Uniti Group Inc (Delaware) (UNIT) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to today’s conference call to discuss Uniti’s first quarter 2025 earnings results. My name is Lateef and I’ll be your operator for today. Today's call is being recorded, and a webcast will be available on the company's investor relations website, investor.uniti.com, beginning today and will remain available for 365 days. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加今天的電話會議，討論 Uniti 2025 年第一季的收益結果。我叫拉蒂夫 (Lateef)，今天我將擔任您的接線生。今天的電話會議將被錄音，網路直播將從今天開始在公司投資者關係網站 investor.uniti.com 上提供，並將持續 365 天。（操作員指示）

It is now my pleasure to introduce Bill DiTullio, Uniti's Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Please begin.

現在我很高興介紹 Uniti 投資者關係和財務高級副總裁 Bill DiTullio。請開始。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's conference call to discuss Uniti's first-quarter 2025 results. Speaking on the call today will be Kenny Gunderman, our CEO; and Paul Bullington, Uniti's CFO.

大家早安，感謝您參加今天的電話會議討論 Uniti 2025 年第一季度的業績。今天參加電話會議的演講者將是我們的執行長 Kenny Gunderman；以及 Uniti 的財務長 Paul Bullington。

Before we get started, I would like to quickly cover our Safe Harbor statement. Please note that today's remarks may contain forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想快速介紹一下我們的安全港聲明。請注意，今天的言論可能包含前瞻性陳述。

These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our 2025 outlook; expectations regarding lease-up of our network; demand trends; business strategies; growth prospects; the benefits of the proposed transaction between Uniti and Windstream, including future financial and operating results of either company or the combined company; statements related to the expected timing of the completion of the transaction and combined company plans; and other statements that are not historical facts.

這些聲明包括但不限於有關我們 2025 年展望的聲明；有關我們網絡租賃的預期；需求趨勢；業務戰略；增長前景；Uniti 和 Windstream 之間擬議交易的好處，包括任何一家公司或合併後公司的未來財務和經營業績；與交易完成預期時間和合併後公司計劃有關的聲明；以及其他非歷史事實的聲明。

Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. For more information on those factors, please see the section titled forward-looking statements in the accompanying presentation and the risk factors section in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

許多因素可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中所述的結果有重大差異。有關這些因素的更多信息，請參閱隨附演示文稿中標題為前瞻性陳述的部分以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中的風險因素部分。

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Kenny.

說完這些，我現在想把電話轉給肯尼。

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. Uniti had another strong quarter performance, and we're executing well on the goals we set for 2025.

謝謝，比爾。大家早安，感謝大家的參與。Uniti 本季再次表現強勁，我們正在順利實現 2025 年設定的目標。

We remain focused on best-in-class execution and disciplined top-line growth of mid-single digits and high-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. And as a result, we're reiterating our full-year revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO guidance.

我們將繼續專注於一流的執行力和穩健的中個位數營收成長以及高個位數調整後 EBITDA 成長。因此，我們重申全年收入、調整後的 EBITDA 和 AFFO 指引。

Our current business plan is fully funded, and we've made great progress towards our plan to fully fund new Uniti. Despite recent broad capital markets volatility, the ABS market has remained resilient and will be a key tool for us going forward.

我們目前的商業計劃已獲得全額資助，我們在為新 Uniti 提供全額資助的計劃方面取得了巨大進展。儘管近期資本市場普遍波動，但 ABS 市場仍保持韌性，並將成為我們未來發展的關鍵工具。

Lastly, we continue to focus on building new fiber, especially within the Kinetic footprint. We announced last quarter that Kinetic expects to roughly double the number of targeted homes passed with fiber for 2025 over 2024. By the end of this year, Kinetic should have reached 2 million homes, a full two years earlier than expected when we announced our merger. As I'll talk about later, we expect our cadence will only accelerate from there.

最後，我們繼續專注於建立新光纖，特別是在 Kinetic 覆蓋範圍內。我們在上個季度宣布，Kinetic 預計 2025 年覆蓋光纖的目標家庭數量將比 2024 年增加一倍左右。到今年年底，Kinetic 的覆蓋家庭數量應該已經達到 200 萬戶，比我們宣布合併時的預期提前了整整兩年。正如我稍後會談到的，我們預計我們的節奏只會從那時起加快。

Before turning to the quarter results, I'd like to briefly address some topical macroeconomic and Uniti-specific topics. First, while we continue to evaluate the impact of proposed tariff changes, we currently anticipate little to no effect on our business today, including pro forma for our merger with Windstream. We are not meaningful direct importers of materials, and therefore, we expect any impact of higher tariffs to represent no more than 1% of our total combined CapEx.

