚訝的收入增長類別。

It seems to have contracted.

好像已經收縮了。

I wonder if you could kind of give us a sense as to the color of whether this contraction from quarter-to-quarter from the peak in 2Q is, like, how that is going to evolve or how do you think it will evolve.

我想知道您是否可以讓我們了解第二季度峰值的季度收縮是否會如何演變，或者您認為它將如何演變。

And then I guess the second question is specifically related to the biggest upside surprise this quarter was in transport and infrastructure and enterprise.

然後我想第二個問題與本季度最大的上行驚喜特別相關，即運輸、基礎設施和企業。

I know there were some onetimers.

我知道有一些一次性的人。

But could you kind of elaborate a little bit about how that outperformed and what the outlook for that division might be?

但您能否詳細說明一下該部門的表現如何以及該部門的前景如何？

So David, I think if you -- voice and collaboration is not a surprise to us.

所以大衛，我想如果你——聲音和協作對我們來說並不奇怪。

If you look at our -- go back and look at our comments from last quarter, we said that we expect that it wouldn't last because a lot of the ramp-up in volume was COVID related as folks started working from home, et cetera.

如果你看看我們的——回去看看我們上個季度的評論，我們說我們預計這種情況不會持續下去，因為隨著人們開始在家工作，數量的增加很大程度上與新冠病毒有關，等等等等。

But the key point is the environment that we're in needs more collaboration, and that is more traffic.

但關鍵是我們所處的環境需要更多的協作，那就是更多的流量。

So when folks stare at their traditional voice networks and see a huge spike in volume, they figure out how to support that in different ways, whether that traffic transitions to Microsoft's Teams or Zoom, et cetera.

因此，當人們盯著傳統的語音網絡並看到流量大幅增加時，他們就會想出如何以不同的方式支持這一點，無論流量是否轉移到微軟的 Teams 或 Zoom 等。

But there is an underlying need to upgrade their network infrastructure, and that's where we come in with a broad product portfolio.

但他們存在升級網絡基礎設施的潛在需求，這就是我們提供廣泛產品組合的原因。

So we've been helping.

所以我們一直在提供幫助。

So you'll see that transition within our portfolio in terms of more connectivity needs that customers need.

因此，您將看到我們的產品組合中客戶需要的更多連接需求方面的轉變。

Now it's not one-for-one, but it definitely drives demand for other products and services.

現在它不是一對一的，但它肯定會推動對其他產品和服務的需求。

And we would expect that to continue going forward as folks [trip off] of legacy voice and into other infrastructure products.

我們預計，隨著人們放棄傳統語音並轉向其他基礎設施產品，這種情況將繼續發展。

In terms of transport and infrastructure, there's -- for -- given the broad product portfolio that we have, in any given quarter, we'll see fluctuation in one versus the other.

在交通和基礎設施方面，鑑於我們擁有廣泛的產品組合，在任何特定季度，我們都會看到其中一個與另一個的波動。

But in general, that set of products are doing very well for us.

但總的來說，那套產品對我們來說表現得很好。

And Jeff, if I could ask you one kind of follow-up question.

傑夫，我可以問你一種後續問題嗎？

I know you went through this process, but there's been an extraordinary interest in fiber assets, a very healthy level of transaction volume in companies and assets themselves.

我知道您經歷過這個過程，但人們對纖維資產非常感興趣，公司和資產本身的交易量非常健康。

I know you went through this process in 2019 to try to identify whether there was a way to extract value.

我知道您在 2019 年經歷過這個過程，試圖確定是否有辦法提取價值。

Are you open to revisiting that process?

您願意重新審視這個過程嗎？

And do you think that there's maybe a renewed opportunity to try to extract value from the company in that way?

您是否認為可能有新的機會嘗試以這種方式從公司中獲取價值？

We're always open to whatever makes sense for our business.

我們始終對任何對我們業務有意義的事情持開放態度。

I won't make any comments on a particular piece or not.

我不會對某個特定的作品發表任何評論。

But yes, we're open to it.

但是，是的，我們對此持開放態度。

We continue to look at it.

我們繼續關注。

We think we have great assets.

