AT&T Inc (T) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to AT&T's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加 AT&T 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would like to turn the conference over to our host, Brett Feldman, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我想將會議交給我們的東道主、財務和投資者關係高級副總裁布雷特·費爾德曼 (Brett Feldman)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to our third quarter call. I'm Brett Feldman, Head of Investor Relations for AT&T. Joining me on the call today are John Stankey, our CEO; and Pascal Desroches, our CFO.

謝謝你，早安。歡迎致電我們的第三季。我是布雷特‧費爾德曼 (Brett Feldman)，AT&T 投資者關係主管。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的執行長約翰‧斯坦基 (John Stankey)；以及我們的財務長 Pascal Desroches。

Before we begin, I need to call your attention to our safe harbor statement. I said that some of our comments today may be forward-looking. As such, they're subject to risks and uncertainties described in AT&T's SEC filings, results may differ materially. Additional information as well as our earnings materials are available on the Investor Relations website.

在我們開始之前，我需要提請您注意我們的安全港聲明。我說我們今天的一些評論可能是前瞻性的。因此，它們面臨 AT&T 向 SEC 提交的文件中描述的風險和不確定性，結果可能存在重大差異。更多資訊以及我們的收益資料可在投資者關係網站上取得。

With that, I'll turn the call over to John Stankey. John?

這樣，我會將電話轉給約翰·斯坦基。約翰？

Thank you, Brett. I appreciate everyone joining this morning. I hope you're all doing well today. The third quarter showed again that our team continues to produce solid results as we efficiently grow high-value wireless and broadband subscribers. Since Pascal will go through the quarter in detail, I'll share more on how our investment-led strategy is helping us deliver on our full year consolidated financial guidance, creating runway for future growth, and then I'll provide a few updates on some recent developments.

謝謝你，布雷特。我感謝今天早上大家的加入。我希望你們今天一切順利。第三季再次表明，隨著我們有效成長高價值無線和寬頻用戶，我們的團隊繼續取得穩健的成果。由於帕斯卡將詳細介紹本季度，我將更多地分享我們的投資主導策略如何幫助我們實現全年綜合財務指導，為未來的成長創造跑道，然後我將提供一些最新資訊最近的一些進展。

Our strategy remains the same to lead the industry in converged connectivity through 5G and fiber. In mobility, the value of the coverage and reliability of the service we provide and our best deals for every one approach that puts our customers first are producing solid, sustainable results. We're growing 5G subscribers in a durable way and delivered 403,000 postpaid phone net adds in the third quarter. We also grew efficiently with lower year-over-year postpaid phone churn and upgrade rates.

我們的策略保持不變，即透過 5G 和光纖引領產業融合連接。在行動出行領域，我們提供的服務的覆蓋範圍和可靠性的價值以及我們為每一種將客戶放在第一位的方法提供的最佳優惠正在產生堅實、可持續的成果。我們正在以持久的方式增加 5G 用戶，並在第三季交付了 403,000 部後付費電話淨增量。我們也實現了高效率成長，後付費電話流失率和升級率逐年下降。

Three quarters of the way through the year, our mobility business has grown EBITDA by more than 6%, which is in the high end of the guidance we provided for the full year. This puts us in a solid position heading into the fourth quarter where we expect seasonally higher phone purchasing activity, upgrades and promotional cycles.

今年三個季度，我們的行動業務 EBITDA 成長了 6% 以上，處於我們提供的全年指引的高端。這使我們在進入第四季時處於有利地位，我們預計手機購買活動、升級和促銷週期將出現季節性成長。

Overall, we feel great about our continued momentum in mobility. We're adding customers, increasing profitability, and expect to deliver the best postpaid phone churn in the industry for the 13th time in 15 quarters.

整體而言，我們對行動出行領域的持續發展動能感到非常滿意。我們正在增加客戶，提高獲利能力，並預計在 15 個季度內第 13 次提供業界最佳的後付費電話流失率。

Now let's switch gears to consumer wireline, where we generated positive total broadband subscriber net adds for the fifth consecutive quarter despite impacts from a one-month work stoppage in the Southeast and from Hurricane Helene. And I think it's important to take a moment to recognize our frontline teams who continue to show up in a heroic fashion while confronting multiple devastating hurricanes.

現在讓我們轉向消費有線，儘管受到東南部一個月停工和颶風海倫的影響，但我們連續第五個季度實現了寬頻用戶淨增量正增長。我認為花點時間來表彰我們的前線團隊非常重要，他們在面對多次毀滅性颶風時繼續以英勇的方式出現。

We were pleased to welcome our committed employees in the Southeast back to work on September 16 with newly ratified agreements, a five-year contract in the Southeast and a similar four-year agreement in the West. We appropriately recognize our employees for the exceptional service and performance they provide our customers on a daily basis with annual wage increases averaging 3.6%. Our employees will maintain their position as some of the best-paid professionals in the industry, while we cooperatively work with our labor partners to reposition the company around 5G and fiber as the only all-union wireless and broadband provider in the US.

我們很高興地歡迎東南地區忠誠的員工於9 月16 日重返工作崗位，並簽訂了新批准的協議：東南地區簽訂了一份為期五年的合同，西部地區也簽訂了一份類似的四年期協議。我們對員工每天​​為客戶提供的卓越服務和表現給予適當的認可，年薪平均上漲 3.6%。我們的員工將保持其作為業內薪酬最高的專業人士的地位，同時我們與我們的勞工合作夥伴合作，圍繞 5G 和光纖將公司重新定位為美國唯一的全工會無線和寬頻供應商。

We serve millions of individuals and businesses in the Southeast region of the country, and our frontline employees on the ground have responded quickly and worked tirelessly to keep our communities, customers, and first responders connected when it matters most. For context, our FirstNet organization provides a meaningfully differentiated product to public safety during events like these. Our organization dedicated to supporting our growing public safety base on FirstNet responded to more than 200 requests during the Hurricane Helene recovery. This was one of our largest emergency response efforts ever.

我們為該國東南部地區數以百萬計的個人和企業提供服務，我們的第一線員工迅速做出反應，並不懈努力，在最重要的時候讓我們的社區、客戶和急救人員保持聯繫。就背景而言，我們的 FirstNet 組織在此類事件期間為公共安全提供了有意義的差異化產品。我們的組織致力於支援我們不斷成長的 FirstNet 公共安全基礎，在颶風海倫恢復期間回應了 200 多個請求。這是我們有史以來規模最大的緊急應變工作之一。

These efforts are nothing short of remarkable. It's exactly why more than 29,000 public safety agencies and organizations, including the New York City Police Department, the Fire Department of New York City, and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Choose FirstNet, the only dedicated communications platform for public safety. We applaud the FCC's recent decision to make available 50 megahertz of spectrum to the FirstNet authority to facilitate nationwide deployment of 5G services for first responders, and we look forward to working together on plans that take these capabilities to the next level.

這些努力堪稱非凡。這正是超過 29,000 個公共安全機構和組織（包括紐約市警察局、紐約市消防局和北卡羅來納州公共安全部）選擇 FirstNet 這個唯一公共安全專用通訊平台的原因。我們讚揚 FCC 最近決定向 FirstNet 當局提供 50 兆赫頻譜，以促進全國範圍內為急救人員部署 5G 服務，我們期待共同製定計劃，將這些能力提升到新的水平。

Moving back to broadband. Despite a 30-day work stoppage in the Southeast portion of our footprint, we've now had more than 200,000 AT&T Fiber net adds for 19 consecutive quarters, which shows the strong underlying customer demand for fiber. In the quarter, consumer wireline delivered more than 8% EBITDA growth, driven by nearly 17% growth in fiber revenues. These consistent results make it clear that our fiber investment is generating attractive returns with improved operating leverage as we transition from legacy networks. Overall, the underlying momentum with 5G and fiber positions us to close the year strong.

回到寬頻。儘管我們的東南部地區停工了 30 天，但我們目前已經連續 19 個季度增加了超過 200,000 個 AT&T 光纖網絡，這表明客戶對光纖的潛在需求強勁。本季度，在光纖收入成長近 17% 的推動下，消費者有線電話 EBITDA 成長超過 8%。這些一致的結果清楚地表明，隨著我們從傳統網路轉型，我們的光纖投資正在產生可觀的回報，並提高了營運槓桿。總體而言，5G 和光纖的潛在動力使我們能夠以強勁的勢頭結束今年。

While our 5G and fiber businesses are performing well on their own, it's increasingly clear that customers prefer to purchase mobility and broadband together as a converged service. Only AT&T can offer this at scale with benefits from owners' economics. This is driving a reinforcing cycle where the success of our fiber business drives growth in mobility and vice versa.

雖然我們的 5G 和光纖業務本身表現良好，但越來越明顯的是，客戶更喜歡將行動性和寬頻作為融合服務一起購買。只有 AT&T 能夠大規模提供此服務，並從所有者經濟中獲益。這正在推動一個強化循環，我們的光纖業務的成功推動了移動性的成長，反之亦然。

As we shared last quarter, about 4 out of every 10 AT&T fiber households also choose AT&T is their wireless provider. Additionally, our share of postpaid phone subscribers within the AT&T fiber footprint is about 500 basis points higher than our national average. This highlights the true benefit of owning and operating both 5G and fiber networks at scale, which is the ability to drive higher share in both mobility and broadband through converged service penetration. Over time, we expect this should drive higher returns on our invested capital in both our mobility and broadband businesses that either could achieve as a stand-alone operation.