在討論季度業績之前，我想先簡單談談宏觀經濟和 Uniti 特定主題。首先，雖然我們繼續評估擬議的關稅變化的影響，但我們目前預計這對我們今天的業務幾乎沒有影響，包括與 Windstream 合併的形式。我們並不是重要的材料直接進口商，因此，我們預期提高關稅的影響不會超過我們總資本支出的 1%。

The risk of higher tariffs over a sustained period has created greater volatility in the capital markets and increased the risk of a recession. While we acknowledge these risks, we remain confident in the highly defensible, mission-critical nature of our fiber infrastructure. During recent protracted economic downturns, including the COVID pandemic, we witnessed little to no impact to our business performance.

持續一段時間內關稅上調的風險已經導致資本市場波動加劇，並增加了經濟衰退的風險。儘管我們承認這些風險，但我們仍然對光纖基礎設施的高度防禦性和關鍵任務性質充滿信心。在最近持續的經濟衰退（包括新冠疫情）期間，我們的業務表現幾乎沒有受到任何影響。

Further, while our cost of capital has recently been volatile, it continues to be substantially better when compared to the levels prior to the announcement of our merger with Windstream. The ABS market has proven particularly resilient, given the investment-grade structure of the securities and the underlying mission-critical infrastructure. As a result, our plan to continue investing heavily in new fiber has not changed.

此外，雖然我們的資本成本最近有所波動，但與宣布與 Windstream 合併之前的水平相比，仍然大幅改善。鑑於證券的投資等級結構和底層關鍵任務基礎設施，ABS 市場已證明具有特別強的彈性。因此，我們繼續大力投資新光纖的計畫並沒有改變。

Next, we're very pleased with recent changes we're seeing at the FCC and the NTIA and the potential impact on our business. Specifically, we're encouraged by the increased leniency towards retirement of aging copper networks and associated regulatory obligations. We also believe the dialogue regarding use of government subsidies, such as BEID and others, to economically deploy fiber and alternative technologies is generally in line with our expectations.

其次，我們對 FCC 和 NTIA 最近的變化以及這些變化對我們業務的潛在影響感到非常高興。具體來說，我們對老化銅線網路退役和相關監管義務的寬容度有所提高感到鼓舞。我們也認為，關於利用政府補貼（如 BEID 等）來經濟地部署光纖和替代技術的對話總體上符合我們的預期。

Finally, we welcome the renewed focus on streamlining permitting across the industry. Putting together these regulatory trends and other initiatives provide an improved backdrop and incremental tailwinds for the substantial ramp of our business model.

最後，我們歡迎重新關注簡化整個產業的許可流程。這些監管趨勢和其他舉措的結合為我們業務模式的大幅提升提供了更好的背景和增量的順風。

Turning to our pending merger, we recently received shareholder approval to complete the transaction. And we're very pleased by the overwhelming support, with approximately 97% of all voting shareholders approving the transaction.

談到我們即將進行的合併，我們最近獲得了股東批准完成交易。我們對獲得的壓倒性支持感到非常高興，大約 97% 的投票股東批准了該交易。

We have received PUC approvals from 16 of the 18 jurisdictions requiring them, including Washington, DC. As a result, we remain on track to close the transaction in the second half of this year and remain optimistic that it could be as early as July or August.

在18個需要公共事業委員會批准的司法管轄區中，我們已獲得16個的批准，其中包括華盛頓特區。因此，我們預計在今年下半年完成交易，並樂觀地認為最快可能在7月或8月完成。

Finally, I'm very pleased to welcome two new members to the Uniti team. John Harrobin was recently appointed the President of Kinetic, and Harold Zeitz was nominated as a new Board member of Uniti. Both John and Harold are industry veterans who bring proven fiber-to-the-home experience via Frontier and Ziply, respectively, further positioning us for success. John in particular will be a critical leader in helping accelerate our insurgent fiber mentality at Kinetic, and we look forward to introducing him to analysts and investors in the near future.

最後，我很高興歡迎兩位新成員加入 Uniti 團隊。John Harrobin 最近被任命為 Kinetic 總裁，Harold Zeitz 被提名為 Uniti 新董事會成員。John 和 Harold 都是業界資深人士，他們分別透過 Frontier 和 Ziply 帶來了成熟的光纖到戶經驗，進一步為我們的成功奠定了基礎。尤其是約翰 (John)，他將成為幫助加速 Kinetic 叛亂纖維思維的關鍵領導者，我們期待在不久的將來將他介紹給分析師和投資者。

Moving to slides 4 through 7, I continue to be pleased with our growth trajectory and strategy of being an insurgent pure-play fiber provider in Tier 2 and 3 markets. We continue to show solid bookings with the right mix of anchor and lease-up customers, industry-leading churn, and declining capital intensity. As a result, our cumulative cash yields are approaching 30%.