我們認為我們擁有巨大的資產。

We think that we have the ability to invest to grow these assets, whether it's on the consumer side or on the enterprise side.

我們認為我們有能力投資來增長這些資產，無論是在消費者方面還是在企業方面。

And so we're going to continue to do that.

所以我們將繼續這樣做。

If something -- if some other structure at some point makes sense, we'll look at that, too.

如果有什麼——如果其他結構在某個時候有意義，我們也會考慮這一點。

Our next question is from the line of James Ratcliffe with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 James Ratcliffe。

Can you hear me?

你能聽到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Great.

偉大的。

Jeff, you talked a good bit about edge and the opportunity there.

傑夫，你談到了優勢和那裡的機會。

And I'm interested in your take on what truly is edge compute and edge opportunities and how much of that breaks down to really [quasi] at the cell site versus neighborhood, city, state, et cetera, I mean, how you're looking to position your network against that.

我對您對邊緣計算和邊緣機遇的看法很感興趣，以及其中有多少在蜂窩站點與社區、城市、州等方面真正[準]分解，我的意思是，您是如何看待的希望針對這一點定位您的網絡。

Sure.

當然。

First of all, from -- this is third-party stuff, so you can take it however you take third parties.

首先，這是第三方的東西，所以你可以用任何第三方的方式來獲取它。

It's estimated -- it's a broad range, but it's estimated to be somewhere between $10 billion and $40 billion worth of opportunity over the coming years.

據估計，範圍很廣，但未來幾年的機會價值估計在 100 億美元到 400 億美元之間。

So we think it's big.

所以我們認為它很大。

What it means, though, is we've centralized computing for a very long time; moved it into the cloud, which centralizes it even more; moved it away from where that data is actually acquired.

但這意味著我們已經集中計算很長時間了；將其移至雲端，使其更加集中；將其移離實際獲取數據的位置。

And what we see from enterprise customers is they need to move that compute resource back closer to where that data is acquired so that they can analyze and act on it faster without having to transport it around and move it around.

我們從企業客戶那裡看到的是，他們需要將計算資源移回到更靠近數據獲取的地方，以便他們可以更快地分析數據並採取行動，而無需四處運輸和移動。

And so I look at edge and think it gives the benefit of on-premise computing.

因此，我著眼於邊緣計算，認為它具有本地計算的優勢。

We're very close -- we can serve 95% of the U.S. enterprises within 5 milliseconds of delay.

我們已經非常接近了——我們可以在 5 毫秒的延遲內為 95% 的美國企業提供服務。

So we're very close to where that data is actually created and where it needs to be analyzed.

因此，我們非常接近數據的實際創建位置和需要分析的位置。

So it gives the benefit of on-premise computing with also the benefits of cloud computing because we can move it into a cloud environment.

因此，它既具有本地計算的優勢，也具有云計算的優勢，因為我們可以將其遷移到雲環境中。

They don't have to have their own data center.

他們不必擁有自己的數據中心。

We can do it virtually.

我們可以虛擬地做到這一點。

We can do it on physical machines.

我們可以在物理機器上完成。

We can do -- we can provide their compute resources in a variety of ways.

我們可以做——我們可以通過多種方式提供他們的計算資源。

And so if you look at the presentation on Slide 4, we can orchestrate for our customers and help them control their applications and operate their applications very close to where the data is created in a very efficient and effective way.

因此，如果您查看幻燈片 4 上的演示文稿，我們可以為客戶進行協調，幫助他們控制應用程序，並以非常高效和有效的方式在非常靠近數據創建位置的位置操作應用程序。

So that's what edge really means, and our Lumen platform is focused on that.

這就是邊緣的真正含義，我們的 Lumen 平台專注於這一點。

But our Lumen platform is focused on providing those capabilities, whether it's in an edge or in the network itself.

但我們的 Lumen 平台專注於提供這些功能，無論是在邊緣還是在網絡本身。

So if you think about Dynamic Connections, Dynamic Connections is that network as a service capability that I mentioned.

因此，如果您考慮動態連接，動態連接就是我提到的網絡即服務功能。

If you're an edge compute customer and you want to redirect your compute resources from one data center to another or one cloud provider to another, you can use that.

