Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to Lumen Technologies' third-quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Lumen Technologies 的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Breen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Jim, please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係高級副總裁吉姆布林 (Jim Breen)。吉姆，請繼續。

Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining the Lumen Technologies' third-quarter 2024 earnings call. On the call today are Kate Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Chris Stansbury, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好，感謝您參加 Lumen Technologies 的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是總裁兼執行長凱特·約翰遜 (Kate Johnson)；克里斯‧史坦斯伯里（Chris Stansbury），執行副總裁兼財務長。

Before we begin, I need to call your attention to our Safe Harbor statement on slide 1 of our third-quarter 2024 presentation which notes that this conference call may include forward-looking statements, subject to certain risks and uncertainties.

在我們開始之前，我需要提請您注意我們2024 年第三季簡報投影片1 上的安全港聲明，其中指出本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性聲明，但會受到某些風險和不確定性的影響。

All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements and the risk factors in our SEC filings. We'll be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures, reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures which can be found in our earnings press release. In addition, certain metrics discussed today exclude costs for special items as detailed in our earnings materials which can be found on our investor relations section of Lumen website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kate.

所有前瞻性陳述應與我們向 SEC 提交的文件中的警示性陳述和風險因素結合起來考慮。我們將參考某些非公認會計原則財務指標，並與我們的收益新聞稿中最具可比性的公認會計原則指標進行調整。此外，今天討論的某些指標不包括我們的收益資料中詳細說明的特殊項目的成本，這些資料可以在 Lumen 網站的投資者關係部分找到。這樣，我就把電話轉給凱特。

Good afternoon, everyone and thanks for joining. Lumen's third quarter headline is this the transformation is happening. We're making progress in our journey to turn Luman into a digital network services company with simple and modern product offerings, infrastructure and operations. We're pursuing two major growth vectors, building the AI backbone and cloudifying Telco and have made material progress with each.

大家下午好，感謝您的加入。 Lumen 第三季度的頭條新聞是轉型正在發生。我們正在將 Luman 轉變為一家提供簡單而現代化的產品、基礎設施和營運的數位網路服務公司的道路上取得進展。我們正在追求兩個主要的成長方向，即建構人工智慧骨幹和電信雲化，並且在這兩個方向上都取得了實質進展。

And that said and as expected, our financial performance still reflects the secular headwinds on our legacy revenues. We're also investing heavily in transformation programs while running the core business which weighs heavily on our EBITDA results. And then we have fully recognized, we have a long way to go on this journey and we understand that our current financial results coupled with the fact that Telcos in the industry are not talking about a turnaround, make it difficult to imagine long term success for Lumen.

儘管如此，正如預期的那樣，我們的財務表現仍然反映了我們傳統收入的長期阻力。我們也在經營核心業務的同時大力投資轉型計劃，這對我們的 EBITDA 業績產生了重大影響。然後我們充分認識到，我們在這趟旅程上還有很長的路要走，我們了解我們目前的財務業績，加上行業中的電信公司沒有談論扭虧為盈的事實，使得很難想像長期成功流明。

But our team sees a clear path to turn this company around. We have a plan to take cost out, deleverage our balance sheet and drive growth by using our assets and intellectual property to give enterprise customers new value in a multicloud hybrid architecture environment. All of this will take time to execute and it will take time to show up in our financials.

但我們的團隊看到了扭轉公司頹勢的清晰途徑。我們計劃利用我們的資產和智慧財產權來降低成本、去槓桿化資產負債表並推動成長，從而在多雲混合架構環境中為企業客戶提供新價值。所有這些都需要時間來執行，也需要時間體現在我們的財務數據中。

But the path is real. And today I want to share more on the opportunity ahead and what we've accomplished so far. I'll be covering three topics. One, how we are continuing to drive operational efficiency with sales growth and higher customer sat in our core business to ensure we maximize cash generation, customer lifetime value and cost out.

但這條路是真實的。今天，我想更多地分享未來的機會以及我們迄今為止所取得的成就。我將討論三個主題。第一，我們如何透過銷售成長和核心業務中更高的客戶數量繼續提高營運效率，以確保我們最大限度地提高現金產生、客戶終身價值和成本支出。

Number two, how Lumen is building the backbone for the AI economy? Adding more than $3 billion in incremental private connectivity fabric sales in partnership with the biggest names in the technology industry.

第二，Lumen 如何建構人工智慧經濟的支柱？與科技業的知名企業合作，專用連結結構銷售額增量超過 30 億美元。

And number three, how Lumen digital is cloudifying the industry driving NaaS adoption to well over 400 customers and positioning the company for high value digital revenue growth. Let's start with our operational turnaround. We continue to see solid sales performance in the third quarter with North American large enterprise and midmarket sales up nearly 14% year over year.

第三，Lumen digital 如何使產業雲端化，推動 NaaS 被 400 多個客戶採用，並使公司實現高價值數位收入成長。讓我們從我們的營運週轉開始。我們繼續看到第三季的強勁銷售業績，北美大型企業和中型市場銷售額較去年同期成長近 14%。

We saw notable strength in IP sales up 18% year-to-date and 100 and 400 gig wave sales up 50% year-to-date through September. To complement these sales results, once again, we saw significant year-over-year improvement in customer SAT scores for every one of our enterprise customer channels as measured by transactional net promoter scores.

截至 9 月份，我們看到 IP 銷售強勁強勁，年初至今成長了 18%，100 和 400 gig 波銷售成長了 50%。為了補充這些銷售結果，我們再次看到我們每個企業客戶管道的客戶 SAT 分數（以交易淨推薦分數衡量）較去年同期顯著提高。

17 points for large enterprise up 11 points for wholesale 28 points per midmarket and a whopping 98 points for public sector. We continue to improve our efforts to secure the base by focusing on five key levers of installs, renewals, migrations, usage and disconnects and while installs were down slightly in the quarter, we did see a 14% sequential improvement in disconnects with total disconnect being at their lowest level in over five quarters. In mass markets, the team continues to execute well and drive increased value for our consumer segment and once again had a record quarter for fiber net ads.

大型企業為 17 分，批發為 11 分，中端市場為 28 分，公部門為 98 分。我們繼續加強努力，透過專注於安裝、續訂、遷移、使用和斷開連接這五個關鍵槓桿來確保基礎安全，雖然本季度安裝量略有下降，但我們確實看到斷開連接數環比改善了14%，總斷開連線數為處於五個多季度以來的最低水準。在大眾市場，該團隊繼續表現良好，為我們的消費者群體帶來了價值的增加，並再次創下了光纖網路廣告季度的記錄。

Finally, last quarter, we announced a billion dollar cost take up by the end of 2027 by unifying our network from four architectures to one allowing dramatic simplification of our product portfolio and IT estate. While this work is incredibly complicated, given our long history of mergers and accumulation of tech debt, we're on track to developing the plan to execute.

最後，在上個季度，我們宣佈在 2027 年底將我們的網路從四種架構統一為一種架構，從而大幅簡化我們的產品組合和 IT 資產，從而節省 10 億美元的成本。雖然這項工作非常複雜，但考慮到我們長期以來的合併和技術債積累，我們正在製定要執行的計劃。

And as we have said, these cost out efforts will require upfront spending with a back end loaded cost takeout curve. We'll provide further details on this important work as we progress. To summarize, we're pleased with how we're galvanizing women's core network services business, how we're driving growth in quantum fiber and how we're simplifying and modernizing the company. But I want to be clear here. We are not here to find revenue growth in legacy Telco.

正如我們所說，這些成本削減工作將需要前期支出以及後端加載的成本削減曲線。隨著我們的進展，我們將提供有關這項重要工作的更多詳細資訊。總而言之，我們對如何推動女性核心網路服務業務、如何推動量子光纖的成長以及如何簡化和現代化公司感到滿意。但我想在這裡澄清一下。我們來這裡不是為了尋找傳統電信公司的收入成長。

All of our transformation work is in service to customers who need and want to leverage technology like GenAI to transform their business and the legacy networks of yesterday just won't serve tomorrow's enterprise they're not big enough, they're not fast enough and they're not secure enough.

我們所有的轉型工作都是為了服務那些需要並希望利用 GenAI 等技術來轉型其業務的客戶，而昨天的遺留網絡無法為明天的企業服務，它們不夠大，不夠快，而且他們不夠安全。

And of course, the customer experience and legacy Telco is neither quick nor effortless, especially in complex multicloud hybrid environments, which have become the norm for every business. Luminous fixing all of that by reinventing digital networking, and that is what will fuel the company's long term financial growth.

當然，客戶體驗和傳統電信公司既不快速也不輕鬆，尤其是在複雜的多雲混合環境中，這已成為每個企業的常態。透過重新發明數位網路來解決所有這些問題，這將推動公司的長期財務成長。

We see several growth vectors in digital networking and I'm going to share two that we're going after right now. The first is what's been receiving a lot of attention given the size of the deals we're signing. Lumen is building the backbone for the AI economy. The market now recognizes that AI needs data, data needs data centers and those data centers need to be connected.

我們在數位網路中看到了幾個成長向量，我將分享我們現在正在追求的兩個成長向量。第一個是考慮到我們簽署的交易規模而受到廣泛關注的問題。 Lumen 正在建立人工智慧經濟的支柱。市場現在認識到人工智慧需要數據，數據需要數據中心，而這些數據中心需要相互連接。

And several of the biggest names in technology including Microsoft, Meta, AWS and Google have chosen Lumen as their trusted network for AI. We get asked all the time, what does the AI market mean for Lumen? How many of these deals are out there? How long will this growth spurt last?

包括微軟、Meta、AWS 和谷歌在內的幾家科技巨頭都選擇 Lumen 作為他們值得信賴的人工智慧網路。我們總是被問到，人工智慧市場對 Lumen 意味著什麼？其中有多少這樣的交易？這種井噴式成長會持續多久？

And as I've shared, we see a few phases playing out. In phase one, high scalers, social platforms and cloud companies are massively expanding their networks to support data center buildups for their AI model training.

正如我所分享的，我們看到了幾個階段的發展。在第一階段，大型企業、社交平台和雲端公司正在大規模擴展其網絡，以支援人工智慧模型訓練的資料中心建設。

As long as these companies keep building data centers, we will have the opportunity to connect them. These deals are deeply accretive to Lumen and well timed for our transformation. And we shared that we booked more than $5 billion of PCF sales in last quarter's call providing ample liquidity to close near term funding gaps.