正如我們上季度分享的那樣，大約每 10 個 AT&T 光纖家庭中就有 4 個選擇 AT&T 作為他們的無線提供者。此外，我們在 AT&T 光纖覆蓋範圍內的後付費電話用戶份額比全國平均高出約 500 個基點。這凸顯了大規模擁有和營運 5G 和光纖網路的真正好處，即能夠透過融合服務滲透推動行動和寬頻領域更高的份額。隨著時間的推移，我們預計這將為我們的行動和寬頻業務帶來更高的投資回報，而這兩項業務都可以作為獨立營運來實現。

While our convergence strategy began with a focus on our own fiber footprint, we're also pursuing attractive opportunities to expand AT&T fiber outside of it. We're already America's largest fiber provider with the fastest and most reliable speeds. The superiority of AT&T fiber elevates the overall AT&T brand we want more customers to experience the best wired Internet experience available today. That's why we've announced plans to bring AT&T Fiber high-speed Internet to even more people in new geographies through GigaPower, our joint venture with BlackRock, as well as through recent agreements with commercial open access fiber providers. These fiber-driven growth initiatives present attractive capital efficient ways for us to provide both AT&T fiber and 5G wireless services to more customers.

雖然我們的融合策略始於關注我們自己的光纖足跡，但我們也在尋求有吸引力的機會，將 AT&T 光纖擴展到我們之外。我們已經是美國最大的光纖供應商，擁有最快、最可靠的速度。 AT&T 光纖的優越性提升了 AT&T 的整體品牌，我們希望更多的客戶能夠體驗當今最好的有線網路體驗。這就是為什麼我們宣布計劃透過我們與 BlackRock 的合資企業 GigaPower 以及最近與商業開放接入光纖供應商達成的協議，將 AT&T Fiber 高速互聯網帶給新地區的更多人。這些光纖驅動的成長計畫為我們提供了一種有吸引力的資本有效方式，以便為更多客戶提供 AT&T 光纖和 5G 無線服務。

In addition to being the largest capital investor in the US connectivity infrastructure since 2019, we continue to reduce our net debt and increase operating leverage due to a combination of higher EBITDA and strong free cash flow generation. Our financial flexibility continues to improve, and we remain on pace to meet our target of net debt to adjusted EBITDA in the 2.5 times range in the first half of next year.

除了成為 2019 年以來美國連接基礎設施最大的資本投資者外，由於更高的 EBITDA 和強勁的自由現金流生成，我們還繼續減少淨債務並提高營運槓桿。我們的財務彈性不斷提高，我們將繼續努力實現明年上半年淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 比率在 2.5 倍範圍內的目標。

In the quarter, we also announced that we reached an agreement to sell our remaining 70% stake in DIRECTV to TPG in a noncontingent transaction, subject only to customary closing conditions, and separate from the regulatory process associated with the DIRECTV DISH transaction. This sale and transaction structure allows us to continue our focus on being a leader in 5G and fiber connectivity throughout America, while further strengthening the balance sheet. It also presents new optionality as we consider opportunities to leverage our significant distribution to aggregate products and services that simplify and improve our customers' lives. We will close the transaction following necessary regulatory approvals and optimal financing and tax considerations.

在本季度，我們也宣布達成協議，透過一項非或有交易將 DIRECTV 剩餘 70% 的股份出售給 TPG，僅遵守慣例成交條件，並且獨立於與 DIRECTV DISH 交易相關的監管流程。這種銷售和交易結構使我們能夠繼續專注於成為全美 5G 和光纖連接領域的領導者，同時進一步強化資產負債表。當我們考慮利用我們的重要分銷來聚合產品和服務以簡化和改善客戶生活的機會時，它還提供了新的選擇。我們將在獲得必要的監管批准以及最佳融資和稅務考慮後完成交易。

We're confident that the company's transformation over the past four years has positioned us well for continued organic growth, while also increasing our financial flexibility and capacity to support sustained investment and enhance shareholder returns. We're excited to share the details of what this all means for the future of AT&T, when we speak with you again at our upcoming Analyst and Investor Day on December 3, so mark your calendars for an exciting visit to Big D.

我們相信，公司過去四年的轉型為我們的持續有機成長奠定了良好的基礎，同時也提高了我們的財務靈活性和支持持續投資和提高股東回報的能力。當我們在12 月3 日即將到來的分析師和投資者日再次與您交談時，我們很高興與您分享這一切對AT&T 的未來意味著什麼，所以請在您的日曆上標記一下對Big D的令人興奮的訪問。

With that, I'll turn it over to Pascal to cover the quarter in greater detail. Pascal?

這樣，我將把它交給 Pascal，以更詳細地介紹該季度的情況。帕斯卡？

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Let's start by reviewing our third quarter financial summary on slide 8. Third quarter consolidated results were in line with our expectations. Revenues were down slightly as a decline in business wireline service revenues and low-margin mobility equipment revenues were mostly offset by growth in higher-margin wireless service revenues and fiber revenues. Year-over-year consolidated revenue trends were also impacted by more than $100 million of FX headwinds and an approximately $100 million impact from transferring our cybersecurity business into a joint venture earlier this year.

謝謝約翰，大家早安。讓我們先回顧一下投影片 8 上的第三季財務摘要。收入略有下降，因為商業有線服務收入和低利潤行動裝置收入的下降大部分被利潤較高的無線服務收入和光纖收入的成長所抵消。同比綜合收入趨勢還受到超過 1 億美元的外匯逆風以及今年稍早將我們的網路安全業務轉移到合資企業造成的約 1 億美元的影響。

Adjusted EBITDA was up 3.4% for the quarter as growth in mobility, consumer wireline, and Mexico, which collectively drove more than 80% of our total revenues in the quarter, were partially offset by a continued decline in business wireline. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA grew 3.4%, and we continue to expect adjusted EBITDA growth in the 3% range for the full year. We expect to achieve this growth even with about $115 million of estimated financial impact related to the effects of Hurricane Helene and Milton and the work stoppage. Consumer wireline and business wireline are expected to bear most of this impact.

本季調整後 EBITDA 成長 3.4%，原因是行動、消費有線和墨西哥業務的成長（這些業務合計佔本季總收入的 80% 以上），但部分被商業有線業務的持續下滑所抵消。年初至今，調整後 EBITDA 成長 3.4%，我們繼續預期全年調整後 EBITDA 成長在 3% 範圍內。即使颶風海倫和米爾頓以及停工造成的財務影響約為 1.15 億美元，我們仍預計仍能實現這一成長。消費者有線和商業有線預計將承受大部分影響。

Adjusted EPS was $0.60 compared to $0.64 in the year-ago quarter. Consistent with prior quarters this year, the third quarter included about $0.09 of aggregate EPS headwinds from the four items we discussed earlier in the year. Adjusted EPS excludes $0.61 impact related to a $4.4 billion noncash goodwill impairment charge for our business wireline unit driven by an industry-wide secular decline of legacy services. For the full year, our expectations remain for adjusted EPS in the range of $2.15 to $2.25.

調整後每股收益為 0.60 美元，去年同期為 0.64 美元。與今年前幾季一致，第三季包括我們今年稍早討論的四個項目帶來的約 0.09 美元的每股盈餘總阻力。調整後每股盈餘不包括與全行業傳統服務長期衰退導致的有線業務部門 44 億美元非現金商譽減損費用相關的 0.61 美元影響。對於全年而言，我們預計調整後每股收益仍然在 2.15 美元至 2.25 美元之間。

Year-to-date, free cash flow is $12.8 billion. This is up $2.4 billion compared to the same time last year and consistent with our goal of driving higher free cash flow that is more ratable on a quarterly basis. In the third quarter, we generated free cash flow of $5.1 billion, which included the previously disclosed onetime payment of $480 million related to our wireless network transformation and the continued paydown of vendor financing obligations.

年初至今，自由現金流為 128 億美元。與去年同期相比，這一數字增加了 24 億美元，這符合我們推動更高的自由現金流、每季可評估性更高的目標。第三季度，我們產生了 51 億美元的自由現金流，其中包括先前披露的與我們的無線網路轉型相關的一次性付款 4.8 億美元以及持續償還供應商融資義務。

Capital investment for the quarter was $5.5 billion, down about $150 million compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower vendor financing payments. Capital expenditures were $5.3 billion, up approximately $650 million compared to the prior year. We expect higher capital investment in the fourth quarter as we ramp our wireless network modernization. We also expect to sustain strong cash conversion in the fourth quarter and anticipate using our improved liquidity to continue reducing our short-term financing, including further paydown of vendor financing in the fourth quarter. These additional vendor financing payments put us on pace for a full year capital investment at the high end of our guidance range of $21 billion to $22 billion. Our free cash flow is tracking to the midpoint of our guidance range of $17 billion to $18 billion.

該季度的資本投資為 55 億美元，比去年同期減少約 1.5 億美元，主要是由於供應商融資付款減少。資本支出為 53 億美元，比上年增加約 6.5 億美元。隨著我們加強無線網路現代化，我們預計第四季度的資本投資將會增加。我們也預計第四季將維持強勁的現金轉換，並預計利用我們改善的流動性繼續減少短期融資，包括第四季進一步償還供應商融資。這些額外的供應商融資付款使我們的全年資本投資預計將達到指導範圍上限 210 億至 220 億美元。我們的自由現金流正接近 170 億至 180 億美元指引範圍的中點。

Now let's look at our mobility operating results on slide 9. For the quarter, we delivered 403,000 postpaid phone net adds down from 468,000 a year ago. This is consistent with our wireless market normalization expectation. We also posted another quarter of year-over-year churn improvement with postpaid phone churn of 0.8% versus 0.79% in the third quarter of 2023.

現在讓我們看看幻燈片 9 上的行動營運業績。這符合我們對無線市場正常化的預期。我們也發布了另一個季度的年比流失率改善情況，後付費電話流失率為 0.8%，而 2023 年第三季為 0.79%。

Mobility service revenue grew 4%, driven by strong execution in our balanced go-to-market strategy. In the quarter, we also aligned the timing of certain administrative fees and recorded approximately $90 million of onetime revenues that benefited service revenue.

由於我們平衡的上市策略的強勁執行，行動服務收入成長了 4%。在本季度，我們也調整了某些管理費的時間安排，並記錄了約 9,000 萬美元的一次性收入，這有利於服務收入。

Postpaid phone ARPU was $57.7, up 1.9% year-over-year largely driven by higher ARPU on legacy plans. As expected, service revenue growth was partially offset by lower equipment revenues with a postpaid upgrade rate of 3.5%, which was down from 3.9% last year.