如果您是邊緣計算客戶，並且希望將計算資源從一個數據中心重定向到另一個數據中心或將一個雲提供商重定向到另一個雲提供商，則可以使用它。

If you're not an edge compute customer but you're using other capabilities of Lumen, you can use that same capability to control your network in a very seamless, very effective way.

如果您不是邊緣計算客戶，但正在使用 Lumen 的其他功能，則可以使用相同的功能以非常無縫、非常有效的方式控制您的網絡。

Our next question is from the line of Jon Atkin with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的喬恩·阿特金 (Jon Atkin)。

So a couple of questions on that very last topic.

關於最後一個主題的幾個問題。

I wondered if you are entertaining or how far along you are in terms of actual product partnerships with AWS Wavelength or AWS Outpost or Azure Stack like some of your other kind of fiber and wireline brethren are.

我想知道您是否很有趣，或者您在與 AWS Wavelength 或 AWS Outpost 或 Azure Stack 的實際產品合作方面進展如何，就像您的其他一些光纖和有線兄弟一樣。

You talked a lot about these things, and I think you had a very good thematic explanation for your approach.

您對這些事情談了很多，我認為您對您的方法有很好的主題解釋。

But when it comes to productization, where are you on that road map?

但說到產品化，您處於路線圖的哪個位置？

Secondly, on the fiber front, there's been some change in the industry at one of your national fiber peers organizationally.

其次，在光纖方面，全國光纖同行之一的行業在組織上發生了一些變化。

And does that -- has that created any sort of opportunity to take advantage of any of the disruption to possibly gain share in the enterprise segment?

這是否創造了任何機會利用任何顛覆來可能獲得企業領域的份額？

Those would be my 2 questions.

這是我的兩個問題。

Sure.

當然。

Let me take the first question.

讓我回答第一個問題。

Neel, you might want to comment on the second one.

尼爾，你可能想對第二個發表評論。

From product and partnership, we are continually developing the capabilities of the Lumen platform, making sure that we are bringing best-of-breed partners to the table.

從產品和合作夥伴關係來看，我們不斷開發 Lumen 平台的功能，確保我們能帶來最好的合作夥伴。

I mentioned Zoom in the prepared remarks, but I also mentioned VMware and VeloCloud and our capabilities that we're delivering with them.

我在準備好的發言中提到了 Zoom，但我也提到了 VMware 和 VeloCloud 以及我們通過它們提供的功能。

So we will continue to partner with companies that we think bring kind of a dual advantage to Lumen.

因此，我們將繼續與我們認為能為 Lumen 帶來雙重優勢的公司合作。

One, they utilize our services.

第一，他們使用我們的服務。

But secondly, we can drive network capacity and success in the network business from them selling through the Lumen platform.

其次，我們可以通過 Lumen 平台的銷售來推動網絡容量和網絡業務的成功。

But then also, we can provide those same capabilities to our customers and productize those capabilities with our customers.

但我們也可以為客戶提供相同的功能，並與客戶一起產品化這些功能。

I am not ready to announce other partnerships, but that's a key part of our strategy is to go out and build relationships with companies and partners that are doing these things.

我還沒有準備好宣布其他合作夥伴關係，但我們戰略的關鍵部分是走出去，與從事這些工作的公司和合作夥伴建立關係。

And I expect us to be able to offer artificial intelligence and augmented reality and various capabilities on the Lumen platform through partnerships and relationships with other companies.

我希望我們能夠通過與其他公司的合作和關係，在 Lumen 平台上提供人工智能和增強現實以及各種功能。

Jon, on your fiber question, we didn't completely hear it, but I think it was around the competitive landscape.

喬恩，關於您的光纖問題，我們沒有完全聽到，但我認為這是圍繞競爭格局的。

We haven't really seen any change in terms of the competitive landscape for fiber.

我們還沒有真正看到光纖競爭格局發生任何變化。

As you know, we have really good assets there, and we're doing very well from that standpoint.

如您所知，我們在那裡擁有非常好的資產，從這個角度來看我們做得非常好。

So was that your question?