只要這些公司繼續建造資料中心，我們就有機會將它們連接起來。這些交易極大地促進了 Lumen 的增值，對於我們的轉型來說恰逢其時。我們還表示，我們在上個季度的電話會議中預訂了超過 50 億美元的 PCF 銷售額，為彌補近期資金缺口提供了充足的流動性。

And since then, we have booked more than $3 billion in additional PCF sales, giving us the opportunity to use the extra cash to do some deleveraging. We remain in active discussions for more deals like this and we're going to update you on our progress when they materially affect guidance. And finally, we've established a dedicated operations team to build these next GenAI networks and they've already broken ground on this exciting work.

從那時起，我們已經預訂了超過 30 億美元的額外 PCF 銷售，使我們有機會利用額外的現金進行一些去槓桿化。我們仍在積極討論更多類似的交易，當它們對指導產生重大影響時，我們將向您通報我們的最新進展。最後，我們建立了一個專門的營運團隊來建立這些下一代 GenAI 網絡，他們已經在這項令人興奮的工作上取得了突破性進展。

So if you're wondering why and how we're able to close more than $8 billion in PCF sales so quickly, I'll share this. Big tech is choosing Lumen because our geographically diverse conduit based intra and intercity fiber network was built for this moment. And Lumen's private connectivity fabric just awarded the Competitive Strategy Leadership award by Frost and Sullivan is a best in class architecture that gives customers the control capacity performance and security they need.

因此，如果您想知道為什麼以及如何我們能夠如此迅速地完成超過 80 億美元的 PCF 銷售額，我將分享這一點。大型科技公司選擇 Lumen 是因為我們基於地理位置不同的管道的城內和城際光纖網路就是為此而建構的。 Lumen 的專用連接結構剛剛榮獲 Frost and Sullivan 頒發的競爭策略領導獎，它是同類最佳的架構，可為客戶提供所需的控制容量、性能和安全性。

And we believe the second phase of AI evolution is starting to emerge as enterprises are beginning to use those AI models at scale and they recognize the need for major network upgrades. And these enterprises are calling Lumen because they know we connect all three public clouds. And they also see that we are investing in the future networking needs unlike any other company in the networking marketplace.

我們相信，隨著企業開始大規模使用這些人工智慧模型，並且意識到重大網路升級的必要性，人工智慧進化的第二階段正在開始出現。這些企業之所以打電話給 Lumen，是因為他們知道我們連接了所有三個公有雲。他們也看到，與網路市場上的任何其他公司不同，我們正在投資未來的網路需求。

We believe Lumen has become the thought leader in the space and it's showing up in our business results. We're seeing an increased demand for higher performance Lumen services specifically for wave and IP and our large enterprise and mid-market segments with IP sales of 18% year-to-date and wave sales up over 25% year-to-date through September for these customers.

我們相信 Lumen 已成為該領域的思想領導者，並且它已體現在我們的業務成果中。我們看到，對更高性能的Lumen 服務的需求不斷增加，特別是針對Wave 和IP 以及我們的大型企業和中型市場細分市場，今年迄今IP 銷售額增長了18%，Wave 銷售額今年迄今增長了25% 以上。

And that's why we expanded our high speed IP service to include 400 gig ports in 14 different markets with plans to expand several to several more markets this year. Additionally, we currently offer 400 gig waves in over 70 markets across nearly 80,000 route miles with plans to increase wave CapEx to further expand the footprint in 2025.

這就是為什麼我們將高速 IP 服務擴展到包括 14 個不同市場的 400 個千兆端口，並計劃今年再擴展幾個市場。此外，我們目前在 70 多個市場提供 400 個千兆波，覆蓋近 80,000 英里的航線，並計劃增加波的資本支出，以在 2025 年進一步擴大足跡。

In the third phase of AI evolution, we see AI talking to AI driving another potential parabolic increase in data workload volume. It's too early to share proof points for the space, but given our network, our digital platform and our portfolio of intellectual property, we believe that Lumen is well positioned to handle the volume, pace and complexity of enterprise networking needs and we are playing to win.

在人工智慧進化的第三階段，我們看到人工智慧與人工智慧的對話推動了資料工作負載量的另一個潛在拋物線成長。現在分享該領域的證據還為時過早，但考慮到我們的網路、數位平台和智慧財產權組合，我們相信 Lumen 能夠很好地處理企業網路需求的數量、速度和複雜性，我們正在努力贏。

Cloudifying telecom is going to disrupt the industry and provide Lumen with another major growth vector, expanding the internet and building out the required critical infrastructure is just step one. The customers expect to be able to quickly securely and effortlessly use that infrastructure.

電信雲端化將顛覆整個產業，並為 Lumen 提供另一個主要成長向量，擴展網路和建置所需的關鍵基礎設施只是第一步。客戶希望能夠快速、安全、輕鬆地使用該基礎架構。

And that's why Lumen is building a digital platform natively integrating with our fiber network to enable enterprises to digitally design price order and consume secure networking in a hybrid multi cloud world. To our knowledge, no other Telco that owns a fiber network is doing this and we see it as a material differentiator and revenue generation opportunity for Lumen in the future.

這就是為什麼 Lumen 正在建立一個與我們的光纖網路本地整合的數位平台，使企業能夠以數位方式設計價格訂單並在混合多雲世界中使用安全網路。據我們所知，沒有其他擁有光纖網路的電信公司在這樣做，我們認為這是 Lumen 未來的一個實質差異化因素和創收機會。

A year ago, we established a Lumen digital team and launched our flagship network as a service or NAS offering. As of today, over 400 customers have adopted Lumen NaaS a good start for sure. The NaaS overlay lets our customers get the network pieces they want, when they want it, how they want it in true consumption form.

一年前，我們成立了 Lumen 數位團隊，並推出了我們的旗艦網路即服務或 NAS 產品。截至今天，已有 400 多家客戶採用了 Lumen NaaS，這無疑是一個很好的開始。 NaaS 覆蓋層讓我們的客戶能夠以真正的消費形式，在他們需要的時間、他們想要的方式獲得他們想要的網路部分。

Recent wins for our NaaS product include Agilisys, The Blackstar group, The PAC 12 and C3Aero among others and MATH, formerly known as the Metro Ethernet Forum, just named Lumen, the best NaaS provider in North America.

我們的 NaaS 產品最近贏得的獎項包括 Agilisys、The Blackstar group、The PAC 12 和 C3Aero 等，以及 MATH（以前稱為城域乙太網路論壇，剛剛被命名為 Lumen），是北美最好的 NaaS 供應商。

Our progress in a short period of time isn't just exciting or encouraging. It has fundamentally repositioned this company NaaS is just the beginning with our world class fiber network, our PCF architecture exit switch and an ecosystem of big tech companies all three clouds committed to our network for the long haul.

我們在短時間內取得的進步不僅令人興奮或鼓舞。它從根本上重新定位了這家公司，NaaS 只是我們世界級光纖網路、PCF 架構退出交換器和大型科技公司生態系統的開始，所有三個雲端都致力於我們的網路的長期發展。

We have all the pieces to redefine networking and drive massive value in a Multicloud hybrid world which is exactly what our customers want and need. So to finish up, we have the cash, we have the assets and intellectual property, we have a world class leadership team and culture, we have a great strategy and we have a lot of momentum. Lumen's future is very bright.

我們擁有重新定義網路並在多雲混合世界中推動巨大價值的所有要素，這正是我們的客戶想要和需要的。最後，我們有現金，我們有資產和智慧財產權，我們有世界一流的領導團隊和文化，我們有偉大的策略，我們有很大的動力。 Lumen的未來非常光明。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Chris.

這樣，我會將電話轉給克里斯。

Thanks, Kate. Lumen continues to move forward along its path to transforming the business. And in the third quarter, we've taken additional steps towards achieving that goal. We signed over $3 billion in incremental PCF deals as we continue to be the partner of choice in building the trusted networks for AI.

謝謝，凱特。 Lumen 繼續沿著業務轉型的道路前進。在第三季度，我們採取了更多措施來實現這一目標。我們簽署了超過 30 億美元的增量 PCF 協議，繼續成為建立人工智慧可信任網路的首選合作夥伴。

And we successfully executed a debt exchange terming out over $800 million in 2026 through 2029 maturities to 2032. And we also given our confidence in the free cash flow generation, contributed $170 million to our pensions in the quarter, bringing us to nearly 90% funded.

我們成功地執行了一項債務交換，期限為2026 年至2029 年至2032 年，期限超過8 億美元。美元，使我們的資金到位率達到近90% 。

As Kate discussed, we are now at over $8 billion in new PCF sales since June, our customers had validated Lumen's unique position to build the backbone of the AI economy. But we will not be reporting on specific PCF sales every quarter. We chose to highlight the over $3 billion today for three reasons.

正如 Kate 所討論的，自 6 月以來，我們的新 PCF 銷售額現已超過 80 億美元，我們的客戶已經驗證了 Lumen 在建立人工智慧經濟支柱方面的獨特地位。但我們不會每季報告具體的 PCF 銷售額。我們今天選擇專注於超過 30 億美元的資金有以下三個原因。

First, we're incredibly proud of our team for how quickly they've been able to capture what we believe is a once in a generation market opportunity. We have the right assets and the right people to build the trusted networks for AI. Second, given the incremental size of this over $3 billion, it will positively impact our 2024 guidance for free cash flow which I will update you on shortly.

首先，我們為我們的團隊感到無比自豪，他們能夠如此迅速地抓住我們認為千載難逢的市場機會。我們擁有合適的資產和合適的人員來建立人工智慧的可信任網路。其次，考慮到這超過 30 億美元的增量規模，它將對我們的 2024 年自由現金流指引產生正面影響，我將很快向您通報最新情況。

And lastly, the PCF sales we're announcing today, look similar in scope to the previous $5 billion largely sold on existing routes. Future PCF sales will also include new routes with a diverse set of enterprise customers.

