Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, greetings and welcome to Lumen Technologies' second-quarter 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，大家好，歡迎參加 Lumen Technologies 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Thursday, July 30, 2025.

提醒一下，本次會議將於 2025 年 7 月 30 日星期四錄製。

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

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係高級副總裁 Jim Breen。請繼續。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Lumen Technologies on today's 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，感謝大家參加 Lumen Technologies 今天的電話會議。今天參加電話會議的有總裁兼執行長凱特·約翰遜 (Kate Johnson) 和執行副總裁兼財務長克里斯·斯坦斯伯里 (Chris Stansbury)。

Before we begin, 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 and the risk factors in our SEC filings.

在我們開始之前，本次電話會議可能包含具有一定風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。所有前瞻性陳述都應與我們提交給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 的文件中提出的警示性聲明和風險因素一起考慮。

We'll be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures, which could 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 the Investor Relations section of the website.

我們將參考與最具可比性的 GAAP 指標相協調的某些非 GAAP 財務指標，這些指標可在我們的收益新聞稿中找到。此外，今天討論的某些指標不包括特殊項目的成本，詳情請參閱我們的收益資料，這些資料可在網站的投資者關係部分找到。

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

說完這些，我就把電話轉給凱特。

Thanks, Jim, and thanks to everybody for joining the call. I'm happy to share that Lumen had a very productive quarter. We announced the sale of our consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T for $5.75 billion, providing us strategic clarity and a path to financial freedom.

謝謝，吉姆，也謝謝大家參加電話會議。我很高興地告訴大家，Lumen 本季業績十分亮眼。我們宣布以 57.5 億美元的價格將我們的消費者光纖到戶業務出售給 AT&T，這為我們提供了戰略清晰度和通往財務自由的道路。

We signed nearly $500 million of new PCF contracts since our last deal update. We strengthened our balance sheet with a successful $2 billion bond offering that extends maturities and reduced the coupon rate by over 3.5%, saving another $50 million or so in annual interest expense.

自上次交易更新以來，我們簽署了近 5 億美元的新 PCF 合約。我們成功發行了 20 億美元債券，延長了債券期限，並將票面利率降低了 3.5% 以上，從而增強了我們的資產負債表，每年節省了約 5,000 萬美元的利息支出。

And we reported strong revenue and EBITDA despite a one-time RDOF giveback. We're focused and executing extremely well.

儘管有一次性的 RDOF 回饋，我們仍報告了強勁的收入和 EBITDA。我們非常專注並且執行得非常好。

So now I want to give some context as to where I think we are in Lumen's transformation story. We see three critical financial milestones. The first is to clear a path to a healthy balance sheet and free cash flow to support our transformation. To that end, we're raising 2025 free cash flow guidance by $500 million.

所以現在我想提供一些背景信息，說明我認為我們在 Lumen 轉型故事中所處的位置。我們看到了三個關鍵的財務里程碑。首先是清除通往健康資產負債表和自由現金流的道路，以支持我們的轉型。為此，我們將 2025 年自由現金流預期提高 5 億美元。

The second milestone is to return to EBITDA growth, and to that end, we're raising our 2025 run rate cost-out target from $250 million to $350 million. This will put us near the high end of our EBITDA guide and gives us confidence that we have a path to EBITDA growth.

第二個里程碑是恢復 EBITDA 成長，為此，我們將 2025 年的運行率成本目標從 2.5 億美元提高到 3.5 億美元。這將使我們接近 EBITDA 指南的高端，並使我們相信我們擁有一條實現 EBITDA 成長的道路。

With free cash flow and EBITDA milestones on track, I'll focus my comments on the third milestone, our pivot back to revenue growth, and I'll start with an update on building the backbone for the AI economy. The global AI race is a matter of economic development and national security for the United States.

隨著自由現金流和 EBITDA 里程碑的實現，我將重點放在第三個里程碑，即我們重回收入成長，並首先介紹建立 AI 經濟支柱的最新情況。全球人工智慧競賽攸關美國的經濟發展與國家安全。

We are pleased with the administration's AI action plan and recent tax legislation, which not only reduces regulatory barriers and helps accelerate our current network buildout, it also provides us with additional capital to invest in our nation's digital infrastructure.

我們對政府的人工智慧行動計劃和最近的稅收立法感到滿意，這不僅減少了監管障礙，有助於加速我們當前的網路建設，還為我們投資國家數位基礎設施提供了額外的資金。

As such, we're making huge progress executing on the $8.5 billion of PCF contracts we announced last year. We're constructing 119 ILA sites. We've already deployed 1,200 miles of fiber on 16 routes, and we've completed IRU conduit deployments across 55 additional routes.

因此，我們在執行去年宣布的價值 85 億美元的 PCF 合約方面取得了巨大進展。我們正在建造 119 個 ILA 站點。我們已經在 16 條線路上部署了 1,200 英里的光纖，並且已經在另外 55 條線路上完成了 IRU 管道部署。

In another two years or so, we expect to finish this construction and overpull work, generating over $400 million of annual revenue for Lumen for the remaining duration of the 20-year contracts.

再過兩年左右，我們預計完成這項建設和過度拉動工作，在20年合約的剩餘期限內，每年為Lumen創造超過4億美元的收入。

And as I mentioned up front, we now have just under $9 billion in PCF business, adding nearly $500 million in new contracts since our last update.

正如我之前提到的，我們現在的PCF業務價值略低於90億美元，自上次更新以來增加了近5億美元的新合約。

Our pipeline of PCF opportunities remains strong, with a combination of demand for overpull on existing conduit, which are higher margin and lower risk, as well as new route construction, which is inherently expensive, risky, and lower margin.

我們的PCF機會管道依然強勁，既有對現有管道超額拉動的需求（利潤率更高、風險更低），也有新線路建設的需求（成本高、風險大、利潤率較低）。

For any new route construction, we're working with our customers on creative deal structures to mitigate risks and manage costs. But please note, none of these remaining deals in the pipeline have been contemplated in our guidance or long-range growth plans. They are purely upside.

對於任何新航線的建設，我們都會與客戶合作制定創新的交易結構，以降低風險和管理成本。但請注意，我們的指導或長期增長計劃中均未考慮這些剩餘的交易。它們純粹是優點。

Additionally, I want to assure our investors that we will remain deeply disciplined in our approach by only inking deals that are value accretive to Lumen's shareholders, even if this means stepping away from an opportunity.

此外，我想向我們的投資者保證，我們將繼續嚴格遵守我們的做法，只簽署那些能為 Lumen 股東帶來價值增值的交易，即使這意味著放棄機會。

We simply won't be pulled back into the field of dreams route construction practices of Legacy Telecom, where building new capacity trumped every other investment opportunity. At Lumen, we will build new capacity only where we need it and can get the right commercial terms. Our focus is on driving higher utilization of our assets, and therefore, better economic returns for our shareholders.

我們根本不會回到 Legacy Telecom 的夢想路線建立實踐領域，在那裡建立新容量勝過所有其他投資機會。在 Lumen，我們只會在需要且能獲得正確商業條款的地方建造新產能。我們的重點是提高資產利用率，從而為股東帶來更好的經濟回報。

Speaking of better network utilization, AI is forcing a pivotal shift in customer needs, driving unprecedented bandwidth demand for real-time data processing and secure uninterrupted access to critical business applications. Our digital platform and Network-as-a-Service, or NaaS, offerings give customers the flexibility and agility needed to thrive in a multi-cloud hybrid world.

說到更好的網路利用率，人工智慧正在迫使客戶需求發生重大轉變，推動即時資料處理和關鍵業務應用程式安全不間斷存取的空前頻寬需求。我們的數位平台和網路即服務 (NaaS) 產品為客戶提供了在多雲混合世界中蓬勃發展所需的靈活性和敏捷性。

In 2Q, we saw continued strength and adoption across three critical KPIs all quarter over quarter. The number of customers that purchased and used one or more ports was up 35% from the first quarter. Total active NaaS ports were up 31%. Total active services were up 22%.

在第二季度，我們看到三個關鍵 KPI 的表現持續強勁，採用率逐季上升。購買並使用一個或多個連接埠的客戶數量比第一季增加了35％。總活躍 NaaS 連接埠數增加了 31%。整體活躍服務成長了22%。

So across all three metrics, the quarter-over-quarter growth rates in Q2 remained consistent with Q1, showing continued adoption growth, and ultimately, a significant driver of network utilization. Additionally, we're encouraged by the healthy patterns we're observing in repeat purchases and lower churn rates.

因此，從所有三個指標來看，第二季的環比成長率與第一季保持一致，顯示採用率持續成長，並最終成為網路利用率的重要推動力。此外，我們觀察到的重複購買和較低的客戶流失率的健康模式令我們感到鼓舞。

Big name brands are buying Lumen NaaS for their cloud connectivity needs. Companies like Pacific Life, Columbia, DXC Technology, and so many more. There's even a large investment bank on this call that's using Lumen NaaS, but they were too shy to let us talk about them with this audience, and don't worry, we understand.