後付費電話 ARPU 為 57.7 美元，年增 1.9%，主要是因為傳統方案的 ARPU 較高。如預期，服務收入的成長被設備收入的下降部分抵消，後付費升級率為 3.5%，低於去年的 3.9%。

In prepaid, our Cricket brand continues to display remarkable consistency with positive phone net adds for 40 consecutive quarters or a decade straight. For the year, we continue to expect mobility service revenue growth in the 3% range.

在預付費領域，我們的 Cricket 品牌連續 40 個季度或連續 10 年保持電話網路積極成長的驚人一致性。今年，我們繼續預期行動服務收入將成長在 3% 的範圍內。

Mobility EBITDA of $9.5 billion grew 6.7% or by about $600 million year-over-year. On a year-to-date basis, mobility EBITDA grew 6.3%, reflecting nearly 100% of service revenue growth flowing through to EBITDA. The strong performance puts us on pace to achieve our target of mobility EBITDA growth in the higher end of the mid-single-digit range for the full year. Our mobility outlook also continues to anticipate higher fourth quarter promotional activity levels consistent with seasonal trends.

行動業務 EBITDA 為 95 億美元，年增 6.7%，即增加約 6 億美元。今年迄今，行動 EBITDA 成長了 6.3%，反映出近 100% 的服務收入成長都流向了 EBITDA。強勁的業績使我們有望實現全年行動 EBITDA 成長在中個位數範圍高端的目標。我們的旅遊前景也持續預期第四季促銷活動水準將與季節性趨勢保持一致。

Now let's move to consumer wireline results on slide 10. The sustainable strength of fiber is driving consumer wireline growth and yielding strong returns. In the quarter, we added 28,000 total broadband subscribers, which includes 226,000 AT&T fiber net adds. Our fiber subscriber gains also reflect an estimated 50,000 fewer net adds from the work stoppage and stores in the Southeast. It is clear that where we do have AT&T Fiber, we win. We now passed more than 28 million consumer and business locations with fiber and remain on track to pass 30 million plus fiber locations by the end of 2025.

現在讓我們來看看幻燈片 10 上的消費者有線業務結果。本季度，我們新增了 28,000 名寬頻用戶，其中包括 226,000 名 AT&T 光纖網路用戶。我們的光纖用戶成長也反映出，由於東南部停工和商店的影響，淨增加人數預計減少了 5 萬人。很明顯，只要我們擁有 AT&T Fiber，我們就能獲勝。目前，我們已經為超過 2800 萬個消費者和企業地點提供了光纖服務，並預計在 2025 年底之前為超過 3000 萬個光纖地點提供服務。

As we've stated before, the better-than-expected returns we're seeing on our fiber investment potentially expand our opportunity to go beyond our initial build target by roughly 10 million to 15 million additional locations. We look forward to providing you with a more detailed update on our plans for expanding the reach of AT&T Fiber during our Analyst and Investor Day on December 3.

正如我們之前所說，我們在光纖投資上看到的優於預期的回報可能會擴大我們的機會，超出我們最初的建設目標，額外建設約 1000 萬至 1500 萬個地點。我們期待在 12 月 3 日的分析師和投資者日期間向您提供有關我們擴大 AT&T Fiber 覆蓋範圍的計劃的更詳細更新資訊。

Outside of fiber, we remain encouraged by the early performance of AT&T Internet Air and our success proactively migrating legacy copper-based Internet customers to this service. We now have nearly 500,000 total AT&T Internet Air consumer subscribers, including 135,000 added during the quarter.

除了光纖之外，我們仍然對 AT&T Internet Air 的早期表現以及我們主動將傳統銅線互聯網客戶遷移到此服務的成功感到鼓舞。目前，我們擁有近 50 萬名 AT&T Internet Air 消費者訂戶，其中本季新增 13.5 萬名。

Third quarter broadband revenues grew 6.4% due to strong fiber revenue growth of nearly 17%. For the full year, we continue to expect broadband revenue growth of 7% plus. Fiber ARPU of $70.36 was up 3.2% year-over-year with intake ARPU approximately $75. We continue to see solid uptake in higher-speed fiber tiers and a healthy underlying pricing trend.

第三季寬頻營收成長 6.4%，得益於近 17% 的光纖收入強勁成長。我們繼續預計全年寬頻收入將成長 7% 以上。光纖 ARPU 為 70.36 美元，年增 3.2%，攝取 ARPU 約為 75 美元。我們繼續看到高速光纖層的穩固採用和健康的基本定價趨勢。

The third quarter also was the first full quarter in which ARPU was impacted by the rollout of Autopay changes. We view Autopay as a long-term benefit for customers as well as operationally for our broadband business.

第三季也是 ARPU 受到自動支付變更推出影響的第一個完整季度。我們認為自動付款對於客戶以及我們寬頻業務的營運來說都是一項長期利益。

Consumer wireline EBITDA grew as growth in broadband revenues and ongoing cost transformation continued to improve profitability. Through the third quarter, consumer wireline EBITDA grew 10%, and we continue to expect growth in the mid- to high single-digit range for the full year, including impacts from the recent work stoppage and storms.

隨著寬頻收入的成長和持續的成本轉型持續提高獲利能力，消費有線 EBITDA 也隨之成長。截至第三季度，消費者有線 EBITDA 成長了 10%，我們繼續預計全年成長將在中高個位數範圍內，包括最近停工和風暴的影響。

Now let's cover business wireline on slide 11. Business wireline EBITDA was down 20% due to continued industry-wide secular declines in legacy voice services. The reported decline in EBITDA also reflects a tough comparison versus the third quarter of last year, which benefited from approximately $100 million of IP sales that did not recur in 3Q this year.

現在讓我們來討論幻燈片 11 上的商業有線業務。報告的 EBITDA 下降也反映了與去年第三季的嚴峻對比，去年第三季受益於今年第三季未出現的約 1 億美元的 IP 銷售。

Overall, business wireline is performing slightly below the outlook we provided in the first quarter due to lower revenue expectations, including a shift of IP sales into 2025, as well as the impact of Southeast work stoppage and impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. We now expect business wireline EBITDA declines in the high 10s range for the full year versus our prior outlook for a mid-teen decline.

總體而言，由於收入預期降低，包括 IP 銷售轉向 2025 年，以及東南部停工以及颶風海倫和米爾頓的影響，商業有線的表現略低於我們在第一季提供的前景。我們現在預計全年商業有線 EBITDA 下降幅度將在 10 左右，而我們先前預期的下降幅度為 10 左右。

While near-term declines in legacy voice revenues are likely to weigh on business wireline EBITDA trends for the remainder of the year, our 5G and wireless products continue to present attractive growth opportunities in business solutions. This includes sustained growth at FirstNet which now has approximately 6.4 million total connections. Similarly, we're excited about the potential of emerging growth products like AT&T Internet Air for Business.

雖然傳統語音收入的近期下降可能會影響今年剩餘時間的商業有線 EBITDA 趨勢，但我們的 5G 和無線產品繼續為商業解決方案提供有吸引力的成長機會。其中包括 FirstNet 的持續成長，目前總連線數約為 640 萬。同樣，我們對 AT&T Internet Air for Business 等新興成長產品的潛力感到興奮。

Now let's move to slide 12 for an update on our capital allocation strategy. Our approach to capital allocation remains consistent and deliberate. We're successfully balancing efficient growth with long-term investment as we deliver converged network services to more customers, pay down debt and return value to shareholders.

現在讓我們前往投影片 12，以了解我們資本配置策略的最新情況。我們的資本配置方法保持一致且經過深思熟慮。隨著我們向更多客戶提供整合網路服務、償還債務並為股東回報價值，我們成功地平衡了高效成長與長期投資。

We also remain focused on deleveraging. We reduced net debt by about $1.1 billion in the quarter despite a $1.3 billion FX headwind related to foreign debt. Also recall we fully hedged our foreign-denominated debt. So we have an offsetting FX gain recorded in other noncurrent liabilities on our balance sheet related to the hedges. Year-over-year, we've reduced net debt by approximately $2.9 billion and have lower vendor and supplier financing by $2.4 billion.

我們也繼續關注去槓桿化。儘管與外債相關的外匯逆風達到 13 億美元，但本季我們還是減少了約 11 億美元的淨債務。請記住，我們完全對沖了外幣債務。因此，我們在資產負債表上與對沖相關的其他非流動負債中記錄了抵銷外匯收益。與去年同期相比，我們的淨債務減少了約 29 億美元，供應商融資減少了 24 億美元。

At the end of September, net debt to adjusted EBITDA was at 2.8 times, and we're making steady progress on achieving our target in the 2.5 times range in the first half of 2025. Looking forward, our debt maturities are very manageable and we're in a great position with more than 95% of our long-term debt fixed with a weighted average rate of 4.2%.

截至 9 月底，淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 的比率為 2.8 倍，我們正在穩步實現 2025 年上半年 2.5 倍範圍內的目標。 % 的長期債務是固定的，加權平均利率為4.2%。

In addition to paying down debt, we reduced direct supplier and vendor financing obligations by about $1.7 billion versus the second quarter. The third quarter net impact from securitization facilities was a $400 million source of cash. So the net of these items was a $1.3 billion use of cash.

除了償還債務外，我們還比第二季減少了約 17 億美元的直接供應商融資義務。第三季證券化工具的淨影響是 4 億美元的現金來源。因此，扣除這些項目後，現金使用量為 13 億美元。

In the fourth quarter, we expect sequential increase in direct supplier financing balances due to typical seasonality. However, we expect to continue reducing our aggregate net balance of direct supply and vendor financing on a year-over-year basis for the remainder of the year, which should lower our interest expense and continue to improve the quality and ratability of our cash flows over time.