那是你的問題嗎？

Or do you want to -- do you have a follow-up?

或者你想——你有後續行動嗎？

No, that's fine.

不，沒關係。

I appreciate your perspectives.

我很欣賞你的觀點。

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

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的邁克爾·羅林斯 (Michael Rollins)。

Two questions, if I could.

如果可以的話，有兩個問題。

Just first, a clarification on the consumer broadband business.

首先，對消費者寬帶業務進行澄清。

Can you roughly segment out the subscription mix, the 4.6 million roughly broadband subs, between the different speed tiers to kind of put into context the different sequential changes that you experienced in the quarter?

您能否粗略地劃分不同速度等級之間的訂閱組合（大約 460 萬寬帶訂閱用戶），以便將您在本季度經歷的不同連續變化置於背景中？

And then secondly, just looking back at history in the business market.

其次，回顧一下商業市場的歷史。

Can you review for us how and when during the last recession were your business revenues meaningfully impacted from that environment and maybe how the current environment could be similar or different to what you saw?

您能否為我們回顧一下上次經濟衰退期間您的業務收入如何以及何時受到該環境的重大影響，以及當前的環境與您所看到的情況有何相似或不同？

I realize it was a long time ago, but that's probably, I would imagine, one of the frame of references that you may consider as well as you navigate the current environment.

我意識到那是很久以前的事了，但我想，這可能是您在當前環境中可能考慮的參考框架之一。

Sure.

當然。

So I think your question on consumer broadband, I think what I would say is if I just step back, we've been really focused on really improving the quality of the overall revenue base for consumer.

所以我認為你關於消費者寬帶的問題，我想我想說的是，如果我退後一步，我們一直真正專注於真正提高消費者整體收入基礎的質量。

And you can see that in our revenue numbers.

您可以從我們的收入數據中看到這一點。

Our revenue has been growing, and as Jeff mentioned, our ARPU has been growing.

我們的收入一直在增長，正如傑夫提到的，我們的 ARPU 一直在增長。

And I mentioned in my prepared remarks that for 100 meg and above, we're now at 13% of the base is at that speed compared to it was beginning of last year at about 5%.

我在準備好的發言中提到，對於 100 兆及以上，我們現在的基礎速度是 13%，而去年年初的速度約為 5%。

So that part of that business is where we're investing, and we know that's a very competitive asset.

因此，這部分業務就是我們投資的地方，我們知道這是一項非常有競爭力的資產。

It's growing very fast.

它增長得非常快。

And we continue to invest in fiber.

我們繼續投資光纖。

If you look at our average ARPU for that entire revenue base, it's in the mid-50s.

如果您查看整個收入基礎的平均 ARPU，您會發現它在 50 多歲左右。

And the new sales that we have at 100-plus meg is, at the very least, coming at 30% or more -- higher from a new sales perspective.

從新的銷售角度來看，我們的新銷售額至少增長了 30% 或更多，達到 100 多兆。

So we'll continue to focus on improving ARPU.

因此，我們將繼續專注於提高 ARPU。

You layer on top of that the CAF II subs that we have where we see a high penetration as we build and penetrate and you layer on top of that our rural subs where there aren't a lot of alternatives, overall, the quality of the revenue base keeps improving every quarter.

在我們擁有的 CAF II 潛艇之上，我們在建造和滲透時看到了高滲透率，在我們的農村潛艇之上，沒有太多替代品，總體而言，質量每個季度的收入基礎都在不斷改善。

So we'll continue to focus on that and continue to focus on improving the revenue trajectory.

因此，我們將繼續關注這一點，並繼續致力於改善收入軌跡。

Not to mention, like I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we're investing in the customer experience and self-service capability.

更不用說，就像我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們正在投資於客戶體驗和自助服務能力。

So the margin profile of that business will also continue to [improve].

因此，該業務的利潤狀況也將繼續[改善]。

In terms of your question on the last recession, we've gone back and looked at it, but the reality is the environment today is very different.

關於你關於上次經濟衰退的問題，我們已經回過頭來研究過，但現實是今天的環境非常不同。

If you think about connectivity and how important that is to businesses, we just don't think there's really that many parallels to draw from any prior recession.

