Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Lumen Technologies Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, November 2, 2022. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Mike McCormack, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎來到 Lumen Technologies 2022 年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，本次會議將於 2022 年 11 月 2 日星期三錄製。現在我很高興將會議移交給投資者關係高級副總裁 Mike McCormack。請繼續。

Thank you, Franz, and good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us to Lumen Technologies Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. Joining me on the call today are Jeff Storey, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Chris Stansbury, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，弗朗茨，大家下午好，感謝你加入 Lumen Technologies 2020 年第三季度財報電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是總裁兼首席執行官 Jeff Storey；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Chris Stansbury。

Before we begin, I need to call your attention to our safe harbor statement on Slide 2 of our third quarter 2022 presentation, which notes that this conference call may include forward-looking statements subject to certain risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements on Slide 2 and the risk factors in our SEC filings.

在開始之前，我需要提請您注意我們在 2022 年第三季度演示文稿幻燈片 2 中的安全港聲明，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。所有前瞻性陳述都應與幻燈片 2 中的警示性陳述以及我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中的風險因素一起考慮。

We will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures that can be found in our earnings press release. In addition, certain metrics discussed today exclude cost for special items as detailed in our earnings materials, all of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of the Lumen website.

我們將提及某些非公認會計原則財務指標，這些指標與我們的收益新聞稿中最具可比性的公認會計原則指標相一致。此外，今天討論的某些指標不包括我們收益材料中詳述的特殊項目的成本，所有這些都可以在 Lumen 網站的投資者關係部分找到。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給傑夫。

Thanks, Mike. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. As you know, this is my last call as Lumen's CEO. I want to begin today's call by welcoming Kate Johnson as our new CEO. Kate starts Monday. I think she is an exceptional leader with strong skills, commitment to customers in the direct pragmatic nature. Within Lumen, we are all excited to have her join the company and have high expectations of the great things she will accomplish.

謝謝，邁克。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。如您所知，這是我作為 Lumen 首席執行官的最後一次電話。我想通過歡迎凱特約翰遜成為我們的新任首席執行官來開始今天的電話會議。凱特星期一開始。我認為她是一位出色的領導者，具有強大的技能，以直接務實的態度對客戶作出承諾。在 Lumen，我們都很高興她能加入公司，並對她將完成的偉大事業寄予厚望。

These are obviously very dynamic times in the broader market, in our industry and for our company. And while we have not accomplished all that I would have liked, we have accomplished quite a lot, and I pass the baton to Kate in confidence that the foundation we have built, the dedicated team we have in place and the refreshed energy of new leadership puts Lumen in a great position to deliver on its objectives of driving growth and creating long-term shareholder value.

在更廣泛的市場、我們的行業和我們的公司中，這些顯然是非常充滿活力的時期。雖然我們還沒有完成我想要的一切，但我們已經完成了很多，我將接力棒傳給了凱特，相信我們已經建立的基礎、我們擁有的敬業團隊以及新領導層的煥然一新的活力使 Lumen 在實現其推動增長和創造長期股東價值的目標方面處於有利地位。

At the outset of this call, I want to say a word about the Lumen team, all of whom have been on a challenging, yet exciting journey during the 5 years since Lumen was formed following the acquisition of Level 3. In my final days as CEO, I want to tell you and our employees how extraordinarily proud I am with our team. I've seen them rise to every challenge with confidence, pride and commitment to each other and our customers.

在本次電話會議開始時，我想談一談 Lumen 團隊，在 Lumen 收購 Level 3 後的 5 年裡，他們都經歷了一段充滿挑戰但又令人興奮的旅程。在我最後的日子裡首席執行官，我想告訴您和我們的員工，我對我們的團隊感到非常自豪。我看到他們以自信、自豪和對彼此和我們客戶的承諾迎接每一個挑戰。

The first example is certainly their response to COVID. They attacked the challenges with tenacity and determination. Throughout the pandemic, we had 10,000 or so employees that continued to work from home, safely doing their jobs, and 10,000 more that were remote with just a few days' notice. Together and within the first few weeks, they turned out the many emergency augments our customers needed for their own remote workforces.

第一個例子當然是他們對 COVID 的反應。他們以堅韌和決心應對挑戰。在整個大流行期間，我們有 10,000 名左右的員工繼續在家工作，安全地完成工作，還有 10,000 名員工在幾天前就在遠程工作。在最初的幾週內，他們一起為我們的客戶提供了他們自己的遠程勞動力所需的許多緊急增強功能。

We all know we stayed in that environment much longer than we had hoped, but the Lumen employees performed throughout. As I think of all that they've accomplished over the last 5 years, it really is remarkable. I appreciate the excellent work they did integrating 2 large businesses and digitally transforming our company. Between the 2 efforts, we enhanced our customer experience and realized close to $1.7 billion in synergies and transformation savings.

我們都知道我們在那種環境中停留的時間比我們希望的要長得多，但 Lumen 員工自始至終都表現出色。當我想到他們在過去 5 年中取得的所有成就時，這確實是了不起的。我很欣賞他們為整合兩家大型企業和對我們公司進行數字化改造所做的出色工作。在這兩項努力之間，我們提升了客戶體驗，實現了近 17 億美元的協同效應和轉型節省。

This summer, they completed the $2.7 billion LATAM transaction. In October, they completed the $7.5 billion ILEC transaction, focusing our Mass Markets business on high growth and more densely clustered markets. And we announced today that we have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of our EMEA business to Colt for $1.8 billion.

今年夏天，他們完成了價值 27 億美元的 LATAM 交易。 10 月，他們完成了價值 75 億美元的 ILEC 交易，將我們的大眾市場業務重點放在高增長和更密集的市場上。我們今天宣布，我們已經達成一項獨家安排，以 18 億美元的價格將我們的 EMEA 業務出售給 Colt。

As the most recent example of our team's focus on our customers and their talent for delivering, I want to acknowledge their work in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. 98% of our high-speed Internet customers were back online and connected within 3 weeks. Our thoughts and efforts remain with our employees and customers who were affected by this event. That's all of great work.

作為我們團隊關注客戶及其交付才能的最新示例，我想感謝他們在伊恩颶風過後所做的工作。我們 98% 的高速互聯網客戶在 3 週內重新上線並連接。我們的想法和努力仍然與受此事件影響的員工和客戶同在。這都是偉大的工作。

I'd like to talk more specifically about our digital transformation and the foundation we laid for our business going forward. Digital transformation is not a destination, but it's a journey. I'm very pleased with the significant strides we've made in driving simplicity and automation into our business. We are now easier to do business with, have greater efficiency and are evolving the way our customers interact with and experience our capabilities.

我想更具體地談談我們的數字化轉型以及我們為業務發展奠定的基礎。數字化轉型不是目的地，而是一段旅程。我對我們在推動業務的簡單性和自動化方面取得的重大進展感到非常高興。我們現在更容易開展業務，效率更高，並且正在改變客戶與我們互動和體驗我們能力的方式。

Our customer experience is better than ever and continues to improve as demonstrated by our very high NPS and customer e-scores for both Quantum Fiber and the upper end of our enterprise customer base. Although not yet where we want to be, our results with our mid-market customers clearly show we're making progress there as well.

我們的客戶體驗比以往任何時候都好，並繼續改善，這體現在我們為 Quantum Fiber 和我們的企業客戶群的高端客戶提供的非常高的 NPS 和客戶電子分數上。雖然還沒有達到我們想要的目標，但我們與中端市場客戶的結果清楚地表明我們也在取得進展。

As I say to our team all the time, we have much more to do, and I'm incredibly proud of their accomplishments so far. Top line growth is our principal focus, but we cannot overstate the importance of these transformation efforts in delivering the experience our customers want and driving the efficiencies we need to grow the profitability of our business.

正如我一直對我們的團隊所說的那樣，我們還有很多事情要做，我為他們迄今為止所取得的成就感到無比自豪。營收增長是我們的主要關注點，但我們不能誇大這些轉型努力在提供客戶想要的體驗和推動我們提高業務盈利能力所需的效率方面的重要性。

First, we'll discuss the details of the third quarter. But before he does that, I want to spend some time offering my perspective on the 2 big announcements we made today. Modifications to our capital allocation policies and today's announcements regarding our EMEA business. We will reserve time after Chris' remarks for your questions.

首先，我們將討論第三季度的細節。但在他這樣做之前，我想花一些時間就我們今天發布的兩個重大公告發表我的看法。修改我們的資本分配政策和今天關於我們 EMEA 業務的公告。我們將在 Chris 發言後為您的問題預留時間。

First, the capital allocation discussion. Earlier today, we announced that we are eliminating our dividend and instituting an up to $1.5 billion 2-year share buyback program. I want to be clear that Kate, the Board and I are aligned on this action. This is obviously a big decision that we have carefully considered. The one we believe is the right long-term decision for our business. The benefits of reallocating capital from the dividend are significant for our growth plans, our balance sheet and our ability to use our free cash to unlock longer-term value through share repurchases.

一是資金配置討論。今天早些時候，我們宣布取消股息，並實施高達 15 億美元的 2 年期股票回購計劃。我想明確指出，凱特、董事會和我在這一行動上是一致的。這顯然是我們經過深思熟慮的重大決定。我們認為對我們的業務來說是正確的長期決策。從股息中重新分配資本的好處對我們的增長計劃、資產負債表以及我們利用自由現金通過股票回購釋放長期價值的能力而言意義重大。

First and foremost, our new policy should remove any questions you may have about the capacity to invest in the growth of our business. Growth has always been and will continue to be our key imperative, and this decision makes our ability to fund that growth clearer than ever.