大品牌正在購買 Lumen NaaS 來滿足其雲端連接需求。諸如太平洋人壽、哥倫比亞、DXC 技術等公司。這次電話會議甚至有一家大型投資銀行正在使用 Lumen NaaS，但他們太害羞了，不願讓我們在聽眾面前談論他們，別擔心，我們理解。

As we continue to build and deliver quick, secure, and effortless customer experiences, NaaS adoption will continue to accelerate, ultimately, becoming a significant part of our revenue growth story.

隨著我們繼續建立和提供快速、安全和輕鬆的客戶體驗，NaaS 的採用將繼續加速，最終成為我們收入成長的重要組成部分。

Last quarter, I shared some detail about our digital platform architecture, talking about Lumen Control Center, fabric ports, and cloud on-ramps. This is how we're building a platform to deliver cloud economics, enabling scaled revenue growth at declining marginal costs.

上個季度，我分享了有關我們的數位平台架構的一些細節，討論了 Lumen 控制中心、結構端口和雲端入口。這就是我們建構平台以實現雲端經濟的方式，以下降的邊際成本實現規模收入成長。

We're continuing to innovate all of these important capabilities, and we plan to announce some exciting fabric port innovation later this year, so stay tuned.

我們將繼續創新所有這些重要功能，並計劃在今年稍後宣布一些令人興奮的結構端口創新，敬請關注。

But today, I'm happy to give you an update on our cloud on-ramp innovation. We're now working with all three major hyperscalers to connect our network directly into their cloud infrastructure, creating the fast lane for AI-powered businesses, bypassing non-value intermediaries.

但今天，我很高興向大家介紹我們的雲端運算入口創新的最新進展。我們目前正在與三大超大規模企業合作，將我們的網路直接連接到他們的雲端基礎設施，為人工智慧驅動的企業創建快車道，繞過非價值中介。

Our goal is to build fully automated API-driven, up to 400 gig on-ramp offerings so customers can move as much data as they want, wherever and whenever they need it quickly, securely, and effortlessly.

我們的目標是建立完全自動化的 API 驅動、高達 400 千兆的入口產品，以便客戶可以隨時隨地快速、安全、輕鬆地移動任意數量的資料。

Today, we have more than 30 paying customers leveraging our existing multi-cloud networking capabilities through Lumen NaaS. As we launch cloud on ramps with each hyperscaler, we'll be able to democratize the networking fast lane for all AI-powered businesses and bring multi-cloud networking to everyone digitally.

今天，我們有超過 30 位付費客戶透過 Lumen NaaS 利用我們現有的多雲網路功能。隨著我們與每個超大規模企業一起推出雲端運算，我們將能夠為所有人工智慧驅動的企業實現網路快車道的民主化，並以數位方式為每個人帶來多雲網路。

Okay, I talked about the first two important revenue growth vectors for Lumen: the physical layer where we're building the AI backbone; and the digital layer where we sell NaaS.

好的，我談到了 Lumen 的前兩個重要的收入成長點：我們正在建立 AI 主幹網的實體層；以及我們銷售 NaaS 的數位層。

Here comes the third, and it's an important one. By putting our physical network together with our digital platform, we're fulfilling our mission to connect people, data, and applications quickly, securely, and effortlessly.

這是第三個，也是最重要的一個。透過將我們的實體網路與數位平台結合起來，我們正在實現我們的使命，即快速、安全、輕鬆地連接人員、數據和應用程式。

Ultimately, we've created a connected ecosystem for our customers in both the public and private space to purchase provision and manage their network services as easily as they do their cloud solutions, again, fully automated, API-driven, and available in digital marketplaces.

最終，我們為公共和私人領域的客戶創建了一個互聯的生態系統，使他們能夠像購買雲端解決方案一樣輕鬆地購買和管理網路服務，同樣，它是完全自動化的、API 驅動的，並且可以在數位市場上使用。

This helps us scale Lumen offerings to new customers faster than ever before and more efficiently than in traditional telecom. Now, there's obviously a lot of work to do, but what's exciting is that this isn't some far away vision.

這有助於我們比傳統電信更快、更有效率地向新客戶提供 Lumen 產品。現在，顯然還有很多工作要做，但令人興奮的是，這並不是什麼遙遠的願景。

We've already have many of the pieces in place. We have close to 1,000 NaaS customers. We have the three biggest cloud service providers connected to our fabric and co-building high-speed on-ramps with us, and we already serve more than 1,500 data centers across the US, and that number is growing. So the newest piece of the puzzle is working with technology companies to integrate our digital network solutions directly into their cloud offerings.

我們已經把許多部分準備就緒。我們有近 1,000 個 NaaS 客戶。我們有三大雲端服務供應商連接到我們的結構並與我們共同建造高速入口，我們已經為美國 1,500 多個資料中心提供服務，而且這個數字還在增長。因此，最新的難題是與科技公司合作，將我們的數位網路解決方案直接整合到他們的雲端產品中。

Today, networking and connectivity solutions are purchased separately from tech solutions. Soon, customers will be able to purchase their tech solutions bundled and integrated with Lumen networking services available in online marketplaces. So not only will this yield frictionless customer experiences, it gives Lumen scale and commercial reach by turning any technology company into a sell-with and a sell-through channel partner.

如今，網路和連接解決方案與技術解決方案是分開購買的。很快，客戶將能夠購買與線上市場上的 Lumen 網路服務捆綁和整合的技術解決方案。因此，這不僅可以帶來無摩擦的客戶體驗，還可以透過將任何科技公司轉變為銷售和銷售通路合作夥伴，為 Lumen 提供規模和商業影響力。

To start, we're working with AI companies, backup and recovery solution providers, and security companies, all of whom are eager to create a first mover advantage with this new business model. This connected ecosystem gives the Lumen market velocity and reach, positioning us to win in the fast-growing $15 billion, multi-club networking market.

首先，我們正在與人工智慧公司、備份和復原解決方案提供者以及安全公司合作，他們都渴望透過這種新的商業模式創造先發優勢。這種互聯的生態系統為 Lumen 市場提供了速度和覆蓋範圍，使我們能夠在快速增長的 150 億美元多俱樂部網路市場中獲勝。

We offer unparalleled cloud agility with carrier-grade performance, engineered for AI, built for scale, and designed for the demands of today.

我們提供無與倫比的雲端敏捷性與營運商級性能，專為人工智慧而設計，為規模而構建，並專為滿足當今的需求而設計。

So in summary, we're pivoting Lumen's back to revenue growth by restoring value to once-commoditized fiber assets with innovation and new business models. We started by leveraging our physical network to create the backbone for AI. Then, we built a digital platform to make it easy for customers to consume network services in a cloud-like consumption model.

總而言之，我們正透過創新和新的商業模式恢復曾經商品化的光纖資產的價值，從而使 Lumen 重新實現收入成長。我們首先利用我們的實體網路來創建人工智慧的骨幹網路。然後，我們建立了一個數位化平台，讓客戶能夠輕鬆地以類似雲端的消費模式消費網路服務。

And now, we're tying it all together into a digital commercial ecosystem so that our fiber network can help fulfill the ambition of AI. I think you can all agree, this is not your mom of Lumen.

現在，我們將所有這些整合到一個數位商業生態系統中，以便我們的光纖網路能夠幫助實現人工智慧的雄心。我想你們都會同意，這不是你的 Lumen 媽媽。

So Chris, over to you.

那麼克里斯，交給你了。

Thanks, Kate. As Kate highlighted, we had an eventful and constructive quarter on many fronts. We reported solid QQ financials, announced the transformative sale of our consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T, and successfully refinanced $2 billion in debt.

謝謝，凱特。正如凱特所強調的，我們在許多方面度過了一個多事且建設性的季度。我們報告了穩健的 QQ 財務狀況，宣布將我們的消費者光纖到戶業務轉型出售給 AT&T，並成功為 20 億美元的債務進行再融資。

Financially, revenue and adjusted EBITDA came in better than expected despite a $46 million one-time impact to both from the World Digital Opportunity Fund, or RDOF givebacks.

從財務角度來看，儘管世界數位機會基金（RDOF）的回饋給公司帶來了 4,600 萬美元的一次性影響，但收入和調整後的 EBITDA 仍好於預期。

Our total business grew -- Grow revenue was up 6% year over year and our total business revenue was down only 3.4% year over year, well ahead of our competition. A highlight from the quarter was total IP sales up nearly 38% and IP revenue up in the mid-single digits.

