Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN) 2002 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Tina (ph), and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the CenturyTel third quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star, then the number 2 on your telephone keypad.

早上好。我叫蒂娜 (ph)，今天我將擔任你們的會議主持人。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 CenturyTel 第三季度財報電話會議。所有線路都已設為靜音以防止任何背景噪音。演講者發言後，將進入問答環節。如果您想在此期間提問，只需按星號鍵，然後按電話鍵盤上的數字 1。如果您想撤回您的問題，請按星號，然後按電話鍵盤上的數字 2。

Thank you. Mr. Davis (ph), you may begin your conference.

謝謝你。戴維斯先生 (ph)，您可以開始您的會議了。

Tony Davis (ph): Thank you, Tina (ph). Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call today, the purpose of which is to discuss CenturyTel's third quarter 2002 earnings results released earlier today. Your host for today's call is Glen Post, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CenturyTel. Also joining Glen on our call today is Stewart Ewing, CenturyTel's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. And also available during the call today is Karen Puckett, CenturyTel's President and Chief Financial Officer.

托尼·戴維斯 (ph)：謝謝你，蒂娜 (ph)。各位早上好，歡迎大家今天來電，我們的目的是討論今天早些時候發布的 CenturyTel 2002 年第三季度收益結果。今天電話會議的主持人是 CenturyTel 董事長兼首席執行官 Glen Post。 CenturyTel 的執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Stewart Ewing 也加入了 Glen 今天的電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，CenturyTel 總裁兼首席財務官 Karen Puckett 也有空。

We do ask you review our Safe Harbor language found in our press release and our SEC filings, as we will be making certain forward-looking statements during the call today, particularly as they pertain to guidance for fourth quarter and full-year 2002 and other outlooks in our business.

我們確實要求您查看我們的新聞稿和美國證券交易委員會文件中的安全港語言，因為我們將在今天的電話會議中做出某些前瞻性聲明，特別是與 2002 年第四季度和全年以及其他方面的指導有關的聲明我們業務的前景。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to your host today, Glen Post - Glen.

現在，我想把電話轉給今天的主持人 Glen Post - Glen。

Thank you, Tony (ph). Thank you for joining our call today. We appreciate your interest in CenturyTel, and we are pleased to report positive results for the third quarter.

謝謝你，托尼 (ph)。感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。感謝您對 CenturyTel 的關注，我們很高興報告第三季度的積極成果。

We experienced a very busy quarter filled with acquisitions, the wireless divestiture, and financing activities. However, CenturyTel still generated strong operating results for the quarter, meeting or exceeding our previous guidance as well as Street estimates for earnings per share, recurring revenue, and cash flow.

我們經歷了一個非常繁忙的季度，充滿了收購、無線資產剝離和融資活動。然而，CenturyTel 本季度的經營業績仍然強勁，達到或超過了我們之前的指引以及華爾街對每股收益、經常性收入和現金流的估計。

I would like to take a few moments to review several key third quarter accomplishments. First, we completed the acquisitions of Verizon's telephone properties in Alabama and Missouri, as well as the divestiture of our wireless business to ALLTEL. The Verizon Alabama and Missouri acquisitions were complete on July 1 and August 31 respectively, and the wireless divestiture was completed on August 1.

我想花點時間回顧一下第三季度的幾項關鍵成就。首先，我們完成了對 Verizon 在阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州的電話資產的收購，以及將我們的無線業務剝離給 ALLTEL。 Verizon Alabama 和 Missouri 的收購分別於 7 月 1 日和 8 月 31 日完成，無線資產剝離於 8 月 1 日完成。

The acquisitions were accomplished with very little customer impact and were, we believe, the smoothest transactions we've experienced to date.

這些收購是在對客戶影響很小的情況下完成的，我們相信，這是迄今為止我們經歷過的最順利的交易。

Also, there were some questions asked in our second quarter earnings call regarding CenturyTel's ability to secure our financing requirements this year. I am very pleased to report that we did accomplish what we said we would, and that is, that we successfully completed all financings necessary to more than meet the company's financing needs for the foreseeable future.

此外，在我們的第二季度財報電話會議上，還有一些關於 CenturyTel 確保我們今年融資需求的能力的問題。我很高興地報告，我們確實實現了我們所說的，也就是說，我們成功地完成了所有必要的融資，以滿足公司在可預見的未來的融資需求。

Now I'd like to review a few financial highlight for the quarter. Excluding nonrecurring items, CenturyTel's fully diluted EPS for the quarter were 57 cents exceeding the 50 cents First Call consensus estimates for the quarter by 7 cents. Also, free cash flow for the quarter was a strong $82.3 million. Revenue from continuing operations including the Alabama and Missouri wire line properties increased 25.5% to $532.1 million.

現在我想回顧一下本季度的一些財務亮點。不計入非經常性項目，CenturyTel 本季度完全攤薄後的每股收益為 57 美分，比 First Call 普遍預期的本季度 50 美分高出 7 美分。此外，本季度的自由現金流為強勁的 8230 萬美元。包括阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州電線資產在內的持續經營業務收入增長 25.5% 至 5.321 億美元。

Our consolidated internal revenue growth rate is 4% for the quarter, which we believe, considering the economy and environment in which we're operating, is a very significant achievement. Our premium local bundled package, Simple Choice, as we call it, coupled with increased caller ID penetration, resulted in vertical service revenue growth of over $2 million or 9% for the quarter.

本季度我們的綜合內部收入增長率為 4%，我們認為，考慮到我們經營所在的經濟和環境，這是一個非常重要的成就。我們稱之為 Simple Choice 的高級本地捆綁套餐，加上來電顯示普及率的提高，導致本季度垂直服務收入增長超過 200 萬美元或 9%。

Data revenues continued their strong growth trend, increasing 28% during the quarter. This excludes our DSL revenue growth. Our long-distance business continued to experience solid customer growth with net additions of more than 48,000 for the quarter, 9% sequential growth. CenturyTel's long-distance customer base has grown 33% during the last 12 months as we added more than 146,000 long-distance customers since the third quarter of 2001.

數據收入繼續保持強勁增長趨勢，本季度增長 28%。這不包括我們的 DSL 收入增長。我們的長途業務繼續實現穩定的客戶增長，本季度淨增 48,000 多人，環比增長 9%。 CenturyTel 的長途客戶群在過去 12 個月中增長了 33%，因為我們自 2001 年第三季度以來增加了超過 146,000 名長途客戶。

We continue to experience strong customer demand for high speed Internet service, available through our broadband-enabled network. As reflected in internal growth of more than 6,800 DSL connections during the quarter. We've also added more than 24,000 DSL subscribers through internal growth since the third quarter 2001, more than doubling our DSL customer base. Internet and DSL profitability have also improved considerably year-over-year as we achieved over $1.2 million in positive cash flow for the third quarter in these businesses.

我們繼續感受到客戶對通過我們的寬帶網絡提供的高速互聯網服務的強烈需求。正如本季度超過 6,800 個 DSL 連接的內部增長所反映的那樣。自 2001 年第三季度以來，我們還通過內部增長增加了超過 24,000 個 DSL 用戶，使我們的 DSL 客戶群增加了一倍多。互聯網和 DSL 的盈利能力也同比大幅提高，因為我們在第三季度在這些業務中實現了超過 120 萬美元的正現金流。

Consolidated EBITDA margin, excluding nonrecurring items, was 51.2% for the quarter compared with a margin of 49.9% during the third quarter of last year.

本季度綜合 EBITDA 利潤率（不包括非經常性項目）為 51.2%，而去年第三季度為 49.9%。

At this time, I'll ask Stewart Ewing to review our results for the third quarter business level and update you on our financial guidance for the first quarter and full year of 2002.

此時，我將請 Stewart Ewing 審查我們第三季度業務水平的結果，並向您更新我們對 2002 年第一季度和全年的財務指導。

Thank you, Glen. As previously reported, due to our wireless divestiture announced in March of this year, we continue to account for this business segment as discontinued operations in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles through the closing date of August 1, 2002.

謝謝你，格倫。如前所述，由於我們在今年 3 月宣布的無線資產剝離，我們繼續按照公認的會計原則將這一業務部門作為終止經營業務進行會計處理，直至截止日期 2002 年 8 月 1 日。

Due to the divestiture of the wireless business, I will not cover any wireless business metrics today. I will discuss our telephone operations, including a few highlights for the Alabama and Missouri properties acquired from Verizon during the quarter. I'll also covered financial metrics related to our other operations which is comprised primarily of long distance, Internet, and CLEC products. I will conclude with financing activities for the year and guidance for the fourth quarter and full year 2002.