首先，我們的新政策應該消除您對投資於我們業務增長的能力的任何疑問。增長一直是並將繼續是我們的關鍵當務之急，而這一決定使我們為這種增長提供資金的能力比以往任何時候都更加清晰。

You frequently asked questions about the dividend. And we've generally said the same thing in response to your questions. Returning value to shareholders is a key priority for Lumen, and we believe the dividend is an appropriate value delivery mechanism. But we've also said that our Board regularly reviews whether that approach remains aligned to the current circumstances.

您經常詢問有關股息的問題。在回答您的問題時，我們通常會說同樣的話。向股東回報價值是 Lumen 的重中之重，我們認為股息是一種適當的價值傳遞機制。但我們也說過，我們的董事會會定期審查該方法是否與當前情況保持一致。

When we announced the $7.5 billion ILEC transaction last year, we specifically said that the Board would assess our capital allocation policy in the wake of that transaction. That transaction completed on October 3, and today's announcement reflects the output of that assessment. We believe that the current market value of our shares dictates that the long-term value creation is better realized through share repurchases rather than the payment of a dividend.

當我們去年宣布 75 億美元的 ILEC 交易時，我們明確表示董事會將在該交易後評估我們的資本分配政策。該交易於 10 月 3 日完成，今天的公告反映了該評估的結果。我們認為，我們股票的當前市場價值決定了通過股票回購而不是支付股息來更好地實現長期價值創造。

As I said, we have authorized an up to $1.5 billion 2-year program, and believe it is more attractive to retire shares at today's prices than to pay dividends at today's yields. We have long supported the dividend as a good vehicle for value delivery, but at today's stock price, that is no longer the case. We expect to opportunistically repurchase shares over the life of the program.

正如我所說，我們已經批准了一項高達 15 億美元的兩年期計劃，並且相信以今天的價格退休股票比以今天的收益率支付股息更有吸引力。我們長期以來一直支持將股息作為價值交付的良好工具，但以今天的股價計算，情況已不再如此。我們希望在計劃的整個生命週期內機會性地回購股票。

Although our debt maturities over the next several years are very manageable, the elimination of our dividend also provides the company greater flexibility in what promises to be an increasingly unpredictable credit market. Over the last 5 years, we have significantly improved our balance sheet, eliminating more than $16 billion in debt and reducing annual cash interest expense by more than $1 billion and extended most maturities to 2026 and beyond. That said, we do not favor using long-term leverage as a principal source for growth capital.

儘管我們未來幾年的債務到期是非常可控的，但取消股息也為公司在日益不可預測的信貸市場提供了更大的靈活性。在過去 5 年中，我們顯著改善了資產負債表，消除了超過 160 億美元的債務，並將年度現金利息支出減少了超過 10 億美元，並將大多數到期日延長至 2026 年及以後。也就是說，我們不贊成使用長期槓桿作為增長資本的主要來源。

Again, this is a big decision on which we've spent a great deal of time, and that in current circumstances, we believe shores up the foundations of our growth, provides increased financial flexibility and is solidly in the best long-term interest of our company and its shareholders.

同樣，這是一個我們花費大量時間做出的重大決定，在當前情況下，我們相信可以鞏固我們增長的基礎，提供更大的財務靈活性，並且完全符合我們的最佳長期利益。我們公司及其股東。

Let me cover some of the details on the EMEA announcement. We announced today that we have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of our EMEA business to Colt for $1.8 billion. This represents a very attractive multiple of approximately 11x for Lumen's EMEA business, and would create additional value for our shareholders. Included in the sale are substantially all of Lumen's EMEA-based network assets and associated commercial contracts.

讓我介紹一下 EMEA 公告的一些細節。我們今天宣布，我們已經達成一項獨家安排，以 18 億美元的價格將我們的 EMEA 業務出售給 Colt。這對 Lumen 的 EMEA 業務來說是一個非常有吸引力的倍數，約為 11 倍，並將為我們的股東創造額外價值。此次出售包括 Lumen 基於 EMEA 的幾乎所有網絡資產和相關的商業合同。

Lumen and Colt are also entering into a long-term strategic partnership that will allow us to access each other's networks to serve enterprise customers requiring local connectivity in our respective markets.

Lumen 和 Colt 還建立了長期戰略合作夥伴關係，這將使我們能夠訪問彼此的網絡，從而為在各自市場中需要本地連接的企業客戶提供服務。

As we did with Cirion and Brightspeed, creating an exceptional partner is very important to us. I'm excited about this transaction and believe Colt will be the excellent partner we need to serve our customers moving forward. As was the case in the LATAM and the ILEC transactions, the EMEA announcement allows Lumen to receive attractive valuations for the assets and operations, focus our investments in our key growth markets and establish excellent partners in the areas where we've divested these businesses. We expect this proposed sales close as early as late 2023 pending customary regulatory approvals.

正如我們對 Cirion 和 Brightspeed 所做的那樣，創建一個出色的合作夥伴對我們來說非常重要。我對這筆交易感到興奮，並相信 Colt 將成為我們為客戶提供服務所需的優秀合作夥伴。與 LATAM 和 ILEC 交易的情況一樣，EMEA 公告使 Lumen 能夠獲得資產和運營的有吸引力的估值，將我們的投資集中在我們的關鍵增長市場，並在我們剝離這些業務的領域建立優秀的合作夥伴。我們預計這項提議的銷售最早將於 2023 年底完成，等待慣例監管批准。

A quick word on Brightspeed transaction, which closed earlier this quarter. I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the tremendous work, both teams did supporting the Brightspeed conversion. It would be difficult to overstate the heavy lift our folks and the Brightspeed team took on in transitioning these 20 states to Brightspeed's operating environment. It's a great example of our ability to do difficult and complex things. I want to wish Brightspeed the best as they begin their journey to deliver high-speed fiber services in these markets, which will benefit greatly from their investment and strong management team.

關於本季度早些時候完成的 Brightspeed 交易的簡要介紹。我想花一點時間來感謝他們所做的巨大工作，兩個團隊都支持 Brightspeed 轉換。我們的員工和 Brightspeed 團隊在將這 20 個州過渡到 Brightspeed 的運營環境中所承擔的重任，無論怎麼強調都不為過。這是我們有能力做困難和復雜事情的一個很好的例子。我希望 Brightspeed 在開始在這些市場提供高速光纖服務的旅程中一切順利，這將極大地受益於他們的投資和強大的管理團隊。

Before I turn it over to Chris for some details on the quarter, I want to take a minute to share my view of how Lumen is positioned as we transition to Kate's leadership. The coming together of CenturyLink and Level 3 marked a similar moment in our company's history, creating one of the world's largest, most advanced and critical networks.

在將本季度的一些細節交給 Chris 之前，我想花一點時間分享我對 Lumen 在我們過渡到 Kate 領導層時的定位的看法。 CenturyLink 和 Level 3 的合併標誌著我們公司歷史上的一個類似時刻，創建了世界上最大、最先進和最關鍵的網絡之一。

At Lumen, we have built a platform that allows us to meet the networking and communications needs of the most sophisticated enterprise customers. We have enhanced the power of our point network service offerings with a range of cloud, security and collaboration solutions. And more recently, have invested, upgrade and transformed our central offices into many data centers, further enabling what everyone now knows as the Lumen Edge Cloud.

在 Lumen，我們建立了一個平台，使我們能夠滿足最複雜的企業客戶的網絡和通信需求。我們通過一系列雲、安全和協作解決方案增強了我們的點網絡服務產品的功能。最近，我們投資、升級並將我們的中央辦公室轉變為許多數據中心，進一步實現了現在眾所周知的 Lumen Edge Cloud。

We have a powerful and robust fiber network complemented with an increasingly deep set of adjacent capabilities like orchestration, interacting with our customers' businesses via machine-to-machine applications rather than phone calls or e-mails. The market for these capabilities is still in the early stages of growth that I believe the foundation to Lumen to be a market leader has been laid and the opportunity for growth is significant.

我們擁有強大而穩健的光纖網絡，並輔以越來越豐富的相鄰功能，例如編排，通過機器對機器應用程序而不是電話或電子郵件與客戶的業務進行交互。這些功能的市場仍處於增長的早期階段，我相信 Lumen 成為市場領導者的基礎已經奠定，增長機會很大。

On the Mass Markets side, we have ramped our investment in the Quantum Fiber footprint and our all-digital service delivery platform. We've doubled the number of new enablements per quarter over last year. So let me be clear, we are not yet at the pace of build we expect or want. We will continue to ramp our enablements and overcome the supply chain, labor and inflationary constraints we've seen.

在大眾市場方面，我們加大了對 Quantum Fiber 足跡和全數字服務交付平台的投資。與去年相比，我們每季度的新啟用數量翻了一番。所以讓我明確一點，我們還沒有達到我們期望或想要的構建速度。我們將繼續提升我們的能力，並克服我們已經看到的供應鏈、勞動力和通貨膨脹限制。

We have strong conviction with focusing on growing markets where we can create dense urban clusters, and supporting all of the communities within those clusters is the best approach to maximize our investments and significantly expand the reach of our Quantum Fiber offering.