我們的整體業務實現了成長——成長收入同比增長 6%，而我們的總業務收入同比僅下降 3.4%，遠遠領先於我們的競爭對手。本季的一大亮點是 IP 總銷售額成長近 38%，IP 收入成長中等個位數。

In May, we announced the sale of our consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T for $5.75 billion. This transaction allows us to invest and focus on our core enterprise capabilities, while also significantly improving our balance sheet.

5 月份，我們宣布以 57.5 億美元的價格將我們的消費者光纖到戶業務出售給 AT&T。此次交易使我們能夠投資並專注於我們的核心企業能力，同時也顯著改善我們的資產負債表。

With plans to pay down approximately $4.8 billion in super priority debt at close, this would reduce our annual interest expense by approximately $300 million, reduce CapEx by roughly $1 billion, and reduce leverage on the business by a full term. This deal goes a long way to strengthening our balance sheet and providing incremental cash to invest in the enterprise customer capabilities that will power our return to revenue growth.

透過計劃在收盤時償還約 48 億美元的超優先債務，這將使我們的年度利息支出減少約 3 億美元，資本支出減少約 10 億美元，並將業務槓桿率降低一整個期限。這筆交易將大大增強我們的資產負債表，並提供增量現金來投資企業客戶能力，從而推動我們恢復收入成長。

Following an agreement to sell our consumer fiber assets to AT&T, Lumen withdrew from the RDOF program. This decision reflects a strategic shift toward building the next generation digital networking infrastructure that powers the AI economy and serves enterprise, public sector, and wholesale customers. Accordingly, we reported a $46 million one-time revenue and adjusted EBITDA giveback that Kate referenced at the start of the call.

在與 AT&T 達成出售我們的消費者光纖資產的協議後，Lumen 退出了 RDOF 計劃。這項決定反映了公司向建構下一代數位網路基礎設施的策略轉變，該基礎設施將為人工智慧經濟提供動力，並服務於企業、公共部門和批發客戶。因此，我們報告了凱特在電話會議開始時提到的 4600 萬美元的一次性收入和調整後的 EBITDA 回饋。

Now as we turn to debt, we continue to strengthen our balance sheet with a successful $2 billion bond offering which enabled us to extend maturities from 2029 and 2030 to 2033. In fact, post the fiber-to-the-home deal close, it reduces our post-TSA exposure in 2029 and 2030 by over 60%, and we're not done yet.

現在，當我們轉向債務時，我們繼續透過成功發行 20 億美元債券來加強我們的資產負債表，這使我們能夠將到期日從 2029 年和 2030 年延長至 2033 年。事實上，光纖到戶協議完成後，我們將在 2029 年和 2030 年減少 TSA 之後 60% 以上的暴露，而且這還沒有結束。

It also reduces our cost of capping, the reduction in coupon of more than 3.5% results in annual interest expense savings of approximately $50 million. This debt refinancing, in conjunction with our term loan refi in March, reduced annual interest expense by approximately $100 million. We will continue to work toward improving the balance sheet ahead of the anticipated close of the AT&T transaction in the first half of 2026.

它還降低了我們的封頂成本，票面利率降低 3.5% 以上可節省每年約 5,000 萬美元的利息支出。這筆債務再融資與我們 3 月的定期貸款再融資相結合，使年度利息支出減少了約 1 億美元。我們將繼續努力在 2026 年上半年 AT&T 交易預計完成前改善資產負債表。

And as you can see over the slide over the past 18 months, we've become to substantially extend and level out the phasing of our debt maturities. We will aggressively seek opportunities to further delever, extend maturities, simplify, and reduce our cost of capital. Stay tuned.

正如您在過去 18 個月的幻燈片中所看到的，我們已經大幅延長並平衡了債務到期的階段。我們將積極尋找機會進一步去槓桿、延長期限、簡化流程並降低資本成本。敬請關注。

In July, Congress passed the reconciliation bill, which includes three pro-growth cost recovery tax provisions. Based on the enactment of the reconciliation bill, we estimate our 2025 tax liability will be reduced by approximately $400 million. Accordingly, we have filed a refund request with the IRS for $400 million of estimated taxes previously paid for 2025, which we anticipate receiving later this year.

7月，國會通過了和解法案，其中包括三項有利於成長的成本回收稅收條款。根據和解法案的頒布，我們估計 2025 年的稅負將減少約 4 億美元。因此，我們已向美國國稅局提交了退稅申請，退還 2025 年已繳納的 4 億美元預估稅款，預計將於今年稍後收到。

We estimate another large benefit from the reconciliation bill in 2026. We anticipate benefits from the legislation to decline over time as our CapEx spend and interest expense continue to decrease, which is a good thing.

我們估計，2026 年的和解法案將帶來另一個巨大利益。我們預計，隨著我們的資本支出和利息支出持續減少，立法的好處將隨著時間的推移而減少，這是一件好事。

Lastly, we continue to make progress on Lumen's modernization and simplification with a particular focus on using AI to drive intelligence and automation as we implement new digital enterprise application and unify our network architectures.

最後，我們繼續在 Lumen 的現代化和簡化方面取得進展，特別注重在實施新的數位企業應用程式和統一網路架構時使用人工智慧來推動智慧和自動化。

Last quarter, we said that our modernization and simplification work was off to a great start with a goal of reaching $250 million in run rate savings exiting this year and $1 billion exiting 2027. As Kate mentioned, we now see our run rate savings exiting 2025 to be in the $350 million range thanks to the hard work from our modernization and simplification team, and we're more than halfway toward that goal through June 30.

上個季度，我們表示，我們的現代化和簡化工作取得了良好的開端，目標是在今年年底前實現 2.5 億美元的運行率節省，到 2027 年實現 10 億美元的運行率節省。正如凱特所提到的，由於我們的現代化和簡化團隊的辛勤工作，我們現在預計到 2025 年我們的運行率節省將達到 3.5 億美元，截至 6 月 30 日，我們已經完成了該目標的一半以上。

Now, let's move to the discussion of financial results for the second quarter. Total reported revenue declined 5.4% to $3.092 billion. Business segment revenue declined 3.4% to $2.49 billion. Mass market segment revenue declined 12.8% to $602 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $877 million with a 28.4% margin, and free cash flow was negative $209 million.

現在，讓我們來討論第二季的財務表現。總報告收入下降 5.4% 至 30.92 億美元。業務部門營收下降 3.4% 至 24.9 億美元。大眾市場部門營收下降 12.8% 至 6.02 億美元。調整後的 EBITDA 為 8.77 億美元，利潤率為 28.4%，自由現金流為負 2.09 億美元。

Next, I'll review our detailed revenue results for the quarter on a year-over-year basis. And within our North American enterprise channels, which is our business segment excluding wholesale, international, and other, revenue declined only 2.4%.

接下來，我將回顧本季與去年同期的詳細收入結果。在我們的北美企業通路（不包括批發、國際和其他業務）中，收入僅下降了 2.4%。

North American enterprise Grow revenue increased 8.5% year over year, driven by large enterprise and public sector growth, with continued pressure in Nurture and Harvest product revenue -- with Harvest product revenue up slightly year over year. Overall, North American business declined 3.1%.

北美企業 Grow 營收年增 8.5%，這得益於大型企業和公共部門的成長，而 Nurture 和 Harvest 產品收入繼續承壓——其中 Harvest 產品收入同比略有增長。整體而言，北美業務下降了3.1%。

On a year-over-year basis, large enterprise revenue declined 2.3% in the second quarter, and midmarket revenue declined 11%. In large enterprise and midmarkets, Grow revenue was up 13.3% and 1.2%, respectively, offset by Nurture and Harvest.

與去年同期相比，第二季大型企業營收下降2.3%，中型市場營收下降11%。在大型企業和中型市場，Grow 收入分別成長 13.3% 和 1.2%，但被 Nurture 和 Harvest 所抵消。

Public sector revenue grew 8.2% year over year. Public sector was helped by Grow revenue up 9.4%, and Harvest revenue was up approximately 49% year over year. Public sector Harvest revenue has been elevated over the past couple of quarters, and we estimate it will return to more normalized levels in the second half of 2025. We would expect public sector Harvest revenue to remain lumpy quarter to quarter based on future voice disconnects and summary rating.

公共部門營收年增8.2%。公共部門受益於 Grow 收入成長 9.4%，而 Harvest 營收年增約 49%。過去幾個季度，公共部門的收穫收入有所增加，我們估計到 2025 年下半年將恢復到更正常的水平。根據未來語音斷線情況和綜合評級，我們預計公共部門 Harvest 收入將保持逐季度波動。

Wholesale revenue declined approximately 5% year over year. The Harvest portion of the wholesale portfolio, which is primarily driven by voice and private line, saw revenue contraction by 6.2% year over year in the second quarter. This is primarily driven by telco partners that are selling legacy services.