由於無線業務的剝離，我今天不會介紹任何無線業務指標。我將討論我們的電話業務，包括本季度從 Verizon 收購的阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州資產的一些亮點。我還將介紹與我們其他業務相關的財務指標，這些業務主要包括長途、互聯網和 CLEC 產品。我將以 2002 年第四季度和全年的籌資活動和指導作為結束。

In our telephone operations segment, telephone revenues, including the Verizon, Alabama, and Missouri acquisitions and excluding the $7.6 million nonrecurring charge related to the Wisconsin Kendall (ph) case that we've discussed many times before over the last couple of years increased 24% to $468.6 million from $377.7 million in the same quarter a year ago. The Verizon operations or acquisitions contributed 85.6 million to telephone revenues for the quarter, which again represents 3 months of revenues from the Alabama properties and one month of revenues from the Missouri properties.

在我們的電話運營部門，電話收入，包括 Verizon、阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州的收購，不包括我們在過去幾年中多次討論過的與威斯康星州肯德爾 (ph) 案相關的 760 萬美元非經常性費用增加了 24 % 從去年同期的 3.777 億美元增至 4.686 億美元。 Verizon 的運營或收購為本季度的電話收入貢獻了 8560 萬美元，這又佔阿拉巴馬州資產 3 個月的收入和密蘇里州資產一個月的收入。

Our internal revenue growth rate in our telephone operations was slightly less than 1% at .9%, which was negatively impacted by a decline in intrastate access in total revenues. As Glen indicated, our consolidated internal revenue growth rate, when you include the other products that we sell, was 4.05%.

我們電話業務的內部收入增長率略低於 1%，為 0.9%，這受到州內接入總收入下降的負面影響。正如 Glen 所指出的，當您包括我們銷售的其他產品時，我們的綜合內部收入增長率為 4.05%。

Data revenue growth, as Glen indicated, was 28% compared with the third quarter of last year. Our data revenues include transport, ISDN, ATM, frame relay, local area network, wide area network, and data private line.

正如格倫所說，與去年第三季度相比，數據收入增長了 28%。我們的數據收入包括傳輸、ISDN、ATM、幀中繼、局域網、廣域網和數據專線。

At the end of the quarter, we ended with 2,437,744 total access lines, including the Alabama and Missouri properties. CenturyTel experienced a loss of 4,593 access lines during the third quarter in properties that we owned as of June 30 of this year, of which about 3,500 were second lines.

在本季度末，我們共有 2,437,744 條接入線路，包括阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州的物業。截至今年 6 月 30 日，CenturyTel 在第三季度擁有的資產中丟失了 4,593 條接入線路，其中約 3,500 條是第二條線路。

Based on the disconnect reasons collected from customers through our customer service centers, the access line loss are primarily due, as they have been in the past, to the continued difficult economic environment versus competitive pressures.

根據通過我們的客戶服務中心從客戶那裡收集到的斷開連接原因，接入線路丟失的主要原因與過去一樣，是由於持續困難的經濟環境與競爭壓力。

Excluding nonrecurring items, operating cash flow for CenturyTel's wire line operations increased to 25.4% to $256.6 million from third quarter 2001, and our operating cash flow margin was 58 -- 54.8% compared with 54.2% in the third quarter of 2001. Operating income for our wire line operations increased 28.5% from 118.5 million as adjusted in third quarter 2001 to $152.3 million in the third quarter of this year.

不包括非經常性項目，CenturyTel 有線業務的運營現金流從 2001 年第三季度增加到 25.4%，達到 2.566 億美元，我們的運營現金流利潤率為 58% -- 54.8%，而 2001 年第三季度為 54.2%。我們的有線業務增長了 28.5%，從 2001 年第三季度調整後的 1.185 億美元增至今年第三季度的 1.523 億美元。

Operating income was positively impacted by the revenue contribution from the newly acquired Verizon properties and lower than expected consolidated operating expenses. Our operating income margin for this segment was 32.5% compared with 31.4% as adjusted, again, for the not amortizing goodwill this year in the third quarter of 2001.

新收購的 Verizon 物業的收入貢獻和低於預期的綜合運營費用對營業收入產生了積極影響。我們在該部門的營業收入利潤率為 32.5%，而 2001 年第三季度調整後的利潤率為 31.4%，同樣是針對今年未攤銷的商譽。

In our other operations segment, revenues increased 37.5% to $63.6 million. Operating cash flow for other operations was up a little over 81%, from 9.7 million last year to 17.6 million in the third quarter of this year. Operating income for other operations increased to $14.4 million, primarily due to the growth in our long distance business, coupled with decreased losses in our Internet business.

在我們的其他業務部門，收入增長 37.5% 至 6360 萬美元。其他業務的經營現金流增長略高於 81%，從去年的 970 萬增至今年第三季度的 1760 萬。其他業務的營業收入增加到 1440 萬美元，這主要是由於我們長途電話業務的增長，以及我們互聯網業務虧損的減少。

Long distance revenues increased $8.5 million to 39.6 million, a 27.5% increase, reflecting the strong subscriber growth achieved during the past 12 months. Our cash flow margins in our long-distance product remain very strong, at slightly over 25%. We added more than 48,400 long distance customers during the quarter, bringing total long distance customers and service to nearly 585,000 as of September 30 this year, an increase of over 33% since the third quarter of last year.

長途電話收入增加了 850 萬美元，達到 3960 萬美元，增幅為 27.5%，反映了過去 12 個月用戶增長強勁。我們長途產品的現金流利潤率仍然非常強勁，略高於 25%。截至今年 9 月 30 日，我們在本季度增加了 48,400 多個長途客戶，使長途客戶和服務總數達到近 585,000，比去年第三季度增長了 33% 以上。

Long distance customer penetration, excluding the Verizon, Alabama, and Missouri markets, as a percentage of access line reached 29.7% versus 23.6% at September 30, 2001. If you include the Verizon markets, the long distance penetration rate was 23.6% at the end of the quarter. Internet revenues increased $4.4 million or 42% to $15 million for the quarter. We also added more than 8,100 DSL connections during the quarter, over 6,800 from internal growth and approximately 1,300 acquired from Verizon in Missouri.

2001 年 9 月 30 日，不包括 Verizon、阿拉巴馬和密蘇里市場在內的長途客戶滲透率佔接入線路的百分比達到 29.7%，而 2001 年 9 月 30 日為 23.6%。如果包括 Verizon 市場，則長途滲透率為 23.6%本季度末。本季度互聯網收入增加 440 萬美元或 42%，達到 1500 萬美元。我們還在本季度增加了 8,100 多個 DSL 連接，其中超過 6,800 個來自內部增長，約 1,300 個來自密蘇里州的 Verizon。

The 6,800 internal growth units represent about 18% sequential growth since the second quarter of 2002. We ended the quarter with about 46,500 DSL subscribers or more than a 3.4% penetration of total DSL-enabled lines.

6,800 個內部增長單位代表自 2002 年第二季度以來約 18% 的連續增長。我們在本季度結束時擁有約 46,500 個 DSL 用戶，佔支持 DSL 的線路總數的 3.4% 以上。

Our internet business generated 1.2 million in operating cash flow for the quarter compared with $319,000 of operating cash flow a year ago, due primarily to the growth of DSL revenue. In our CLEC business, we added over 1,500 CLEC-equivalent lines over the quarter. Our operating loss, which we expected to be in the $11 million to $14 million range for this year, were 2.5 million for the quarter versus 2.9 million a year ago.

我們的互聯網業務在本季度產生了 120 萬美元的運營現金流，而一年前的運營現金流為 319,000 美元，這主要是由於 DSL 收入的增長。在我們的 CLEC 業務中，我們在本季度增加了超過 1,500 條 CLEC 等效產品線。我們預計今年的營業虧損在 1100 萬至 1400 萬美元之間，本季度為 250 萬，而一年前為 290 萬。

Before reviewing our guidance with you, I'd like to recap our financing activities year-to-date. First, we completed the $500 million equity units offering in May. Then we finalized our new $800 million credit facility in July, two-thirds of which is a three-year facility. We closed the divestiture of our wireless business on August 1 for approximately $1.6 billion, or 1.3 billion after tax.

在與您一起回顧我們的指南之前，我想回顧一下我們今年迄今為止的融資活動。首先，我們在 5 月份完成了 5 億美元的股權發行。然後，我們在 7 月完成了 8 億美元的新信貸額度，其中三分之二是三年期額度。我們於 8 月 1 日以約 16 億美元（或稅後 13 億美元）的價格完成了無線業務的剝離。

We successfully then completed the private placement this quarter of $500 million of 10-year senior (inaudible) and $165 million of 30-year convertible debentures August. Finally, on October 15, we redeemed the $400 million of Series I remarketable notes utilizing cash on hand and a small draw on the credit facility that we established previously. The rating agencies supported our equity units and debt offerings, with Moody's and S&P both reaffirming their credit ratings of CenturyTel at BAA2 and BBB+ respectively, both with a stable outlook. Therefore, we believe CenturyTel is financially well-positioned, with a strong balance sheet, good liquidity, and solid credit ratings.