我們堅信專注於發展中的市場，我們可以在這些市場中創建密集的城市集群，支持這些集群內的所有社區是最大化我們的投資和顯著擴大我們的量子光纖產品範圍的最佳方法。

As Chris will share, we are very focused on driving customer penetration over that extended footprint. With divestitures of the ILEC business in 20 states, serving mostly rural customers, the divestiture of the LATAM business, today's EMEA announcement and the divestiture of our legacy colo business, we've been consistently optimizing our assets to focus on the opportunities in which we have the ability to invest, grow and be a market leader.

正如 Chris 將分享的那樣，我們非常專注於在擴展的足跡上推動客戶滲透。通過剝離 20 個州的 ILEC 業務（主要服務於農村客戶）、剝離 LATAM 業務、今天的 EMEA 公告以及剝離我們的傳統 colo 業務，我們一直在優化我們的資產，專注於我們的機會具備投資、成長和成為市場領導者的能力。

We expect to continue to optimize, focus and align our asset base with our growth opportunities. These value-accretive transactions, together with the capital allocation changes we are making today, provides the company significant flexibility to invest in new growth opportunities, maintain a strong balance sheet and execute on our share repurchase program.

我們預計將繼續優化、關注和調整我們的資產基礎與我們的增長機會。這些增值交易，連同我們今天所做的資本配置變化，為公司投資新的增長機會、保持強勁的資產負債表和執行我們的股票回購計劃提供了極大的靈活性。

We are at a turning point in Lumen's history, where data and AI will transform society and business. I believe Lumen is well positioned for success in a world of such rapidly evolving technology. With some of the world's strongest assets, operations and human capital, all delivered as a platform for the needs of the modern business and for how today's consumers live and work with connectivity. I'm proud of having led the Lumen team during the integration and transformation of our company. I'm obviously not, but I feel like one of the founders of the company. That's how the team has approached the past 5 years. We've been building a new company, not merely making incremental improvements to be old.

我們正處於 Lumen 歷史的轉折點，數據和人工智能將改變社會和商業。我相信 Lumen 在技術如此迅速發展的世界中處於成功的位置。擁有一些世界上最強大的資產、運營和人力資本，所有這些都作為一個平台提供，以滿足現代企業的需求以及當今消費者如何通過連接生活和工作。我很自豪能夠在我們公司的整合和轉型過程中領導 Lumen 團隊。我顯然不是，但我感覺自己是公司的創始人之一。這就是團隊在過去 5 年中的做法。我們一直在建立一家新公司，而不僅僅是對老公司進行漸進式改進。

I'm very excited to welcome Kate, and believe she is the right person to take Lumen to the next level and continue our path toward top line and bottom line growth. Now as a shareholder like all of with you, I look forward to Lumen's continued success.

我很高興歡迎凱特，相信她是帶領 Lumen 更上一層樓並繼續我們實現頂線和底線增長的合適人選。現在作為和大家一樣的股東，我期待著流明的持續成功。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Chris to discuss our third quarter results in more detail. Chris?

有了這個，我將把電話轉給克里斯，以更詳細地討論我們的第三季度業績。克里斯？

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. I want to start by recognizing Jeff for the significant contributions he has made to Lumen and its predecessor companies.

謝謝你，傑夫，大家下午好。我想首先感謝 Jeff 為 Lumen 及其前身公司做出的重大貢獻。

As Jeff mentioned, since the Level 3 merger in 2017, we have reduced debt by approximately $16 billion, sold our LATAM business for about 9x EBITDA, sold our ILEC business for approximately 5.5x EBITDA and announced today that we have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of our EMEA business to Colt for $1.8 billion. This represents a very attractive multiple of approximately 11x EBITDA, and most importantly, Jeff has positioned our company well as we drive to profitable revenue growth. Jeff, I know I speak for the entire Lumen family when I say, thank you.

正如 Jeff 所說，自 2017 年第三級合併以來，我們已減少約 160 億美元的債務，以約 9 倍 EBITDA 的價格出售我們的 LATAM 業務，以約 5.5 倍 EBITDA 的價格出售我們的 ILEC 業務，今天宣布我們已達成獨家安排以 18 億美元的價格將我們的 EMEA 業務出售給 Colt。這代表了大約 11 倍 EBITDA 的非常有吸引力的倍數，最重要的是，傑夫在我們推動盈利收入增長的過程中很好地定位了我們的公司。傑夫，當我說謝謝時，我知道我代表整個 Lumen 家族發言。

This year marks one of great progress in transforming our business. During 2022, we completed both the LATAM and our much larger ILEC divestiture. As our teams honored the foundation created and experiences learned over the years under Jeff's leadership, we are excited to have Kate join the team in just a few days. She brings tremendous leadership skills and deep technology experiences to help drive Lumen on the next step of our journey.

今年是我們業務轉型取得重大進展的一年。 2022 年，我們完成了 LATAM 和我們更大的 ILEC 剝離。由於我們的團隊對在 Jeff 的領導下建立的基金會和多年積累的經驗表示敬意，我們很高興在幾天之內讓 Kate 加入團隊。她帶來了巨大的領導技能和深厚的技術經驗，幫助推動 Lumen 邁向下一步。

As you think about portfolio optimization, it is an ongoing process that the Board evaluates regularly. Our goal is to maximize shareholder value, highlighted by the EMEA announcement today, and we will continue to evaluate future portfolio-related opportunities. As you know, Kate joins us on Monday, and she will develop her thoughts related to any needs within our portfolio of products and assets, as well as any products or assets that she may deem nonstrategic.

當您考慮投資組合優化時，這是一個董事會定期評估的持續過程。我們的目標是最大化股東價值，今天 EMEA 公告強調了這一點，我們將繼續評估未來與投資組合相關的機會。如您所知，Kate 將於週一加入我們，她將針對我們的產品和資產組合中的任何需求，以及她可能認為非戰略性的任何產品或資產，提出她的想法。

Moving on to reporting, we're sharing a few new items this quarter, including a view of direct margin by our new business product reporting, as well as pro forma historical financials, excluding the impacts from our divested LATAM business and CAF II to help you align your models. The size and scope of the recently closed ILEC divestiture dictates that we will provide a more wholesome view of our pro forma financials when we report our fourth quarter results.

繼續報告，我們將在本季度分享一些新項目，包括我們的新業務產品報告的直接利潤率視圖，以及備考歷史財務數據，不包括我們剝離的 LATAM 業務和 CAF II 的影響，以提供幫助你對齊你的模型。最近結束的 ILEC 資產剝離的規模和範圍決定了我們將在報告第四季度業績時對我們的備考財務狀況提供更全面的看法。

Let me move on to discuss some macro thoughts, as well as some 2022 closed deal-related model impacts. We continue to face macro headwinds, and we are actively working to address these challenges through cost reduction and other initiatives. Supply chains are strained with labor as the key headwind, and we are all facing the impacts of inflation. That said, we expect to end the year towards the low end of our adjusted EBITDA guidance range.

讓我繼續討論一些宏觀想法，以及一些與 2022 年完成的交易相關的模型影響。我們繼續面臨宏觀逆風，我們正在積極努力通過降低成本和其他舉措來應對這些挑戰。供應鏈緊張，勞動力是主要逆風，我們都面臨著通貨膨脹的影響。也就是說，我們預計今年年底將接近調整後 EBITDA 指導範圍的低端。

Recall that we slowed some of our transformation efforts as we stood up Cirion and Brightspeed. But with those transactions now closed, we will reenergize our efforts in digital transformation. We estimate that our full year 2022 EBITDA will be impacted by approximately $100 million related to inflationary pressures.

回想一下，當我們支持 Cirion 和 Brightspeed 時，我們放慢了一些轉型努力。但隨著這些交易現已完成，我們將重新激發我們在數字化轉型方面的努力。我們估計，我們 2022 年全年的 EBITDA 將受到與通脹壓力相關的約 1 億美元的影響。

Before discussing third quarter results, I would like to provide a more calibrated jump-off point as we near the close of 2022. If you combine the divested LATAM business, the ILEC 20-state business and the CAF II benefits we received in 2022, which won't recur in 2023, the total EBITDA impact would be approximately $1.4 billion. We will update you in future quarters if there are any additional CAF II-related reserve releases, and we will provide more detailed 2023 guidance when we report our fourth quarter results.

在討論第三季度業績之前，我想在我們接近 2022 年結束時提供一個更加校準的起點。如果將剝離的 LATAM 業務、ILEC 20 州業務和我們在 2022 年獲得的 CAF II 收益結合起來，這種情況在 2023 年不會再次發生，對 EBITDA 的總影響將約為 14 億美元。如果有任何額外的 CAF II 相關儲備釋放，我們將在未來幾個季度向您更新，我們將在報告第四季度業績時提供更詳細的 2023 年指導。

With that, I will move to the financial summary of our third quarter. We are very pleased to have closed both the LATAM divestiture in the third quarter and the ILEC divestiture on October 3. These divestitures improved our revenue mix, our strategic focus, and we received approximately $7 billion of net discretionary cash proceeds. As you know, we've been active in the market tendering for debt and expect a reduction in our overall debt as we close the year. Also recall that we conveyed approximately $1.5 billion of debt to Brightspeed upon closing the ILEC transaction, and that is in addition to the net cash proceeds I just mentioned.