批發收入較去年同期下降約5%。批發業務組合中的 Harvest 部分主要由語音和專線驅動，其第二季營收年減 6.2%。這主要是由銷售傳統服務的電信合作夥伴所推動的。

Our Harvest product revenue will likely continue to decline over time and is an area that we will manage for cash. Nurture revenue was down 8.6% in the second quarter on VPN and Ethernet declines, and wholesale Grow revenue was down 0.4%. International and other revenue declined 10.9%, or $10 million driven primarily by VPN declines.

我們的 Harvest 產品收入可能會隨著時間的推移而持續下降，這是我們將用現金管理的一個領域。由於 VPN 和乙太網路的下滑，第二季 Nurture 收入下降了 8.6%，批發 Grow 收入下降了 0.4%。國際及其他收入下降 10.9%，即 1000 萬美元，主要原因是 VPN 收入下降。

Now, moving to our business product life cycle reporting, I'll reference the results based on our North America enterprise channels. The 2.4% year-over-year decrease was due to declines in Nurture offset by strength and Grow and Harvest. While results can vary in any quarter, we expect sustained strength in the Grow product revenue as we execute on our core turnaround.

現在，前往我們的業務產品生命週期報告，我將參考基於北美企業通路的結果。年比下降 2.4% 是由於培育業務的下降被實力業務、種植和收穫業務的下降所抵消。雖然每季的結果可能有所不同，但隨著我們實現核心扭虧為盈，我們預計 Grow 產品營收將持續保持強勁。

Within North America, enterprise channels, growth product revenue increased 8.5% year over year, marginally down sequentially from 9.9% year over year due to the timing of large contracts within the public sector in the first quarter. Growth now represents over 48% of our North American enterprise revenue and for our total business segment carried an approximate 80.4% direct margin this quarter.

在北美，企業通路成長產品收入年增 8.5%，較上年同期的 9.9% 略有下降，因為第一季公共部門簽訂了大額合約。目前，成長占我們北美企業收入的 48% 以上，本季我們整個業務部門的直接利潤率約為 80.4%。

Nurture products revenue decreased 18% year over year, largely impacted by declines in ethernet and VPN. Nurture represents approximately 25% of our North American enterprise revenue, and for our total business segment carried an approximate 67.1% direct margin this quarter.

培育產品營收年減 18%，主要受到乙太網路和 VPN 下滑的影響。培育業務約占我們北美企業營收的 25%，本季我們整個業務部門的直接利潤率約為 67.1%。

Harvest products revenue increased 2.1% year over year. Harvest represented approximately 17% of our North American enterprise revenue in the second quarter. For our total business segment, it carried an approximate 75.2% direct margin this quarter.

收穫產品收入較去年同期成長2.1%。Harvest 約占我們第二季北美企業營收的 17%。就我們的整個業務部門而言，本季的直接利潤率約為 75.2%。

Other product revenue decreased 9% year over year, and as a reminder, other product revenue tends to experience fluctuations due to the variable nature of these products.

其他產品收入較去年同期下降 9%，需要提醒的是，由於這些產品的多變性質，其他產品收入往往會出現波動。

Now moving briefly to mass markets, our team continues to do a terrific job building out our fiber-to-the-home footprint, adding new subscribers and providing great service to existing customers. Our fiber broadband revenue increased 19.9% year over year and represents 47% of mass market's broadband revenue. As a reminder, all of the $46 million off impact came from our mass markets business.

現在我們暫時轉向大眾市場，我們的團隊繼續出色地拓展光纖到府的覆蓋範圍，增加新用戶，並為現有客戶提供優質服務。我們的光纖寬頻收入年增19.9％，佔大眾市場寬頻收入的47％。提醒一下，全部 4,600 萬美元的影響都來自我們的大眾市場業務。

During the quarter, Lumen added approximately 117,000 fiber-enabled homes, bringing our total to approximately $4.4 million as of June 30. We also added 34,000 quantum fiber customers, bringing fiber subs to approximately $1.2 million. Fiber ARPU was $64. At the end of the second quarter, our penetration of legacy copper broadband was approximately 7%. And our quantum fiber penetration stood at approximately 26%.

在本季度，Lumen 增加了約 117,000 個光纖家庭，截至 6 月 30 日，我們的光纖總價值達到約 440 萬美元。我們還增加了 34,000 名量子光纖客戶，使光纖用戶規模達到約 120 萬美元。光纖 ARPU 為 64 美元。截至第二季末，我們的傳統銅寬頻普及率約為 7%。我們的量子光纖滲透率約為26%。

Now turning to adjusted EBITDA, for the second quarter of 2025, adjusted EBITDA excluding special items was $877 million compared to approximately $1 billion in the year-ago quarter. For the second quarter of 2025, our margin was 28.4%. Adjusted EBITDA margins declined 250 basis points year over year compared to a 50 basis point year over decrease in the first quarter. The RDOF giveback negatively impacted year over year adjusted EBITDA margins by approximately 150 basis points.

現在談到調整後的 EBITDA，2025 年第二季度，不包括特殊項目的調整後 EBITDA 為 8.77 億美元，而去年同期約為 10 億美元。2025 年第二季度，我們的利潤率為 28.4%。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率年減 250 個基點，而第一季較去年同期下降 50 個基點。RDOF 回饋對調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率產生了約 150 個基點的負面影響。

Special items impacting adjusted EBITDA totaled $152 million. This includes severance, transaction, and separation costs, and RDOF penalty payment of approximately $50 million and our modernization and simplification initiatives.

影響調整後 EBITDA 的特殊項目總計 1.52 億美元。其中包括遣散費、交易費和分離費用、約 5000 萬美元的 RDOF 罰款以及我們的現代化和簡化措施。

Lastly, capital expenditures were $891 million. Free cash flow excluding special items was negative $209 million. As a reminder, we expect free cash flow to be lumpy quarter to quarter as we move through the large PCF bills.

最後，資本支出為 8.91 億美元。扣除特殊項目後的自由現金流為負2.09億美元。提醒一下，隨著我們處理大量 PCF 帳單，我們預計自由現金流將逐季度波動。

Now I'll talk about changes to our 2025 guidance. With respect to 2025 adjusted EBITDA, we now expect to come in near the high end of the $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion range, despite the $46 million RDOF giveback.

現在我將談談我們 2025 年指導方針的變化。對於 2025 年調整後的 EBITDA，儘管有 4,600 萬美元的 RDOF 返還，我們現在預計將接近 32 億美元至 34 億美元區間的高端。

For the remainder of 2025 in Q3, we would expect a similar absolute dollar seasonal adjusted EBITDA decline as we saw in 204.

對於 2025 年第三季的剩餘時間，我們預計絕對美元季節性調整後的 EBITDA 將出現與 204 年類似的下降。

And additionally, we expect increased costs associated with our utilization of cloud services as we discussed on our fourth quarter '24 call.

此外，正如我們在第四季度 24 電話會議上所討論的那樣，我們預計使用雲端服務的成本將會增加。

As a reminder, our adjusted EBITDA guidance assumes organic revenue declines similar to 2024 and excludes roughly $300 million in transformation costs to begin the multi-year task of reducing expenses by $1 billion.

提醒一下，我們調整後的 EBITDA 指引假設有機收入下降幅度與 2024 年類似，並且不包括約 3 億美元的轉型成本，以開始多年削減 10 億美元開支的任務。

We remain confident that we will achieve adjusted even that stability over the next few quarters and see inflection to growth in 2026, driven mainly by continued modernization and simplification savings and improving revenue declines. We're maintaining our 2025 guidance for CapEx spending at 4.1 to $4.3 billion. However, we now believe we will be at the low end of that range, mainly as a result of timing around some bills offset by some strategic investments for growth.

我們仍然相信，我們將在未來幾季內實現調整後的穩定，並在 2026 年實現成長的拐點，這主要得益於持續的現代化和簡化節省以及收入下降的改善。我們將 2025 年的資本支出指導金額維持在 41 億美元至 43 億美元。然而，我們現在認為我們將處於該範圍的低端，主要是因為一些法案的時間表被一些成長策略投資所抵消。

Our 2025 cash interest guidance remains at $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion but we now expect to be at the low end of the range as a result of the term loan refinancing in the first quarter. We're revising our guidance for cash taxes from $100 million to $200 million to a benefit of $300 million to $400 million based on the expected impact of the reconciliation bill and the anticipated $400 million refund of estimated federal income taxes to be received in 2025.

我們對 2025 年現金利息的預期仍為 12 億美元至 13 億美元，但由於第一季定期貸款再融資，我們現在預計該利息將處於該範圍的低端。根據和解法案的預期影響以及預計 2025 年將收到的 4 億美元聯邦所得稅退款，我們將現金稅指引從 1 億美元至 2 億美元修改為 3 億美元至 4 億美元的收益。

Finally, we're raising our full year free cash flow guidance from $700 million to $900 million to $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion mainly as a result of the expected $400 million tax refund, lower than anticipated CapEx spending, better adjusted even performance, and lower interest expense.