然後，我們在本季度成功完成了 5 億美元的 10 年期高級債券（聽不清）和 1.65 億美元的 30 年期可轉換債券 8 月的私募。最後，在 10 月 15 日，我們利用手頭現金和我們之前建立的信貸額度的小額提款贖回了 4 億美元的 I 系列可再銷售票據。評級機構支持我們的股票單位和債券發行，穆迪和標準普爾分別重申其對 CenturyTel 的信用評級為 BAA2 和 BBB+，展望均為穩定。因此，我們認為 CenturyTel 的財務狀況良好，資產負債表強勁，流動性良好，信用評級穩健。

Now to move on to our fourth quarter and full year 2002 guidance. Our guidance for the fourth quarter includes the Alabama and Missouri properties acquired from Verizon for a full quarter. For fourth quarter 2002, we anticipate total revenues from continuing operations to be in the range of $560 million to $575 million. We expect to achieve between $285 million and $295 million of operating cash flow during the fourth quarter.

現在轉到我們的第四季度和 2002 年全年指導。我們對第四季度的指導包括整個季度從 Verizon 收購的阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州的資產。對於 2002 年第四季度，我們預計來自持續運營的總收入將在 5.6 億美元至 5.75 億美元之間。我們預計第四季度的運營現金流將達到 2.85 億美元至 2.95 億美元。

We believe total earnings per share, excluding nonrecurring items and the expected $38.1 million after-tax charge associated with the redemption on October 15 of the company's $400 million Series I remarkable senior notes to be in the range of 51 cents to 55 cents.

我們認為每股總收益，不包括非經常性項目和與 10 月 15 日贖回公司 4 億美元 I 系列重要優先票據相關的預期 3810 萬美元稅後費用在 51 美分至 55 美分之間。

Our full-year guidance for this year, we expect total EPS to be in the range of $2.19 to $2.23. This compares with $2.08 to $2.20, of full year guidance we discussed last year -- or last quarter on our earnings call.

我們今年的全年指導，我們預計總每股收益將在 2.19 美元至 2.23 美元之間。相比之下，我們去年或上個季度在財報電話會議上討論的全年指導價為 2.08 美元至 2.20 美元。

As a reminder, the full year 2002 includes guidance of about -- guidance includes about an 8-cent benefit from the discontinuation of wireless depreciation from March 2002 through the wireless divestiture on August 1. The third quarter included about two cents related to the discontinuance of depreciation in wireless.

提醒一下，2002 年全年的指導包括從 2002 年 3 月到 8 月 1 日的無線資產剝離從無線折舊中止帶來的大約 8 美分的收益。第三季度包括與中止有關的大約 2 美分無線折舊。

Also, fourth quarter and full year guidance exclude, of course, nonrecurring items.

此外，第四季度和全年指導當然不包括非經常性項目。

As to guidance for next year, we currently plan to provide first quarter 2003 and full year 2003 guidance no later than our fourth quarter 2002 earnings release and related call, and we're waiting until then because we really want to get a full quarter of operations of the Verizon properties under our belt, as well as more time to see if we can judge better as to where the economy might be going next year.

至於明年的指導，我們目前計劃在不遲於 2002 年第四季度收益發布和相關電話會議之前提供 2003 年第一季度和 2003 年全年的指導，我們一直等到那時，因為我們真的希望獲得整個季度的Verizon 資產的運營，以及更多時間來了解我們是否可以更好地判斷明年經濟的發展方向。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to the operator for instructions regarding asking questions.

此時，我會將電話轉給接線員，以獲取有關提問的說明。

At this time I would like to remind everyone, if you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number 1 on your telephone keypad.

此時我想提醒大家，如果您想提問，請按星號，然後按電話鍵盤上的數字 1。

We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.

我們將暫停片刻來整理問答名單。

Your first question comes from Simon Flannery (ph) with Morgan Stanley.

你的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simon Flannery (ph)。

Simon Flannery (ph): I wonder if you could give us a little more color on the integration process in the Verizon -- how have things tracked versus expectations, what have you sort of needed to do on the expense line, on the cap ex line, compared to previous acquisitions? And also, if you could just help us with line counts, where your line counts where, primary, secondary lines, and any sort of underlying line growth rate in the old CenturyTel businesses. Thanks.

Simon Flannery (ph)：我想知道你是否可以給我們更多關於 Verizon 整合過程的顏色 - 事情如何與預期進行跟踪，你需要在費用線上做什麼，在資本支出上線，與之前的收購相比？而且，如果你能幫助我們計算線路數量，你的線路在哪裡，主要線路，次要線路，以及舊 CenturyTel 業務中任何類型的基礎線路增長率。謝謝。

Simon, first of all, the -- as far as the acquisition's concerned, it's been very smooth, no major customer issues at all. We -- as far as the cap ex concern, these properties are in better condition than really any we've purchased previously. We expect about $35 million of cap ex this year in these properties, which is right in line with what we had budgeted when we did our analysis and our valuations.

西蒙，首先，就收購而言，它非常順利，根本沒有重大客戶問題。我們——就 cap ex 而言，這些房產的狀況比我們之前購買的任何房產都要好。我們預計今年這些物業的資本支出約為 3500 萬美元，這與我們進行分析和估值時的預算一致。

We have no major issues on expense side -- as a matter of fact, we're seeing synergy a little quicker there than we expected, and the transition costs have been a little less than we expected thus far.

我們在費用方面沒有重大問題——事實上，我們看到協同效應比我們預期的要快一些，而且過渡成本比我們迄今為止的預期要少一些。

The legacy properties regarding access lines, it's pretty widespread as far as the access line loss -- less than 1% analyzed, but it's pretty well across-the-board. The southern region has not been hit. The southern states are a little stronger than the Midwestern and western, Northwestern areas. It's pretty well across-the-board. It appears to be economy-driven. A little competition. We've lost only about 1,300 lines to competition out of, you know, 2 -- over -- almost 2.5 million lines, 2.4 million lines during the quarter.

關於接入線的遺留屬性，就接入線損耗而言，它非常普遍——分析不到 1%，但它非常全面。南部地區沒有受到打擊。南部各州比中西部和西部、西北地區強一點。它非常全面。它似乎是經濟驅動的。有點競爭。我們只失去了大約 1,300 行的競爭，你知道，2 - 超過 - 近 250 萬行，本季度有 240 萬行。

Simon Flannery (ph): When you say competition, are you thinking about CLECs, or is this wireless substitution.

Simon Flannery (ph)：當你說競爭時，你是在考慮 CLEC，還是這種無線替代。

That's CLEC, and on wireless for the full quarter we lost 380 customers due to -- their reason was switching to wireless, so 380 is really not material. We do know there's substitution going on with long distance in the wireless. We can't quantify that. That's the bigger concern for us. In our markets in the rural areas, the pure wireless substitution is not that great.

那是 CLEC，在整個季度的無線方面，我們失去了 380 位客戶，原因是——他們的原因是轉向無線，所以 380 真的不是很重要。我們確實知道長距離無線通信正在發生替代。我們無法量化。這是我們更關心的問題。在我們農村的市場，純無線的替代不是那麼好。

Simon Flannery (ph): Thank you.

西蒙·弗蘭納里 (ph)：謝謝。

Your next question comes from Mark Hughes (ph) with SunTrust.

您的下一個問題來自 SunTrust 的 Mark Hughes (ph)。

Mark Hughes (ph): Thank you very much. Could you give us a sense of the telephone EBITDA margin among the legacy properties? I know you did better in cost control, and then integration went better, but how did those legacy properties do in the quarter?

馬克休斯 (ph)：非常感謝。您能否讓我們了解一下遺留資產中的電話 EBITDA 利潤率？我知道你們在成本控制方面做得更好，然後整合也做得更好，但這些遺留資產在本季度的表現如何？

Mark, of course, our legacy properties are real strong, but we're not really going to try to break out the EBITDA margins in the legacy properties versus the Verizon properties just because of the -- them only being in there for three months and one month, and also just from the standpoint of all the allocations that we have, the corporate allocations and the divesting the wireless and the overheads that absorbed there by our telephone operations, it makes it pretty difficult to tell.

馬克，當然，我們的遺留資產真的很強大，但我們不會真的試圖打破遺留資產與 Verizon 資產的 EBITDA 利潤率，因為它們只在那里呆了三個月而且一個月，而且僅從我們所有分配的角度來看，公司分配和剝離無線業務以及我們的電話業務在那裡吸收的間接費用，這很難說。

Mark Hughes (ph): I thought I might ask just that one. Any sense on UDP (ph) in your market? Is that shaping up to be an issue for you?