如果你考慮一下連通性以及它對企業的重要性，我們認為與之前的任何一次經濟衰退相比，確實沒有那麼多相似之處。

So we think even in a recessionary environment, connectivity for businesses will continue to be very important.

因此，我們認為即使在經濟衰退的環境下，企業的連通性仍然非常重要。

And actually, if you look back, I remember sitting on calls with you guys and ladies back then and answering the question that it creates near-term choppiness and near-term uncertainty, but there's no change in the demand for our products and services.

事實上，如果你回顧過去，我記得當時和你們一起打電話，回答了這樣的問題：這會造成近期的波動和近期的不確定性，但對我們產品和服務的需求沒有變化。

That's how it worked out last time.

上次就是這樣解決的。

That's how I expect it to work out this time, not because it worked out that way last time, but because we see the same dynamic.

這就是我期望這次的結果，不是因為上次也是這樣，而是因為我們看到了同樣的動態。

We see the same experience from our customers.

我們從客戶身上看到了同樣的經歷。

Our next question from the line of Batya Levi from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的巴蒂亞·萊維 (Batya Levi)。

A couple of questions.

有幾個問題。

First, a quick one on -- cash taxes have remained very low.

首先，快速介紹一下——現金稅仍然很低。

Can you remind us when you expect to be a full taxpayer?

您能提醒我們您何時希望成為一名完全納稅人嗎？

And a little bit more high level.

而且水平更高一點。

As you invest to grow and transform the business, can you provide a bit more color on our starting point for the revenue mix?

當您投資發展和轉型業務時，您能否為我們的收入組合起點提供更多信息？

Do you still look at the current mix today as a certain mix coming from legacy products and will continue to decline, but you are investing in new capabilities which is growing substantially?

您是否仍然將當前的組合視為來自傳統產品的某種組合併將繼續下降，但您正在投資於大幅增長的新功能？

Where are we in terms of that percent mix difference?

就混合百分比差異而言，我們處於什麼位置？

And also, as you look at your new segments, can you talk a little bit about how the network cost will be allocated between these segments?

另外，當您查看新的細分市場時，您能否談談如何在這些細分市場之間分配網絡成本？

Do they stand on their own?

他們能獨立站立嗎？

Or do they -- will they have a shared infrastructure?

或者他們會擁有共享的基礎設施嗎？

So I'll start with your question, Batya, on the cash taxes.

巴蒂亞，我將從你關於現金稅的問題開始。

Yes, we don't expect to be a material taxpayer for the next 2 to 3 years.

是的，我們預計在未來 2 到 3 年內不會成為實質性納稅人。

So we have the NOLs there.

所以我們那裡有 NOL。

So yes, that's the outlook right now.

是的，這就是現在的前景。

In terms of revenue mix, the dynamic you described is absolutely right.

就收入組合而言，您所描述的動態是絕對正確的。

We will continue to see erosion in legacy products, and that will continue.

我們將繼續看到傳統產品受到侵蝕，而且這種情況還將持續下去。

But what we are doing is given the infrastructure that we have, the fiber and infrastructure that we have, we're investing in products and services with closed affinity to that infrastructure that leverages that infrastructure, all the things that Jeff described with emerging, growing addressable market opportunities that we hope to gain good traction on that will be a different vector in terms of driving our revenue performance going forward.

但我們正在做的事情是考慮到我們擁有的基礎設施，我們擁有的光纖和基礎設施，我們正在投資與該基礎設施密切相關的產品和服務，利用該基礎設施，傑夫所描述的新興、增長的所有事物我們希望抓住可尋址的市場機會，這將成為推動我們未來收入表現的不同載體。

So that then, in essence, is what we're focused on.

因此，從本質上講，這就是我們關注的重點。

In terms of the segments, we'll give that more thought in terms of how we report next year, and we'll have more to say on our fourth quarter earnings call.

就細分市場而言，我們將更多地考慮明年的報告方式，並且我們將在第四季度的財報電話會議上有更多的內容。

Our last question will be from the line of Frank Louthan with Raymond James.