最後，我們將全年自由現金流預期從 7 億美元至 9 億美元提高至 12 億美元至 14 億美元，這主要是由於預期的 4 億美元退稅、低於預期的資本支出、更好的調整後業績以及更低的利息支出。

Free cash flow fundamentals are improving. All great news, and we're pleased with the cash flow generation from our core business. That said, looking forward into 2026, we can expect continued lumpiness in our cash flow related to the PCF contracts and related taxes, as well as the sale of our consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T, which is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

自由現金流基本面正在改善。這些都是好消息，我們對核心業務產生的現金流感到滿意。儘管如此，展望 2026 年，我們預計與 PCF 合約和相關稅收相關的現金流量將繼續不穩定，而且我們的消費者光纖到戶業務也將出售給 AT&T，預計該交易將於 2026 年上半年完成。

Overall, our first half performance represents a great start to the year as we challenge the norms of traditional legacy telecom through the transformation of women's network assets, service delivery platforms, and financials.

總體而言，我們上半年的業績代表著今年的一個良好開端，因為我們透過女性網路資產、服務交付平台和財務的轉型挑戰了傳統電信的規範。

With adjusted EBITA on the path to inflection and then growth in '26 combined with healthy cash flows as well as a significant restructuring and delevering of the balance sheet underway, we are materially strengthening the financial foundation of Lumen, which allows us to focus our resources on customers and solutions with attractive growth in margin profiles. We believe our innovation will lead to new revenue streams that satisfy the needs of customers in today's multi-cloud AI environment.

隨著調整後的 EBITA 在 26 年實現拐點和增長，加上健康的現金流以及正在進行的資產負債表重大重組和去槓桿，我們正在實質性地加強 Lumen 的財務基礎，這使我們能夠將資源集中在利潤率具有可觀增長的客戶和解決方案上。我們相信，我們的創新將帶來新的收入來源，滿足當今多雲 AI 環境中客戶的需求。

While the financial transformation of Lumen leads to leverage and borrowing cost reductions and cost structure optimization. We're excited about the path we're on and look forward to providing more updates along our journey.

而流明金融轉型則帶來槓桿率降低、借貸成本降低、成本結構優化。我們對所走的道路感到興奮，並期待在我們的旅途中提供更多更新。

And with that, I'll now hand it back to Kate for closing remarks.

現在，我將把發言權交還給凱特，請她做最後發言。

Thanks, Chris. I just want to recap real quick. The headline is we're making material progress in our core transformation.

謝謝，克里斯。我只是想快速回顧一下。標題是我們在核心轉型方面取得了實質進展。

Lumen is financially healthy with a strengthened balance sheet and free cash flow to fuel our transformation. We're confident in our return to EBITDA growth thanks to great execution by the team, and we've got a plan to deliver revenue growth that leverages the combination of our physical assets and the digital platform that we've built and creates a scalable commercial ecosystem that will make it easy for our customers to thrive in an AI-powered, multi-cloud world. It's a new day for Lumen, and we're playing to win.

Lumen 的財務狀況良好，擁有增強的資產負債表和自由現金流來推動我們的轉型。憑藉團隊的出色執行，我們對恢復 EBITDA 成長充滿信心，並且我們制定了實現收入成長的計劃，該計劃將利用我們構建的實體資產和數位平台的組合，並創建一個可擴展的商業生態系統，讓我們的客戶能夠輕鬆地在人工智慧驅動的多雲世界中蓬勃發展。對 Lumen 來說，這是新的一天，我們必須努力取得勝利。

And with that, we'll take questions.

接下來，我們將回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Michael Rollins, Citi.

（操作員指示）花旗銀行的邁克爾·羅林斯。

Thanks. Good afternoon. I was curious to focus a bit on your slide 13 where you walk us through the growth Harvest buckets within North American Enterprise. And when you look at that segment performance during the quarter down 2.4% year over year, how much of that would you attribute coming from the forward operational progress that you described earlier on the call versus things that might be anomalous, whether they're helpful or hurtful?

謝謝。午安.我很好奇地關注了您的第 13 張投影片，您在其中向我們介紹了北美企業內部的成長收穫桶。當您看到該部門本季度的業績同比下降了 2.4% 時，您會將其中的多大程度歸因於您在電話會議上早些時候描述的未來運營進展，還是歸因於可能出現的異常情況（無論它們是有益的還是有害的）？

And then given the comments that you made about the public sector and maybe having some tougher comps in the back half, can you give us a sense of how revenue In this bucket, might evolve in terms of that rate over the year over year rate of change. Thanks.

然後，鑑於您對公共部門的評論以及下半年可能面臨的一些更嚴峻的形勢，您能否讓我們了解一下這個類別中的收入在同比變化率方面可能會如何變化。謝謝。

Yeah, so I'll try to attack that a couple of ways, Mike. First of all, we're really pleased with the rate of the Grow bucket at 8.5%. That's strategic revenue. It's the most valuable revenue that we have from a margin standpoint, and it's really focused on where we're going. So the fact that that's growing and is now almost half of what we sell has material implications for the slowdown of the revenue declines and our ultimate inflection.

是的，所以我會嘗試用幾種方法來解決這個問題，麥克。首先，我們對 8.5% 的成長率感到非常滿意。這是戰略收入。從利潤率的角度來看，這是我們最有價值的收入，而且它真正關注的是我們的前進方向。因此，這一數字不斷增長，目前已接近我們銷售額的一半，這一事實對於減緩收入下降和最終實現轉折點具有重大影響。

If we look at Nurture and really the VPN and Ethernet declines, we're going to be in the double digit declined territory, I think, for the foreseeable future just as the technology shifts to some of those newer Grow items where we're well positioned.

如果我們看一下 Nurture 以及 VPN 和乙太網路的真正衰退，我認為，在可預見的未來，隨著技術轉向我們處於有利地位的一些較新的 Grow 項目，我們將處於兩位數的衰退區間。

The Harvest piece is probably the most, Surprising this quarter and it really does relate to some of the public sector work that we're doing in the interim, which we don't expect will continue. It's going to, it has helped us for a few quarters, but, over time we would expect that the Harvest bucket will continue to decline.

Harvest 部分可能是本季最令人驚訝的部分，它確實與我們在此期間所做的一些公共部門工作有關，我們預計這些工作不會繼續下去。它將，它已經幫助了我們幾個季度，但是，隨著時間的推移，我們預計收穫桶將繼續下降。

As it relates to public sector quarter to quarter, we are going to see that jump around. That said, I can tell you that the public sector is exceeding our internal expectations for the year. We're doing very well in that space and we're super pleased with the work that team is doing, and I think we're well positioned.

由於它與公共部門季度數據相關，我們將看到這種跳躍式增長。話雖如此，我可以告訴你們，公共部門今年的表現超出了我們的內部預期。我們在該領域做得很好，我們對團隊所做的工作非常滿意，我認為我們處於有利地位。

As we go forward, so over time again, continued growth and Grow, and by the way, almost no material impact of the PCF deals yet on on on earnings and so, or sorry, on revenue and so that's, I'd say really organic but again overall super pleased I think the 2.4% is probably a little suppressed because of what we're seeing. In Harvest this this quarter, but the reality is we're going to be declining at rates that, like we said, are similar to last year for the full year.

隨著我們繼續前進，隨著時間的推移，我們會繼續增長，順便說一句，PCF 交易對收益等幾乎沒有實質性影響，或者抱歉，對收入等幾乎沒有實質性影響，所以，我想說這真的是有機的，但總體來說非常高興，我認為 2.4% 可能會因為我們看到的情況而受到一點抑制。本季是收穫的季節，但實際情況是，我們的下降速度將與去年全年的下降速度相似。

And has this progress pulled forward when you think you'll get to that revenue break even or Grow point, or is your expectation similar to what it has been?

當您認為您將達到收入收支平衡或成長點時，這一進展是否得到了推動，或者您的預期是否與過去相似？

Yeah, so if you look at, Our current and historical trends, and you look at growth revenues the percentage of the total. I mean, first, growth will be more than half, sometime next year.

是的，所以如果你看我們目前和歷史的趨勢，你會發現成長收入佔總收入的百分比。我的意思是，首先，明年某個時候成長率將超過一半。

And as we said, that's materially better revenue for us.

正如我們所說，這對我們來說意味著實質上更好的收入。

We believe that our investments in the physical network, the digital platform, and the emerging technology ecosystem are all differentiators that expand our commercial reach and help us really drive scale revenue. So with all that, we believe that total company revenue will grow in 2029, which is consistent with what we said, but the business segment could pivot to growth even sooner.