由於典型的季節性因素，我們預計第四季直接供應商融資餘額將較上季增加。然而，我們預計今年剩餘時間內將繼續減少直接供應和供應商融資的淨餘額總額，這將降低我們的利息支出並繼續提高現金流的品質和可評級性隨著時間的推移。

DIRECTV distributions in the quarter were about $600 million on a pretax basis. Based on the terms of our agreement to divest our 70% stake in DIRECTV, we expect $1.1 billion of pretax cash payments in 4Q. Cash taxes were about $600 million in the third quarter, and we expect to pay about $1.6 billion in cash taxes in the fourth quarter.

本季 DIRECTV 的稅前分配約為 6 億美元。根據我們剝離 DIRECTV 70% 股份的協議條款，我們預計第四季度稅前現金支付為 11 億美元。第三季現金稅約6億美元，我們預計第四季將繳納約16億美元現金稅。

To close, I'm very pleased with our team's performance so far this year. And as John noted, we're on pace to deliver on all of our full year 2024 consolidated financial guidance.

最後，我對我們團隊今年迄今為止的表現感到非常滿意。正如 John 指出的那樣，我們正在努力實現 2024 年全年的所有綜合財務指導。

Brett, that's our presentation. We're now ready for the Q&A.

布雷特，這就是我們的演講。我們現在準備好進行問答了。

Thank you, Pascal. Operator, we are ready to take the first question.

謝謝你，帕斯卡。接線員，我們準備好回答第一個問題。

Simon Flannery, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙‧弗蘭納裡，摩根士丹利。

John, you mentioned in the fourth quarter, we expect seasonally higher phone purchasing activity upgrades and promo cycles. Can you just put some context around that you've continued to see low upgrade activity. There's concerns about a bigger iPhone cycle. What are you expecting in the fourth quarter and longer term as Apple introduces AI, et cetera?

約翰，您在第四季度提到，我們預期手機購買活動升級和促銷週期會出現季節性成長。您能否簡單介紹一下您持續看到升級活動較低的背景。人們擔心 iPhone 的上市週期會更長。隨著蘋果推出人工智慧等，您對第四季和更長期的預期是什麼？

And then just one on the business wireline. Any kind of light at the end of the tunnel there? How much more of the sort of pressures do you think we get before the rate of change starts to stabilize and improve?

然後只是透過商業專線發送一個。隧道盡頭有什麼光嗎？您認為在變化率開始穩定和改善之前，我們還會承受多少此類壓力？

So I don't know that I can give you an answer that's more satisfying than last quarter on projecting what Apple phone sales might be. You've seen the numbers, they're down slightly over last year's levels on an introduction. We're still waiting, obviously, for the software release and whether or not that software release drives interest in the consumer base to accelerate that remains to be seen.

因此，在預測蘋果手機銷售方面，我不知道能否給您一個比上季更令人滿意的答案。您已經看到了這些數字，在介紹中它們比去年的水平略有下降。顯然，我們仍在等待軟體的發布，而該軟體的發布是否會激發消費者的興趣並加速這一趨勢還有待觀察。

I don't know, I've given you my point of view that says, I think some of these things are going to be a little bit more graces full ramp-up in consumer interest as opposed to a big bang. Software oftentimes tends to be that.

我不知道，我已經向你表達了我的觀點，我認為其中一些事情將更有利於消費者興趣的全面提升，而不是一次大爆炸。軟體往往就是這樣。

If you went back and thought about any software innovation that occurs on a handset over the past decades or so, you tend to see that dynamic occur. They become material and meaningful over time. But oftentimes, certain features didn't exactly go to this massive ramp when they're first released because software is an iterative technology sometimes has to be iterated on to improve it and make it meaningful and address the particular need. So I don't know that I would expect when the software release comes out, that all of a sudden, we see this massive uptick, but the consumer will ultimately decide that the consumer will be the one that decides what to do.

如果您回想一下過去幾十年左右手機上發生的任何軟體創新，您往往會看到這種動態的發生。隨著時間的推移，它們變得物質化且有意義。但通常情況下，某些功能在首次發佈時並沒有達到如此大規模的提升，因為軟體是一種迭代技術，有時必須進行迭代才能改進它並使其有意義並滿足特定需求。所以我不知道當軟體發佈時我會期望，突然之間，我們會看到這種巨大的上升，但消費者最終會決定消費者將是決定要做什麼的人。

And I think to my remarks, we're in a position in what we've done through the first three quarters of this year that we've got a lot of flexibility. We can adjust to whatever takes place. I think I mentioned last quarter when we were on the call, expected that fourth quarter might be active combination of holiday season device capabilities. And so we've tried to make sure that we're in a position to address that no matter how it occurs, and I feel like based on what you've seen in the industry over the course of the last couple of weeks, things have been very realistic and very pragmatic about how folks have approached the market. And I don't expect things to be dramatically different as we move through the fourth quarter.

我認為，就我的發言而言，我們在今年前三個季度所做的工作中處於一個位置，我們有很大的靈活性。我們可以適應發生的任何事情。我想我在上個季度的電話會議上提到過，預計第四季可能會積極組合假日季節的設備功能。因此，我們試圖確保我們能夠解決這個問題，無論它是如何發生的，我覺得根據過去幾週在行業中所看到的情況，事情對於人們如何進入市場非常現實和務實。我預計第四季情況不會發生顯著變化。

Relative to business wireline, look, there's a lot -- there are green shoots. As you know, we're trying to reposition the business to a connectivity-based business. And when I look at what we're doing in our connectivity-based product and service portfolio as we reposition the focus of the organization, we move from spending most of our time in the Fortune 1,000 to a broader exposure to the business market. I do see those volumes starting to take off, and I see our distribution starting to ramp. They're just not doing at the rate and pace of some of the decline in the legacy revenue base and some of those are products are fairly mature products that have very attractive margin constructs around it, and there's a little bit of a shift going on.

相對於商業有線，你看，有很多——有萌芽。如您所知，我們正在嘗試將業務重新定位為基於連接的業務。當我重新定位組織的重點時，當我審視我們在基於連接的產品和服務組合中所做的事情時，我們從將大部分時間花在財富 1,000 強中轉向更廣泛地涉足商業市場。我確實看到這些銷量開始起飛，而且我看到我們的發行量開始增加。他們只是沒有按照傳統收入基礎下降的速度和速度行事，其中一些產品是相當成熟的產品，具有非常有吸引力的利潤結構，並且正在發生一些轉變。

And it's not a whole lot different than what we were kind of going through on the consumer side a few years back. We will catch it exactly the date that we will catch it. We'll spend some time on that in December, giving you a little bit of an outlook of how we see that playing through. But as you've been seeing, we've been doing a nice job as a business, finding other places to grow to kind of offset that as we move through it.

這與幾年前我們在消費者方面經歷的情況並沒有太大不同。我們將在準確的日期趕上它。我們將在 12 月花一些時間來討論這個問題，讓您對我們如何看待這個問題進行一些展望。但正如你所看到的，我們作為一家企業一直做得很好，在我們經歷過程中尋找其他成長的地方來抵消這一點。

I drive home at night thinking about a lot of things. We have a tough challenge in front of us on or things that I wonder whether we're headed in the right direction. One thing I do not wonder about is whether we should be putting our time and effort in repositioning the business. I feel very, very comfortable that this is a place that AT&T should be, this is an important market to us, all of our data, all of our research, everything we're doing suggests that we can create long-term value, just like we're doing in Consumer as a converged provider and we will be successful in that transition.

晚上開車回家的時候，我想了很多事情。我們面臨著嚴峻的挑戰，或者我想知道我們是否朝著正確的方向前進。我不懷疑的一件事是我們是否應該投入時間和精力來重新定位業務。我感到非常非常舒服，這是 AT&T 應該待的地方，這對我們來說是一個重要的市場，我們所有的數據，我們所有的研究，我們所做的一切都表明我們可以創造長期價值，只是就像我們作為融合提供者在消費者領域所做的那樣，我們將在這一轉變中取得成功。

And I don't want to lose the fact that because we report business wireline separately, it doesn't really reflect how we're doing in the business market overall. When you add in what we're experiencing in the wireless space and the solid growth that we're putting up on the board, a lot of that's coming from business. And it's just -- it's a technology shift in some cases, a business that have traditionally purchase wireline services that are now migrating certain products and services to wireless.

我不想忘記這樣一個事實：因為我們單獨報告業務有線，所以它並不能真正反映我們在整個業務市場的表現。當你加上我們在無線領域的經驗以及我們在董事會上取得的穩健成長時，其中很大一部分來自業務。這只是——在某些情況下，這是一種技術轉變，傳統上購買有線服務的企業現在正在將某些產品和服務遷移到無線。

And I think our product portfolio is now starting to evolve where on a combined basis, we can be even more effective. And I'm pretty confident we're going to make that pivot, and we're going to be in a good place after we get everything lined up on that.

我認為我們的產品組合現在開始發展，在綜合的基礎上，我們可以更有效。我非常有信心我們能夠實現這一轉變，在一切都安排妥當之後，我們將處於一個良好的位置。

John Hodulik, UBS.

約翰‧霍杜里克，瑞銀集團。

I don't want to jump in too much on the December event, but can we talk a little bit about the out-of-region opportunity with fiber. I guess, first, how did you guys or what was the criteria for selecting the partners that you have? And are there more partners likely to be added?

我不想過多談論 12 月的活動，但我們可以談談光纖的區域外機會嗎？我想，首先，你們是如何選擇合作夥伴的，或是選擇合作夥伴的標準是什麼？是否有可能增加更多合作夥伴？

Second, how big could that opportunity be, I guess, including GigaPower? And third, are you guys seeing the churn benefits? I guess, you sort of laid out the customers that have bundled service, but are you guys seeing churn benefits in the wireless business for customers that have that take both services?

其次，我猜這個機會有多大，包括 GigaPower 在內？第三，你們看到流失帶來的好處了嗎？我想，你們已經列出了捆綁服務的客戶，但是你們是否看到了無線業務中同時使用這兩種服務的客戶的流失優勢？

John. So happy to talk about some of those. And of course, to your point, we'll spend even more time and give you a little bit more texture when you come and visit us here in December. I hope you do come.