有了這個，我將轉到我們第三季度的財務摘要。我們很高興在第三季度完成了 LATAM 的剝離和 10 月 3 日的 ILEC 剝離。這些剝離改善了我們的收入組合和戰略重點，我們收到了大約 70 億美元的可自由支配現金淨收益。如您所知，我們一直在積極參與債務市場招標，並預計隨著我們年底的結束，我們的整體債務會減少。還記得我們在完成 ILEC 交易時向 Brightspeed 轉移了大約 15 億美元的債務，這是我剛才提到的淨現金收益之外的。

Also be aware that these transactions caused a taxable event and we expect to pay approximately $900 million to $1 billion of tax during the first half of 2023 related to these transactions. This tax impact will be included in the overall cash tax guidance for 2023, which we expect to share with you when we report our fourth quarter results.

另請注意，這些交易導致了應稅事件，我們預計在 2023 年上半年支付與這些交易相關的約 9 億至 10 億美元的稅款。這種稅收影響將包含在 2023 年的整體現金稅收指導中，我們希望在報告第四季度業績時與您分享。

As we review our third quarter results, I want to highlight that in our trending schedule, as I mentioned, we have provided our pro forma results, excluding the financial impact of the LATAM divestiture, as well as the historic benefits of CAF II support. Using that as a basis and in constant currency and adjusting for the sale of our correctional facilities business in the fourth quarter of 2021, overall business revenue declined approximately 4.3% year-over-year and 2% sequentially. Mass Markets when adjusting for CAF II declined 6.6% year-over-year and 1.9% sequentially.

在我們回顧第三季度業績時，我想在我們的趨勢時間表中強調，正如我所提到的，我們提供了我們的備考結果，不包括 LATAM 剝離的財務影響，以及 CAF II 支持的歷史收益。以此為基礎，以不變貨幣計算，並針對 2021 年第四季度懲教設施業務的出售進行調整，整體業務收入同比下降約 4.3%，環比下降 2%。調整 CAF II 後的大眾市場同比下降 6.6%，環比下降 1.9%。

We reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.688 billion in the third quarter and generated a 38.5% margin. Recall that year-over-year comparisons will continue to be impacted through first quarter of 2023 by the CAF II program that ended in 2021 and the subsequent $59 million CAF II reserve release in the first quarter of this year.

我們報告第三季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 16.88 億美元，利潤率為 38.5%。回想一下，到 2023 年第一季度，2021 年結束的 CAF II 計劃以及隨後在今年第一季度釋放的 5900 萬美元 CAF II 儲備金將繼續影響同比比較。

On a reported basis, revenue was down 10.2% year-over-year. When adjusting for the items I mentioned earlier, revenue declined 5%. Our free cash flow was $620 million for the third quarter. Our dividend paid during the quarter totaled $255 million. As Jeff discussed, our Board has decided to eliminate our dividend, so there will not be a dividend paid during the fourth quarter. Additionally, we have reduced pro forma net debt by approximately $11 billion year-to-date and gross debt by about $16 billion over the past 5 years, reducing our annual cash interest expense by approximately $1 billion.

根據報告，收入同比下降 10.2%。在調整我之前提到的項目時，收入下降了 5%。我們第三季度的自由現金流為 6.2 億美元。我們在本季度支付的股息總額為 2.55 億美元。正如傑夫所討論的，我們的董事會已決定取消我們的股息，因此第四季度將不會支付股息。此外，我們今年迄今已將備考淨債務減少了約 110 億美元，過去 5 年總債務減少了約 160 億美元，將我們的年度現金利息支出減少了約 10 億美元。

Moving on to a more detailed look at revenue, I will discuss our results on a pro forma basis. Our third quarter total reported revenue declined 5.5% on a year-over-year basis to $4.328 billion. As I mentioned earlier, in constant currency and adjusting for the sale of our correctional facilities business, year-over-year revenue declined 5%.

繼續更詳細地了解收入，我將在備考基礎上討論我們的結果。我們第三季度報告的總收入同比下降 5.5% 至 43.28 億美元。正如我之前提到的，按固定匯率計算並根據我們的懲教設施業務的出售進行調整，收入同比下降 5%。

Within our 2 key segments, Business revenue declined 5.1% year-over-year to $3.155 billion. On an adjusted basis, Business revenue declined 4.3% year-over-year. Mass Markets revenue declined 6.6% year-over-year to $1.173 billion. Wholesale revenue grew 1% year-over-year. This is a channel that will likely decline over time and one we manage for cash.

在我們的兩個關鍵部門中，業務收入同比下降 5.1% 至 31.55 億美元。經調整後，業務收入同比下降 4.3%。大眾市場收入同比下降 6.6% 至 11.73 億美元。批發收入同比增長 1%。這是一個可能會隨著時間的推移而下降的渠道，也是我們為現金管理的渠道。

Within our Enterprise Channels, which is our Business segment excluding Wholesale, revenue declined 7.4% year-over-year. On an adjusted basis, Enterprise Channels revenue declined 6.3% year-over-year. Our exposure to legacy voice and other revenue continues to improve, and we expect the closing of the 20-state ILEC divestiture last month to further improve our Enterprise revenue mix going forward.

在我們的企業渠道中，我們的業務部門不包括批發，收入同比下降 7.4%。經調整後，企業渠道收入同比下降 6.3%。我們對傳統語音和其他收入的敞口繼續改善，我們預計上個月結束 20 個州的 ILEC 剝離將進一步改善我們未來的企業收入組合。

IGAM revenue declined 6.2% year-over-year. FX was a $17 million headwind year-over-year. In constant currency, revenue was down 4.2%. IGAM revenue was negatively impacted year-over-year by onetime revenue in the prior year related to a major broadcast event.

IGAM 收入同比下降 6.2%。 FX 同比下降了 1700 萬美元。按固定匯率計算，收入下降 4.2%。 IGAM 收入同比受到與重大廣播活動相關的一次性收入的負面影響。

Large enterprise revenue declined 10.4% year-over-year. On an adjusted basis, large enterprise declined 9.4%. Remember that large enterprise includes our public sector business, and results in this channel were impacted by a contract ending at the beginning of the third quarter. Excluding public sector, large enterprise revenue trends improved both year-over-year and sequentially, and was the strongest performer within our Enterprise Channels, with the year-over-year rate of decline improving 100 basis points since first quarter of 2022.

大型企業收入同比下降 10.4%。經調整後，大型企業下降9.4%。請記住，大型企業包括我們的公共部門業務，並且此渠道的結果受到第三季度初結束的合同的影響。不包括公共部門，大型企業收入趨勢同比和環比都有所改善，並且是我們企業渠道中表現最強勁的，自 2022 年第一季度以來同比下降率提高了 100 個基點。

Within public sector, we've had significant wins over the last few quarters, including yesterday's announced contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. As a reminder, once these contracts are won, the revenue is long-lasting, but ramp slowly as we convert existing services to the Lumen network.

在公共部門，我們在過去幾個季度取得了重大勝利，包括昨天宣布與美國國防部簽訂的合同。提醒一下，一旦贏得這些合同，收入是持久的，但隨著我們將現有服務轉換為 Lumen 網絡，收入增長緩慢。

As you model our fourth quarter for large enterprise, be aware that it will be the final quarter impacted by year-over-year comparability related to our divested correctional facilities business. And for reference, the revenue benefit we received in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $3 million.

當您為大型企業建模第四季度時，請注意，這將是受與我們剝離的懲教設施業務相關的同比可比性影響的最後一個季度。作為參考，我們在 2021 年第四季度獲得的收入收益為 300 萬美元。

Mid-market enterprise declined 4.6% year-over-year, a significant 360 basis points improvement since first quarter of 2022. As we discussed, we believe our product set serves this segment well and we expect growth over the long term. We are seeing benefits in this channel, especially on customer retention, and our recently launched Lumen Marketplace provides an opportunity for further improvement.

中型市場企業同比下降 4.6%，自 2022 年第一季度以來顯著提高了 360 個基點。正如我們所討論的，我們相信我們的產品組合很好地服務於這一細分市場，我們預計長期增長。我們在這個渠道中看到了好處，特別是在客戶保留方面，我們最近推出的 Lumen Marketplace 提供了進一步改進的機會。

As I move to our new business product life cycle reporting, I will reference percentage changes on a pro forma adjusted basis to normalize for the impacts of LATAM, foreign exchange and the sale of our correctional facilities business to provide a better view of our underlying performance.

當我轉向我們的新業務產品生命週期報告時，我將參考經過備考調整後的百分比變化，以使 LATAM、外彙和出售我們的懲教設施業務的影響正常化，以便更好地了解我們的基本業績.

Grow Products revenue grew 1.6% year-over-year in the third quarter. We saw strength in IP and cloud services. Grow now represents approximately 34% of our business segment, and we carried an approximately 84% direct margin this quarter. Nurture Products revenue declined 8.4% year-over-year in the third quarter. The decline was driven by VPN and Ethernet. Nurture now represents about 31% of our business segment and carry an approximate 70% direct margin this quarter.

第三季度成長產品收入同比增長 1.6%。我們看到了 IP 和雲服務的優勢。增長現在約占我們業務部門的 34%，本季度我們的直接利潤率約為 84%。第三季度 Nurture Products 收入同比下降 8.4%。下降是由 VPN 和以太網推動的。培育現在約占我們業務部門的 31%，本季度的直接利潤率約為 70%。

Harvest Products revenue declined 6.4% year-over-year in the third quarter. Price increases had a positive impact on our decline rate. Our recently formed Harvest team is working hard to manage to a lower rate of decline within this product set, which is helping to not only extend the life of these products, but also to manage customers back to Grow and Nurture products. Recall that Harvest is an important part of our business and generates cash to fuel our growth initiatives. Harvest now represents approximately 29% of our business segment and carried an approximate 81% direct margin this quarter.