最後，我們今天宣布的 PCF 銷售規模與先前主要在現有航線上銷售的 50 億美元類似。未來的 PCF 銷售還將包括面向不同企業客戶的新路線。

Given the complexity of these bills, these discussions are ongoing and will take place over several quarters. In the future, we will provide updates to the extent PCF sales have a material impact on our financial guidance.

鑑於這些法案的複雜性，這些討論正在進行中，並將持續數個季度。未來，我們將提供 PCF 銷售對我們的財務指引產生重大影響的最新情況。

We introduced PCF sales last quarter and updated them this quarter because there was a need for investors to understand our strategy, the market opportunity and the structure of these PCF deals. We will continue to educate the market on those opportunities for Lumen and the AI economy, we're also focusing on the core metrics of sales growth, margin improvement and free cash flow generation.

我們上季度介紹了 PCF 銷售情況，並在本季度進行了更新，因為投資者需要了解我們的策略、市場機會和這些 PCF 交易的結構。我們將繼續向市場宣傳 Lumen 和人工智慧經濟的機會，我們也將關注銷售成長、利潤率改善和自由現金流產生等核心指標。

As we stated last quarter, we believe the progress we've made on driving PCF sales in 2024 is just the beginning of a large new [TAM], which brings long term sticky revenue, offsetting higher turn legacy product to clients.

正如我們上季度所說，我們相信我們在 2024 年推動 PCF 銷售方面取得的進展只是一個大型新 [TAM] 的開始，它將帶來長期黏性收入，抵消向客戶提供的更高週轉的傳統產品。

We're now in the planning stages of constructing these networks, securing the necessary equipment and labor and we're confident in the cost and margin structure we've estimated for the AI network bills. We estimate the cash received from the first $5 billion in PCF sales provides free cash flow to fuel our business to the point where we expect to reach sustainable positive free cash flow growth.

我們現在正處於建造這些網路的規劃階段，確保必要的設備和勞動力，我們對人工智慧網路帳單的成本和利潤結構充滿信心。我們估計，從 PCF 銷售中獲得的前 50 億美元現金將提供自由現金流，為我們的業務提供動力，直至我們期望實現可持續的正自由現金流增長。

The incremental cash provided by the over $3 billion recently signed contracts provides increased flexibility to deliver our balance sheet and continue to address our capital structure in a meaningful way. With respect to the balance sheet, another highlight of the quarter was our successful execution of a debt exchange terming out over $800 million in 2026 through 2029 maturities to 2032. We now have approximately $1.8 billion in maturities excluding leases due through 2028 down from approximately $2.6 billion at the end of the second quarter and we're not done yet.

最近簽署的超過 30 億美元的合約提供的增量現金為我們提供了更大的靈活性，以交付我們的資產負債表，並繼續以有意義的方式解決我們的資本結構問題。就資產負債表而言，本季的另一個亮點是我們成功執行了一項債務交換，債務交換期限為2026 年至2029 年至2032 年，期限超過8 億美元。為18 億美元，不包括2028 年到期的租賃，低於約2.6 美元第二季末將達到 10 億美元，但我們還沒有完成。

Now, transformations are messy and particularly in industries where it has never happened before. So as you move through ours, we strive to bring you the transparency of both the good and the less good. In Q1, we said demand for networking was heating up. In Q2, we delivered against that substantially increased free cash flow guidance and said there was an additional opportunity.

現在，轉型是混亂的，尤其是在以前從未發生過的行業。因此，當您瀏覽我們的網站時，我們會努力為您提供好的和不好的資訊的透明度。在第一季度，我們表示網路需求正在升溫。在第二季度，我們兌現了大幅增加的自由現金流指引，並表示還有一個額外的機會。

This quarter, we announced progress against that opportunity and increased free cash flow guidance again. Importantly, in both Q2 and today, we're saying our legacy business is declining, consistent with industry trends and needs investment to both build our digital future and unlock a billion dollars of cost efficiency. The result of which will be lower 2025 EBITDA before improving in 2026. In short, we recognize credibility is critical and we're taking great care in making sure our messaging is consistent with our delivery.

本季度，我們宣布了針對此機會的進展，並再次提高了自由現金流指引。重要的是，在第二季度和今天，我們的傳統業務正在下降，這與行業趨勢一致，需要投資來建立我們的數位未來並釋放 10 億美元的成本效率。結果將是 2025 年 EBITDA 較低，然後在 2026 年有所改善。

We believe the value creation path for Lumen is clear through additional sales, balance sheet improvements, and cost structure optimization. All as we continue to execute on our core strategic goals of driving operational efficiency, building the backbone for AI and clarifying the industry. We recognize we're in the early stages of a significant transformation of Lumen and remain laser focused on accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves.

我們相信，透過額外銷售、改善資產負債表和優化成本結構，Lumen 的價值創造路徑是明確的。這一切都是因為我們繼續執行我們的核心策略目標，即提高營運效率、建立人工智慧的支柱和澄清產業。我們認識到我們正處於 Lumen 重大轉型的早期階段，並將繼續專注於實現我們為自己設定的目標。

Now let's move on to the discussion of financial results for the third quarter. Our sales growth engines within our large and mid-market enterprise channels and our business segment along with our mass market segment showed solid performance this quarter with large enterprise and mid-market sales of nearly 14% year over year and quantum fiber broadband net editions once again setting an all-time record.

現在讓我們繼續討論第三季的財務表現。我們的大中型市場企業通路、業務部門以及大眾市場部門的銷售成長引擎本季表現強勁，大型企業和中型市場銷售額年增近 14%，量子光纖寬頻網路版本一度成長再次刷新歷史紀錄。

While consolidating revenue and adjusted EBITDA still feels the impacts of legacy declines. We're encouraged by improvements we're making in the business as disconnects improved both sequentially and year over year. On a year-over-year basis, total reported revenue declined 11.5% to $3.221 billion. 32% of the decline was due to the impact of divestitures, commercial agreements and the sale of the CDN business.

雖然合併收入和調整後的 EBITDA 仍然受到傳統下降的影響。我們對業務中所取得的進步感到鼓舞，因為斷線情況連續且逐年改善。報告總收入年減 11.5% 至 32.21 億美元。 32%的下降是由於資產剝離、商業協議和CDN業務出售的影響。

Business segment revenue declined 12.7% to $2.536 billion, and approximately 37% of that decline was due to the impact of divestitures commercial agreements and the sale of the CDN business. Mass market segment revenue declined 6.9% to $685 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $899 million with a 27.9% margin and free cash flow was positive $1.2 billion benefiting from the cash contribution from recent PCF sales.

業務部門收入下降 12.7% 至 25.36 億美元，其中約 37% 的下降是由於剝離商業協議和出售 CDN 業務的影響。大眾市場部門營收下降 6.9% 至 6.85 億美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 8.99 億美元，利潤率為 27.9%，自由現金流為正 12 億美元，受益於近期 PCF 銷售的現金貢獻。

Next, I'll review our detailed revenue results for the quarter on a year-over-year basis. Within our North America enterprise channels, which is our business segment excluding wholesale international and other revenue declined 6.9%. Overall, North America business declined 7.5%. Large enterprise revenue declined 8.2% in the third quarter. Our grow revenue increased 1.6% year over year with continued pressure in nurture and harvest product revenue.

接下來，我將回顧本季同比的詳細收入結果。在我們的北美企業通路中，我們的業務部門（不包括國際批發和其他收入）下降了 6.9%。總體而言，北美業務下降了7.5%。大型企業第三季營收下降8.2%。由於培育和收穫產品收入的持續壓力，我們的成長收入年增 1.6%。

We expect continued variability in trends as we drive towards overall stabilization. Mid-market revenue declined approximately 6.9% year over year with an improvement in growth revenue to 5% year over year offset by nurture and harvest.

我們預計，隨著我們努力實現整體穩定，趨勢將持續變化。中端市場營收年減約 6.9%，成長收入年增至 5%，但被培育和收穫所抵銷。

Public sector revenue declined 4% year over year. Public sector revenue can be lumpy quarter to quarter. However, we continue to see traction with large bookings in this space which takes time to ramp to revenue. And these wins give us continued confidence the public sector will grow year over year in 2024. Wholesale revenue declined approximately 9% year over year. The harvest portion of the wholesale portfolio, which is comprised of products like TDM, voice and private line.

公共部門收入較去年同期下降 4%。公共部門的收入可能逐季波動。然而，我們仍然看到該領域的大量預訂具有吸引力，這需要時間才能增加收入。這些勝利讓我們對公共部門在 2024 年將同比增長繼續充滿信心。批發產品組合的收穫部分，由 TDM、語音和專線等產品組成。

So our revenue contract by 16.3% year over year in the third quarter. This is primarily driven by Telco partners that are selling legacy services. Our harvest product revenue will likely continue to decline over time and is an area that we will manage for cash. International and other revenue declined 64.8% driven primarily by the divestiture of our EMEA business and the sale of select CDN contracts in the fourth quarter of last year.

因此，我們第三季的營收年減了 16.3%。這主要是由銷售傳統服務的電信合作夥伴所推動的。隨著時間的推移，我們的收穫產品收入可能會繼續下降，這是我們將管理現金的一個領域。國際和其他收入下降 64.8%，主要是由於去年第四季我們剝離 EMEA 業務以及出售部分 CDN 合約。

Moving to our business product life cycle reporting, I'll reference the results based on our North America enterprise channels. Higher sales in our growth product portfolio were led by enterprise broadband dark fiber and IP. These sales were offset by declines in nurture and harvest resulting in an overall decline of 6.9% year over year.

轉向我們的業務產品生命週期報告，我將參考基於我們北美企業通路的結果。我們的成長產品組合的銷售額成長由企業寬頻暗光纖和 IP 帶動。這些銷售額被培育和收穫的下降所抵消，導致整體年減 6.9%。

While results can vary in any quarter, we expect sustained growth in the growth product revenue as we execute on our core turnaround. Within North America enterprise channels, grow products revenue increased 4% year over year, up from 1.5% year over year last quarter. Grow represents approximately 45% of our North America enterprise revenue and for our total business segment carried an approximate 80% direct margin this quarter.