約翰.很高興談論其中的一些。當然，就您而言，當您 12 月來到這裡時，我們將花費更多的時間並為您提供更多的質感。我希望你能來。

So look, the partner dynamic is -- it's a good question, and it's really important in our point of view. And I think I alluded to this at the Communicopia conference we tried to put a portfolio of capabilities together that make us the attractive partner. And it's not just that we can go in and move product for somebody. We're doing all the things where because we have a GigaPower offer because we're actually, in some cases, operating what could ultimately be an open access network in some parts of the country.

所以看，合作夥伴的動態是——這是一個很好的問題，在我們看來這非常重要。我想我在 Communicopia 會議上提到這一點，我們試圖將一系列能力組合在一起，使我們成為有吸引力的合作夥伴。這不僅僅是我們可以進去為某人運輸產品。我們正在做所有的事情，因為我們有 GigaPower 報價，因為在某些情況下，我們實際上正在該國的某些地區運營最終可能成為開放接入網路的網路。

We've been very mindful of how you should construct the product offer or how you need to work with partners, et cetera, and we walk in with a model that's a model that we're executing in our own partner footprint where we can walk in and offer them even though we're not funding the build in this case, the same construct of what we're executing in GigaPower, same product offer, the same ability to bring our distribution strength that comes in play. The same ability to do things like offer OSS and BSS back offices that can facilitate people and how they operate things even going as far as what we can do to give them opportunities to ride on our scale and our capabilities with third-party suppliers and providers as they go about the work that they're doing, and we're very open, for example, of offering the technologies we put together for in-home technologies, how that product capability evolves over time. And to build a world-class product, that kind of scale is essential.

我們非常關注您應該如何建立產品供應或您需要如何與合作夥伴合作等等，並且我們帶著一個模型進入，該模型是我們在我們自己的合作夥伴足跡中執行的模型，我們可以在其中行走即使我們沒有為這種情況下的構建提供資金，我們也可以為他們提供相同的結構，相同的產品供應，相同的能力來發揮我們的分銷優勢。同樣有能力提供 OSS 和 BSS 後台，以方便人們及其操作方式，甚至盡我們所能，讓他們有機會利用我們的規模和與第三方供應商和供應商的能力當他們從事他們正在做的工作時，我們非常開放，例如，提供我們為家庭技術整合的技術，以及產品功能如何隨著時間的推移而發展。要打造世界級的產品，這種規模至關重要。

So when we walk in and we approach a partner, and when we approach a partner, and we're not necessarily interested in selling fixed wireless access over the top of them, that looks like a really good place for somebody to maybe invest in a relationship over time. that's mutually productive moving forward. And is there more out there that can be done? Sure. And I think one of the things that maybe we all need to understand structurally of what's occurring in this industry over time is these partnerships and some of the open access arrangements will, in fact, change the percentage of the population that certain brands and converged capabilities can serve over time.

因此，當我們走進合作夥伴並接觸合作夥伴時，當我們接觸合作夥伴時，我們不一定有興趣在他們之上銷售固定無線接入，這看起來是一個非常好的地方，可以讓人們投資隨著時間的推移的關係。這是互惠互利的前進。還有更多可以做的事情嗎？當然。我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們都需要從結構上理解這個行業正在發生的事情之一是這些合作夥伴關係和一些開放獲取安排實際上將改變某些品牌和融合能力的人口百分比可以隨時間服務。

And I think that will be a meaningful -- not the most significant part, but it will be a meaningful part of the total addressable market that companies like AT&T can ultimately attack moving forward. So I do think you can get bigger. I think you're seeing just the front end of it right now. As I've said before, I don't believe this is a two- or three-year dynamic. I think this is what will the industry structure emerge to over the next decade dynamic. And that's the play that I'm kind of focusing the business on, and I'm trying to think about as we allocate capital to ensure that over the next decade, AT&T is positioned in the right way as this industry restructures in a very different way than what we've seen in the previous decade.

我認為這將是一個有意義的部分——不是最重要的部分，但它將是像 AT&T 這樣的公司最終可以向前進攻的整個潛在市場的一個有意義的部分。所以我確實認為你可以變得更大。我想你現在看到的只是它的前端。正如我之前所說，我不認為這是一個兩三年的動態。我認為這就是未來十年產業結構的動態。這就是我關注的業務重點，在我們分配資本時我會努力思考，以確保在未來十年，隨著該行業以一種截然不同的方式進行重組，AT&T 能夠以正確的方式定位。十年所看到的要多得多。

So where we are in performance, I gave a fair amount of insight to the front end of what we're seeing with some of our partnership sales when I was out at Communacopia I think what we can safely say is everything at the front end, customer acquisition, ARPUs, our rate of penetration, all those things, as I shared, are looking very, very similar to what's happening in region. That's how I would kind of sum it up.

因此，在我們的績效方面，當我在 Communacopia 時，我對我們在一些合作夥伴銷售中所看到的前端提供了相當多的見解，我認為我們可以有把握地說的是前端的一切，正如我所分享的，客戶獲取、ARPU、我們的滲透率，所有這些看起來都與該地區發生的情況非常非常相似。這就是我總結的方式。

I think I also shared with you when we went and we established those partnerships, we didn't expect that. we de-rated our business cases. We expected we'd be somewhat slower to penetration given that the brand hadn't necessarily been in those markets. We expected that maybe we would have ARPU dynamics that we have to price differently in order to penetrate a blah, blah, blah. That's not happening. It's looking more like the in-region business case and that only makes it more compelling.

我想當我們去建立這些合作關係時我也與你們分享了，我們沒有想到這一點。我們降低了我們的業務案例的評級。鑑於該品牌不一定進入這些市場，我們預計我們的滲透速度會稍慢一些。我們預計，也許我們會有 ARPU 動態，我們必須以不同的價格滲透到廢話、廢話、廢話。那並沒有發生。它看起來更像是區域內的商業案例，這只會讓它更具吸引力。

Now what we don't know yet, John, is we haven't been in that business for two years or 18 months. So I can't conclusively tell you that we're going to see the same dynamic play into our wireless share perspective and our churn dynamic. But if I'm seeing the early stuff looking like what it does in region, I guess I'd step back and say, why should the back end look a lot different over time, assuming we offer the same quality product and the same execution what we're achieving on our more established footprint and all the operational dynamics would be that we are, in fact, executing in that way.

約翰，現在我們還不知道的是，我們已經有兩年或十八個月沒有從事這項業務了。因此，我不能最終告訴您，我們將在無線共享視角和客戶流失動態中看到相同的動態。但如果我看到早期的東西看起來像它在該地區所做的那樣，我想我會退後一步說，為什麼後端隨著時間的推移看起來會有很大不同，假設我們提供相同質量的產品和相同的執行我們在更成熟的足跡和所有營運動力上所取得的成就實際上就是我們正在以這種方式執行的。

Peter Supino, Wolf Research.

彼得‧蘇皮諾，沃爾夫研究中心。

A question on consumer broadband and one on capital allocation. In Consumer broadband, your Internet net add growth stabilized despite your announcement that you've launched about 204 partial regions last quarter. And so I wonder if you could comment on the relationship between that open for sale change and the growth path of Internet are just bigger picture.

一個關於消費者寬頻的問題和一個關於資本配置的問題。在消費者寬頻方面，儘管您宣布上季度推出了約 204 個部分區域，但您的網路淨增加成長穩定。因此，我想知道您是否可以評論一下開放銷售的變化與互聯網發展路徑之間的關係（只是更大的圖景）。

And then on capital allocation -- on the M&A front, I wonder if you have a point of view on HFC assets on cable assets where they could possibly be complementary to your fiber strategy depending on the region and the assets you have in place.

然後在資本配置方面——在併購方面，我想知道您對電纜資產上的 HFC 資產是否有看法，它們可能會補充您的光纖策略，具體取決於您所在的地區和您擁有的資產。

Peter, I'm very comfortable with where we're at on Internet error. I don't I don't think you should be, as I've said many, many, many times, you shouldn't expect that AT&T is going to look like some of our competitors in the industry on volume and where we're going. We're using it, as I've said before, very strategically. I'll sell to any business customer that is well suited to the product. That's an attractive market to us. It's an attractive market because of what we can bring in growth in other products and services, including handsets in the account, we can justify the usage characteristics around it.

彼得，我對我們目前的網路錯誤狀況感到非常滿意。我不認為你應該這樣做，正如我已經說過很多很多次的那樣，你不應該期望 AT&T 在數量和我們的位置上看起來像我們行業中的一些競爭對手。正如我之前所說，我們非常有策略地使用它。我將向任何非常適合該產品的商業客戶出售產品。這對我們來說是一個有吸引力的市場。這是一個有吸引力的市場，因為我們可以帶來其他產品和服務的成長，包括帳戶中的手機，我們可以證明其周圍的使用特徵是合理的。

You should expect as we continue to scale some of our distribution in the mid-business market that you'll see those numbers grow as a result of that and then use it very strategically in consumer. We're using it as a footprint hold capability as we know we've got some copper customers, we can improve service levels, waiting for fiber. In some cases, we're using it to migrate people off of copper so that we can ultimately turn down costly service areas and not have to support the legacy infrastructure that's in place and occasionally in markets where we have surplus spectrum that we know will be in place for many, many years.

您應該預料到，隨著我們繼續擴大中型企業市場的一些分銷規模，您會看到這些數字因此而成長，然後在消費者中非常策略性地使用它。我們將其用作足跡保持功能，因為我們知道我們有一些銅纜客戶，我們可以提高服務水平，等待光纖。在某些情況下，我們使用它來將人們從銅線遷移出來，以便我們最終可以拒絕昂貴的服務區域，而不必支持現有的遺留基礎設施，偶爾在我們知道將有剩餘頻譜的市場中已經存在很多很多年了。

And it's really kind of a fallow dynamic, and we can get the right kind of returns on it. But that rate and pace is never going to rival what you're seeing with anybody else, and you should just assume that's the case. I would tell you, relative to our internal projections of the product, we're very much in line with what our expectations would have been. And I don't think you're going to see what I would call a demonstrative shift in the quarters moving forward.