馬克休斯（ph）：我想我可能會問那個。您的市場對 UDP (ph) 有何看法？這對你來說是個問題嗎？

UDP (ph) is really not an issue for us today. In some of the acquired markets in Missouri and Alabama, we have some UDP (ph) competition, UDP (ph) rates. The rates in Missouri are a little over $19, $19.44. That's the lowest price they have. And then in Alabama, the pricing is $19 there for a zone 3 pricing. So, overall, the pricing in our margin, UDPs are a major issue for us, and that's the only place we have any UDP (ph) competition at all.

UDP (ph) 今天對我們來說真的不是問題。在密蘇里州和阿拉巴馬州的一些收購市場，我們有一些 UDP (ph) 競爭，UDP (ph) 費率。密蘇里州的房價略高於 19 美元，即 19.44 美元。那是他們的最低價。然後在阿拉巴馬州，3 區定價為 19 美元。因此，總的來說，我們保證金的定價，UDP 對我們來說是一個主要問題，這是我們唯一有任何 UDP (ph) 競爭的地方。

Mark Hughes (ph): Thank you.

馬克休斯（ph）：謝謝。

Your next question comes from Frank Luthen (ph) of Raymond James.

您的下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Frank Luthen (ph)。

Frank Luthen (ph): Good morning. A couple of quick questions. On the network access, obviously you mentioned something that's more of a concern, and that was a little bit lower than what we were looking for. Is that due to some of the mix from the new properties? Is there some offset on the local revenue there, or would you characterize that mostly as wireless?

Frank Luthen (ph)：早上好。幾個簡單的問題。關於網絡訪問，顯然你提到了一些更令人擔憂的問題，這比我們正在尋找的要低一些。這是由於新屬性的一些混合嗎？那裡的當地收入是否有一些抵消，或者您將其主要描述為無線？

And then, with your data growth, was there any CPE included in that, or was that all the services? And one last question. Good results on long distance. Are you seeing some higher revenue customers come in? You seen the average revenue there pick up? What's sort of driving the increases there -- just in general more subscribers? Thanks.

然後，隨著您的數據增長，其中是否包含任何 CPE，還是所有服務？最後一個問題。遠距離的好成績。您是否看到一些收入更高的客戶進來了？你看到那裡的平均收入回升了嗎？是什麼推動了那裡的增長——總的來說是更多的訂閱者？謝謝。

Unidentified: Okay. The second question was (inaudible) we talked about is very little CPE in that number. It's primarily transport there. The network access, it is different in the acquired properties. They have greater local revenues percentage-wise in network access. That's where the shift is. That's why (ph) the difference you saw there. Some of the estimates versus actual.

未知：好的。第二個問題是（聽不清）我們談到的是這個數字中的 CPE 很少。那裡主要是交通工具。而網絡訪問，則是在獲得屬性上有所不同。他們在網絡訪問方面的本地收入百分比更高。這就是轉變所在。這就是為什麼 (ph) 您在那裡看到的差異。一些估計值與實際值。

That's really it. I mean, Glen really described it. They're a little bit higher.

就是這樣。我的意思是，格倫真的描述了它。他們稍微高一點。

On the long distance side, we're still seeing good growth, solid margins, and the major growth was in the -- in Alabama in the acquired markets -- we had a full-court press on there to get those markets early. So that's where the major growth was for the quarter. We'll continue that work in Missouri and Alabama this next quarter, and hopefully you'll see good results there.

在長距離方面，我們仍然看到良好的增長，穩固的利潤率，主要增長是在——在阿拉巴馬州的收購市場——我們在那裡進行了全場緊逼，以儘早獲得這些市場。這就是本季度主要增長的地方。下個季度，我們將在密蘇里州和阿拉巴馬州繼續這項工作，希望你們會在那裡看到好的結果。

Frank Luthen (ph): Great. Thanks.

Frank Luthen (ph)：太好了。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Larry Bann (ph) from Lazard.

你的下一個問題來自 Lazard 的 Larry Bann (ph)。

Larry Bann (ph): Good morning, and congrats on the good numbers.

Larry Bann (ph)：早上好，祝賀這些好數字。

Two questions -- first on the access line loss issue. You said 3,500 lines roughly were second lines that were lost. Of the remainder, roughly 1,100, how does that break out between primary residential and business? Secondly, on pension expectations in 2003, what are you expecting at this point, and secondly, what impact are the acquired properties having on your pension expectations for next year? Thanks.

兩個問題——首先是接入線損耗問題。你說 3,500 行大致是丟失的第二行。在其餘的大約 1,100 個中，主要住宅和商業之間的差異如何？其次，關於2003年的養老金預期，您目前的預期是什麼？其次，收購的房產對您明年的養老金預期有何影響？謝謝。

In terms of the access line loss, we really don't break out the loss in business versus residential. We'll look to see if we have that data but I don't believe we do. So the 1,100 was really primary lines.

就接入線損耗而言，我們確實沒有打破商業與住宅的損耗。我們會看看我們是否有這些數據，但我不相信我們有。所以 1,100 是真正的主線。

Larry Bann (ph): It's mostly primary. Okay.

Larry Bann (ph)：這主要是初級的。好的。

In terms of -- actually, it looks like most of them were residential lines, is where they were.

就——實際上，看起來他們中的大多數都是住宅線路，就是他們所在的地方。

Your next question comes from Roger Saks (ph) with Coday Financial (ph).

您的下一個問題來自 Coday Financial (ph) 的 Roger Saks (ph)。

On the pension - we had one more question on the pension.

關於養老金——我們還有一個關於養老金的問題。

Basically, expectations for this year -- the rest of this year and next year, and any color on the impact of the acquired properties, in terms of the acquired properties, we'll basically pick up assets equivalent to the accumulated benefit obligations, so basically we'll start off at a fully funded basis for the properties that we pick up from Verizon. You look at our other properties, our defined benefit plans that we have in place are really fairly immaterial, compared to the size of the company versus what a Bell company would be.

基本上，今年的預期——今年剩餘時間和明年，以及對收購財產影響的任何顏色，就收購財產而言，我們基本上會選擇相當於累積福利義務的資產，所以基本上，我們將從 Verizon 獲得的房產的全額資金基礎上開始。你看看我們的其他財產，我們制定的固定福利計劃與公司規模相比，與貝爾公司的規模相比，確實是相當微不足道的。

We do expect to probably reduce our discount rate some this year. We used 7.25 percent at the end of 2001. That will probably come down some and increase our accumulated benefit obligation. We'll also probably drop our return on assets that we've been using. The range that we've used on some of the various plans that we have are 8% to 10% -- the largest plan, I think we used 10%, we'll probably drop that some.

我們確實預計今年可能會降低一些貼現率。我們在 2001 年底使用了 7.25%。這可能會下降一些並增加我們的累積福利義務。我們也可能會降低我們一直在使用的資產的回報率。我們在一些不同的計劃中使用的範圍是 8% 到 10%——最大的計劃，我認為我們使用了 10%，我們可能會放棄一些。

So it will have some impact. We do expect some impact on pension expense next year, but probably, you know, not more than, say, you know, $7 million to $10 million or $15 million more than we're experiencing this year.

所以會有一定的影響。我們確實預計明年的養老金支出會受到一些影響，但可能不會比今年多 700 萬至 1000 萬美元或 1500 萬美元。

Your next question comes from Roger Saks (ph) with Coday Financial (ph).

您的下一個問題來自 Coday Financial (ph) 的 Roger Saks (ph)。

Roger Saks (ph): Thanks. A quick question on the long distance side. Can you give us any color, or even a break out on the acquired lines? I know they didn't have any -- I believe any LD when you acquired them. What have we seen so far for the quarter, and what is the penetration to date on those lines? And also, I didn't quite get the answer that was asked previously. It looks to be, I guess, a pickup in the average revenue per customer on the LD side, and I didn't know if you said it was just from subscriber growth or if that some higher-priced LANs (ph) in there. Thanks.

羅傑薩克斯 (ph)：謝謝。長途方面的一個快速問題。你能給我們任何顏色，甚至在獲得的線路上突破嗎？我知道他們沒有 - 我相信當你獲得它們時有任何 LD。到目前為止，我們在本季度看到了什麼？迄今為止，這些產品線的滲透率是多少？而且，我沒有完全得到之前提出的答案。我猜，這似乎是 LD 端每個客戶的平均收入有所回升，我不知道你是說這只是來自用戶增長，還是那裡有一些價格更高的 LAN (ph)。謝謝。

On the average revenue, I'll take that one first, just - our business -- we had been a good business customer, penetration as far as high level business customers. That drove up the average a little bit (inaudible) per line for the quarter. Karen, will you address the Verizon penetration there?