我們相信，我們在實體網路、數位平台和新興技術生態系統方面的投資都是擴大我們的商業範圍並幫助我們真正實現規模收入的差異化因素。因此，綜合上述因素，我們相信 2029 年公司總收入將會成長，這與我們的預測一致，但該業務部門可能會更快成長。

The the key variable there is we are aggressively shifting our resources towards these growth areas that Kate really touched on today and that's what will determine our ability to go faster, so more to come as we as we learn more about our success in those areas in the coming quarters.

關鍵變數是，我們正在積極地將資源轉向凱特今天真正提到的這些成長領域，這將決定我們能否更快地前進，因此，隨著我們在未來幾個季度更多地了解我們在這些領域的成功，我們將會有更多收穫。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Next question.

下一個問題。

Sebastiano Petti, JP Morgan.

摩根大通的塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂。

Hi. Thanks for taking the question. So I guess, Chris, you addressed it in your prepared remarks, but just want to make sure I understand. So with the cost savings pull forward up to 350 this year.

你好。感謝您回答這個問題。所以我想，克里斯，你在準備好的演講中已經提到了這一點，但我只是想確保我理解。因此，透過節省成本，今年的數量將提前至 350。

It sounds like you're just running ahead of schedule against that $1 billion program and so while maybe EBITDA is now anticipated to come in at the high end of the range. Could you comment about maybe expectations for 2026 if that has changed at all?

聽起來你只是提前完成了那個 10 億美元的計劃，因此，也許 EBITDA 現在預計會達到該範圍的高端。如果 2026 年的預期發生了變化，您能否評論一下？

And then within the second I guess sticking with 2025 for a second, just again another clarification question, was the RDOF giveback, was that anticipated in the in the guidance at the beginning of the year because it seems to be nice momentum might be having, except for that.

然後，我想堅持 2025 年，再次澄清一個問題，即 RDOF 回饋是否在年初的指導中預期，因為看起來勢頭良好，除此之外。

And then one last one as we think about. I guess within your prepared remarks again Chris you talked about the benefits of the reconciliation bill perhaps declining over time or being not necessarily as impactful over time. Makes sense, but could you perhaps unpack for us some of the different pieces around maybe free cash flow as you think about the or just tailwinds there as you think about the separation of the mass markets business and just resulting impact on free cash. Thanks again.

接下來我們再思考最後一個問題。我想，克里斯，在您準備好的發言中，您再次談到了和解法案的好處可能會隨著時間的推移而減少，或者隨著時間的推移，其影響力可能會減少。有道理，但是當您考慮大眾市場業務的分離及其對自由現金的影響時，您能否為我們解釋一下自由現金流方面的一些不同部分？再次感謝。

Yeah, so let me, do them in reverse order. As it relates to the commentary around how those benefits will decline, they're really declining for good reasons, right? So we're -- our guidance for CapEx this year is a little over $4 billion. $1 billion of that is the fiber-to-the-home bills, right? So as you go forward and that is no longer being invested in and our CapEx spend comes down, the ability to use bonus depreciation to reduce taxes goes away. It's a good thing.

是的，那麼讓我按相反的順序來做。至於這些福利將如何減少的評論，它們的減少確實是有充分理由的，對嗎？因此，我們今年的資本支出預期略高於 40 億美元，其中 10 億美元是光纖到府費用，對嗎？因此，隨著我們繼續前進，不再進行投資，並且我們的資本支出減少，使用獎金折舊來減稅的能力也就消失了。這是一件好事。

If you look at the substantial deleveraging of the company and even in a leverage neutral scenario, our ability to dramatically reduce our cost of capital and borrowing as As credit markets have great confidence in the future of the company, I mean, our bonds are trading effectively at par. Who would have thought, right?

如果你看一下公司的大幅去槓桿化，即使在槓桿中性的情況下，我們也能大幅降低資本和借貸成本，因為信貸市場對公司的未來充滿信心，我的意思是，我們的債券實際上以平價交易。誰會想到呢，對吧？

And so that's giving us the opportunity to borrow at much cheaper rates. Interest expense between what we've done this year-to-date and paying down the super priority at the deal close is reducing our interest expense by over $400 million a year. And so as the deductibility levels go up.

這讓我們有機會以更低的利率借款。我們今年迄今所做的努力和在交易結束時償還超級優先權之間的利息支出每年可減少我們的利息支出 4 億多美元。因此扣除額水準就會上升。

That's a great benefit to us this year, but as we spend less on interest, there's less deductibility again on that good thing.

這對我們來說是今年的一大福利，但是隨著我們在利息上的支出減少，這件好事的扣除額也會減少。

In terms of RDOF, that was not contemplated in guidance at the beginning of the year, and it really was a decision around whether with the sale of the fiber-to-the-home business, those bills would continue and the decision was made as we worked through that process to not continue that, hence, the giveback, and so that had a negative impact on the quarter, but, again, it's not something that's impactful to the enterprise business, which is our focus.

就 RDOF 而言，這在年初的指導中並未得到考慮，這實際上是關於光纖到戶業務的出售是否會導致這些賬單繼續產生決定，而我們在處理這一過程時決定不再繼續這樣做，因此產生了回饋，這對本季度產生了負面影響，但同樣，這對企業業務沒有影響，而企業業務才是我們的重點。

And then as it relates to '26, I would say at this point no change. I mean, we said that we expect EIA to inflect next year. I think that's still in the cards. We were thinking that we were going to be able to call that point of quarterly inflection soon. I think that over delivery this year is creating the good problem of making that harder to call. And so, but as we look at our performance into next year, I would say no changes at this point in terms of what we said and obviously as we move through the year and towards investor day, we'll be able to share more.

然後，就 26 而言，我想說目前沒有改變。我的意思是，我們說我們預計 EIA 明年會發生變化。我認為這仍有可能。我們認為很快就能達到季度轉折點。我認為今年的交付量過大造成了一個好問題，使得這個問題更加難以解決。因此，但當我們展望明年的表現時，我想說，就目前而言，我們所說的沒有任何變化，顯然，隨著我們度過這一年並接近投資者日，我們將能夠分享更多資訊。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Batya Levi, UBS.

瑞銀的 Batya Levi。

Great, thank you. Couple questions. You had guided to about $200 million of incremental costs that we'll see this year that's included in EBITDA. Any update on where we are, how should we think about it going forward, and does that maybe bleed into '26 as well? And just to go back to the EBITDA guide, given the performance in the first half, I know there will be some seasonality and expenses in 3Q.

太好了，謝謝。幾個問題。您曾預測今年的增量成本約為 2 億美元，這些成本已包含在 EBITDA 中。關於我們目前的情況，有什麼新進展嗎？我們該如何考慮未來，這是否也會影響 26 年？回到 EBITDA 指南，鑑於上半年的表現，我知道第三季會有一些季節性和費用。

It sounds like you do have more upside. Is there anything else that you would call out that would just cap you at towards the high end of the range? And maybe just one more on the PCF sales. Can you provide a bit more color on the drivers or where they came from, and would the structure be similar to the initial ones that we saw in terms of CapEx requirements, margins, timing, et cetera. Thank you.

聽起來你確實還有更多優勢。您還有什麼其他要求會限制您的業績達到最高水準嗎？也許還有關於 PCF 銷售的更多內容。您能否更詳細地說明一下驅動因素或它們的來源，以及在資本支出要求、利潤率、時間等方面的結構是否與我們最初看到的類似。謝謝。

Hey, it's Kate. I'll start with the PCF deals. So the $500 million is a similar economics to the 1st 8.5 billion that we did. And the lion's share of that is on, over pole work. That's why I mentioned that it was lower risk and higher margins. The composition of the new routes remains in the pipe, though we're doing some pretty creative things with our partners.

嘿，我是凱特。我將從 PCF 交易開始。因此，這 5 億美元的經濟效益與我們先前投資的 85 億美元類似。其中大部分的工作是在桿上進行。這就是我提到風險較低、利潤較高的原因。儘管我們正與合作夥伴一起做一些非常有創意的事情，但新路線的組成仍在計劃中。

The buyers, on the other side are a combination of data center and hyperscaler companies that are connecting data centers to support. The expansion of their AI training models and the proliferation of bringing those capabilities to customers. So it's really very much, in the same vein as we described over the past couple of quarters.

另一方面，買家是資料中心和連接資料中心以提供支援的超大規模公司的組合。他們的人工智慧訓練模型的擴展以及將這些功能帶給客戶的激增。所以這確實與我們過去幾季所描述的非常相似。

Yeah, and as it relates to the EID questions, I know OpEx is in there, some of this isn't OpEx, some of it is.

是的，就 EID 問題而言，我知道其中有 OpEx，其中一些不是 OpEx，有些是。

The the headwinds on that that the underlying business is really overcoming is we've got about $100 million impact from forced disconnects, so we've been pretty vocal about that over the first half of the year. I think in the long run that's, it's better for us because there's a lot of bad behavior in that, but that that has a near-term implication.