這確實是一種休閒動態，我們可以獲得適當的回報。但這種速度和節奏永遠無法與你在其他任何人身上看到的東西相媲美，你應該假設情況就是如此。我想告訴你，相對於我們對產品的內部預測，我們非常符合我們的預期。我認為你不會看到我所說的季度發展中的示範轉變。

There was a time in my career where I thought it was -- and I had hair at that time, where I believe the pivot to HFC was the right capital allocation decision. And I think cable has demonstrated that it has been a pretty resilient and capable infrastructure that they've managed to get very attractive returns on.

在我的職業生涯中，有一段時間我也這麼認為——當時我還很頭髮，我相信轉向 HFC 是正確的資本配置決策。我認為有線電視已經證明它是一個非常有彈性和有能力的基礎設施，他們已經成功地獲得了非常有吸引力的回報。

But every decision has its time and place. And my belief is, even if you kind of look at the dynamics of what's necessary to service DOCSIS 4, we're on this steady march that eventually fiber is moving its way to a customer. We've been on that march since the early 1980s when fiber introduced itself, and it's just been on a slow march to getting closer to the customer. And I think we're now starting to get into the final innings of that game. And so in what I would consider to be a more mature technology cycle of HFC jumping into something that ultimately ends with fiber having to show up at the customer's home doesn't seem like a timed well-timed decision at this juncture.

但每個決定都有其時間和地點。我相信，即使您專注於 DOCSIS 4 服務所需的動態，我們也正在穩步前進，最終光纖將走向客戶。自 20 世紀 80 年代初光纖問世以來，我們就一直在走這條路，只是在更接近客戶方面進展緩慢。我認為我們現在開始進入這場比賽的最後一局。因此，在我認為更成熟的 HFC 技術週期中，跳入最終以光纖必須出現在客戶家中而告終的東西，在這個時刻似乎不是一個及時的決定。

More importantly, I look at our business model and our organic opportunities that are in front of us, and I look at how we're executing around this and I look at the future returns that are available, and I'm more interested in allocating capital to use the business model we have that I think is incredibly powerful and has a fantastic runway a fantastic annuity stream, a durable annuity stream for investors. And so that's where my energy is at, which is simplifying operations, having continuity working with partners that can expand our footprint. I think that's the play that has longevity.

更重要的是，我著眼於我們的商業模式和擺在我們面前的有機機會，我著眼於我們如何圍繞這一點執行，我著眼於未來可獲得的回報，我更感興趣的是分配資本使用我們擁有的商業模式，我認為這是非常強大的，並且有一個夢幻般的跑道，夢幻般的年金流，為投資者提供持久的年金流。這就是我的精力所在，即簡化運營，與可以擴大我們足蹟的合作夥伴持續合作。我認為這才是經久不衰的戲劇。

And I don't subscribe to this point of view that over the long haul, that the next wave of growth in this space is somehow suboptimal return characteristics. I just don't believe that. I don't see that. I don't see that in any of the operations of our business. And I don't see it in the way the market is structured.

我不同意這樣的觀點，即從長遠來看，該領域的下一波成長在某種程度上是次優的回報特徵。我只是不相信這一點。我不這麼認為。我在我們的任何業務運營中都沒有看到這一點。我並不認為市場的結構是這樣的。

David Barden, Bank of America.

大衛巴登，美國銀行。

John, I do remember when you had hair, so you look great. So John, I wanted to ask this question, which is maybe the inverse of the GigaPower question, which is as you think about how you're building fiber out in your territory and as you make these new decisions about what's coming next, is the fiber build in your territory walled garden that's only for AT&T's benefit and however much share you're able to get is the share you get? Or is there a thought that maybe AT&T wants to be an open access provider and the parts of the market that it doesn't access directly, you can at least participate in on a wholesale basis the way you historically were talking about maybe the wireless business and the cable relationship?

約翰，我記得你有頭髮的時候，所以你看起來很棒。所以約翰，我想問這個問題，這可能是 GigaPower 問題的反面，當你思考如何在你的領土上建造光纖時，當你對接下來的事情做出這些新的決定時，是在你的領地圍牆花園中建造光纖，這只是為了AT&T 的利益，您能夠獲得的份額是多少？或者是否有一種想法，也許 AT&T 希望成為一個開放接入提供商，並且它不直接訪問的市場部分，您至少可以像您歷史上談論的無線業務那樣以批發方式參與和電纜關係？

And then the second question, if I could, Pascal, I think you were reiterating the guidance, the -- I think I missed the line that said that 2025 earnings growth would be positive. Obviously, there's lots of moving parts, but could you just step us through kind of the thought process on taking that out.

然後是第二個問題，帕斯卡，如果可以的話，我認為您正在重申指導意見，我想我錯過了 2025 年盈利增長將為正的那句話。顯然，有很多移動部件，但是您能否引導我們完成刪除這些部件的思考過程。

Dave. That must be when you're getting old, if you remember when I had hair, but -- (laughter)

戴夫.如果你還記得我有頭髮的時候，那一定是你老了的時候，但──（笑聲）

I am.

我是。

The -- but you look good for being old days.

- 但你看起來還是老樣子。

Right back at you, John.

就在你身邊，約翰。

Look, as I said, I think the structure of this industry is going to evolve differently over the next decade. And the way I think about it is there's going to be far more differentiation that comes in over time on what a converged offering looks like, and that differentiation will be both on product and service.

正如我所說，我認為這個行業的結構在未來十年將會發生不同的演變。我的想法是，隨著時間的推移，融合產品的外觀將會出現更多的差異化，而這種差異化將體現在產品和服務上。

And I think if you're -- I don't want to use the term walled garden, but if you think about owned and operated assets, our motivation would be to get the best customers that we can sell the most product to and provide the most vertical revenue capability on new products and services where our brand is the owned and operated servicing brand to that customer. And I think that's the play that we want to be putting our time and energy on for the next year or two. And I think we're going to be very successful in that regard. And we're going to find very attractive customers that are interested in a very simple value proposition of working with one company. And we're going to make sure that we get the most share that we possibly can in the market in that way, shape or form that will probably be the most profitable loyal and best customers we have.

我認為，如果你——我不想使用圍牆花園這個詞，但如果你考慮擁有和經營的資產，我們的動機將是獲得最好的客戶，我們可以向他們銷售最多的產品並提供新產品和服務的最垂直收入能力，其中我們的品牌是該客戶擁有和經營的服務品牌。我認為這就是我們希望在未來一兩年投入時間和精力的遊戲。我認為我們在這方面將會非常成功。我們將找到非常有吸引力的客戶，他們對與一家公司合作這非常簡單的價值主張感興趣。我們將確保我們在市場上獲得盡可能多的份額，從而可能成為我們擁有的最有利可圖的忠誠和最好的客戶。

But I've been in this industry long enough to know that it is a high fixed cost industry, and there's been an element of wholesale that has played in over time in virtually every piece of infrastructure that's been built. And will come a time where you step back and say there's another point or two of growth or capacity that can be allocated in a way that's different than the way it is today, and it could be done on a wholesale structure and it may be accretive to the overall returns of the business, I think it's entirely possible that, that day could arrive.

但我在這個行業工作了足夠長的時間，知道這是一個固定成本較高的行業，而且隨著時間的推移，幾乎所有已建成的基礎設施中都存在批發元素。有一天，你會退後一步，說還有一兩個點的增長或容量可以以不同於今天的方式進行分配，並且可以在批發結構上完成，並且可能會增值就業務的整體回報而言，我認為那一天完全有可能到來。

And I think it's really important that we think about an industry structure in that regard because as people start talking about the ability to federate product and service across an industry and what footprint looks like over the course of the next decade. If you're not thinking about the likelihood that, that could become an element of how the industry is structured, you're missing the fact that the dynamic of how cable, for example, has federated on nationwide constructs of cooperation that you could have a much broader footprint of how you think about marketing and selling your products and services that have unique capabilities and your brand position in a way over time that can make a very strong difference in terms of profitability and return.

我認為，我們在這方面考慮行業結構非常重要，因為當人們開始談論跨行業聯合產品和服務的能力以及未來十年的足跡時。如果你沒有考慮到這可能成為行業結構的一個要素，那麼你就忽略了這樣一個事實：例如，有線電視的動態如何與你可以擁有的全國性合作結構聯合起來。產品和服務的更廣泛的足跡，這些產品和服務具有獨特的功能和您的品牌地位，隨著時間的推移，可以在盈利能力和回報方面產生非常大的變化。

So I won't rule it out. I absolutely believe that over time, there may be an accretive and economic construct around it. I don't know that, that time is right now but it's something that we should be paying attention to when you have plenty of capacity in the ground that you can continue to sell in different ways.

所以我不會排除這種可能性。我絕對相信，隨著時間的推移，圍繞著它可能會產生增值和經濟的建構。我不知道，現在正是時候，但當你有足夠的能力可以繼續以不同的方式銷售時，我們應該注意這一點。

And Pascal, if you want to talk about the earnings dynamic for '25?

Pascal，如果您想談談 25 年的獲利動態嗎？

Sure thing. Dave, I wouldn't read too much into it except for the fact that, look, as you know, we announced our DIRECTV transaction. And we're not quite sure when in 2025, that's going to close. So depending upon when it closes, we may not grow EPS on a reported basis but rest assured, on an organic basis, there is nothing to see here that we continue to expect our EBITDA and operating income to grow next year. So I feel really good about the overall performance and so it's really all about DIRECTV and the timing close.

當然可以。戴夫，我不會對此進行過多解讀，除非您知道，我們宣布了 DIRECTV 交易。我們不太確定 2025 年什麼時候會結束。因此，根據報告的結束時間，我們可能不會增加每股收益，但請放心，在有機基礎上，我們繼續預計明年的 EBITDA 和營業收入不會成長。所以我對整體性能感覺非常好，所以這實際上完全取決於 DIRECTV 和時間接近。

Michael Rollins, Citi.