第三季度 Harvest Products 收入同比下降 6.4%。價格上漲對我們的下降率產生了積極影響。我們最近成立的 Harvest 團隊正在努力降低該產品系列的下降率，這不僅有助於延長這些產品的使用壽命，而且還有助於管理客戶重新使用 Grow and Nurture 產品。回想一下，Harvest 是我們業務的重要組成部分，它產生現金來推動我們的增長計劃。 Harvest 現在約占我們業務部門的 29%，本季度的直接利潤率約為 81%。

Other Products revenue declined 4.7% year-over-year in the third quarter. Our Other Products revenue tends to experience fluctuations due to the nonrecurring nature of these products. As you look at this product life cycle reporting, keep in mind that trends will fluctuate as we continue to manage products through their life cycles and our Harvest team digs in with opportunities to drive strong cash flow invest in our growth products.

第三季度其他產品收入同比下降 4.7%。由於這些產品的非經常性性質，我們的其他產品收入往往會出現波動。當您查看此產品生命週期報告時，請記住，隨著我們繼續在產品生命週期內管理產品以及我們的 Harvest 團隊挖掘機會，推動強勁的現金流投資於我們的增長產品，趨勢將會波動。

Moving on to Mass Markets. As I mentioned earlier, total Mass Markets revenue declined 6.6% year-over-year and 1.9% sequentially. Our Mass Markets' Fiber Broadband revenue within our 16-state RemainCo footprint grew by approximately 18% year-over-year, and in the third quarter, represented approximately 18% of Mass Markets revenue.

轉向大眾市場。正如我之前提到的，大眾市場總收入同比下降 6.6%，環比下降 1.9%。我們在 16 個州的 RemainCo 足跡中的大眾市場光纖寬帶收入同比增長約 18%，第三季度約佔大眾市場收入的 18%。

Also note, with the close of our ILEC sale, our exposure to legacy voice and other services revenue has improved by nearly 400 basis points year-over-year. During the quarter, total enablements were approximately 210,000, with approximately 195,000 of those enabled locations in our 16 routine states, bringing the total enabled locations in the retained states to 3 million as of September 30 with approximately 290,000 total locations enabled in the SellCo footprint.

另請注意，隨著我們 ILEC 銷售的結束，我們對傳統語音和其他服務收入的敞口同比增加了近 400 個基點。在本季度，總啟用數約為 210,000，其中大約 195,000 個啟用位置位於我們的 16 個常規州，截至 9 月 30 日，保留各州啟用的位置總數達到 300 萬，SellCo 足跡中啟用的位置總數約為 290,000。

Enabling locations is hard work and the permitting process as well as third-party labor supply have been a significant headwind for us this year. While we are not satisfied with our enablement pacing year-to-date, it is important to note that we stood up a new factory internally as we pivoted from micro-targeting to a market-based approach. This includes an end-to-end process from planning to engineering, to construction and finally enablement. We have learned a lot through this process and those lessons will serve us well as we continue to work on Quantum built.

啟用地點是一項艱鉅的工作，今年的許可程序以及第三方勞動力供應對我們來說是一個重大不利因素。雖然我們對年初至今的啟用步伐並不滿意，但重要的是要注意，當我們從微觀定位轉向基於市場的方法時，我們在內部建立了一家新工廠。這包括從規劃到工程、到施工和最終啟用的端到端流程。我們通過這個過程學到了很多東西，這些經驗教訓將對我們有益，因為我們將繼續致力於構建 Quantum。

During the quarter, we added 31,000 Quantum Fiber customers on a reported basis, an improvement from last quarter as we continue our pivot to a market-based approach and adjust our go-to-market strategy. This brings our total Quantum Fiber subscribers to 889,000, with 813,000 of the subscribers within the 16 retained states.

在本季度，我們增加了 31,000 家 Quantum Fiber 客戶，比上一季度有所改善，因為我們繼續轉向以市場為基礎的方法並調整我們的上市戰略。這使我們的量子光纖用戶總數達到 889,000 名，其中 813,000 名用戶在 16 個保留州內。

ARPU in the retained states was approximately $60, and we see ARPU expansion opportunities with the adoption of in-home WiFi solutions, upspeeding, enterprise-grade security solutions and our recently launched Multi-Gig offerings, delivering up to 8-gig symmetric services with the plant capable of further cost-effective speed enhancements going forward.

保留州的 ARPU 約為 60 美元，通過採用家庭 WiFi 解決方案、加速、企業級安全解決方案以及我們最近推出的 Multi-Gig 產品，我們看到了 ARPU 擴展機會，提供高達 8-gig 的對稱服務該工廠能夠在未來進一步提高成本效益的速度。

As of September 30, our penetration of legacy copper broadband subscribers in our retained 16 states was 12%, highlighting the significant share-taking opportunity as we accelerate the Quantum Fiber build. Within the same footprint, our Quantum Fiber penetration stood at approximately 27%. But as we expand our footprint, we expect penetration to fall as we expand our addressable market at a higher rate than new customers are added.

截至 9 月 30 日，我們在保留的 16 個州對傳統銅寬帶用戶的滲透率為 12%，這凸顯了我們加快 Quantum Fiber 建設過程中的重大分享機會。在相同的佔地面積內，我們的量子光纖滲透率約為 27%。但是，隨著我們擴大我們的足跡，我們預計滲透率會下降，因為我們以高於新客戶增加的速度擴大我們的目標市場。

This is just the math of an expanding business. Our Quantum Fiber 2020 vintage penetration was approximately 27% at the 18-month mark, and we will provide an update next quarter with our 24-month penetration rate. We believe this penetration ramps strongly supports our expectations for longer-term penetration gains.

這只是擴展業務的數學計算。在 18 個月大關時，我們的 Quantum Fiber 2020 老式滲透率約為 27%，我們將在下個季度提供我們 24 個月滲透率的更新。我們認為，這種滲透率的提升有力地支持了我們對長期滲透率增長的預期。

Our Quantum Fiber NPS score within RemainCo was greater than positive 50 again this quarter, an indication of the quality, value and superior service that Quantum Fiber delivers. Quantum Fiber is an all-digital, multi-gig capable, prepaid product that features simple pricing with no contracts, helping reduce call center volumes and supporting our very strong NPS scores. We continue to monitor how the economic environment is impacting our customers, and we have not observed any discernible changes in customer payment patterns.

本季度，我們在 RemainCo 中的 Quantum Fiber NPS 得分再次高於 50，這表明 Quantum Fiber 提供的質量、價值和卓越服務。 Quantum Fiber 是一款全數字、多千兆預付費產品，具有簡單定價且無需合同的特點，有助於減少呼叫中心的工作量並支持我們非常強大的 NPS 分數。我們繼續監控經濟環境如何影響我們的客戶，並且我們沒有觀察到客戶支付模式的任何明顯變化。

Turning to adjusted EBITDA. For the third quarter of 2022, pro forma adjusted EBITDA was $1.659 billion compared to $1.872 billion in the year ago quarter. As I mentioned earlier, we are seeing cost pressures from inflation in addition to our OpEx investments to drive growth. We see more opportunity for transformation cost savings now that we have closed both the LATAM and ILEC divestitures, and we return resources to our transformation initiatives.

轉向調整後的 EBITDA。 2022 年第三季度，經備考調整後的 EBITDA 為 16.59 億美元，而去年同期為 18.72 億美元。正如我之前提到的，除了我們為推動增長而進行的運營支出投資外，我們還看到了通貨膨脹帶來的成本壓力。既然我們已經完成了 LATAM 和 ILEC 的剝離，我們看到了更多節省轉型成本的機會，並且我們將資源返還給我們的轉型計劃。

Special items this quarter totaled a benefit of $527 million and were related primarily to a $593 million gain on the sale of the Latin America business. On a pro forma basis, our third quarter 2022 margin of 38.3% when compared to 40.9% in the year ago period. Capital expenditures for the third quarter of 2022 were $845 million. In the third quarter of 2022, the company generated free cash flow of $620 million.

本季度特殊項目的收益總額為 5.27 億美元，主要與出售拉丁美洲業務的 5.93 億美元收益有關。在備考基礎上，我們 2022 年第三季度的利潤率為 38.3%，而去年同期為 40.9%。 2022 年第三季度的資本支出為 8.45 億美元。 2022年第三季度，公司產生了6.2億美元的自由現金流。

Moving on to our 2022 financial outlook. We are updating our guidance for several metrics. We now expect capital expenditures in the range of $3 billion to $3.2 billion for the full year 2022. As a result, we are raising our free cash flow outlook to $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion for the full year 2022. We are also adjusting our expectation for stock-based compensation expenses and now expect approximately $100 million for the full year 2022.

繼續我們的 2022 年財務展望。我們正在更新幾個指標的指南。我們現在預計 2022 年全年的資本支出在 30 億至 32 億美元之間。因此，我們將 2022 年全年的自由現金流預期提高至 22 億至 24 億美元。我們也在調整我們的預期用於基於股票的補償費用，現在預計 2022 年全年約為 1 億美元。

As mentioned previously, the Board has decided to eliminate our dividend and has simultaneously authorized an up to $1.5 billion, 2-year share repurchase plan. In closing, our team is managing through macro headwinds well. We will miss Jeff's leadership, but look forward to Kate joining us on Monday as we continue our transformative journey. Our team remains focused on executing on our growth initiatives to drive long-term profitable revenue growth.