關於平均收入，我首先考慮的是 - 我們的業務 - 我們一直是一個很好的商業客戶，滲透到高級商業客戶。這將本季度每行的平均水平提高了一點（聽不清）。凱倫，你會解決那裡的 Verizon 滲透問題嗎？

Yeah. On the Verizon -- on the Verizon penetration, we're very successful in our approach here during the actual transaction. What we did is two weeks into selling the properties we started welcome calls, which were very beneficial. We got about 85% of our customers through that particular channel and also retail channel (inaudible) a call center. We've ended the quarter with 12% penetration in Alabama, and we've only been in Missouri one month, we're about 2.6 penetrated in Missouri. We feel very good. On a blended basis we're about 6.87% penetrated.

是的。在 Verizon 上——在 Verizon 滲透上，我們在實際交易中的方法非常成功。我們所做的是在出售房產兩週後開始歡迎電話，這非常有益。我們通過該特定渠道和零售渠道（聽不清）呼叫中心獲得了大約 85% 的客戶。我們在阿拉巴馬州以 12% 的滲透率結束了本季度，而我們只在密蘇里州一個月，我們在密蘇里州的滲透率約為 2.6%。我們感覺很好。在混合基礎上，我們的滲透率約為 6.87%。

Roger Saks (ph): Thank you very much.

Roger Saks (ph)：非常感謝。

Your next question comes from Mark Prosman (ph) with JP Morgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Mark Prosman (ph)。

Mark Prosman (ph): I had a really quick question about your intrastate access again. I just wanted to know what the minutes of use are there in terms of the trend versus the regulatory side, just to get a sense of what's impacting that, what it's going to look like going forward. And if you can do the same for the interstate long distance.

Mark Prosman (ph)：我又問了一個關於你的州內訪問的快速問題。我只是想知道在趨勢與監管方面的使用分鐘數是多少，只是為了了解影響它的是什麼，以及未來會是什麼樣子。如果你能為州際長途做同樣的事情。

Mark, we really don't give intrastate and interstate minutes. I can tell you on the intrastate side our revenues were down about $3.8 million or so when you net the decrease that we had versus a rate increase that we had in the quarter.

馬克，我們真的不提供州內和州際會議記錄。我可以告訴你，在州內，我們的收入下降了大約 380 萬美元左右，當你將我們在本季度的收入減少與我們的利率增加相比較時。

Mark Prosman (ph): Is that decline, though, mainly coming from minutes, so (ph) the bill that someone's getting, or is it more of the price per minute?

Mark Prosman (ph)：不過，這種下降主要來自分鐘，所以 (ph) 有人得到的賬單，還是每分鐘的價格更多？

Several things. Really, it's more minute-driven, from the standpoint it's due to changes in the percentage intrastate use factors that we received from the inter-exchange carriers. Some of those folks have changed the factors and in effect basically told us more of their minutes are interstate than intrastate than previously.

幾件事。實際上，它更受分鐘驅動，從角度來看，這是由於我們從交換運營商那裡收到的州內使用因素百分比的變化。其中一些人已經改變了這些因素，實際上基本上告訴我們他們更多的時間是州際的而不是州內的。

Also, when the FCC reduced access rates on the interstate side earlier this year, basically that reduced our intrastate access rates in Arkansas and Ohio, because they mirror the interstate access rates for intrastate purposes. So those are the two primary items. And we'll cycle through most of the (inaudible) existing PIU (ph) shifts, say, after the first quarter of next year.

此外，當 FCC 今年早些時候降低州際訪問率時，基本上也降低了我們在阿肯色州和俄亥俄州的州內訪問率，因為它們反映了州際訪問率以用於州內目的。所以這是兩個主要項目。我們將在明年第一季度之後循環大部分（聽不清）現有 PIU (ph) 班次。

Mark Prosman (ph): If I could just ask one other question on the DSL side. Are you guys expanding your footprint, and just to get a sense relative to some of your -- some of the other peers in the state, what is your cost per gross add looking like, and what's churn looking like? How are the overall economics of DSL looking, I guess I would say.

Mark Prosman (ph)：如果我能再問一個關於 DSL 方面的問題就好了。你們是否正在擴大自己的足跡，只是為了了解相對於你們的一些人——該州的其他一些同行，你們的每總增加成本是多少，以及流失率是什麼樣的？ DSL 的整體經濟狀況如何，我想我會說。

The expanse we are doing in our Verizon properties. In fact, in Alabama, we now have enabled 14.75% third quarter, and in Missouri, we're up to 26% enabled. So that's the expansion that we're doing is in our new Verizon properties.

我們在 Verizon 物業中所做的擴展。事實上，在阿拉巴馬州，我們現在第三季度啟用了 14.75%，而在密蘇里州，我們啟用了高達 26%。這就是我們在新的 Verizon 資產中所做的擴展。

(inaudible) to gross add depending on the quarter and the campaign, we're typically running in the 115 range on cost per gross add. We still are getting the modem costs out of the subscribers, so they're paying -- we're not marking the modem down at this point. We do some of that on campaigns on a consistent basis -- pretty much we have installment billing capability for customers. We're not going to be expanding any further into our legacy properties as we speak. Churn-wise, we're about 2.5 -- 2.3, 2.5%, which is some of the lowest in the industry right now.

（聽不清）根據季度和活動的總增加，我們通常在每總增加成本的 115 範圍內運行。我們仍然從訂戶那裡收取調製解調器的費用，所以他們付錢了——我們現在沒有把調製解調器降價。我們在一致的基礎上在活動中做了一些——我們幾乎為客戶提供了分期付款的能力。在我們說話的時候，我們不會進一步擴展到我們的遺留資產。就流失率而言，我們約為 2.5 - 2.3，2.5%，這是目前行業中最低的。

Mark Prosman (ph): Is that $115 cost per gross ad include the costs on the internal provisioning side?

Mark Prosman (ph)：每條總廣告 115 美元的成本是否包括內部供應方面的成本？

Internal provisioning side is not included in that number.

內部配置方面不包括在該數字中。

Mark Prosman (ph): Do you have a sense of how big that number is?

Mark Prosman (ph)：你知道這個數字有多大嗎？

Not to give out that kind of detail, no.

不要透露那種細節，不。

Mark Prosman (ph): Thank you. That's helpful.

馬克·普羅斯曼 (ph)：謝謝。這很有幫助。

Your next question comes from Mike Bellhoff (ph) with Legg Mason.

您的下一個問題來自 Legg Mason 的 Mike Bellhoff (ph)。

Mike Bellhoff (ph): Good quarter also. Could you -- returning to the minutes of use that I know you don't give out, Stewart, can you give us an idea of whether or not the -- there's been an acceleration in the deterioration or it's been staying relatively flat?

Mike Bellhoff (ph)：季度也不錯。你能否 - 回到我知道你不會放棄的使用分鐘數，斯圖爾特，你能否告訴我們 - 惡化是否加速或者它一直保持相對平穩？

No, Mike. It's been staying relatively flat. In other words, the rate of decline has been about the same -- pretty constant.

不，邁克。它一直保持相對平穩。換句話說，下降的速度大致相同——相當穩定。

Mike Bellhoff (ph): Okay. Going over to Karen, on the subject of DSL, can you give us an idea of what the profitability situation is? You were break-even, I know, recently, but breaking out both for the dereg and the regulated subsidiary together and then separately, whether or not the DSL and the deregulated operations are profitable at this time or EBITDA break-even?

Mike Bellhoff (ph)：好的。轉到 Karen，關於 DSL 的主題，您能告訴我們盈利情況如何嗎？你是收支平衡的，我知道，最近，但同時打破了解除管制和受監管的子公司，然後分別，此時 DSL 和解除管制的業務是否盈利或 EBITDA 收支平衡？

We're no longer breaking out the regulated piece. We stopped doing that a couple quarters ago, Mike (ph). What I can tell you is what's driving the improvement and profitability is what we call, you know, the network cost, that's just coming down with more customers and shifting of cost there. So we're in the, you know, 23 range where a couple of quarters ago we were in the 60s range. So that's what's driving the improvement there.

我們不再打破受監管的部分。我們幾個季度前就停止這樣做了，Mike (ph)。我可以告訴你的是，推動改進和盈利的是我們所說的網絡成本，它只是隨著更多的客戶和那裡的成本轉移而下降。所以我們處於 23 個範圍內，幾個季度前我們處於 60 年代範圍內。這就是推動那裡改進的原因。

Mike Bellhoff (ph): Okay. Two simple other questions. One of them is, can you give us the number of subs that were actually sold to ALLTEL, the wireless subs, and the final one is, update us on the competition, especially Missouri, where I know you've got cable competition.