麥可羅林斯，花旗銀行。

Curious if you could provide an update on the wireless competitive landscape broadly across the consumer and business verticals. And if you can unpack in a little bit more detail what's driving the growth in postpaid phone ARPU on a year-over-year basis and how you view the sustainability of postpaid phone ARPU growth over the next couple of years?

我很好奇您能否提供有關消費者和企業垂直領域廣泛的無線競爭格局的最新資訊。如果您能更詳細地解釋一下是什麼推動了後付費電話 ARPU 逐年成長，以及您如何看待未來幾年後付費電話 ARPU 成長的可持續性？

Michael, look, I think the industry is great. I'm very comfortable with where things sit. It's competitive. We're having to work really hard, but I don't look at it and say, I can't figure it out. I can't rationalize what people are doing. I mean I look at all the moves that competitors are making and what's going on. And the -- I think I can understand them. I think I understand what their trying to achieve. I understand what we have in terms of our long-term ability to compete against it in an effective fashion.

邁克爾，你看，我認為這個行業很棒。我對東西的放置位置非常滿意。這是有競爭力的。我們必須非常努力地工作，但我不會看著它說，我不明白。我無法合理化人們所做的事情。我的意思是，我會關注競爭對手正在採取的所有行動以及正在發生的事情。我想我能理解他們。我想我理解他們想要實現的目標。我了解我們有什麼能力能夠以有效的方式與它進行長期競爭。

I don't mean to sound like a broken record. There's some growth that's going on in the industry that I'm not as interested in participating in as others might be. And I've tried to be disciplined about that. I feel good about kind of the balance of our growth to the quality of our growth. And I think over the long haul, that's the best way to ensure that we're returning for our shareholders, and I feel good about where we stand in that regard. And I don't expect that is going to change dramatically. And I see consumers using more of our product every month. I see it working their ways into their lives in even more important fashions. And I think that bodes well over the long haul for what's occurring.

我的意思並不是聽起來像一張破唱片。該行業正在發生一些增長，但我不像其他人那樣有興趣參與。我已經盡力在這方面遵守紀律。我對我們的成長與成長品質的平衡感到滿意。我認為從長遠來看，這是確保我們為股東帶來回報的最佳方式，我對我們在這方面的立場感到滿意。我預計這種情況不會發生巨大變化。我發現消費者每個月都會更多地使用我們的產品。我看到它以更重要的方式融入他們的生活。我認為從長遠來看，這對正在發生的事情來說是個好兆頭。

Business, as I mentioned earlier, is a place that I think we could do better as our distribution gets fine-tuned a bit. There's a lot of activity going on in the business market. I believe that we're not -- we're doing well, but we're not as good as we can be. I think there's still some segments in the business market that we can be more present and more effective, especially given what we're able to do on a combined basis, the introduction of Internet Air in addition to selling voice products as well as our fiber footprint. And I don't know that that's any different in how the market is performing. It's just an opportunity of where I think we can get incrementally better as we move through the year.

正如我之前提到的，我認為隨著我們的發行版稍微調整一下，商業是一個可以做得更好的地方。商業市場正在進行大量活動。我相信我們不是——我們做得很好，但還沒有達到我們應有的水平。我認為在商業市場中仍有一些細分市場我們可以更加活躍和更加有效，特別是考慮到我們能夠在綜合基礎上做的事情，除了銷售語音產品以及我們的光纖之外，還引入了互聯網空氣腳印。我不知道市場的表現有什麼不同。我認為這只是一個機會，隨著這一年的推移，我們可以逐漸變得更好。

As I think about ARPU, it's always a combination of things. I actually would say, as I move into next year, I wouldn't dismiss, if I was able to be a little bit more effective in the value segment of the market and that came at a plateauing of ARPU because I was getting a little bit better growth in that segment because of the mix that was occurring that wouldn't bother me, frankly.

當我想到 ARPU 時，它總是多種因素的結合。事實上，我想說，當我進入明年時，如果我能夠在市場的價值部分更加有效，並且在 ARPU 趨於穩定的情況下，我不會放棄，因為我得到了一點坦率地說，由於正在發生的混合情況不會困擾我，因此該領域的成長要好一些。

But I would say on the embedded base of customers we have, our ARPU growth is because we're able to get customers to say they want to buy up and get more from us and buy other products and services that add value to that relationship, whether it be insurance or what they're needing to do to upgrade plans in order to get higher performance off the wireless network and more features and services that we bring in on the higher-rated plans. We'll continue to do that. We still have room to grow on that.

但我想說的是，在我們擁有的嵌入客戶基礎上，我們的ARPU 成長是因為我們能夠讓客戶說他們想從我們這裡購買並獲得更多，並購買其他可以為這種關係增加價值的產品和服務，無論是保險還是他們需要升級計劃以獲得更高的無線網路性能以及我們在評級較高的計劃中引入的更多功能和服務。我們將繼續這樣做。我們在這方面仍有發展空間。

We certainly have been very diligent as we have been in the last couple of years to look for pockets in our base of where we think there is a value mismatch, and we can possibly realign some pricing into the market. That's helped us this year. It helped us last year. I would expect it might help us a little bit next year.

我們當然非常努力，因為我們在過去幾年中一直在我們認為存在價值不匹配的基礎上尋找口袋，並且我們可能會根據市場重新調整一些定價。今年這對我們有幫助。去年它對我們有幫助。我希望明年它對我們有幫助。

So I feel like we can continue to do the right things and managing the returns and yields of our customers. But I would actually like to see us maybe do a little bit better down at the low end of the market overall. And that would naturally come at a little bit of a play on ARPU from a company that has leading ARPU in the industry.

所以我覺得我們可以繼續做正確的事情並管理客戶的回報和收益。但我實際上希望看到我們在整體低端市場上做得更好一點。對於一家在 ARPU 方面處於行業領先地位的公司來說，這自然會對 ARPU 產生一定的影響。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆·施奈德，高盛。

If we consider the pace of your fiber net additions broadband heading into next year, if you're passing the same or more locations with better penetration, is there any reason to believe why those fiber net additions shouldn't accelerate next year?

如果我們考慮明年光纖網路增加寬頻的速度，如果您要通過相同或更多具有更好滲透率的位置，是否有任何理由相信明年這些光纖網路增加不應加速？

And then relative to CapEx, I believe we heard from one of your competitors yesterday that CapEx is moving higher in 2025, mainly due to accelerated fiber investment. And then obviously, this is an area where you've been the most vocal in your industry in terms of fiber expansion, is expect you would see the same trend in your CapEx next year?

然後相對於資本支出，我相信我們昨天從您的一位競爭對手那裡聽說，2025 年資本支出將會上升，這主要是由於光纖投資的加速。顯然，這是您所在行業中在光纖擴張方面最有發言權的領域，您是否預計明年的資本支出會出現相同的趨勢？

Jim, I guess I would say our rate and pace of build has been more level loaded over the last several years and as we introduce new footprint, it's been very ratable in kind of what we bring in. There's still seasonality that occurs in our net add dynamics that are more market based around buying cycles of the consumer. I wouldn't expect it to dramatically change as you move into next year. I don't see anything where there's a footprint that's going to come in that will dramatically change that dynamic because we've been at a pretty steady pace of new footprint as how we brought it in. So I don't think you should see any dramatic change in the rate and pace of what we've been able to do and how we're doing it.

吉姆，我想我會說，在過去的幾年裡，我們的建設速度和步伐已經更加水平負載，並且當我們引入新的足跡時，我們引入的內容非常值得評價。性添加更多基於消費者購買週期的市場動態。當你進入明年時，我不認為它會發生巨大的變化。我沒有看到任何會出現的足跡會極大地改變這種動態，因為我們一直在以相當穩定的速度發展新的足跡，就像我們如何引入它一樣。的事情以及我們做事的方式的速度和節奏發生的任何巨大變化。

And I can't speak to my competitors. I can tell you, I'm well aware that we've been investing at the top of the industry over the last four years and that's been necessary for us to reposition the company to where we are today and see some of the opportunities that are in front of us, and I feel very comfortable that that investment has driven the right kind of growth.

而且我無法與我的競爭對手交談。我可以告訴你，我很清楚，在過去的四年裡，我們一直在行業的頂尖領域進行投資，這對於我們將公司重新定位到今天的位置並看到一些機會是必要的。 ，我對這項投資推動了正確的成長感到非常放心。

But we've been on that trajectory. We've already been doing the things that I think I'm seeing other people starting to maybe look at and consider investing capital into. So it's not like I've got to start investing in fiber. I've been doing it for over four years now, and we've had great success at it. We have a great footprint. We're the leading provider of fiber in the market. And I think a lot of that's in our run rate. And as we're getting better and better and driving costs down, there's things that we can do to start to moderate our capital intensity as we get some of these things behind us over time, and we'll talk a little bit about that as we move into our Investor Day and how we see that playing out over the next couple of years.

但我們一直在這條軌道上。我們已經在做一些事情，我認為我看到其他人可能開始考慮並考慮投資。所以我不必開始投資光纖。我已經這樣做了四年多了，我們在這方面取得了巨大的成功。我們擁有偉大的足跡。我們是市場上領先的光纖供應商。我認為其中很多都在我們的運行率中。隨著我們變得越來越好並降低成本，我們可以採取一些措施來開始緩和我們的資本密集度，隨著時間的推移，我們將其中一些事情拋在腦後，我們將對此進行一些討論我們進入了投資者日，以及我們如何看待未來幾年的發展。

Sebastiano Petti, JPMorgan.

塞巴斯蒂亞諾·佩蒂，摩根大通。

Housekeeping question. I think last quarter, you pointed out that the postpaid phone ARPU should probably, you see more of an impact or more of a benefit in the fourth quarter than third quarter related to the price increase that kind of went into effect mid 3Q. Is that still the right way to kind of think about it? And relatedly, of the $90 million onetime benefit, is that within postpaid phone ARPU? Or is that perhaps captured somewhere else within service revenue?