如前所述，董事會已決定取消我們的股息，並同時批准了一項高達 15 億美元的 2 年期股票回購計劃。最後，我們的團隊很好地應對了宏觀逆風。我們會懷念傑夫的領導，但期待凱特週一加入我們，繼續我們的變革之旅。我們的團隊仍然專注於執行我們的增長計劃，以推動長期盈利性收入增長。

With that, we are ready for your questions.

有了這個，我們準備好回答你的問題了。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will be from the line of Philip Cusick with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Philip Cusick。

And Jeff, listen, it's been a long time across a couple of companies, and I want to thank you for all your help for the years. It's been great. I thought if we could just talk a little bit about CapEx and the fiber build and what's holding this back a little bit. And there's been other companies that have talked about building out of region and targeted yield a little bit in Arizona. What's your potential to accelerate from here? And do you feel any need to?

傑夫，聽著，這對幾家公司已經很長時間了，我要感謝你多年來的所有幫助。太棒了。我想如果我們能談談資本支出和光纖構建，以及是什麼阻礙了這一點。還有其他公司談到了在亞利桑那州以外地區建設和目標產量。你從這裡加速的潛力是什麼？你覺得有必要嗎？

And then second, just sort of a follow-up. Chris, does it make sense to give, for those of us who aren't very good at math, a pretty specific range on what your EBITDA guidance implies for the fourth quarter, just to make sure everybody is on the same page?

然後第二個，只是一種跟進。克里斯，對於我們這些不擅長數學的人來說，給出一個非常具體的範圍關於你的 EBITDA 指導對第四季度的含義是否有意義，只是為了確保每個人都在同一頁上？

Phil, I'll take the first one, and then Chris can add to it, but you can take the second question. If you look at our fiber enablements, we're not doing it as fast as we want to do. So let me lead with that. We're not doing it as fast as we want to be deploying new enablements. There are a lot of things that go into that supply chain constraints, labor shortages, inflationary pressures and those types of things. And we'll continue to work through those. So I'm not terribly worried about it, but we'll work through them.

菲爾，我會回答第一個問題，然後克里斯可以補充，但你可以回答第二個問題。如果您查看我們的光纖支持，我們的速度並沒有我們想要的那麼快。所以讓我帶頭。我們並沒有像我們想要部署新的支持那樣快。供應鏈限制、勞動力短缺、通貨膨脹壓力和這些類型的事情有很多。我們將繼續努力解決這些問題。所以我並不十分擔心，但我們會解決這些問題。

As far as people coming in, in some small part of the market and selecting just that market to go build, that's going to happen. That's going to happen, and we've done it in other people's market ourselves. And so we see that as just another competitor in those markets. What we need to do is make sure that we build a great product, a great experience, have the multi-gig capabilities that we've talked about, have the all-digital interaction that we want. And then we go at a pace that's aggressive and appropriate for the market.

至於人們進來，在市場的一小部分，只選擇那個市場去建設，這將會發生。這將會發生，我們自己在其他人的市場上已經做到了。因此，我們將其視為這些市場中的另一個競爭對手。我們需要做的是確保我們構建了一個偉大的產品，一個偉大的體驗，擁有我們已經討論過的多演出能力，擁有我們想要的全數字交互。然後我們以積極且適合市場的速度前進。

Yes, Phil, and on the fourth quarter, for the year, we've held our guidance on EBITDA. We are near the lower end at this point, just given some of the inflationary pressures that we're working through. So that pretty much gives you the fourth quarter given the year-to-date results.

是的，菲爾，在今年第四季度，我們已經對 EBITDA 進行了指導。考慮到我們正在努力應對的一些通脹壓力，我們此時已接近低端。因此，鑑於年初至今的結果，這幾乎可以為您提供第四季度。

Our next question is from Simon Flannery with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simon Flannery。

It's Diego filling in for Simon. First, can you kind of talk about how you're thinking about the pacing on the buyback program and anything that would change that cadence? And then on enterprise buying trends, we've heard some softening of demand, people kind of rationalizing on things like AWS. Can you talk about what you're seeing on customer buying trends on the enterprise front?

是迭戈代替西蒙。首先，你能談談你是如何考慮回購計劃的節奏以及任何會改變這種節奏的嗎？然後在企業購買趨勢方面，我們聽說需求有所減弱，人們對 AWS 之類的東西進行了合理化。您能談談您對企業前端客戶購買趨勢的看法嗎？

Let me take the buyback question first, and then I'll come back to the other one. Look, we won't get into the specifics of timing, but we'll be opportunistic and make sure that we take good advantage of it. I'll tell you that the Board is engaged in this process, and we have a structured and thought through approach to how to go about it. And we'll follow that structured approach. But we'll be opportunistic and not get too specific about our timing on things.

讓我先回答回購問題，然後再回到另一個問題。看，我們不會詳細說明時間安排，但我們會投機取巧，並確保我們充分利用它。我會告訴你，董事會參與了這個過程，我們有一個結構化和深思熟慮的方法來處理它。我們將遵循這種結構化的方法。但我們會投機取巧，不會對我們的時間安排過於具體。

And then with respect to buying patterns, we said in the second quarter call that we were seeing slowing decision-making. I don't think the environment has changed very much since then. We don't see an increase in our win-loss ratio or a decrease, I should say, in our win-loss. So it's not that we're losing deals to somebody else. We just don't see people making those decisions as quickly as possible. And we don't see a particular increase in our cancels. So it's not like the deals are going away.

然後關於購買模式，我們在第二季度的電話會議中表示，我們看到決策放緩。從那時起，我認為環境沒有太大變化。我們沒有看到我們的輸贏率增加或減少，我應該說，我們的輸贏。因此，這並不是說我們正在將交易輸給其他人。我們只是沒有看到人們盡快做出這些決定。而且我們沒有看到取消的特別增加。因此，交易不會消失。

And so we're -- it's kind of the same environment that we saw in the second quarter. But it is a choppy environment for our enterprise customers, and we do see them slowing the approval process that they have to go through to get new business to us.

所以我們 - 這與我們在第二季度看到的環境相同。但對於我們的企業客戶來說，這是一個動蕩的環境，我們確實看到他們放慢了他們為獲得新業務而必須經歷的審批流程。

Our next question is from Batya Levi with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Batya Levi。

Jeff, I also wish you all the best in your next chapter. I do want to go back to the new capital allocation strategy. I think there was a debate out there if you would completely eliminate the dividend or just lower it. Can you just go with the decision-making process maybe and sort of provide your view on the complete elimination? Is that a function of your view of more challenging trends ahead? Or is it something different?

傑夫，我也祝你在下一章一切順利。我確實想回到新的資本配置策略。我認為你是否會完全消除股息或只是降低股息存在爭議。您是否可以直接進行決策過程並提供您對完全消除的看法？這是否與您對未來更具挑戰性的趨勢的看法有關？還是有什麼不同？

And maybe just a follow-up on the Fiber CapEx side. Can you just go over what your expectation would be on the remaining 22 million homes? What percent could get a Fiber overbuild over time?

也許只是光纖資本支出方面的後續行動。您能簡單回顧一下您對剩餘 2200 萬套房屋的期望嗎？隨著時間的推移，有多少百分比會導致光纖過度構建？

Yes, I'll take the first question. Chris can add to it. Chris, you can take the second question about what percentage of our 22 million homes passed and that's the right number, and that will have a fiber overbuild. Batya, thank you, first of all. And we -- look, we -- our Board goes through a very thoughtful process. I've told you before that we regularly review our capital allocation strategy in the context of the current environment, in the context of current circumstances, and we obviously considered should we eliminate the dividend or keep some sort of small dividend in place. And the answer was to eliminate it, that we believe right now at these stock prices, it's better to return value to shareholders through a share repurchase program than it is through some small token dividend that's out there. So that was the process that we went through.

是的，我會回答第一個問題。克里斯可以添加它。克里斯，您可以回答第二個問題，即我們 2200 萬戶家庭中通過的百分比是多少，這是正確的數字，這將導致光纖過度建設。 Batya，首先謝謝你。我們 - 看，我們 - 我們的董事會經歷了一個非常深思熟慮的過程。我之前告訴過你，我們會定期在當前環境的背景下審查我們的資本配置策略，在當前情況下，我們顯然考慮過我們應該取消股息還是保留某種小額股息。答案是消除它，我們相信現在以這些股票價格，通過股票回購計劃向股東回報價值比通過一些小的象徵性股息更好。這就是我們經歷的過程。

We also said, and I mentioned this in the prepared remarks, but we also said when we announced the Apollo transaction for our 20-state ILEC business that when we close that business, we would reevaluate and look at our dividend policy and look at our capital allocation policy and make decisions based on the environment and the conditions at that time.

我們也說過，我在準備好的評論中提到了這一點，但我們在宣布我們的 20 州 ILEC 業務的 Apollo 交易時也說過，當我們關閉該業務時，我們將重新評估並查看我們的股息政策並查看我們的資本配置政策，並根據當時的環境和條件作出決策。

And so it's not a sign that there's any greater weakness or inability to fund our business. It's just we don't think that's the best way to return value to shareholders. And as part of our assessment coming out of the Apollo transaction, we just believe that it's better to buy back shares.