儘管任何季度的業績都可能有所不同，但我們預計，隨著我們執行核心轉型，成長型產品收入將持續成長。在北美企業通路內，成長產品營收年增 4%，高於上季的年比 1.5%。 Grow 約占我們北美企業營收的 45%，本季我們整個業務部門的直接利潤率約為 80%。

Nurture products revenue decreased 15.2% year over year, largely impacted by declines in VPN and Ethernet. Nurture represents 29% of our North America enterprise revenue and for our total business segment carried an approximate 67% direct margin this quarter.

Nurture 產品營收年減 15.2%，主要受到 VPN 和乙太網路業務下滑的影響。培育占我們北美企業營收的 29%，本季我們整個業務部門的直接利潤率約為 67%。

Harvest products revenue decreased 14.1% year over year and continues to be negatively impacted by declines in TDM based voice, harvest represented approximately 16% of our North America enterprise revenue in the second quarter.

Harvest 產品營收年減 14.1%，並持續受到 TDM 語音下降的負面影響，第二季 Harvest 約占我們北美企業營收的 16%。

For our total business segment, it carried an approximate 73% direct margin this quarter. Other product revenue declined 11.1% year over year. And as a reminder, other product revenue tends to experience fluctuations due to the variable nature of these products.

就我們整個業務部門而言，本季直接利潤率約為 73%。其他產品收入較去年同期下降11.1%。提醒一下，由於其他產品的可變性，其收入往往會出現波動。

Now moving on to mass markets, our fiber broadband revenue grew 16.6% year over year and represents approximately 40% of mass markets broadband revenue. During the quarter, fiber broadband enabled location ads were 131,000 bringing our total to over $4 million as of September 30 and pacing towards our targeted annual 500,000 build target this year.

現在轉向大眾市場，我們的光纖寬頻收入年增 16.6%，約佔大眾市場寬頻收入的 40%。本季度，光纖寬頻位置廣告數量為 131,000 個，截至 9 月 30 日，我們的廣告總額已超過 400 萬美元，並朝著今年 50 萬年度構建目標邁進。

We also added 43,000 quantum fiber customers which is our best fiber net ad quarter reported to date. And this brings our total to over 1 million. Fiber, ARPU is $62 flat sequentially and up slightly year over year. This is just outstanding work by that team.

我們還增加了 43,000 個量子光纖客戶，這是迄今為止我們報告的最好的光纖網路廣告季度。這使得我們的總數超過 100 萬。光纖 ARPU 與上一季持平 62 美元，年比略有上升。這只是該團隊的出色工作。

At the end of the third quarter, our penetration of legacy copper broadband was approximately 9% and our quantum fiber penetration stood at approximately 26%. As we look ahead, we'll continue our market by market assessment of the mass market's business as we explore a range of strategic options to maximize its value. Those options include potential joint ventures, wholesaling arrangements or future divestitures to generate incremental cash.

截至第三季末，我們的傳統銅寬頻滲透率約為 9%，量子光纖滲透率約為 26%。展望未來，我們將透過對大眾市場業務的市場評估來繼續我們的市場，同時探索一系列策略選擇以最大化其價值。這些選擇包括潛在的合資企業、批發安排或未來的資產剝離，以產生增量現金。

Now, turning to adjusted EBITDA. The third quarter of 2024 adjusted EBITDA was $899 million compared to $1.049 billion in a year ago. Third quarter, EBITDA was negatively impacted by legacy revenue declines seasonally high operating expense as well as some start-up costs associated with our custom networks group. For the third quarter of 2024, our adjusted EBITDA margin was 27.9%. EBITDA margins declined 90 basis points year over year compared to a 270 basis point year over year decline in the second quarter.

現在，轉向調整後的 EBITDA。 2024 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 8.99 億美元，去年同期為 10.49 億美元。第三季度，EBITDA 受到傳統收入下降、季節性高營運費用以及與我們的客製化網路集團相關的一些啟動成本的負面影響。 2024 年第三季度，我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 27.9%。 EBITDA 利潤率年減 90 個基點，而第二季則是年減 270 個基點。

Special items impacting adjusted EBITDA totaled $56 million. The majority of special items this quarter were related to transaction separation costs. Capital expenditures were $850 million and free cash flow excluding special items was positive $1.2 billion. As we previously stated, we're leaning into our network investments to support the rapid growth and demand our customers are facing while improving our overall cost structure.

影響調整後 EBITDA 的特殊項目總計 5,600 萬美元。本季的大多數特殊項目都與交易分離成本有關。資本支出為 8.5 億美元，不包括特殊項目的自由現金流為正 12 億美元。正如我們之前所說，我們正在依靠網路投資來支援客戶面臨的快速成長和需求，同時改善我們的整體成本結構。

Now, moving on to our financial outlook. We continue to estimate FY24 EBITDA to be in the range of $3.9 billion to $4 billion. However, given the overall trends in the business and initial cost impacts from the incremental PCF sales, we see FY24 EBITDA at the low end of that range.

現在，轉向我們的財務前景。我們繼續估計 24 財年 EBITDA 在 39 億美元至 40 億美元之間。然而，考慮到業務的整體趨勢以及 PCF 銷售增量帶來的初始成本影響，我們認為 24 財年 EBITDA 處於該範圍的低端。

As we said previously, we expect EBITDA to decline year over year in 2025. As a result of continued legacy declines, startup costs for PCF contracts and incremental transformation costs with a longer term goal of improving the broader cost structure.

正如我們之前所說，我們預計 EBITDA 將在 2025 年同比下降。

2024 CapEx is expected to be in the range of $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion. In cash interest in the range of $1.15 billion to $1.25 billion. Lastly, we're raising our free -- our 2024 free cash flow guidance from $1 billion to $1.2 billion to $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion. This guidance includes some incremental OpEx, CapEx and cash flows associated with our PCF sales growth as well as incremental spending to ultimately improve our cost structure and margins. And with that, I'll turn it back to Kate for closing remarks.

2024 年資本支出預計在 31 億美元至 33 億美元之間。現金利息在 11.5 億至 12.5 億美元之間。最後，我們將 2024 年自由現金流指引從 10 億美元上調至 12 億美元，上調至 12 億美元至 14 億美元。該指南包括與我們的 PCF 銷售成長相關的一些增量營運支出、資本支出和現金流，以及最終改善我們的成本結構和利潤率的增量支出。接下來，我將把它轉回給凱特做結束語。

Thanks, Chris. I know what we're saying is different than what everyone else in the industry is saying. It's going to take some time for the growth vectors I talked about to overcome the secular headwinds and show up in our financials. But we're confident that our plans will achieve exactly that. And we appreciate you taking the time to understand our story.

謝謝，克里斯。我知道我們所說的話與業內其他人所說的不同。我談到的成長向量需要一些時間才能克服長期阻力並體現在我們的財務數據中。但我們相信我們的計劃將實現這一目標。我們感謝您花時間了解我們的故事。

With that operator, we're ready for questions.

有了該接線員，我們就可以回答問題了。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。 （操作員說明）

Michael Rollins, Citi.

麥可羅林斯，花旗銀行。

Thanks and good afternoon. I wanted just to ask on some of the PCF disclosures. There were three new customer announcements over the last few weeks. Did those specifically relate to these new sales in this quarter or did that relate to the prior initial $5 billion?

謝謝，下午好。我只是想問一些 PCF 的披露情況。過去幾週發布了三項新客戶公告。這些是否與本季的新銷售額具體相關，或者是否與先前的初始 50 億美元相關？

And then Kate, you mentioned at the beginning of the call, some details where you're seeing improvements in the business sales and just curious where that's coming from. If you give us maybe an update on the marketing and distribution. And are these PCF sales also providing you with a magnet to get additional wins from these hyperscale customers? Thanks.

然後凱特，您在電話開始時提到了一些細節，您看到業務銷售有所改善，並且很好奇這些改善來自何處。如果您向我們提供有關行銷和分銷的最新資訊。這些 PCF 銷售是否也為您提供了從這些超大規模客戶那裡獲得額外勝利的磁鐵？謝謝。

Yeah, for sure. So, thanks Mike. Basically the four customer stories that we told come from the $8.5 billion in total and we're not going to differentiate between buckets. But they are a magnet very much so. When you get all three clouds in the bag, you've got yourself an ecosystem. You couple that with a digital platform to make it easy to consume the services that you're running on that infrastructure. And you've got something, pretty special. It's different than what everybody else is doing. We've got the cash to do it.

是的，當然。所以，謝謝麥克。基本上，我們講述的四個客戶故事總共來自 85 億美元，我們不會區分不同的類別。但它們確實是一塊磁鐵。當您將所有三朵雲都收入囊中時，您就擁有了一個生態系統。您可以將其與數位平台結合起來，以便輕鬆使用在該基礎架構上運行的服務。你有一些東西，非常特別。這與其他人所做的不同。我們有足夠的現金來做這件事。

So we're super excited about that. Regarding the uptick in IP and waves, particularly at the higher capacity levels, it's purely an indication that our customers are recognizing a need for expanded networks because of the workloads we're running.

所以我們對此感到非常興奮。關於 IP 和波浪的增加，特別是在更高容量水平上，這純粹表明我們的客戶認識到由於我們正在運行的工作負載而需要擴展網路。

We don't have specific data to say it's all AI that is a conversation and the signals we're getting for the conversations that we're having with our customers. And so we think it fits perfectly in line with that trajectory we talked about. First, the big tech builds the networks and the AI models, and trains them.

我們沒有具體的數據表明這一切都是人工智慧的對話，以及我們從與客戶的對話中獲得的訊號。所以我們認為它完全符合我們談論的軌跡。首先，大型科技公司建構網路和人工智慧模型，並對其進行訓練。

The second step is these customers are saying I'm using these models to transform my business and I'm having a massive uptick in my own networking needs. I think we've realized that every AI strategy needs a network strategy and customers are coming to Lumen because we've become a thought leader.

第二步是這些客戶說我正在使用這些模型來轉變我的業務，而我自己的網路需求正在大幅增加。我認為我們已經意識到每個人工智慧策略都需要一個網路策略，客戶來到 Lumen 是因為我們已經成為思想領袖。

Thanks. Next question, please.

謝謝。請下一個問題。

Sebastiano Petti, JPMorgan.

塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂，摩根大通。

Hi, thank you. Quick housekeeping on the incremental PCF announcement. Should we think about that broadly as having a similar timeline to what was discussed last quarter as we're thinking about contribution in the IRU construct that you kind of laid out last time. I know you kind of said they're similar to the last deals, but just try to think about timing as they kind of come on because it does seem as though part of that cash was probably reflected in the free cash flow upgrade, just want to -- just housekeeping there --

你好，謝謝。對增量 PCF 公告進行快速整理。我們是否應該廣泛地考慮這一點，因為我們正在考慮您上次提出的 IRU 結構中的貢獻，因此與上季度討論的時間軸類似。我知道你說它們與最近的交易類似，但只要試著考慮一下它們發生的時機，因為看起來部分現金可能反映在自由現金流升級中，只是想去——只是做家務——

Yeah. I'm sorry, go ahead.

是的。抱歉，請繼續。

Oh no, go ahead, Chris and then I can follow up.

哦，不，克里斯，請繼續，然後我可以跟進。

Yeah. You're exactly right. If you just look at the shape of those deals, the incremental deals that were signed this quarter in terms of the margins, the cash flows, how all that will work, the timing. It looks very similar to what we did on the $5 billion. So I think that's a good way to model it.

是的。你說得完全正確。如果你只看這些交易的形式，本季簽署的增量交易的利潤、現金流、所有這些將如何運作以及時間安排。它看起來與我們在 50 億美元上所做的非常相似。所以我認為這是建模的好方法。

Okay. That's helpful. And then thinking about, I mean, just you did guide to the lower end of the 2024, your guidance range, does imply a pretty decent acceleration sequentially even to kind of get to that point anything specifically that we should be thinking about there as it pertains to just maybe cost coming cost cuts kind of coming online or anything that we should be thinking about from a timing perspective? Thank you.

好的。這很有幫助。然後想想，我的意思是，你確實指導到了 2024 年的下限，你的指導範圍，確實意味著一個相當不錯的加速順序，甚至達到了那個點，我們應該考慮那裡的任何具體事情，因為它與可能的成本削減有關，或者是我們應該從時間角度考慮的任何事情？謝謝。

Yeah, it's really more I would say the seasonality like that we see in the summer months, we obviously have more construction maintenance, higher energy costs and that abates somewhat in the fourth quarter. We also made some intentional investments in the quarter to help accelerate the work that we need to do to go capture the $1 billion. And so when you look at the timing of those things, that's what gives us confidence in delivering on the lower end of the guidance for the year.

是的，我想說的是，我們在夏季看到的季節性，顯然有更多的建築維護，更高的能源成本，並且在第四季度有所減弱。我們也在本季進行了一些有意投資，以幫助加快我們獲得 10 億美元目標所需的工作。因此，當你看看這些事情的時間安排時，你會發現這讓我們有信心實現今年指引的下限。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Batya Levi, UBS.

巴蒂亞‧萊維，瑞銀集團。

Great. Thank you. In terms of the incremental PCF sales that you signed. Should we think that they're mostly big tech or are you starting to see a little bit of enterprise demand as well? And just to confirm, I think you mentioned that this new mix will be on the existing construct that you're building for the original PCF deal. Does that mean the CapEx requirements would be pretty much included in the original deal? And how should we think about the prepaid revenue mix of the incremental sales? Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。就您簽署的增量 PCF 銷售而言。我們是否應該認為它們主要是大型科技公司，還是您也開始看到一點企業需求？為了確認一下，我想你提到過這個新的組合將基於你為最初的 PCF 交易構建的現有結構。這是否意味著資本支出要求幾乎包含在原始交易中？我們應該如何考慮增量銷售的預付費收入組合？謝謝。

Well, I'll cover the first part, you cover the second part, Chris. So the customer mix we shared last quarter that it's more than 15 customers were in these tranches, we had some repeat business, we had some new business. So it's a mix, predominantly those customers are building AI models.

好吧，我將介紹第一部分，你介紹第二部分，克里斯。因此，我們上季度分享的客戶組合表明，這些部分有超過 15 個客戶，我們有一些重複業務，我們有一些新業務。所以這是一個混合體，主要是那些客戶正在建立人工智慧模型。

And if you look at some of the logos that we shared are standing side by side with us going long in our strategy, it's all three clouds and a large social platform and what those companies are reporting are massive infrastructure investments to build out the infrastructure for AI and they're coming to Lumen, that's the story.

如果你看我們分享的一些標誌，它們與我們長期的戰略並肩而立，你會發現這都是三個雲和一個大型社交平台，而這些公司所報告的是大規模的基礎設施投資，以構建基礎設施人工智慧和他們即將來到 Lumen，這就是故事。

The second piece of it the next wave is really enterprises and they're not buying at the same size because they're not planning on commercializing their AM models for the most part they're using to transform their own business and maybe some of their own products, and services that they offer their customers. So it's not the same size and build out as the hyperscalers and the social platforms.

下一波浪潮的第二部分實際上是企業，他們不會以相同的規模購買，因為他們不打算將增材製造模型商業化，他們大部分都用來改變自己的業務，也許還有他們的一些業務。因此，它的規模和構建與超大規模和社交平台不同。

Yeah. And on the second piece of the question, Batya, I would say, so of the total kind of $12 billion opportunity set, the $8.5 billion that we've talked about today that we secured to-date really does look the same. So, I would say that the same ratio of CapEx to sales value, the amount that's recurring versus the amount that's upfront, I would use those same parameters that we shared last quarter.

是的。關於問題的第二部分，Batya，我想說，在總共 120 億美元的機會集中，我們今天討論的迄今為止我們獲得的 85 億美元看起來確實是一樣的。因此，我想說，資本支出與銷售價值的比率、重複金額與預付款金額的比率相同，我將使用我們上季度共享的相同參數。

What you see in terms of the impact for this year is just timing of cash flows, where given the time of year those were signed, we do have some inflows coming this year. But we'll incorporate a lot of that CapEx, obviously, in the next year's guidance when we give 2025 guidance.

你所看到的今年的影響只是現金流的時間安排，考慮到一年中籤署這些協議的時間，我們今年確實有一些資金流入。但顯然，當我們給出 2025 年指導時，我們將在明年的指導中納入大量資本支出。

I think the important thing is that as we move forward from here, as we've said at a number of investor conferences, the second-half of that $7 billion opportunity are new networks, just like we built the difference is they're on new routes rather than existing routes.

我認為重要的是，當我們從這裡向前邁進時，正如我們在許多投資者會議上所說的那樣，70 億美元機會的下半年是新網絡，就像我們建立的一樣，不同之處在於它們在新航線而非現有航線。

Those economics will look different. We're in the middle of multiple conversations with customers around that. And as we get better cost estimation around that, we'll update guidance and give you guys more clarity. But that'll probably be something that takes a few quarters until we have that locked down.

這些經濟學看起來會有所不同。我們正在與客戶就此進行多次對話。當我們對此進行更好的成本估算時，我們將更新指南並為大家提供更清晰的資訊。但這可能需要幾個季度的時間才能鎖定。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Next question, please.

請下一個問題。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆·施奈德，高盛。

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could maybe just clarify on the incremental $3 billion of the, of the $7 billion you talked about. Does that mean that there's $4 billion of pipeline left to go, as you mentioned or is there an incremental pipeline above and beyond the first $7 billion that you had seen before to sort of extent that the law beyond the $12 billion total pipeline?

午安.感謝您提出我的問題。我想知道您是否可以澄清一下您談到的 70 億美元中的 30 億美元增量。正如您所提到的，這是否意味著還有40 億美元的管道尚未完成，或者是否存在超出您之前看到的第一個70 億美元的增量管道，在一定程度上法律超出了120 億美元的總管道？

And then maybe as a second question, can you maybe just kind of comment on your mass market business and given the amount of deal activity there maybe clarify whether you're seeing any kind of firm indications of interest and potential interest in acquiring that asset? Thank you.

然後，也許作為第二個問題，您能否對您的大眾市場業務發表一下評論，並考慮到那裡的交易活動量，也許可以澄清您是否看到任何形式的明確跡象表明對收購該資產的興趣和潛在興趣？謝謝。

Sure, Jim. So really just so we're all on the same page in the $7 billion of opportunity. We said today that we had secured over $3 billion of that. So let's just call that roughly half of the remainder that's really new routes, as I just mentioned in my previous answer, that's going to take multiple quarters.

當然，吉姆。所以，我們真的要在 70 億美元的機會中達成共識。我們今天表示，我們已獲得其中超過 30 億美元的資金。因此，我們可以將剩餘的大約一半稱為真正的新路線，正如我在先前的回答中提到的那樣，這將需要多個季度的時間。

Now there continues to be customer interest in not just new routes but existing routes. We're not going to continue to update pipeline because it really is now normal course of business. And we want to be in that motion, the entire point of talking about the $5 billion and the $7 billion was to alert the market with points of validation.

現在，客戶不僅對新航線感興趣，而且對現有航線也感興趣。我們不會繼續更新管道，因為它現在確實是正常業務流程。我們希望採取這項行動，談論 50 億美元和 70 億美元的全部目的是透過驗證點提醒市場。

That what we've been saying earlier this year was in fact true. This is a significant opportunity, it remains a significant opportunity and we'll report against it. So you're going to see us get into a cadence of communicating updates really as it impacts guidance because of where we are in the process. Now, on the consumer side, I guess just a few thoughts.

我們今年早些時候所說的實際上是正確的。這是一個重要的機會，而且仍然是一個重要的機會，我們將對此進行報告。因此，您將看到我們確實有節奏地溝通更新，因為它會影響指導，因為我們處於流程中的位置。現在，在消費者方面，我想只有一些想法。

First, I want to emphasize the great work by the team. And we're not the only ones that notice that. The rest of the world is starting to notice what this team is doing on execution as it relates to enablements and penetration and we couldn't be happier with the work they're doing. Now, we've also said a couple of things, right. We have said for years now that this was a space that should and would eventually consolidate. And I think we're starting to see that happen today.

首先，我想強調團隊所做的出色工作。我們並不是唯一注意到這一點的人。世界其他地方開始注意到這個團隊在執行上所做的事情，因為它與支持和滲透有關，我們對他們正在做的工作感到非常滿意。現在，我們也說了幾件事，對吧。多年來我們一直在說，這是一個應該而且最終會整合的空間。我認為我們今天開始看到這種情況發生。

And we've also said that we've got two great businesses in our enterprise business and our consumer business that we have a responsibility to invest in both. But that ultimately, they don't strategically belong together, they got two different return profiles. And at the right time, we would make the decision to separate them.