家政問題。我認為上個季度，您指出後付費電話 ARPU 可能應該會在第四季度比第三季度看到更多的影響或更多的好處，這與第三季度中期生效的價格上漲有關。這仍然是正確的思考方式嗎？與此相關的是，9,000 萬美元的一次性福利中的金額是否屬於後付費電話 ARPU 範圍內？或者這可能是在服務收入的其他地方體現出來的？

And then maybe, I guess, broader kind of question. I mean, John, you did talk about the 4.9 gigahertz award to FirstNet for AT&T, obviously, I think at Communicopia, did kind of talk about the supply of spectrum likely influencing pricing across the industry over the next several years, an election upcoming in a few weeks here, probably not going to materially change the availability of spectrum for a few years. So just thinking about AT&T's appetite, given your peer kind of did some transaction in the secondary market just last week.

我想，也許還有更廣泛的問題。我的意思是，約翰，您確實談到了 AT&T 授予 FirstNet 4.9 GHz 的獎項，顯然，我認為在 Communicopia 上，確實談到了頻譜供應可能會影響未來幾年整個行業的定價，即將舉行的選舉幾週內，可能不會在幾年內對頻譜的可用性產生實質改變。因此，考慮一下 AT&T 的胃口，考慮到您的同行上週剛剛在二級市場上進行了一些交易。

So in terms of the pricing actions that we announced, those will impact the fourth quarter, but it's all baked into the guidance that we provided you -- the updated guidance we provided you. So we feel really good about the overall trajectory of the business. And the $90 million adjustment related to our simplification of our building of administrative fees really is -- it is impacting postpaid ARPU.

因此，就我們宣布的定價行動而言，這些行動將影響第四季度，但這一切都已納入我們為您提供的指導中——我們為您提供的更新指導。因此，我們對業務的整體發展軌跡感到非常滿意。與我們簡化管理費用相關的 9,000 萬美元調整確實影響了後付費 ARPU。

So my comment on kind of where we are. I think about spectrum and the portfolio spectrum of the 4.9 not much differently than any other spectrum that needs to be developed. It takes time. If the FirstNet authority decides they want to deploy that in a way that is similar to how they've deployed Spectrum previously. It will certainly take time to have infrastructure put in place and to figure out where they wish to do that and how they want to deploy it. So I don't think this is anything where you've got the same dynamic that you might have in the secondary spectrum market right now where you can acquire something, flip a switch and ultimately get capacity into your network and an opportunity to continue to grow on things.

所以我對我們目前的情況發表了評論。我認為 4.9 的頻譜和投資組合頻譜與任何其他需要開發的頻譜沒有太大區別。這需要時間。如果 FirstNet 當局決定以類似於先前部署 Spectrum 的方式進行部署。基礎設施到位並弄清楚他們希望在哪裡做到這一點以及如何部署它肯定需要時間。因此，我認為這不會像現在在二級頻譜市場上那樣具有相同的動態，您可以在其中購買某些東西，翻轉開關並最終獲得網路容量並有機會繼續在事物上成長。

And for that very reason, of course, I'd be interested in the secondary market, and it's something that we pay attention to and if I can go in and pick up attract a spectrum that is harmonized with our existing holdings that we can go and get additional capacity without putting more capital into the network to do things that's a good move for our shareholders. It's a good move for our customers. It's a good way to sustain growth and where there's opportunistic opportunities to do that, I always pay attention to those things. I'll never not examine those and understand whether or not there's an opportunity to do that.

當然，正是出於這個原因，我會對二級市場感興趣，這是我們關注的事情，如果我能進入並吸引與我們現有持倉相一致的頻譜，我們就可以去並在不向網絡在投入更多資本的情況下獲得額外的容量，以做對我們的股東有利的事情。這對我們的客戶來說是一個很好的舉措。這是維持成長的好方法，只要有機會做到這一點，我總是會注意這些事情。我永遠不會不檢查這些並了解是否有機會這樣做。

And I think what's important to understand is we'll certainly talk about in December, we've worked really hard over the last four years. I think the team has done a remarkable job of improving the qualities of our cash flow. You know what our capital position is, Pascal talked about it in his comments, about where we are on the balance sheet. And we have latitude and flexibility to do those kinds of things and do them strategically and carefully. And so to the extent that they present themselves, I do that.

我認為重要的是要理解我們一定會在 12 月討論，我們在過去四年裡非常努力。我認為該團隊在提高現金流品質方面做得非常出色。你知道我們的資本狀況是什麼，帕斯卡在他的評論中談到了我們在資產負債表上的位置。我們有自由度和彈性來做這些事情，並且有策略地、謹慎地做。因此，只要他們展現自己，我就會這麼做。

And similarly, as we work with the FirstNet authority, there's win-wins in a lot of these things. And just like there was a win-win in how we introduced their initial holdings spectrum and allowed them to get some of the product and service capability that is truly differentiated using our embedded portfolio spectrum and services that are in place, while we ultimately deployed the dedicated bands to them. I see the same opportunity presenting itself as we work through 4.9, where we can continue to give them advanced 5G services as we're harmonizing that spectrum and putting it out in the network and allowing the next generation of unique and differentiated public safety services for FirstNet to be developed that we can both benefit from that if they choose to do that is the band manager for that spectrum.

同樣，當我們與 FirstNet 權威合作時，很多事情都是雙贏的。就像我們如何引入他們最初持有的頻譜並允許他們使用我們現有的嵌入式產品組合頻譜和服務來獲得一些真正差異化的產品和服務能力一樣，同時我們最終部署了為他們奉獻了樂隊。我看到，在我們努力完成4.9 的過程中，同樣的機會也出現了，我們可以繼續為他們提供先進的5G 服務，因為我們正在協調該頻譜並將其放入網路中，並允許下一代獨特且差異化的公共安全服務。

Kannan Venkateshwar, Barclays.

Kannan Venkateshwar，巴克萊銀行。

Maybe a couple on '25. I know it's a little early for you the to start talking about it. But maybe if we could just understand the levers, I mean, operating leverage this year has been very high. especially on the mobility side because of upgrade rate and also churn being low, of course. So if you could just talk through maybe some of the levers next year, maybe on the cost front or maybe the price versus value dynamic. That would be helpful.

也許是25歲的一對。我知道你現在開始談論這件事還為時過早。但也許如果我們能夠理解槓桿，我的意思是，今年的營運槓桿非常高。當然，尤其是在行動性方面，因為升級率和客戶流失率都很低。因此，如果你能談談明年的一些槓桿，可能是成本方面的，也可能是價格與價值動態方面的。那會有幫助的。

And the same question on cash flow, just in terms of leverage, you -- obviously, taxes will be a headwind. But when the financing in theory should be an easier comp and directly, of course, would be depending on when the deal closes, that would be another variable. So if you could just help us think through the operating leverage side and the cash flow that would be helpful.

關於現金流的同樣問題，就槓桿而言，顯然，稅收將是一個阻力。但是，理論上融資應該是一個更容易的補償，當然直接取決於交易何時完成，這將是另一個變數。因此，如果您能幫助我們思考營運槓桿方面和現金流，那將會有所幫助。

Sure thing. I'll start, and John will probably chime in. Here's the way I think about it, we've been investing because we expect to continue to grow our business over time. So you should expect a continuation of our EBITDA growth over time. And we will -- our mobility business, we're really pleased with how we've been performing. And I believe that it's one that we can sustain that.

當然可以。我會開始，約翰可能會插話。 這就是我的想法，我們一直在投資，因為我們希望隨著時間的推移繼續發展我們的業務。因此，您應該預期我們的 EBITDA 將隨著時間的推移而持續成長。我們的行動業務，我們對我們的表現非常滿意。我相信這是我們能夠維持的。

Similarly, we're really pleased with our consumer broadband business, and we continue to believe that there is opportunity to drive more operating levers there as we continue to scale fiber, what you should see is over time, profit margins that are much closer to some of our scale broadband competitors. And I would -- we still have an opportunity across the board to continue to work on cost, whether it is costs associated with serving our customers through the use of AI, machine learning, there are plenty of opportunities there as well as we have opportunities to continue to rationalize our real estate footprint.

同樣，我們對我們的消費者寬頻業務非常滿意，我們仍然相信，隨著我們繼續擴大光纖規模，有機會推動更多的營運槓桿，您應該看到的是，隨著時間的推移，利潤率將更加接近我們的一些規模寬頻競爭對手。我認為，我們仍然有機會繼續全面降低成本，無論是透過使用人工智慧、機器學習為客戶提供服務的相關成本，那裡有很多機會，我們也有機會繼續合理化我們的房地產佈局。

And over time, the other benefit to think about the 2025 is the fact that the last 2023 and 2024 will be a year that we have spent paying down vendor financing balances fairly significantly. And as we exit this year, I would expect us to be at a level that we will manage the company at over time. So while those investments have depressed free cash flow over the last two years. We're going to be in a position where they are not going to depress free cash flow.

隨著時間的推移，考慮 2025 年的另一個好處是，我們在過去的 2023 年和 2024 年將花費相當多的錢來償還供應商融資餘額。當我們今年退出時，我希望我們能夠達到長期管理公司的水平。因此，儘管這些投資在過去兩年抑制了自由現金流。我們將處於這樣的境地：他們不會抑制自由現金流。

Going the other way, we would expect higher cash taxes and the absence of DIRECTV to help offset some of those tailwinds. But by and large, we are investing because we believe long term, this is a business that we can grow both top line and bottom line.

另一方面，我們預計更高的現金稅和 DIRECTV 的缺失將有助於抵消其中一些不利因素。但總的來說，我們進行投資是因為我們相信從長遠來看，這是一項可以實現營收和利潤雙重成長的業務。

All right. That is the end of the call. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us this morning.

好的。通話結束。非常感謝大家今天早上加入我們。

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Event Conferencing. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，我們今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與與使用 AT&T Event Conference。您現在可以斷開連線。