Mike Bellhoff (ph)：好的。其他兩個簡單的問題。其中之一是，你能告訴我們實際賣給 ALLTEL 的潛艇數量嗎？無線潛艇，最後一個是，向我們介紹競爭的最新情況，尤其是密蘇里州，我知道那裡有有線電視競爭。

On the -- I'll go ahead and address the Missouri competition. We do have charter there - you know, their headquarters in St. Louis, they're doing a voice trial in (inaudible). We are losing some access lines on a monthly basis to them. I would say we are still getting our hands around that. We are coming out with some competitive response. There's very much a parity issue that we're also working from a regulatory perspective.

關於——我將繼續討論密蘇里州的比賽。我們在那裡確實有包機——你知道，他們在聖路易斯的總部，他們正在（聽不清）進行語音試驗。我們每個月都會失去一些接入線路。我會說我們仍在努力解決這個問題。我們正在做出一些有競爭力的回應。從監管的角度來看，我們也在努力解決一個非常平等的問題。

On the wireless side, the number was about 780,000 (ph) customers.

在無線方面，客戶數量約為 780,000 (ph)。

Mike Bellhoff (ph): Thank you very much.

Mike Bellhoff (ph)：非常感謝。

Your next question comes from Kevin Carr (ph) with CIBC World Markets.

您的下一個問題來自 CIBC World Markets 的 Kevin Carr (ph)。

Kevin Carr (ph): Hi, guys, the question's pretty much answered. But let me -- a little clarification on the access lines. It looks like, basically, competitive line losses have been about constant each quarter. I don't have it in front of me, but maybe just double-check it for me. Secondly, second lines look like they took a bigger hit. It is that - a little more detail -- is that a function of the economy? Is it - you know, what else is going on there?

Kevin Carr (ph)：嗨，伙計們，這個問題已經得到了很好的回答。但是讓我- 對訪問線路做一些澄清。看起來，基本上，競爭性線損每個季度都基本保持不變。我面前沒有它，但也許只是幫我仔細檢查一下。其次，二線看起來受到了更大的打擊。更詳細一點——這是經濟的一個功能嗎？是——你知道，那裡還發生了什麼？

Yeah, Kevin (ph), first of all, the line loss competition has been pretty constant throughout the year. The second line is a little larger, we think it's primarily the economy -- based on our analysis that's the number one factor it appears we're seeing from our customers.

是的，凱文 (ph)，首先，線損競爭在這一年中一直很穩定。第二條線稍大一些，我們認為這主要是經濟——根據我們的分析，這是我們從客戶那裡看到的首要因素。

I would add to that that it's consistent (ph) from last quarter (inaudible) announcement that I'm looking at, service order activity analysis. The question is, is it an in problem or an out problem? Clearly the out problem seems to be flat. It's pretty much flattened out; it clearly is an inward issue.

我要補充的是，它與我正在查看的上個季度（聽不清）公告，服務訂單活動分析一致（ph）。問題是，這是in問題還是out問題？顯然，出問題似乎是平的。它幾乎變平了；這顯然是一個內在的問題。

Kevin Carr (ph): What do you mean by out problem?

凱文卡爾（ph）：你說的問題是什麼意思？

Churn versus new inward.

流失與新內向。

Kevin Carr (ph): Oh, I see. All right.

凱文卡爾（ph）：哦，我明白了。好的。

So the net is it's more of an inward -- a low inward compared to, you know, 18 months kind of trend line than the out -- trending of the outs are pretty much flat in terms of consistency there. So it's more of an inward issue than an outward issue.

因此，淨額更多的是向內——與你知道的 18 個月趨勢線相比，向內較低——與向外相比，向外的趨勢在一致性方面幾乎持平。所以這更像是一個內在的問題而不是外在的問題。

Kevin Carr (ph): Okay. All right. So - and obviously no sense of when, you know, you kind of see that stabilize?

凱文卡爾（ph）：好的。好的。所以 - 顯然不知道什麼時候，你知道，你有點看到穩定？

No. We hope to see it change, but it's still -- economy is still pretty tough in most of the states that we're in ...

不，我們希望看到它發生變化，但它仍然——我們所在的大多數州的經濟仍然相當艱難……

Kevin Carr (ph): Yeah.

凱文卡爾（ph）：是的。

... nationwide.

... 全國。

Kevin Carr (ph): One other question, too. Just, on Wisconsin, I know you had $7 million reserve you went ahead and took. Also, there's, I think, a rate case ruling in October expected. Any updates on that?

凱文卡爾 (ph)：還有一個問題。只是，在威斯康星州，我知道你有 700 萬美元的儲備金，你已經拿走了。此外，我認為，預計 10 月將對利率案作出裁決。有什麼更新嗎？

David Cowe (ph): This is David Cowe (ph). I'll address the Wisconsin rate. Yes, we did get resolution of that case. We had implemented interim rates last October of approximately $8 million for access only on an annualized basis. We did get final approval of approximately $18.5 million to $19 million approximately in the October time frames for an incremental increase of around $10 million on an annualized basis. We have implemented portions of those rates, but none in the third quarter that would be effective in the fourth quarter will affect results then on a partial basis.

David Cowe (ph)：我是 David Cowe (ph)。我將解決威斯康星州的比率問題。是的，我們確實解決了那個案子。去年 10 月，我們實施了大約 800 萬美元的臨時費率，僅按年計算。我們確實在大約 10 月的時間框架內獲得了大約 1850 萬美元至 1900 萬美元的最終批准，每年增加約 1000 萬美元。我們已經實施了這些利率的一部分，但在第三季度將在第四季度生效的利率都不會部分影響結果。

Those related to the properties that we purchased from GTE in 2000.

那些與我們在 2000 年從 GTE 購買的房產相關的。

Kevin Carr (ph): Okay. Great. Thanks.

凱文卡爾（ph）：好的。偉大的。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Tavis McCourt (ph) with Morgan Keegan.

你的下一個問題來自 Tavis McCourt (ph) 和 Morgan Keegan。

Tavis McCourt (ph): Good morning, guys. Congratulations on finishing a busy quarter. Most of my questions have been answered. I do have one question - Stewart, there was an SEC filing that included some pro forma results for the recently-acquired properties. And that filing showed some pretty strong EBITDA margins, I think actually above your existing margins, but I think you've got it to those being somewhat lower EBITDA margin in the past. Is there a difference in the accounting method used, or you guys expect to invest a little more in expense lines than they had in the past?

Tavis McCourt (ph)：早上好，伙計們。恭喜您結束了一個忙碌的季度。我的大部分問題都已得到解答。我確實有一個問題——斯圖爾特，美國證券交易委員會提交了一份文件，其中包括最近收購的財產的一些備考結果。該文件顯示了一些相當強勁的 EBITDA 利潤率，我認為實際上高於您現有的利潤率，但我認為您已經了解了過去 EBITDA 利潤率較低的那些。使用的會計方法是否有所不同，或者你們希望在費用方面比過去多投資一點？

Tavis (ph), it's been a while since I looked at those. You know, a couple of things. I know that some of those financial statements had some one-time adjustments in them that Verizon made that affected the revenues and the expenses as well, and drove the margins up somewhat. And they have a -- yeah, they have a big pension credit flowing through there as well. And, you know, we'll have some pension expense flowing through. So that's part of the issue there, and part of -- we've rolled all those changes into the guidance that we've given.

Tavis (ph)，我已經有一段時間沒看過這些了。你知道，有幾件事。我知道其中一些財務報表中有 Verizon 所做的一些一次性調整，這也影響了收入和支出，並在一定程度上提高了利潤率。他們有——是的，他們也有大量的養老金信貸流經那裡。而且，你知道，我們會有一些養老金支出。所以這是問題的一部分，也是我們已將所有這些更改納入我們提供的指南的一部分。

Tavis McCourt (ph): And then, can you give us some sense on cap ex for the fourth quarter, and I guess just directionally next year, I can't imagine there will be all that much DSL expansion. Would you expect fourth quarter cap ex to be pretty much a run rate at this point, or a decline, or a modest uptick?

Tavis McCourt (ph)：然後，你能給我們一些關於第四季度資本支出的概念嗎？我想就明年的方向而言，我無法想像 DSL 會有那麼多的擴張。您是否預計第四季度資本支出在這一點上幾乎是一個運行率，或者下降，或者適度上升？

Yeah. We -- our cap ex we think will end the year somewhere around $425 million or so, which is about - would mean we'd spend 125 million in the fourth quarter. Not sure we'll get there, but that's sort of what's in the budget. For next year, you know, would expect the run rate to be -- I guess what we've said is somewhere in the $400 million to $450 million range total.