因此，這並不表明我們的業務存在更大的弱點或無法為我們的業務提供資金。只是我們認為這不是向股東回報價值的最佳方式。作為我們對阿波羅交易的評估的一部分，我們認為最好回購股票。

Batya, on your second question, no, I don't think this changes the goal. This is obviously a multiyear project, doing everything and, as Jeff mentioned earlier, to go as fast as we can. Obviously, there's some near-term headwinds. But at this point, I don't think that changes our goal in terms of where we want to go or what we think we can do. it's really about all hands on deck right now to see what we can do given permitting and labor issues to get as many enablements in the ground as we can, as fast as we can.

Batya，關於你的第二個問題，不，我認為這不會改變目標。這顯然是一個多年的項目，做所有事情，正如傑夫之前提到的，我們盡可能快地進行。顯然，近期存在一些不利因素。但在這一點上，我認為這不會改變我們的目標，即我們想去哪里或我們認為我們可以做什麼。現在真的是所有人都在甲板上，看看我們能做些什麼，考慮到許可和勞工問題，以盡可能快地獲得盡可能多的支持。

Our next question is from David Barden with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 David Barden。

And Jeff, it's been a long time. So thank you for being a partner in this whole process. And I'm looking forward to meeting Kate and her joining, and I'm sure she's listening. A couple of questions. First would be on the $1.8 billion Europe sale. Structured as a put option, a little strange, why that structure? It felt like maybe it was because we wanted to have all this stuff announced at the same time and we just needed to get something on paper? And also, could you share what the taxes on that transaction you'll look like?

傑夫，已經很久了。因此，感謝您在整個過程中成為合作夥伴。我很期待見到凱特和她的加入，我相信她在聽。幾個問題。首先是價值 18 億美元的歐洲銷售。結構為看跌期權，有點奇怪，為什麼是這樣的結構？感覺可能是因為我們想同時宣布所有這些東西，而我們只需要在紙上得到一些東西？另外，您能否分享一下您對該交易的稅收情況？

And then second, just to follow up on that question regarding the stock buyback, with the big tax book coming in the first part of next year, are we to imagine that there's going to be a constant conversation about, well, what does the debt market look like? And where is our stock price? And do we want to lever up, while we're paying taxes to buy back stock? Like how is that going to look that conversation?

其次，為了跟進關於股票回購的問題，隨著明年上半年的大稅簿即將到來，我們是否可以想像會有一場關於債務的持續對話市場是什麼樣子的？我們的股價在哪裡？我們是否想在繳稅回購股票的同時提高槓桿率？就像那次談話看起來如何？

And I guess we could, my last one is -- and I apologize for asking this question, but look, the Fiber revenues in Mass Markets are 3.7% of total revenue. And yet there's this massive interest in spending billions of dollars over many years and fighting the supply chain to get that whole thing rolled out. Why was that decision taken rather than let's just run that business for cash? Let's take that cash, invest it in the other 96% of our company, make that better and recognize that. Maybe we shouldn't be in the copper fiber upgrade business at the margin. Like how did that conversation go? Sorry, thanks.

我想我們可以，我的最後一個問題是——我很抱歉提出這個問題，但是你看，大眾市場的纖維收入佔總收入的 3.7%。然而，人們對多年來花費數十億美元並與供應鏈抗爭以實現整個項目的巨大利益。為什麼要做出這個決定，而不是讓我們為了現金經營該業務？讓我們把這筆錢投資到我們公司其他 96% 的股份中，讓它變得更好，並認識到這一點。也許我們不應該在銅光纖升級業務中處於邊緣地位。比如那次談話是怎麼進行的？對不起，謝謝。

Okay. First of all, let me take your -- the put options seems strange and was it some sort of just to get these things announced at the same time. It may seem strange for purchases in the U.S. or sales of businesses in the U.S., it's not strange for sales of businesses in other countries. And it's part of the -- we have a process that we have to go through to get regulatory approval. The put option -- put structure is part of that, makes it easier for the company to make sure that we're complying with the rules and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. So there's nothing strange about it.

好的。首先，讓我看看你的——看跌期權似乎很奇怪，是否只是為了讓這些事情同時宣布。在美國購買或在美國銷售企業可能看起來很奇怪，但在其他國家/地區銷售企業並不奇怪。這是其中的一部分——我們必須通過一個流程才能獲得監管部門的批准。看跌期權——看跌結構是其中的一部分，使公司更容易確保我們遵守我們經營所在司法管轄區的規則和法規。所以這沒什麼好奇怪的。

For the details, I'd refer you to the 8-K. But this is -- if you look at other businesses that have done similar transactions, it's a fairly common structure in certain markets in Europe. Chris, why don't you take the middle 2 and then I'll come back to Fiber?

有關詳細信息，我建議您參考 8-K。但這是 - 如果你看看其他進行過類似交易的企業，它在歐洲某些市場中是一種相當普遍的結構。克里斯，你為什麼不選擇中間 2，然後我會回到光纖？

Yes. So the tax question, and I think I heard you correctly, the combined tax impact we said is between $900 million and $1 billion that would be due next April. And that includes the taxes for both of the divested businesses so far. As it relates to how we'll manage the buybacks versus leverage, I mean, look, I really view those things as dynamic that we have to look at in relation to each other given the point in time, right? So we have to look at what our cash performance looks like in any given quarter. We've got to look at where the debt markets and our leverage are. We've got to look at the buying opportunity in the equity markets. Obviously, in the near term, that buying opportunity, I think, will be strong, but it's not a linear process that we stick to. It's a dynamic process, and we will manage it accordingly to make sure that we're doing the best job possible for our stakeholders. So that's really how we'll look at it going forward.

是的。所以稅收問題，我想我沒聽錯，我們所說的綜合稅收影響在 9 億美元到 10 億美元之間，將於明年 4 月到期。這包括迄今為止被剝離業務的稅收。因為它與我們將如何管理回購與槓桿有關，我的意思是，看，我真的認為這些事情是動態的，我們必須在給定時間點的情況下相互看待，對吧？因此，我們必須看看我們在任何給定季度的現金表現如何。我們必須看看債務市場和我們的槓桿在哪裡。我們必須關注股票市場的買入機會。顯然，在短期內，我認為這種購買機會會很大，但這不是我們堅持的線性過程。這是一個動態的過程，我們將對其進行相應的管理，以確保我們為利益相關者做最好的工作。所以這就是我們未來的看法。

And I'll try to give a little bit of color, David, on your last question about Fiber revenues and how we should be investing that money. If you look it, I don't remember the timing, 3 or 4 years ago, we took a hard look at should we be in the consumer fiber business? Should we be in the consumer copper business? And candidly, coming out of that analysis, we decided the thing that we should do is manage it for cash in the markets where that makes sense and invest in fiber in the markets where that makes sense. And we decided that the markets where it makes sense to invest in fiber are growth markets.

大衛，關於你關於光纖收入以及我們應該如何投資這筆錢的最後一個問題，我會試著給出一點顏色。如果你看的話，我不記得時間了，3 或 4 年前，我們仔細研究過我們是否應該從事消費纖維業務？我們應該從事消費銅業務嗎？坦率地說，根據該分析，我們決定我們應該做的事情是在有意義的市場中管理它以獲取現金，並在有意義的市場中投資纖維。我們認為投資纖維有意義的市場是增長市場。

And I don't want to leave anybody off the list, but look at Denver and Minneapolis and Seattle and all the communities that make up those markets, we've got some great growth markets within the 16 remaining states that we operate in. And so we've decided that those are good markets for us to invest in fiber end. And then we've decided that there's some that we should just sell that somebody else can do better with those assets than we were doing. And that's where Brightspeed -- how Brightspeed was created. We think they'll do a great job. They will invest in those markets. It will be good for those markets. It will be good for their investors and their owners.

我不想將任何人排除在名單之外，但看看丹佛、明尼阿波利斯和西雅圖以及構成這些市場的所有社區，我們在我們經營的剩餘 16 個州中擁有一些巨大的增長市場。而且所以我們認為這些是我們投資光纖端的好市場。然後我們決定，有些東西我們應該賣掉，其他人可以用這些資產做得比我們做得更好。這就是 Brightspeed - Brightspeed 的誕生地。我們認為他們會做得很好。他們將投資這些市場。這將有利於這些市場。這對他們的投資者和他們的所有者都有好處。

And so we'll -- there's a little bit of the answer is all of the above, all the suggestions that you would take. And that's also to leave open the door that will change our mind on how best to do these things going forward. And we're always open to whatever structure makes most sense for our shareholder return. And we look at these decisions not as static decisions made once and never revisited, but the decisions that we are very committed to, that we are focused on executing against, but open to other things if they make more sense for us.

因此，我們將 - 有一點答案就是以上所有內容，所有你會接受的建議。這也為我們敞開大門，改變我們對未來如何最好地做這些事情的想法。我們總是對任何對我們的股東回報最有意義的結構持開放態度。我們不會將這些決定視為一次做出並且從未重新審視的靜態決定，而是我們非常致力於執行的決定，我們專注於執行這些決定，但如果它們對我們更有意義，則對其他事情持開放態度。

Our next question is from Frank Louthan with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Frank Louthan 和 Raymond James。

And thanks for all the help over the years, Jeff. So with what's left, when you sell all this, where does this leave you with regard to top line growth? And when do you think you can deliver sustained top line growth in the future?