我們的最後一個問題來自弗蘭克·勞森（Frank Louthan）和雷蒙德·詹姆斯（Raymond James）。

Great.

偉大的。

How big can Quantum get in terms of revenue?

量子的收入能達到多少？

What's sort of the TAM there?

那裡的 TAM 是什麼樣的？

Is that mostly an ILEC footprint strategy?

這主要是 ILEC 足跡戰略嗎？

Or is it also out of footprint?

或者它也沒有足跡？

If it's out of footprint, how aggressive will you be in expanding SMB out of territory?

如果它的足跡已滿，您將如何積極地將中小型企業擴展到其他地區？

Yes.

是的。

Without getting into specific TAMs, it's a strategy in footprint and out of footprint, where we have the ability to win and where we have the ability to build infrastructure.

在不涉及具體 TAM 的情況下，這是一種足跡內和足跡外的戰略，我們有能力獲勝，也有能力建設基礎設施。

So if you think out of footprint for consumer, MDUs are natural for us.

因此，如果您考慮到消費者的足跡，MDU 對我們來說是很自然的選擇。

We've done some work with cities that are outside our footprint to grow networks with them.

我們已經與我們足蹟之外的城市進行了一些合作，以發展與他們的網絡。

And so it will be opportunistic from a consumer basis outside of our legacy LEC footprint and then obviously, inside our legacy LEC footprint.

因此，這將是來自我們傳統 LEC 足蹟之外的消費者基礎上的機會主義，然後顯然，在我們傳統 LEC 足跡內。

If you look at Quantum from a business -- small business perspective, that's both.

如果你從企業——小企業的角度來看量子，那就是兩者兼而有之。

That's looking in the legacy LEC networks and the customers that we serve there, and it's looking at the -- all the buildings that we have that are let and could be let to provide services to those customers.

我們正在研究遺留的 LEC 網絡和我們在那裡服務的客戶，並且正在研究我們擁有的所有已出租和可以出租為這些客戶提供服務的建築物。

So it's a little bit a mixed bag between the 2.

所以這兩者之間有點混合。

All right.

好的。

Thanks for the last question.

謝謝你最後一個問題。

And thank you, everyone, for your questions actually.

實際上謝謝大家提出的問題。

And before we conclude the call today, I'll summarize with a few thoughts about the future of Lumen.

在我們結束今天的電話會議之前，我將總結一些關於 Lumen 未來的想法。

First of all, we believe the Lumen platform, riding on our deep and extensive fiber infrastructure, positions us really well to help our customers navigate the fourth Industrial Revolution.

首先，我們相信 Lumen 平台憑藉我們深厚而廣泛的光纖基礎設施，使我們能夠很好地幫助我們的客戶駕馭第四次工業革命。

We are investing in growing addressable markets that we believe will improve our revenue trajectory over time.

我們正在投資不斷增長的潛在市場，我們相信隨著時間的推移，這些市場將改善我們的收入軌跡。

Our capital allocation strategy continues to strengthen our balance sheet, reduce our interest expense and is aligned with our guiding principle to grow free cash flow per share.

我們的資本配置策略繼續加強我們的資產負債表，減少利息支出，並與我們增加每股自由現金流的指導原則保持一致。

Our strong liquidity position enables us to invest through this cycle.

我們強大的流動性狀況使我們能夠在這個週期中進行投資。

And through all of this activity, our dividend remains in a very comfortable position with a payout ratio in the 30s.

通過所有這些活動，我們的股息仍然處於非常舒適的位置，派息率在 30 左右。

I appreciate everybody joining the call today, and thank you for your interest in Lumen.

我感謝大家今天加入電話會議，並感謝您對 Lumen 的興趣。

Operator, that concludes the call.

接線員，結束通話。

Thank you.

謝謝。

We would like to thank everyone for your participation and for using the Lumen Technologies conferencing service today.

我們衷心感謝大家今天的參與和使用 Lumen Technologies 會議服務。

This does conclude the conference call.

電話會議到此結束。

We ask that you please disconnect your lines, and have a great day, everyone.

我們請求您斷開線路，祝大家有美好的一天。