是的。我們 - 我們認為我們的上限將在今年結束時約為 4.25 億美元左右，這意味著我們將在第四季度花費 1.25 億美元。不確定我們會到達那裡，但這就是預算中的內容。對於明年，你知道，預計運行率將是——我想我們所說的總額在 4 億到 4.5 億美元之間。

Tavis McCourt (ph): Thanks.

塔維斯·麥考特 (ph)：謝謝。

Your next question comes from Greg Gorbatinko (ph) with Luke Capital Markets (ph).

你的下一個問題來自 Greg Gorbatinko (ph) 和 Luke Capital Markets (ph)。

Greg Gorbatinko (ph): Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Just strategically, debt level seems to be going in the right direction. Cash seems to be coming in nicely. Now that you're kind of out of the wireless business, where's the growth going to come from? Is it completely an expansion play? I understand the DSL side of things. But is there -- is there anything else out there that maybe you can enlighten us with? Thanks.

Greg Gorbatinko（博士）：嗨。謝謝你接我的電話。就戰略而言，債務水平似乎正朝著正確的方向發展。現金似乎很好地流入。既然您已經退出無線業務，那麼增長將從何而來？完全是擴張劇嗎？我了解事物的 DSL 方面。但是，還有什麼可以啟發我們的嗎？謝謝。

Greg -- well, first of all, with the economic situation and the issues we're facing in these markets, it's -- the growth in access lines being flat and negative, we can't say that we're going to see a lot of growth just in basic service, but we do believe the -- first of all, that data services will continue to grow, DSL is an opportunity, Internet high-speed data over time.

格雷格——嗯，首先，考慮到經濟形勢和我們在這些市場面臨的問題——接入線的增長持平且呈負增長，我們不能說我們會看到基礎服務有很多增長，但我們確實相信——首先，數據服務將繼續增長，DSL 是一個機會，隨著時間的推移，互聯網高速數據。

And in addition to this, further penetration in our markets. We're not penetrated as greatly as the Bells are in a lot of our markets and in the newly acquired markets in Missouri and Alabama, as well as the other Verizon markets. We still have a ways to go to reach our legacy levels even -- levels in our legacy companies penetration there. So we have the ability to drive deeper in these markets, derive (ph) incremental revenue over time. Hopefully the economy will recover in some reasonable (ph) period of time. We'll see some more growth just in basic services, in basic deeper penetration of basic enhanced services in our legacy markets as well, and greater minutes of use going forward.

除此之外，進一步滲透到我們的市場。在我們的許多市場以及密蘇里州和阿拉巴馬州新收購的市場以及其他 Verizon 市場中，我們的滲透率不如 Bells。我們還有很長的路要走，甚至可以達到我們的傳統水平——我們的傳統公司在那裡滲透的水平。因此，我們有能力深入這些市場，隨著時間的推移獲得 (ph) 增量收入。希望經濟會在某個合理的 (ph) 時間段內復蘇。我們將看到基本服務的更多增長，基本增強服務在我們傳統市場中的基本更深入滲透，以及未來更多的使用時間。

So those are things we believe will happen. But in this economy, we can't promise a lot of, you know, major growth, although we think we will be right there at or near the top of our industry in what we can derive in these rural markets where we have less intense competition, and also a lot -- very strong demand for enhanced services.

所以這些是我們相信會發生的事情。但在這種經濟中，我們不能承諾很多，你知道，主要增長，儘管我們認為我們將在我們的行業中處於或接近頂端，因為我們可以在這些我們沒有那麼強烈的農村市場獲得競爭，還有很多——對增強服務的非常強烈的需求。

Greg Gorbatinko (ph): Very good. Thanks.

Greg Gorbatinko (ph)：非常好。謝謝。

Your next question comes from James Lee (ph) with Fidelity Capital Markets.

您的下一個問題來自 Fidelity Capital Markets 的 James Lee (ph)。

Mr. Lee (ph), your line is open.

李先生 (ph)，您的電話已開通。

James Lee (ph): My question's been answered, thank you.

James Lee (ph)：我的問題已經得到解答，謝謝。

Thank you. Your next question comes from David Mentell (ph) with Luke Capital Markets (ph).

謝謝你。您的下一個問題來自 Luke Capital Markets (ph) 的 David Mentell (ph)。

David Mentell (ph): My question's been answered as well. Thank you.

David Mentell (ph)：我的問題也得到了回答。謝謝你。

Your next question comes from Marty Dropkin (ph) with CSFB.

您的下一個問題來自 CSFB 的 Marty Dropkin (ph)。

Marty Dropkin (ph): Just a question on your fourth quarter revenue targets. I want to see if you would break out what you're expecting from the acquired properties, because if I use the numbers that you were giving at the time of the acquisition, and I back that out of your fourth quarter guidance, it looks like you may be expecting a decline in telco (ph) revenues year-over-year. Is that right, and if you are, is that due to just higher than expected access lines, maybe higher access line declines or something else? Thanks.

Marty Dropkin (ph)：關於您的第四季度收入目標的問題。我想看看你是否會打破你對收購財產的期望，因為如果我使用你在收購時提供的數字，並且我從你的第四季度指導中支持它，它看起來像您可能預計電信 (ph) 收入會同比下降。是這樣嗎？如果是，那是因為訪問線路高於預期，可能是更高的訪問線路下降或其他原因？謝謝。

Well, we hadn't planned on breaking out the revenue in terms of the acquisition versus the legacy properties. I can tell you, I think that, if I remember right, fourth quarter of last year, we did have fairly high property adjustments or true-ups (ph) related to -- revenue true-ups (ph) related to the pulls we participate in. And we're not expected as high a period of adjustments in effect this year. Part of that is due to some of the bankruptcies that have taken place in the industry and the returns of some of the pools being lower than they've previously been.

好吧，我們沒有計劃在收購與遺留財產方面打破收入。我可以告訴你，我認為，如果我沒記錯的話，去年第四季度，我們確實有相當高的財產調整或調整 (ph) 與我們拉動相關的收入調整 (ph)參與。而且我們預計今年不會出現如此高的調整期。部分原因是該行業發生了一些破產事件，而且一些礦池的回報率低於以前。

We can say, too, that just loss of access lines and intrastate minutes makes -- the pure legacy telco, pure telco revenue growth very different in this kind of environment. The growth is going to come more in the data side and long distance area, Internet, those types of service.

我們也可以說，僅僅是接入線路和州內通話時間的損失——在這種環境下，純傳統電信公司、純電信公司的收入增長就大不相同了。增長將更多地出現在數據方面和長途領域、互聯網以及那些類型的服務中。

Marty Dropkin (ph): Okay. Thanks. And just one quick follow-up. Any updates on WorldCom or -- do you see any chance that you might recover some of that?

馬蒂·德羅普金 (ph)：好的。謝謝。並且只是一個快速跟進。關於 WorldCom 的任何更新，或者——您是否有機會恢復其中的一些內容？

You know, we still don't really know on WorldCom. On Global Crossing, it's looking fairly promising that we may collect 30% of the amount that we had -- were exposed for there. We would not collect it immediately, though; we'd collect it over a two-year period. And our plans for that would be basically just to more or less book that as revenue as we receive it in the event that, you know, they come out of Chapter 11 and then don't make it.

你知道，我們仍然不太了解 WorldCom。在 Global Crossing 上，看起來很有希望的是，我們可能會收集我們所擁有的金額的 30%——在那裡暴露的金額。不過，我們不會立即收集它；我們會在兩年內收集它。我們對此的計劃基本上只是或多或少地把它記為我們收到的收入，如果你知道，他們從第 11 章出來然後沒有成功。

Marty Dropkin (ph): Okay. Can you remind us how much you had booked against Global Crossing?

馬蒂·德羅普金 (ph)：好的。你能提醒我們你為 Global Crossing 訂了多少錢嗎？

Yeah. The amount we recover will be about $1.8 million, the 30%. So it was about $6 million -- a little less than $6 million.

是的。我們收回的金額約為 180 萬美元，即 30%。所以它大約是 600 萬美元——略低於 600 萬美元。

Marty Dropkin (ph): Thanks, Stewart.

Marty Dropkin (ph)：謝謝，斯圖爾特。

Your next question comes from Richard Grubman (ph) with Jeffries & Company.

您的下一個問題來自 Jeffries & Company 的 Richard Grubman (ph)。

Richard Grubman (ph): Thanks a lot. Continuing along on the forecast that you said, for the fourth quarter, it looks like if you run the analysis on -- just take your EBITDA forecast divided by your revenue forecast, you basically come about the same 51% margin that you had this quarter, and I just wanted to try and understand what you're assuming for synergies behind that, because I would imagine, having had the access lines complete then for a full quarter, you would probably have a little bit of margin expansion sequentially, or there are other things at play offsetting that? Thanks.