並感謝多年來的所有幫助，傑夫。那麼剩下的，當你賣掉這一切時，這對你的收入增長有什麼影響？您認為未來何時可以實現持續的收入增長？

Frank, it's Chris. I'll take that one. I think when you look at our growth buckets, I mean, my main focus obviously is doing what we can to get the growth bucket growing faster sooner. We've obviously got a process around Harvest and Nurture that I think certainly in the Harvest bucket is starting to show results. But realistically, I still think we're 2 to 3 years away from total growth just given the size of those buckets. But the Growth bucket is the focus, and I think starting with what we have, with what Jeff leaves us with, and certainly, Kate's experience, that's where the focus will be as we go forward, and I feel good about it.

弗蘭克，我是克里斯。我會拿那個。我認為，當您查看我們的增長桶時，我的意思是，我的主要關注點顯然是盡我們所能讓增長桶更快地增長。我們顯然有一個圍繞收穫和培育的過程，我認為在收穫桶中肯定會開始顯示結果。但實際上，考慮到這些桶的大小，我仍然認為我們距離總體增長還有 2 到 3 年的時間。但增長桶是重點，我認為從我們擁有的東西開始，從傑夫留給我們的東西開始，當然還有凱特的經歷，這就是我們前進的重點，我對此感覺很好。

And just to add, go ahead.

只是補充一下，繼續。

No, go ahead.

沒有，繼續。

No, just to add, I feel very excited to have Kate come in. I think that the Lumen team has done a great job transitioning us from a telco to a technology company, interfacing with our customers differently, building the platform that is tightly coupled to the infrastructure, to the fiber that we have and building a platform for Kate and the Lumen team going forward to sell and accelerate the growth in ancillary services and things around our edge cloud, things around security, collaboration, orchestration, all of those. And so I'm still very excited about our ability to add growth to that platform.

不，只是補充一下，我對 Kate 的加入感到非常興奮。我認為 Lumen 團隊在將我們從電信公司轉變為技術公司方面做得很好，與我們的客戶進行了不同的交互，構建了緊密耦合的平台到基礎設施，到我們擁有的光纖，並為 Kate 和 Lumen 團隊構建一個平台，以銷售和加速我們邊緣雲周圍的輔助服務和事物的增長，圍繞安全、協作、編排，所有這些。因此，我仍然對我們為該平台增加增長的能力感到非常興奮。

That's great. I look forward to meeting as well. I guess, just a quick follow-up. Will the split between the Grow, Nurture and Harvest materially change with the sale of the EMEA business on any one of those buckets have -- you have more or less exposure to?

那太棒了。我也期待著見面。我想，只是一個快速的跟進。出售 EMEA 業務後，Grow、Nurture 和 Harvest 之間的分歧是否會發生重大變化？

Yes. The operations of our company doesn't change with the sale of EMEA. I don't think either any of those buckets have any strong particular exposure. Do you, Chris?

是的。我們公司的運營不會隨著 EMEA 的出售而改變。我認為這些桶中的任何一個都沒有任何強烈的特定風險。你呢，克里斯？

No. I don't think it's going to skew things dramatically one way or the other.

不，我不認為它會以一種或另一種方式戲劇性地扭曲事情。

Yes. And it won't change the way we operate the rest of the company either even.

是的。它甚至不會改變我們運營公司其他部門的方式。

Franz, we've got time to take 1 more question.

弗蘭茲，我們有時間再回答 1 個問題。

Very good. Our next question is from Nick Del Deo with MoffettNathanson..

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

Jeff, I want to echo everyone else's comments, and congratulate on all your accomplishments and a well-deserved retirement.

傑夫，我想回應其他所有人的評論，並祝賀你取得的所有成就和當之無愧的退休。

Thank you, Nick. And you have the last question on my last earnings call in my career. So I'm looking forward to it.

謝謝你，尼克。在我職業生涯的最後一次財報電話會議上，你有最後一個問題。所以我很期待。

All right. A lot of pressure to deliver on that. I guess, first on the cost cutting or cost transformations. As you noted, over the past year, you've been a bit hamstrung given the resources you've dedicated to getting the Apollo and LATAM deals over the finish line. You talked about getting that engine up and running. What sort of cadence should we expect in terms of getting that back up to 100%? And will the resources devoted to getting the EMEA deal over the finish line way on your ability to do that?

好的。實現這一目標的壓力很大。我想，首先是成本削減或成本轉型。正如您所指出的，在過去的一年中，考慮到您為完成 Apollo 和 LATAM 交易而投入的資源，您有點手足無措。你談到讓那個引擎啟動並運行。在恢復到 100% 方面，我們應該期待什麼樣的節奏？用於完成 EMEA 交易的資源是否會影響您做到這一點的能力？

So let me take the second one first, and then Chris, you can take the first one. No, the EMEA deal will not weigh on our ability. If you look at Brightspeed and if you look at Cirion, those are much more stand-ups of new businesses being spun out, and this one is more of an acquisition by an existing business of our business. And so I don't -- and that's one of the key value drivers for us, frankly. I don't think it will be as complicated. I don't think it will be as expensive on the Lumen side of things.

所以讓我先拿第二個，然後克里斯，你可以拿第一個。不，EMEA 交易不會影響我們的能力。如果你看看 Brightspeed，如果你看看 Cirion，這些更多是新業務被剝離出來的，而這更多是我們現有業務對我們業務的收購。所以我不——坦率地說，這是我們的關鍵價值驅動因素之一。我不認為它會那麼複雜。我認為在 Lumen 方面它不會那麼昂貴。

Yes. I totally agree with that. And as it relates to our ability to get back to some of the cost-saving initiatives, I think it will take us a year or 2 to get back to full run rate, but we're starting with that now. And as we go forward, we're going to be looking for ways to drive more automation and simplicity in our processes internally. And that's where we're going to be focusing.

是的。我完全同意。由於這與我們恢復一些成本節約計劃的能力有關，我認為我們需要一兩年的時間才能恢復全速運行，但我們現在就開始了。隨著我們的前進，我們將尋找方法在內部流程中推動更多的自動化和簡單性。這就是我們要關注的地方。

Okay. Well...

好的。出色地...

Go ahead, Nick.

來吧，尼克。

No, the last thing I wanted to ask about was sales compensation, which is something that you've been talking about a bit over the last several months, emphasizing growth categories, deemphasizing the Harvest categories in terms of how people get compensated. How do you implement those changes and ensure that the base of Harvest revenue doesn't fall at an undue pace while those changes are put into place? I guess, stated differently, what sort of incentives you put in place to ensure that people maintain that?

不，我想問的最後一件事是銷售補償，這是你在過去幾個月裡一直在談論的事情，強調增長類別，而不強調人們如何獲得補償的收穫類別。您如何實施這些更改並確保在實施這些更改時 Harvest 收入的基礎不會過度下降？我想，換一種說法，你採取了什麼樣的激勵措施來確保人們保持這種狀態？

Yes, I won't get into specifics, obviously, because, again, things aren't fully finalized yet. But I think the key point is that our Harvest bucket is really not a product that gets sold very much at all anymore. So when you look at where the bulk of the sales exist today, it is in the Grow categories and the Nurture category. So it's really how you incent behavior within those.

是的，很明顯，我不會詳細說明，因為事情還沒有完全確定。但我認為關鍵在於，我們的 Harvest 水桶真的不再是一種銷售量很大的產品。因此，當您查看當今大部分銷售存在的地方時，它位於“成長”類別和“培育”類別中。因此，這實際上是您在其中激勵行為的方式。

Now separately, we do have a customer success organization that works very hard on things like re-rates, making sure that we're moving customers up the stack from older tech to newer tech, and that's a separate compensation system. So that's how we manage the flow of products from old to new, and we also just manage the overall decline of those assets. So there is a structured process around that in terms of how people are comped.

現在分開，我們確實有一個客戶成功組織，它在重新定價等事情上非常努力，確保我們將客戶從舊技術轉移到新技術，這是一個單獨的補償系統。所以這就是我們管理產品從舊到新的流動方式，我們也只是管理這些資產的整體下降。因此，就人們的薪酬方式而言，有一個結構化的流程。

All right. I'd like to say thank you all. I've worked with all of you for a long time and I appreciated the relationship. And so I want to close by saying how extremely proud I am of the Lumen team and what they've built. Well, I'll miss engaging with all of you on these quarterly calls and the various conferences that I attend. I think I leave behind the company that has a very strong foundation and is poised for a return to profitable growth. So I'm excited for that. I'm excited for Lumen. I'm excited for its employees and stakeholders as Kate's leadership will further strengthen what we've built over the past several years. So with that, I'd like to say thank you for the time that we've had together with -- and your interest in Lumen, and thank you for joining the call today.

好的。我想說謝謝大家。我與你們所有人合作了很長時間，我很欣賞這種關係。最後，我想說一下我對 Lumen 團隊以及他們所建立的東西感到非常自豪。好吧，我會想念在這些季度電話會議和我參加的各種會議上與你們所有人的互動。我認為我離開了這家擁有非常強大的基礎並準備恢復盈利增長的公司。所以我很興奮。我為流明感到興奮。我為它的員工和利益相關者感到興奮，因為凱特的領導將進一步加強我們在過去幾年中所建立的。因此，我想說感謝您與我們一起度過的時間 - 以及您對 Lumen 的興趣，並感謝您今天加入電話會議。

Thank you. We would like to thank everyone for your participation and for using Lumen Conference Service today. This does conclude the conference call. We ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day, everyone.

謝謝你。我們要感謝大家今天的參與和使用 Lumen 會議服務。這確實結束了電話會議。我們要求您斷開您的線路。祝大家有個美好的一天。