我們也說過，我們的企業業務和消費者業務有兩項出色的業務，我們有責任對這兩項業務進行投資。但最終，他們在策略上並不屬於一起，他們得到了兩種不同的回報概況。在適當的時候，我們會做出將他們分開的決定。

Now, we don't have any news to report today. What I will say is, at your conference and other conferences. We've been pretty clear about what the economics of the consumer business are when you look at it between copper and fiber. So I would leave it up to all of you to do the modeling and determine how significant an impact you think that would be on our ability to deliver the company and focus as an enterprise company.

現在，我們今天沒有任何消息可報道。我要說的是，在你們的會議和其他會議上。當您在銅纜和光纖之間進行比較時，我們已經非常清楚消費業務的經濟效益是什麼。因此，我會讓你們所有人來進行建模，並確定你們認為這對我們交付公司的能力和作為企業公司的專注力有多大的影響。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jonathan Chaplin, New Street.

喬納森卓別林，《新街》。

Thanks guys. A quick follow up on that Chris and then I've got just a network question as well. So on the sort of thought process around the sale of mass markets, one thing I think you have been considering was separating out the fiber business from the rest of mass markets. And I'm wondering if you could give us just a little bit of context for how you would sort of accomplish that the physical separation of those networks and how that would work?

謝謝你們。快速跟進克里斯，然後我也有一個網絡問題。因此，在圍繞大眾市場銷售的思考過程中，我認為您一直在考慮的一件事是將纖維業務與其他大眾市場分開。我想知道您是否能為我們提供一些背景信息，說明您將如何實現這些網絡的物理分離以及它如何運作？

And then maybe a little bit more of a difficult question, but it would be great to get some context for the network overall and how much of it has been consumed by these PCF contracts. So, from memory, I think level three initially had 12 conduits put fiber into. And we've heard that some of the conduits have been sold or have been sort of given the rights to them have been given away in these new PCF contracts. I'm wondering how many have gone, how many you've got left that would be -- yeah, thank you.

然後可能是一個更困難的問題，但如果能夠了解整個網絡的背景情況以及這些 PCF 合約消耗了多少網絡，那就太好了。所以，根據記憶，我認為三級最初有 12 個導管插入光纖。我們聽說，一些管道已經被出售，或者在這些新的 PCF 合約中已經放棄了它們的權利。我想知道有多少人走了，你們還剩下多少人——是的，謝謝。

Yeah, so I'll take the second question first. So as we were so clear on the last earnings call. We have not sold any of these assets. These are long term leases of conduit, sometimes just fibers, sometimes both. It's new networks on existing routes, it's building new routes, putting new conduit in the ground, et cetera and we strategically plan with our customers and with our own business modeling when we should in fact put more conduit in the ground or less conduit in the ground.

是的，所以我先回答第二個問題。正如我們在上次財報電話會議上所明確的那樣。我們尚未出售任何這些資產。這些是管道的長期租賃，有時只是光纖，有時兩者兼而有之。它是現有路線上的新網絡，它正在建造新路線，在地面上放置新的管道等等，我們與客戶和我們自己的業務模型進行戰略規劃，而實際上我們應該在地面上放置更多的管道或在地面上放置較少的管道地面。

And I want to call your attention to a very strategic partnership that we did with corning to utilize their new fiber solutions, which as much as quadruples the capacity of our existing network. We have all the right network in all the right places and we've got access to the best fiber in the world to continue to grow with and for our customers. Additionally, any of these long term leases on those routes, these customers of ours, these are deep partnerships.

我想提請您注意我們與康寧公司建立的策略合作夥伴關係，以利用他們的新光纖解決方案，該解決方案使我們現有網路的容量增加了四倍。我們在所有正確的地方擁有所有正確的網絡，並且我們可以獲得世界上最好的光纖，以繼續與我們的客戶一起成長。此外，這些航線上的任何長期租賃，我們的這些客戶，都是深厚的合作關係。

They do not by contract the right to compete with us in those spaces. So just to demystify because I saw a few reports that had it very, very wrong. Okay. So these are great deals, huge cash infusion. We're super excited, they're giving us the jet fuel for this rocket. Now, Chris, do you want to talk about consumer?

根據合同，他們沒有在這些領域與我們競爭的權利。所以只是為了揭開神秘面紗，因為我看到一些報導非常非常錯誤。好的。所以這些都是很棒的交易，大量的現金注入。我們非常興奮，他們為我們提供了這枚火箭的噴射燃料。現在，克里斯，你想談談消費者嗎？

Yeah. And on consumer, look, I don't want to get into a lot of details here because we don't know what we don't know. And we'll obviously tell you what we can when we can. But I will reiterate what we have said publicly and you need to think about the consumer business as two businesses. You have a copper business that generates most of the EBITDA and you have a fiber business that consumes most of the CapEx.

是的。關於消費者，我不想在這裡討論太多細節，因為我們不知道我們不知道什麼。當我們可以的時候，我們顯然會告訴你我們能做什麼。但我會重申我們公開說過的話，你需要將消費者業務視為兩個業務。您的銅纜業務產生了大部分 EBITDA，而您的光纖業務則消耗了大部分資本支出。

So therein, you can do the modeling. The reality is it's definitely possible to separate, nothing is easy, obviously, but I would say we've done harder things and I think we've proven to the market that we're not afraid of doing hard things. So we'll see where that takes us. But that -- that's all I can really comment on at this point.

因此，您可以在其中進行建模。現實是，分離絕對是可能的，顯然沒有什麼是容易的，但我想說我們已經做了更困難的事情，我認為我們已經向市場證明我們不害怕做困難的事情。所以我們會看看這會帶我們去哪裡。但這就是我現在能真正評論的。

Chris, does the [ziply] transaction change what you think that asset is worth?

Chris，[ziply] 交易是否改變了您認為該資產的價值？

I think the transactions that are taking place in the market more broadly are validation of our thesis that consolidation needs to happen and there's tremendous value in these assets. And we have an asset that is sizable in this consolidation play. And so I'll let you do the math on that.

我認為市場上更廣泛發生的交易驗證了我們的論點，即需要進行整合，而這些資產具有巨大的價值。我們在這場整合中​​擁有相當大的資產。所以我會讓你計算一下。

Great. Thanks, guys.

偉大的。謝謝，夥計們。

Next question, please.

請下一個問題。

Thank you. David Barden, Bank of America.

謝謝。大衛巴登，美國銀行。

Hey guys, thank you so much for taking my questions. Appreciate it. So two, if I could, the first is on the $3 billion Chris, you kind of elaborated that this is going to look a lot like the $5 billion deal that you did before. And you gave us a lot of math that we could do around that $5 billion. And the net of it was that about 15% of that or $800 million of the $5 billion came in over a three to four year construction period. And then another 5% came in over a further 20 years in terms of hiring maintenance and stuff.

嘿夥計們，非常感謝你們回答我的問題。欣賞它。那麼兩個，如果可以的話，第一個是關於 30 億美元的交易，克里斯，你詳細說明了這看起來很像你之前做過的 50 億美元的交易。你給了我們很多數學計算，我們可以圍繞這 50 億美元進行計算。最終結果是，其中約 15%，即 50 億美元中的 8 億美元是在三到四年的建設期間內完成的。然後，在接下來的 20 年裡，另外 5% 的人在僱用維護和其他人員方面投入了精力。

So there's $3 billion that looks like that, would be about a $500 million cash contribution over the build period, which would be [26, 78] or so. And then another, amount that would come out over the next 20 years and you suggested that there's a lot of wiggle room that's been created that new deal to address balance sheet issues and it doesn't sound like it from the numbers that they're related to the $5 billion.

因此，看起來有 30 億美元，相當於在建設期間的現金貢獻約為 5 億美元，約為 [26, 78] 左右。然後，接下來 20 年將會出現的另一筆金額，您表示，為解決資產負債表問題而製定的新協議有很大的迴旋餘地，但從數字來看，情況並非如此。有關。

But what is clear is that you did get a lot of upfront money before you have to spend it from these partners. And I'm wondering if that's what you're talking about. Are you using some of this upfront payment money to do things with the balance sheet before you then come back and spend it to go do the buildout projects. That, that would be my first question if I could.

但顯而易見的是，在你必須從這些合作夥伴那裡花費之前，你確實獲得了大量的預付款。我想知道這是否就是你所說的。您是否會使用部分預付款來處理資產負債表，然後再回來將其用於擴建專案。如果可以的話，這將是我的第一個問題。

Yeah. No. And, and I'm glad you asked it, David and look, I've been here 2.5 years, Kate's been here a couple of years. And I put it in my prepared remarks for a reason because there's a lot of stuff being written that I think is calling into question our credibility and our intentions with all of this. And I want to be exceedingly clear.

是的。不。 而且，我很高興你問這個問題，大衛，我已經在這裡 2.5 年了，凱特也在這裡幾年了。我把它放在我準備好的發言中是有原因的，因為我認為正在寫的很多東西正在質疑我們的可信度和我們所有這一切的意圖。我想說得非常清楚。

We are not going to message anything to the market that is off base from what we can deliver. And so the way I would characterize it rather than getting into specific pieces of math. Number one, no, we are not spending other people's money to deliver the balance sheet and then come back and have to re-raise debt to go build these networks. We're not doing that. I want to be exceedingly clear.

我們不會向市場傳達任何與我們所能提供的資訊不符的訊息。所以我會用這種方式來描述它，而不是進入具體的數學部分。第一，不，我們不會花別人的錢來交付資產負債表，然後回來必須重新籌集債務來建造這些網路。我們不會那樣做。我想說得非常清楚。

But the $5 billion, when we model out our transformation objectives and the investments required, which includes the investments to turn around the business and invest in our future investments in things like pension and the payment of debt as it matures the $5 billion close that funding GAAP as we said. The $3 billion with that box checked, the deals that constitute the $3 billion give us now more flexibility to go and reduce debt.