基礎業務真正要克服的阻力是，強制斷網給我們造成了約 1 億美元的影響，因此我們在今年上半年對此一直非常關注。我認為從長遠來看，這對我們更有利，因為其中存在著許多不良行為，但這會產生短期影響。

There's about $50 million as we move more of our workloads to the cloud. And there's about $50 million in PCF OpEx costs in the in the second half. So those impacts are really all second half, but again, got to the high end, I think that the strength of the underlying business is what's allowing us to do that.

隨著我們將更多的工作負載轉移到雲端，我們將花費約 5000 萬美元。下半年 PCF 營運支出成本約為 5,000 萬美元。所以這些影響其實都是在下半年，但再次強調，就高端而言，我認為基礎業務的實力才是我們能夠做到這一點的原因。

I understand your question as it relates to 206, and the point is we've got to wait and see because we've had some really great work by the team on modernization and simplification. The question is, can we increase the exit run rate for 26? We don't know yet. And so we're looking at all of those things, and that'll be contemplated obviously when we give guidance. But it's a great question and it's a nice problem to have the business performing the way it is right now.

我理解您的問題與 206 有關，關鍵是我們必須拭目以待，因為我們的團隊在現代化和簡化方面做了一些非常出色的工作。問題是，我們能否提高 26 的退出運行率？我們還不知道。因此，我們正在考慮所有這些事情，並且在我們給出指導時顯然會考慮到這些事情。但這是一個很好的問題，而且對於目前的業務運作方式來說，這是一個很好的問題。

Alright, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Nick Del Deo, MoffetNathanson.

尼克·德爾·迪奧，莫菲特·內桑森。

Oh hey, thanks for taking my questions. First, Chris, returning to the public sector performance, the 10 mentioned temporary rate increases that benefited the Harvest revenues, so I assume that's the driver.

哦，嘿，感謝您回答我的問題。首先，克里斯，回到公部門的表現，10 人提到臨時升息有利於收穫收入，所以我認為這是驅動因素。

I guess, have there been even the implications from these rate increases, or are they offsetting higher off net costs?

我猜想，這些利率上調是否會產生影響，或者它們是否抵消了更高的淨成本？

It's a bit of both, so in some cases there's there's charges that are impacting revenue that are offsetting cost increases on the EIA side. In other cases we're being paid to help keep services running and and those that's more temporary in nature and it's why our prepared remarks said that we expect this to moderate over time.

兩種情況都有，所以在某些情況下，收費會影響收入，從而抵消 EIA 方面的成本增加。在其他情況下，我們會獲得報酬來幫助維持服務運行，而這些服務的性質比較臨時，這就是為什麼我們在準備好的評論中說，我們預計這種情況會隨著時間的推移而緩和。

Okay, and any chance you can quantify that at all or or just leave it at a at a bit of both?

好的，您能否將其量化，或將其保留為兩者之一？

I want to keep it at a higher level just because of, the customers involved and the types of things that we're doing. I don't think we want to get into a lot of detail on that.

我希望將其保持在更高的水平，因為涉及的客戶和我們正在做的事情類型。我認為我們不想深入討論這個問題。

Okay, fair enough. And then, Kate, maybe returning to the PCF deals, you think about the cadence of those since you closed on the initial $8.5 billion.

好吧，夠公平。然後，凱特，也許回到 PCF 交易，你想想自從你完成最初的 85 億美元交易以來這些交易的節奏。

Is that mostly a function of the dynamics that you described in your prepared remarks, related to new construction and the complexities around that, or are there other gating factors, that you're working through that are determining the cadence there?

這主要是您在準備好的評論中描述的與新建築及其複雜性相關的動態的功能嗎？還是還有其他您正在研究的決定節奏的控制因素？

I think the cadence is really determined by this, the complexity of building new routes. If they're riskier, they're lower margin, and, both counterparties want to manage the risk, manage the cost, et cetera.

我認為節奏確實取決於建立新路線的複雜性。如果風險較高，利潤就會較低，而且雙方都想管理風險、管理成本等等。

And so, and just imagine building from one city to another, from, one side of the US to the other, how many municipalities you're going through, how many different types of material in the ground you're going through, et cetera.

所以，想像一下從一個城市到另一個城市、從美國的一邊到另一邊進行建設，你要經過多少個市鎮，你要經過地面上多少種不同類型的材料，等等。

So having more and more intelligence around. what the true cost is going to be with engineering design and inspection processes is a long pole in the tent. I do want to just reiterate that I think in the old days, maybe, the idea was Build the route and figure out how to get traffic on the route eventually and we're just not going to do that. We're going to drive utilization on our existing network because every dollar from that revenue is higher quality and so we're orienting everything we're doing around driving net news services, which is why I talked about the connected ecosystem that we're building on top of the physical networks.

因此，隨著智慧化程度的提高，工程設計和檢驗流程的真正成本將變得十分重要。我確實想重申一下，我認為在過去，也許我們的想法是建造路線，然後最終想辦法讓交通在路線上暢通，但我們不會這樣做。我們將提高現有網路的利用率，因為從中賺取的每一美元都是高品質的，因此我們所做的一切都圍繞著推動網路新聞服務，這就是我談到我們在實體網路之上建立的連結生態系統的原因。

Okay, great. Thank you both.

好的，太好了。謝謝你們兩位。

Greg Williams, TD Cowen.

格雷格威廉斯 (Greg Williams)，TD Cowen。

Great, thanks. Maybe just dovetailing off that last statement about complexity of, building, the CapEx guidance that's coming down to the low end. I would have thought that the hyperscalers would want to build as soon as possible, but I guess you're hearing is also complexity. Is that the reason for the CapEx coming down, or is the CapEx coming down for deals that are unrelated to PCS?

太好了，謝謝。也許只是與關於構建複雜性的最後一句話相吻合，而資本支出指導正下降到低端。我原本以為超大規模企業會希望盡快建設，但我想你聽到的也是複雜性。這是資本支出下降的原因嗎？還是與 PCS 無關的交易的資本支出下降？

Second question is just around the tech solutions that you noted in the scripted remarks, the sell with and sell through channel partners. Can you help us with the your rev share model, what that would look like and size it and the timing of that opportunity? Thanks.

第二個問題是關於您在腳本評論中提到的技術解決方案，以及與通路合作夥伴一起銷售和透過通路合作夥伴銷售。您能否幫助我們了解您的收入分成模式，它是什麼樣的，規模如何，以及該機會的時機如何？謝謝。

Sure, I'll start with the connected ecosystem business model, and then I'll pass to Chris for the commentary around CapEx.

當然，我將從互聯生態系統商業模式開始，然後讓克里斯對資本支出發表評論。

So the the platform that we've built, the digital layer on top of the physical network, enables a technology partner to connect with us through APIs and make solutions integrated and available in a marketplace. So picture a backup and recovery company selling a cloud solution with.

因此，我們所建構的平台，即實體網路之上的數位層，使技術合作夥伴能夠透過 API 與我們聯繫，並在市場上整合和提供解決方案。想像一下備份和恢復公司銷售雲端解決方案。

IoD or VPNOD or EOD any of the Ethernet, internet or VPN on demand, and a couple of clicks and you're able to get the thing deployed and you have total management control and provisioning through a control center. So that's the first thing, just to explain what we're actually building, and we're pretty far down the path with several partners on this.

IoD 或 VPNOD 或 EOD 任何乙太網路、網際網路或 VPN 均可按需使用，只需點擊幾下，您就可以部署它，並且可以透過控制中心進行全面的管理控制和設定。所以這是第一件事，只是為了解釋我們實際上正在建立什麼，並且我們與幾個合作夥伴在這方面已經取得了很大進展。

How we actually how the economics actually work if nothing other than just having a with sell-through partner, it's the sales force of those technology partners that are actually selling to their customers but they're attaching lumen capabilities, so our cost of sale goes down and they're just selling basically as attached to whatever product they have.

如果除了擁有銷售合作夥伴之外沒有其他選擇，那麼我們的經濟效益實際上是如何運作的呢？這些技術合作夥伴的銷售人員實際上是在向他們的客戶銷售產品，但他們附加了流明功能，因此我們的銷售成本就會下降，而且他們基本上只是按照他們擁有的任何產品的附加功能進行銷售。

So I've just met with the CEO of one of the companies that we're working with and we've done some beta customer testing, and his comment to me was Integrating these network capabilities has basically improved everything about the offering that I'm bringing to my customers. It's easier to deploy. It's more reliable.

因此，我剛剛與我們正在合作的其中一家公司的執行長會面，我們進行了一些 beta 客戶測試，他對我的評價是，整合這些網路功能基本上改善了我向客戶提供的所有產品。部署起來更加容易。它更可靠。

It's a better customer experience, but more importantly, it's providing more resilience for our customers. Because attached to the cloud solutions they have all the things that you're building and offering to customers like direct on-ramps into you, into the hyperscalers. So it's a very promising model in terms of expanding velocity and commercial reach.