理查德·格魯布曼 (ph)：非常感謝。繼續你所說的預測，對於第四季度，如果你進行分析——只要將你的 EBITDA 預測除以你的收入預測，你基本上得到與本季度相同的 51% 的利潤率，我只是想嘗試了解您對這背後的協同效應的假設，因為我可以想像，在整個季度完成接入線之後，您可能會依次有一點利潤擴張，或者有是否有其他因素在起作用抵消了這一點？謝謝。

Well, we -- you know, we're hopeful we'll pick up a little more synergies in the fourth quarter. But we only have one month of the Missouri properties behind us and, you know, it takes a while to get comfortable that you've got -- that you're capturing all the expenses there and are flowing those through. So we would be hopeful that margins would be slightly higher in the fourth quarter. But if they are, it probably will not be much higher.

好吧，我們 - 你知道，我們希望我們能在第四季度獲得更多的協同效應。但我們只有一個月的密蘇里州房產，而且，你知道，你需要一段時間才能適應你所擁有的 - 你正在捕獲那裡的所有費用並正在流轉這些費用。因此，我們希望第四季度的利潤率會略高。但如果是，它可能不會高很多。

As (inaudible) mentioned, we do expect to continue to have some deterioration in access lines, which will hurt our basic local revenue as well as our access revenue and also, you know, continue to cycle through some of the declines in intrastate revenues that we're experiencing because of some of the changes in the PIU (ph) factors.

正如（聽不清）提到的，我們確實預計接入線路會繼續惡化，這將損害我們的基本本地收入和接入收入，而且，你知道，州內收入的一些下降將繼續循環由於 PIU (ph) 因素的一些變化，我們正在經歷。

Richard Grubman (ph): Could you just tell us how you see the synergies in the incremental revenue versus your previous targets, now that you've got a couple of months under your belt with the Verizon properties?

Richard Grubman (ph)：你能告訴我們你如何看待增量收入與你之前目標的協同效應嗎，既然你已經在 Verizon 的資產上工作了幾個月？

We still think our revenue targets are solid. I think we've given $45 million to $80 million (ph) as the range of incremental revenue we can drive, and we still believe we can drive those margins in this environment. In the near term, it may not accelerate as fast as in (ph) the past. With the economy like it is, we believe we have the opportunity to drive penetration of those revenues over time.

我們仍然認為我們的收入目標是可靠的。我認為我們已經給出了 4500 萬至 8000 萬美元（ph）作為我們可以推動的增量收入範圍，我們仍然相信我們可以在這種環境下推動這些利潤。在短期內，它可能不會像過去那樣加速。隨著經濟的發展，我們相信我們有機會隨著時間的推移推動這些收入的滲透。

With the properties that we bought from DT (ph) or Verizon in 2000, at the end of the first quarter, we were at a run rate of about $43.8 million incremental revenue that we've basically driven out of those properties on an annual basis from long distance, Internet, and other (inaudible) services and voicemail.

憑藉我們在 2000 年從 DT (ph) 或 Verizon 購買的房產，在第一季度末，我們的運行增長率約為 4380 萬美元，我們基本上每年都從這些房產中剔除來自長途、互聯網和其他（聽不清）服務和語音郵件。

Richard Grubman (ph): One final question, if I could. The CLEC, if I'm looking at what you say is your a year-over-year increase in the CLEC, it looks to me, from eyeballing it, that that implies a slight sequential decline in CLEC revenue - a) do I have that right, and b) what's the story there?

Richard Grubman (ph)：最後一個問題，如果可以的話。 CLEC，如果我看的是你所說的 CLEC 同比增長，在我看來，從目測來看，這意味著 CLEC 收入略有連續下降 - a) 我有嗎是的，b) 那裡的故事是什麼？

I'm not sure I understand as to what (ph) implies a slight decline in CLEC revenue. CLEC revenues this quarter, as they were in the second quarter, were helped out because of the acquisition of the KMC (ph) markets and facilities in Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana.

我不確定我是否理解 (ph) 意味著 CLEC 收入略有下降。由於收購了位於路易斯安那州什里夫波特和門羅的 KMC (ph) 市場和設施，CLEC 本季度的收入與第二季度一樣得到了幫助。

Richard Grubman (ph): The year-over-year increase was up, I believe, less than it was last quarter? I mean, in the 2Q versus 2Q. so I thought, when I looked at it, it may have declined sequentially.

理查德·格魯布曼 (ph)：我相信，同比增幅有所上升，低於上一季度？我的意思是，在第二季度與第二季度。所以我想，當我看著它時，它可能已經連續下降了。

Yeah. We'll have to look -- we'll have to look at it and get back to you. I don't really have all the details right now.

是的。我們將不得不看看 - 我們將不得不看看它並回复你。我現在真的不知道所有的細節。

Richard Grubman (ph): That's great. I'll follow up. Thanks.

理查德·格魯布曼 (ph)：太好了。我會跟進的。謝謝。

We have a follow-up question from Mark Hughes (ph) with SunTrust.

我們有來自 SunTrust 的 Mark Hughes (ph) 的後續問題。

Mark Hughes (ph): Just a quick question. Any thoughts on the video over DSL?

Mark Hughes (ph)：只是一個簡短的問題。對 DSL 上的視頻有什麼想法嗎？

In terms of video over DSL, we're still very excited about the longer-term opportunities -- in terms of short-term, though, with the environment the way they are and with the concern about longevity of certain vendors, we're probably not going to be pulling that trigger for some time out here. We do believe it's a good application, we believe that the RBOCs getting them to the table once they get into the game, which I believe they're looking at more in that direction and offering the video (inaudible) package.

就 DSL 視頻而言，我們仍然對長期機會感到非常興奮——但就短期而言，鑑於目前的環境以及對某些供應商壽命的擔憂，我們在這裡可能有一段時間不會扣動扳機。我們確實相信這是一個很好的應用程序，我們相信一旦他們進入遊戲，RBOC 就會讓他們上桌，我相信他們正在朝這個方向看更多，並提供視頻（聽不清）包。

There's some opportunities to further partner from an industry perspective. So we're continuing working it from a technology standpoint and an internal process standpoint, but don't be pulling the trigger here in a big commercial way in the next couple of quarters by any means.

從行業角度來看，有一些進一步合作的機會。因此，我們將繼續從技術的角度和內部流程的角度進行研究，但無論如何都不要在接下來的幾個季度以大規模的商業方式拉動這裡的扳機。

Mark Hughes (ph): Where the technology is today, is it fairly close, understanding that the vendors may not be around, but ...

Mark Hughes (ph)：今天的技術在哪裡，是否相當接近，了解供應商可能不在身邊，但是......

Voice over DSL, from our perspective in our market, the answer is yes. You know, I think there's probably a different answer if you're in a more urban area.

DSL 語音，從我們市場的角度來看，答案是肯定的。你知道，我認為如果你在更城市化的地區，可能會有不同的答案。

Mark Hughes (ph): Thank you.

馬克休斯（ph）：謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of our allotted time for question and answers. Mr. Post, are there any closing remarks?

女士們，先生們，我們已經到了分配的問答時間。波斯特先生，有什麼結束語嗎？

Yes. Thank you.

是的。謝謝你。

In light of the acquisitions, the wireless divestiture, and the integration activities during the quarter, along with the continued difficult economic environment, we are pleased that CenturyTel produced strong results during the quarter. We have completed the repositioning of CenturyTel into a pure-play rural (ph) local exchange company and have secured financing retirements for the foreseeable future. We're excited about the addition of the Alabama and Missouri properties to our operations, and we expect these properties to provide revenue growth opportunities for us, particularly in the data and long-distance services area.

鑑於本季度的收購、無線資產剝離和整合活動，以及持續艱難的經濟環境，我們很高興 CenturyTel 在本季度取得了強勁的業績。我們已經完成了 CenturyTel 的重新定位，成為一家純粹的農村 (ph) 本地交換公司，並在可預見的未來獲得了融資退休。我們很高興阿拉巴馬州和密蘇里州的資產加入我們的業務，我們希望這些資產能為我們提供收入增長機會，尤其是在數據和長途服務領域。

We are focused on driving cash flow growth in each of our businesses. We believe this will lead to increased shareholder value over time. We do believe that CenturyTel is well-positioned for the future as a pure-play rural wire line company.

我們專注於推動我們每項業務的現金流增長。我們相信，隨著時間的推移，這將導致股東價值增加。我們確實相信 CenturyTel 作為一家純粹的農村有線線路公司在未來處於有利地位。

Thank you, and we look forward to communicating with you in the weeks ahead.

謝謝，我們期待在未來幾週與您溝通。

This concludes today's CenturyTel conference call. You may all disconnect.

今天的 CenturyTel 電話會議到此結束。你們都可以斷開連接。