但是，當我們制定轉型目標和所需投資的模型時，這 50 億美元包括扭轉業務的投資以及投資於養老金和到期債務支付等未來投資，這 50 億美元就結束了該融資正如我們所說，公認會計原則。勾選該方塊後的 30 億美元，構成這 30 億美元的交易讓我們現在可以更有彈性地減少債務。

And remember we started all of this with cash on the balance sheet. So you have to take all three pieces. Cash on the balance sheet before the $5 billion, the $5 billion to $3 billion. And when you look at all of those sources, we have ample cash to start to deliver the company and you'll hear more from us on that -- when we can tell you, but you will see us start to deliver the company from these deals.

請記住，我們所有這一切都是從資產負債表上的現金開始的。所以你必須把這三塊都拿走。資產負債表上的現金在50億美元之前，在50億到30億美元之間。當你查看所有這些來源時，我們有足夠的現金來開始交付公司，你會從我們那裡聽到更多關於這方面的信息——當我們可以告訴你的時候，你會看到我們開始從這些方面交付公司。

Got it. Thank you. And then I guess my second question is maybe a little bit of a housekeeping question as we think about your comments about the obvious need to step up the EBITDA on the fourth quarter at a minimum, it's got to be about $1 billion as a jumping off point for 2025. And you've talked to us about how 2025 is going to be down.

知道了。謝謝。然後我想我的第二個問題可能有點像家政問題，因為我們考慮到您關於明顯需要至少在第四季度提高 EBITDA 的評論，它必須是大約 10 億美元作為起點2025 年的目標。我們討論了2025 年將如何下降。

I guess I'm trying to figure out how far it's down and I'm looking at the 4Q, 2023 EBITDA, do I know that that there's a lot that was in there that was extracted right? That they came out because of all the deals. Could you give us a starting point for thinking about from a kind of apples and apples 4Q '23 to 4Q '24? What that might look like and, and would that be an appropriate kind of trajectory to think about how the 2025 down year plays out? Thank you.

我想我想弄清楚它下降了多少，我正在查看 2023 年第四季度的 EBITDA，我是否知道其中有很多內容被正確提取了？他們之所以出來是因為所有的交易。您能否給我們一個思考的起點，從一種蘋果和蘋果 23 年第 4 季到 24 年第 4 季？這可能會是什麼樣子，這是否是思考 2025 年經濟低迷時期如何發展的合適軌跡？謝謝。

Yeah, so I don't want to get too much into '25 guidance right now for obvious reasons because we are still quantifying what we see as the need to invest in both the deals and you know, because by the way, we, we haven't said this yet. So I'll say it here, the customers that have signed these contracts, particularly in that first set are calling us and asking us if we can go faster.

是的，所以出於顯而易見的原因，我現在不想過多討論 25 年的指導，因為我們仍在量化我們認為投資於這些交易的需要，而且你知道，因為順便說一句，我們，我們還沒說過這個。所以我要在這裡說的是，已經簽署這些合約的客戶，特別是第一批合約的客戶正在打電話給我們，詢問我們是否可以走得更快。

And so there's discussions around that. So we're trying to finalize that -- trying to finalize the investments required on the $1 billion takeout and what we need to do there, I would say that at this point, if I look at kind of street averages probably a little high, versus expectations for next year. But at the same time as I've said, we want to give you '26 when we give you '25 because I think '26 will be a fairly significant inflection point given our ability to take cost out. So, those are the things we said. And I think until we get a little further along, I don't want to go further than that because we got work to do.

所以圍繞著這個問題進行了討論。因此，我們正在努力確定這一點 - 試圖最終確定 10 億美元外賣所需的投資以及我們需要在那裡做的事情，我想說，在這一點上，如果我看看街頭平均水平可能有點高，與明年的預期相比。但同時，正如我所說，當我們給你 '25 的時候，我們想給你 '26，因為我認為 '26 將是一個相當重要的拐點，因為我們有能力降低成本。所以，這些就是我們所說的。我認為，在我們取得進一步進展之前，我不想走得更遠，因為我們還有工作要做。

Yeah, I understand. I appreciate the question. Thank you guys.

是的，我明白。我很欣賞這個問題。謝謝你們。

Nick Del Deo, MoffettNathanson.

尼克·德爾·迪奧，莫菲特·內森森。

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. First you shared metrics that suggest, much better sales in North America enterprise over the last several quarters. When should we start to see that flow through into the P&L in a more noticeable way?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。首先，您分享的指標表明，過去幾季北美企業的銷售情況要好得多。我們什麼時候應該開始以更明顯的方式看到這種流入損益表的情況？

And then Kate, you had also mentioned that you had over 400 NaaS customers signed up, which is good to hear. I mean, obviously it's early, but I guess to what degree is NaaS contributing incremental revenue? Either because those are new customers that came to you because of NaaS or their existing customers that are spending more because of the product. Thank you.

然後 Kate，您還提到您有超過 400 個 NaaS 客戶註冊，這很令人高興。我的意思是，顯然現在還為時過早，但我猜 NaaS 在多大程度上貢獻了增量收入？要么是因為這些新客戶因為 NaaS 而來到您這裡，要么是因為他們的現有客戶因為該產品而花費更多。謝謝。

Yeah, I'll take the second one. Chris, I'll pass the first one to you. So starting with the NaaS customer. So we're, we're building a new digital platform and the focus is about driving adoption. That's about customer obsession. It's about what capabilities do they need. We're super lucky to have the network that we do because everything we build on that digital platform is integrated into it natively.

是的，我就選第二個。克里斯，我會把第一個傳給你。所以從 NaaS 客戶開始。所以我們正在建立一個新的數位平台，重點是推動採用。這就是對客戶的執著。這是關於他們需要什麼能力。我們非常幸運擁有我們所做的網絡，因為我們在該數位平台上建立的所有內容都原生整合到其中。

And so we can, achieve the right economics and massive delta of capabilities compared to other offerings in the marketplace from those companies that simply don't have a network and they frankly come to fill the circuits underneath their portal.

因此，與市場上那些根本沒有網路的公司提供的其他產品相比，我們可以實現正確的經濟效益和巨大的能力增量，而他們坦率地填補了其門戶下的電路。

And so it's very exciting, but we're going to stay focused on getting as many customers on there if possible. I think what we're seeing is customers testing it. I'll try one port, I'll try two ports. They have a good experience, they start to add ports and that's where we start to innovate and drive additional service innovation like Lumen Defender, for example, is an opportunity for us on the horizons, to sell into every NaaS customer, et cetera.

所以這非常令人興奮，但我們將繼續專注於盡可能吸引更多的客戶。我認為我們看到的是客戶正在測試它。我會嘗試一個端口，我會嘗試兩個端口。他們有很好的經驗，他們開始添加端口，這就是我們開始創新並推動額外服務創新的地方，例如 Lumen Defender，這對我們來說是一個機會，可以向每個 NaaS 客戶銷售，等等。

That's the storyboard, how it impact revenue. We're not going to give transparency to that for a while. We're simply not ready to. We have models that suggest that this is going to be very accretive over time, but it will take time to get to scale. That's true for every cloud business, right. And we're using the cloud methodology to figure this thing out and plan it. So, Chris, you want to take the first question?

這就是故事板，它如何影響收入。我們暫時不會透露這一點。我們只是還沒準備好。我們的模型表明，隨著時間的推移，這將非常增值，但需要時間才能擴大規模。對於每個雲端業務都是如此，對吧。我們正在使用雲端方法來解決這個問題並進行規劃。那麼，克里斯，你想回答第一個問題嗎？

Yeah, and so typically, Nick, we would expect to see sales convert to revenue in about a three month time window. Now, obviously, as we go forward and we're selling more digital services, that narrows, which is one of the benefits, but we're a ways from that.

是的，通常情況下，尼克，我們預計銷售額會在大約三個月的時間窗口內轉化為收入。現在，顯然，隨著我們的前進，我們正在銷售更多的數位服務，範圍縮小了，這是好處之一，但我們還有很長的路要走。

I would say this, in the grow bucket, as we said last quarter, we only grew 1.5% year over year. This quarter, it's four. So, I think that's encouraging. We have to watch that closely. So, there's not enough of a trend line there yet, but that's what we're watching. But I also want to be really realistic here. And it's a good problem to have.

我想說的是，正如我們上個季度所說，在成長方面，我們年比僅成長了 1.5%。本季是四。所以，我覺得這令人鼓舞。我們必須密切注意這一點。因此，目前還沒有足夠的趨勢線，但這就是我們正在觀察的。但我也想在這裡變得非常現實。這是一個好問題。

We have a legacy business that's enormous. It generates an enormous amount of cash, which is part of how we're able to invest in our future. That legacy business, given its size, will continue to offset the growth that we see in those grow buckets. So, I don't expect in the near term given what's going on in the industry, I've commented on what I think is some bad re-rate behavior in some cases that's driving customer disconnects.

我們擁有龐大的傳統業務。它產生大量現金，這是我們投資未來的一部分。鑑於其規模，該傳統業務將繼續抵消我們在這些成長桶中看到的成長。因此，考慮到行業正在發生的情況，我預計短期內不會對我認為在某些情況下導致客戶脫節的一些不良重新評級行為發表評論。

I think those things will continue and that'll continue to weigh on total revenue. But I think if we look at things like the TMPS scores, the sales, the fact that disconnects, at least in the near term, appear to be stabilizing, I hope that starts to show a slight improvement in the rate of decline as we move forward over the coming quarters.

我認為這些事情將會持續下去，並將繼續影響總收入。但我認為，如果我們看看 TMPS 分數、銷售、斷線情況（至少在短期內）似乎趨於穩定，我希望隨著我們的發展，下降率會開始略有改善展望未來幾季。

Next question please.

請下一個問題。

Greg Williams, TD Cowen.

格雷格·威廉斯，TD·考恩。

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Just back on the potential mass market sale. We're splitting the fiber and the copper. Just wondering if you can provide an update on potential dissynergies. I remember when you guys sold off the asset to Brightspeed, you mentioned that there were some dis energies there, but there wasn't a lot of enterprise overlap.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。剛回到潛在的大眾市場銷售。我們正在分離光纖和銅纜。只是想知道您是否可以提供有關潛在不協同效應的最新資訊。我記得當你們將資產出售給 Brightspeed 時，你們提到那裡存在一些分歧，但沒有太多企業重疊。

In this situation you'll have six or seven markets where you're heavily overlapped with enterprise and just wondering if there's going to be a greater level of disties as a result. Second question -- on yeah, I'll go ahead and I'll have a follow up.