這是更好的客戶體驗，但更重要的是，它為我們的客戶提供了更強的彈性。因為附加到雲端解決方案上，它們擁有您正在建置並提供給客戶的所有內容，例如直接進入您和超大規模用戶的入口。因此，就擴大速度和商業範圍而言，這是一個非常有前景的模式。

Chris, you want to talk about the CapEx.

克里斯，你想談談資本支出。

Yeah. So on the CapEx, I mean, I would say the primary thing is really just a shift in our, what's happening versus our estimates, although we don't expect it impacts the timing of revenue. There are some equipment backlogs around some components that we're navigating.

是的。因此，就資本支出而言，我想說，主要的事情實際上只是我們的實際情況與我們的估計之間的轉變，儘管我們預計它不會影響收入的時間。我們正在處理的某些組件周圍有一些設備積壓。

I would say that that's been material to date. The biggest thing is just the timing of the big PCF bills and where we are in the construction process, so. Given the size of the CapEx, the difference of midpoint to lower end, in the greater scheme of things is not really that material, given the complexity of what we're managing.

我想說，這是迄今為止最重要的事。最重要的事情只是大額 PCF 法案的時機以及我們在建設過程中所處的位置。考慮到資本支出的規模，考慮到我們所管理事物的複雜性，從更大角度來看，中點與低端的差異並不是那麼重要。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Frank Louthan, Raymond James.

法蘭克洛森、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Great. Thank you. Looking at you touched on this, but maybe just a little more color, when can we expect to see Grow and Nurture maybe show some more consistent growth, going forward, and then I apologize if I missed this, but over time, lots of times contracts can expand from the original scope.

偉大的。謝謝。看著你提到了這一點，但可能只是多一點色彩，什麼時候我們可以期待看到成長和培育可能會顯示出更持續的增長，然後如果我錯過了這一點，我很抱歉，但隨著時間的推移，很多時候合約可以從原來的範圍擴大。

Has any of that happened with some of these with the AI fiber bills, the original 8.5 billion, have those customers come in and expanded those original projects to any meaningful extent? Thanks.

這些在 AI 光纖帳單中出現過的情況嗎？最初的 85 億，那些客戶是否加入並將這些原始專案擴展到任何有意義的程度？謝謝。

Hey Frank, thanks for the question. So regarding the PCF deals, there are repeat customers and the contract vehicles are complex. So sometimes we're using existing vehicles and expanding, but I think the key point you're hitting on is, yes, these are repeat customers that are coming back to Lumen. They're happy with our on-time, on budget delivery of what we've given them so far, and so they're asking for more.

嘿，弗蘭克，謝謝你的提問。因此，就 PCF 交易而言，存在回頭客，並且合約載體很複雜。所以有時我們會使用現有的車輛並進行擴展，但我認為您要說的關鍵點是，是的，這些都是回到 Lumen 的回頭客。他們對我們迄今為止按時、按預算交付的服務感到滿意，因此他們要求提供更多服務。

Yeah, what was -- sorry, Frank, what was the second?

是的，什麼是──對不起，弗蘭克，第二個是什麼？

Oh, to Grow, I would say Grow has consistently been in that high single digit territory. Will it move around a bit? Yes, it will. So we're really pleased about that. It's probably the most important number, as it relates to our ability to infect revenue going forward.

哦，對於 Grow，我想說 Grow 一直處於高個位數的範圍內。它會稍微移動一下嗎？是的，會的。所以我們對此感到非常高興。這可能是最重要的數字，因為它關係到我們未來影響收入的能力。

As it relates to Nurture, I expect that to continue to decline. We expect Harvest to continue to decline. But the point is that they're quickly becoming a smaller and smaller piece of the portfolio. And so those variables combined with what Kate talked about around, the digital layer and the ecosystem, that's ultimately what pivots us to growth.

就其與培育的關係而言，我預計其將繼續下降。我們預計 Harvest 的業績將繼續下滑。但問題是，它們在投資組合中所佔的比重正在迅速減少。因此，這些變數與凱特所談論的數位層和生態系統相結合，最終成為我們實現成長的關鍵。

Great thank you.

非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions) Eric Leubchow, Wells Fargo.

（操作員指示）Eric Leubchow，富國銀行。

Great thanks. Just this one for me touching on the CCF contracts again, the hyper scalers all reported earnings recently and we saw cap expectations rise across the board. So with the $9 billion booked, I mean, does the addressable market or opportunity that you see that's attractive out there bigger today, than it was when you first started announcing these deals, or does it give you an incentive, especially coupled with, tax reform. To potentially ramp up CapEx the next couple of years into these businesses beyond what you've already announced. Thanks.

非常感謝。就這一點而言，我再次談到了 CCF 合同，超大規模企業最近都報告了盈利，我們看到資本預期全面上升。因此，有了這 90 億美元的預訂，我的意思是，您認為現在的潛在市場或機會是否比您第一次宣布這些交易時更大，或者它是否給您帶來了激勵，特別是加上稅收改革。未來幾年，可能會增加這些業務的資本支出，超出您已經宣布的金額。謝謝。

So I think we've been pretty clear that that connecting data centers for the hyper scales that that market is phase one of what we see as a three-phase evolution for AI. It's about the hyperscalers saying, gosh, we need so much more compute.

因此，我認為我們已經非常清楚，連接超大規模資料中心市場是我們所看到的人工智慧三階段演變的第一階段。超大規模企業會說，天哪，我們需要更多的運算。

It's about, building net new data centers and connecting them. We're doing that in parallel. We're building the. In parallel with the construction of the data centers, the second phase is when enterprises start actually consuming AI, and that's where you're seeing the proliferation of data centers across the United States, many hundreds of data centers being built over the next three or four years.

它是關於建立新的資料中心並連接它們。我們正在同時進行這些工作。我們正在建造。與資料中心建設同步進行的第二階段是企業開始真正使用人工智慧，這時你會看到美國各地的資料中心激增，未來三、四年將建造數百個資料中心。

We're in conversations with those companies as well to, connect them. That's a different nature and size of. Contract obviously than the hyper scalar and then the third piece of this is we really feel like there'll be yet another expansion required of the physical network once AI is really talking to AI and we're doing a substantial build out in metros around the country to accommodate AI rings for that very purpose, but the first phase, it was always finite and what we're seeing is that we're winning this business.

我們也正在與這些公司進行對話，以建立聯繫。那是不同的性質和大小。合約顯然比超標量更重要，第三部分是，我們真的覺得，一旦人工智慧真正與人工智慧對話，就需要對實體網路進行另一次擴展，我們正在全國各地的大都市進行大規模建設，以容納人工智慧環，但第一階段，它總是有限的，我們看到的是，我們正在贏得這項業務。

I don't think anybody else has near the amount of deals won and the construction's going well, but once we get them, strung up, we're really focusing on the build out for number two and three, which are where the advanced services really come into play and accrue to that Grow bucket that Chris just described, anything to add on?

我認為沒有其他人能贏得如此多的交易，而且建設進展順利，但是一旦我們贏得這些交易，我們就會真正專注於第二和第三筆交易的建設，這是高級服務真正發揮作用的地方，並積累到克里斯剛才描述的增長桶中，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, I mean, I think the only other piece that I would add is that I think the current administration has been very clear about the US need to continue its leadership in the AI space, and that's that's beyond enterprise. That's also in the public sector domain, and there could be opportunities there as well. So we'll see how that pans out.

不，我的意思是，我認為我唯一要補充的是，我認為現任政府已經非常明確地表示美國需要繼續在人工智慧領域保持領導地位，而這超出了企業的範圍。這也屬於公共部門領域，那裡也可能有機會。我們將拭目以待結果如何。

Right.

正確的。

Next question.

下一個問題。

And with no further questions, I'll turn the call back over to Kate Johnson for closing remarks.

如果沒有其他問題，我將把電話轉回給凱特·約翰遜，請她做最後發言。

Thanks so much, operator. Thanks, everybody, for a great call and insightful questions. I just want to close out with a shout out to all Lumenaries, the great men and women of Lumen, for tirelessly working to turn this company around. As you heard today, your work is driving material results, and we're just so grateful to you. There's no one that we'd rather play to win with than you. See you all soon.

非常感謝，接線生。謝謝大家的來電和提出深刻的見解。最後，我只想向所有 Lumenaries，Lumen 的偉大男女員工致以誠摯的謝意，感謝他們為扭轉公司局面而不懈努力。正如您今天所聽到的，您的工作正在帶來實質的成果，我們對您非常感激。除了你，我們最想和誰一起贏得勝利。很快會見到你們。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。