在這種情況下，您將擁有六到七個與企業嚴重重疊的市場，並且想知道是否會因此而產生更大程度的分歧。第二個問題——是的，我會繼續，我會跟進。

No, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry.

不，不，繼續吧。前進。對不起。

So the second question is actually separate. It's on the North American enterprise. I noticed that the nurture bucket was actually declining faster than the harvest bucket. You mentioned that VPN and Ethernet had some impact, but, I found that, kind of interesting and just wondering if you can help us understand that dynamic.

所以第二個問題其實是分開的。這是北美企業的事。我注意到培育桶實際上比收穫桶下降得更快。您提到 VPN 和乙太網路有一些影響，但是，我發現這有點有趣，只是想知道您是否可以幫助我們了解這種動態。

Yeah, so a few things. So, the first one, one of the benefits of CenturyLink and level 3 being put together is there are routes that came from CenturyLink that, frankly, Lumen would never sell. They're going to be critical for our enterprise delivery going forward.

是的，有幾件事。因此，第一個，CenturyLink 和 Level 3 結合在一起的好處之一是，有些來自 CenturyLink 的路線，坦白說，Lumen 永遠不會出售。它們對於我們未來的企業交付至關重要。

So, I think there's -- without getting too specific, I think there's ways for us to make sure that we continue the synergies that existed before. The other thing is look, just like on the enterprise business where we talk about the simplification and better customer experience we can bring by unifying four networks, there's work we can do on legacy copper in the -- on the consumer side as well. So, I would say that's less of a concern at this point, but again, more to follow as we have more to share.

所以，我認為，在不太具體的情況下，我認為我們有辦法確保我們繼續以前存在的協同作用。另一件事是外觀，就像在企業業務中我們談論透過統一四個網路可以帶來的簡化和更好的客戶體驗一樣，我們也可以在消費者方面對傳統銅線做一些工作。所以，我想說，目前這不是一個令人擔憂的問題，但同樣，隨著我們有更多的東西可以分享，還有更多的事情需要關注。

As it relates to what happened in Q3, the reality is that nurture bucket really is VPN and Ethernet, nothing specific really to point to. We do have migration plays in place -- new migration plays to help move many of those VPN and Ethernet customers to newer services. That has not yet hit. So, that's an area of focus we have as well. But I would say there was nothing significant that you could point to that moved the needle. I would say it's just more of a quarterly blip.

由於它與第三季發生的事情有關，現實是培養桶實際上是 VPN 和以太網，沒有什麼具體的東西可以指出。我們確實有適當的遷移策略——新的遷移策略可以幫助許多 VPN 和乙太網路客戶轉向更新的服務。那還沒擊中。所以，這也是我們關注的領域。但我想說的是，沒有什麼重要的事情可以指出來推動這個趨勢。我想說這只是一個季度的曇花一現。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Thanks. Next question please.

謝謝。請下一個問題。

Frank Louthan, Raymond James.

弗蘭克·勞森，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Great. Thank you. Can you give us an idea of the annual revenue on wavelengths and what the margins are on those relative to your other products? And then contracts of this nature tend to see some expansion over time. They're already telling you to go faster. What do you think is the potential for some upside to this $8 billion. And over what time frame do you think you'll start to see some of that creep? Thanks.

偉大的。謝謝。您能否向我們介紹一下波長的年收入以及相對於您的其他產品的利潤率是多少？隨著時間的推移，這種性質的合約往往會出現一些擴展。他們已經告訴你要開快一點了。您認為這 80 億美元的上漲潛力有多大？您認為在什麼時間範圍內您會開始看到這種變化？謝謝。

Yeah. So on the $8 billion, nothing really to share at this point because we're still in those conversations about how much faster we can go and what that means for us. I would simply say that again, the reasons why customers are here is because of their confidence in our ability to build these networks for them and they are calling us because they know of our capabilities and they know it's possible that we could go faster. So that's something that they're willing to participate in with us. And as we know more, we'll share it. And I'm sorry, what was the first question again? It's been a long day, Frank.

是的。因此，對於 80 億美元，目前沒有什麼可分享的，因為我們仍在討論我們可以走多快以及這對我們意味著什麼。我只想再說一遍，客戶來到這裡的原因是因為他們對我們為他們建立這些網路的能力充滿信心，他們打電話給我們是因為他們了解我們的能力，並且他們知道我們有可能走得更快。所以這是他們願意與我們一起參與的事情。當我們了解更多時，我們將分享它。抱歉，第一個問題又是什麼？這是漫長的一天，法蘭克。

(multiple speakers) Yeah, we're not at the point yet where we're disclosing individual product details. As we go forward, it's something we're looking at. I think it's a little bit early. But in time, I, you know, I think we'll, we'll probably come to a different way of looking at it that we'll ultimately share with you guys, but it's, it's too early yet and we don't go below grow nurture harvest at this point and that's what we're going to stick with for now.

（多位發言者）是的，我們還沒有到揭露個別產品詳細資料的階段。當我們前進時，這是我們正在關注的事情。我認為現在有點早了。但隨著時間的推移，我，你知道，我想我們可能會以不同的方式來看待它，我們最終會與你們分享，但現在還為時過早，我們不這樣做在這一點上，低於“種植”、“培育”、“收穫”，這就是我們現在要堅持的。

All. And on the so on the back of the building -- Thanks.

全部。以及建築物後面的等等——謝謝。

Operator. We have time for one more question.

操作員。我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Eric Luebchow, Wells Fargo.

艾瑞克‧盧布喬 (Eric Luebchow)，富國銀行。

Great. I appreciate you squeezing me in. So just to follow up on the mass markets business, as we've alluded to on the call, a lot of recent announcements and deal activity from a lot of private overbuilders. So as you look at your footprint today, I think you have roughly 18 million homes -- copper homes, how does some of this recent competitive activity or announcements play into how attractive you think that future growth opportunity is either by you or a partner and how you think about, what could be built out with fiber at attractive economics.

偉大的。我很感謝你讓我參與其中。因此，當您查看今天的足跡時，我認為您擁有大約 1800 萬套住宅——銅住宅，最近的一些競爭活動或公告如何影響您認為未來成長機會對您或合作夥伴的吸引力，以及您如何看待，用纖維可以以有吸引力的經濟效益建造什麼？

Yeah, we've -- so what we've said publicly that of those 18 million, again, there's a fairly sizable piece that's rural. But there is, 8 million, you know, home potential I think is reasonable. Maybe it's a little more, maybe it's a little less. We're at four right now. So the reality is that the markets where fiber is being built are really attractive markets.

是的，我們已經公開說過，在這 1,800 萬人口中，有相當大一部分是農村人口。但我認為有 800 萬的住宅潛力是合理的。也許多一點，也許少一點。我們現在四點了。因此，現實情況是，正在建造光纖的市場確實是有吸引力的市場。

And if you look at the size of our fiber footprint today and you look at the potential fiber footprint, we are the largest asset out there that has yet to be consolidated. So, those are the facts and we'll see where we go from here.

如果您看看我們今天的光纖足跡的大小以及潛在的光纖足跡，我們是尚未整合的最大資產。所以，這些都是事實，我們將看看接下來的發展方向。

Appreciate that and just, just a follow up. You touched on the funding GAAP is closed and now you have more flexibility is that another way of saying, you think Lumen will be kind of consistently free cash flow positive from here? I'm just trying to think about obviously, a lot of puts and takes in the next year.

感謝這一點，只是後續行動。您談到融資 GAAP 已關閉，現在您擁有了更大的靈活性，換句話說，您認為 Lumen 從這裡開始將持續保持正的自由現金流？顯然，我只是想考慮一下明年的許多投入和投入。

You talked about EBITDA-low, or presumably CapEx a bit higher from some of these PCF sales ramping. And then, obviously kind of a wild card on PCF contributions next year, but just any kind of directional help you can provide on what free cash flow could look like?

您談到了 EBITDA 較低，或者由於其中一些 PCF 銷售成長而導致資本支出略高。然後，顯然明年的 PCF 捐款是一個通配符，但您可以提供關於自由現金流可能會是什麼樣子的任何類型的定向幫助嗎？

Yeah, it's a great question. Thank you for asking it. The answer is yes. I mean when we said that we were funding the gap and we talked about the additional things we could do with the cash that comes from the $3 billion, we will be generating positive free cash flow. Now, I want to be really clear on one thing; that's cumulative.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。謝謝你的提問。答案是肯定的。我的意思是，當我們說我們正在為缺口提供資金並討論我們可以用這 30 億美元的現金做更多事情時，我們將產生正的自由現金流。現在，我想明確一件事：這是累積的。

Because of the impact of tax payments and the timing of CapEx, there could be -- and I just don't have enough information yet to be able to share it. There could be a year where maybe we're free cash flow negative. But we will have received the cash in advance of that and we'll plan accordingly.

由於納稅和資本支出時間的影響，可能會有——但我還沒有足夠的資訊來分享。或許有一天我們的自由現金流可能為負。但我們會提前收到現金，我們會做出相應的計劃。

It's just that the size of the tax payments and the quantum of the CapEx that'll get spent. It's going to be really lumpy. And it's going to be lumpy quarter to quarter. It's going to be lumpy year-to-year. But cumulatively, yes, free cash flow positive. And especially with the billion dollar cost takeout, even with the pressures on revenue, we're confident in making that statement.

只是納稅的規模和花費的資本支出的數量。它會變得非常凹凸不平。而且每季都會出現波動。每年都會變得不穩定。但總的來說，自由現金流是正值。特別是考慮到數十億美元的成本支出，即使收入面臨壓力，我們也有信心做出這樣的聲明。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks Eric.

謝謝埃里克。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call to Kate for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我會把電話轉給凱特做結束語。

Thanks everybody for digging in and taking the time to understand our unique story. We look forward to meeting you at the upcoming conferences and updating you on the significant progress we're making. See you soon.

感謝大家深入挖掘並花時間了解我們獨特的故事。我們期待在即將舉行的會議上與您見面，並向您介紹我們正在取得的重大進展。再見。

This concludes today's conference call. We thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。