轉到第 4 至第 7 張投影片，我繼續對我們的成長軌跡和作為二線和三線市場新興純光纖供應商的策略感到滿意。我們繼續表現出穩健的預訂量，主力客戶和租賃客戶的組合合理，客戶流失率處於行業領先水平，資本密集度不斷下降。因此，我們的累計現金收益率接近30%。

Industry demand for our services also continues to be strong. As predicted, we're starting to see increased activity from wireless carriers this year, with bookings in the quarter almost double those from the same quarter last year.

業界對我們服務的需求也持續強勁。正如預測的那樣，我們今年開始看到無線營運商的活動增加，本季的預訂量幾乎是去年同期的兩倍。

And despite much debate about hyperscaler spend in the industry during the quarter, our confidence in the opportunity ahead has only been reinforced, as we saw very strong activity. In short, Uniti is executing well on our core strategy of providing mission-critical fiber, and we're well-positioned for the future.

儘管本季關於超大規模資料中心產業支出的爭論很多，但我們對未來機會的信心卻得到了增強，因為我們看到了非常強勁的活動。簡而言之，Uniti 在提供關鍵任務光纖的核心策略方面執行良好，我們為未來做好了準備。

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

說完這些，我會把電話轉給保羅。

Thank you, Kenny. I'd like to begin by reviewing our first-quarter performance, followed by an overview of our current 2025 outlook.

謝謝你，肯尼。我想先回顧一下我們第一季的業績，然後再概述我們目前的 2025 年展望。

We once again delivered solid results during the quarter, with our core recurring strategic revenue growing approximately 4%; and the capital intensity of our fiber business, excluding the impact of GCI, declining over 50% year over year. We continue to see strong tailwinds in our recurring business and are executing well on our lease-up strategy at both Uniti Leasing and Uniti Fiber.

我們在本季再次取得了穩健的業績，核心經常性策略收入成長了約 4%；而我們的光纖業務的資本密集度（不包括 GCI 的影響）比去年同期下降了 50% 以上。我們的經常性業務持續呈現強勁成長勢頭，Uniti Leasing 和 Uniti Fiber 的租賃策略執行良好。

As I'll cover in more detail in just a bit, our 2025 outlook for consolidated revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO remains unchanged, as we expect to end the year within the previous guidance ranges provided. Finally, I'll end with some commentary on our current balance sheet and capital structure. We also recently provided Windstream's first quarter financial information in an 8-K filed with the SEC on May 1.

我稍後將詳細介紹，我們對 2025 年合併收入、調整後 EBITDA 和 AFFO 的展望保持不變，因為我們預計今年年底的業績將在之前提供的指導範圍內。最後，我將對我們目前的資產負債表和資本結構進行一些評論。我們最近也在 5 月 1 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的 8-K 文件中提供了 Windstream 第一季的財務資訊。

Please turn to slide 8, and I'll start with comments on our first quarter. We reported consolidated revenues of $294 million, consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $238 million, AFFO attributed to common shareholders of $92 million, and AFFO per diluted common share of $0.35.

請翻到第 8 張投影片，我將開始對我們第一季的評論。我們報告的綜合收入為 2.94 億美元，綜合調整後 EBITDA 為 2.38 億美元，歸屬於普通股股東的 AFFO 為 9,200 萬美元，每股稀釋普通股 AFFO 為 0.35 美元。

At Uniti Leasing, we reported segment revenues of $222 million and adjusted EBITDA of $215 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 97% for the quarter. Both revenue and adjusted EBITDA were in line with our expectations for the quarter.

在 Uniti Leasing，我們報告的分部收入為 2.22 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 2.15 億美元，本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 97%。營收和調整後的 EBITDA 均符合我們對本季的預期。

During the first quarter, Uniti Leasing net success-based CapEx was approximately $170 million, including $175 million of investment relating to the Windstream GCI program. Taking into account this funding amount during the quarter, Windstream has reached its GCI funding limit for 2025, and there will be no further GCI payments for the remainder of the year.

第一季度，Uniti Leasing 的淨成功資本支出約為 1.7 億美元，其中包括與 Windstream GCI 計劃相關的 1.75 億美元投資。考慮到本季的這筆資金，Windstream 已達到其 2025 年的 GCI 資金限額，並且今年剩餘時間內將不再支付 GCI 款項。

At Uniti Fiber, we reported revenues of $72 million and adjusted EBITDA of $29 million during the first quarter, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 40%. Non-recurring revenue during the quarter was lower than expected, primarily due to the timing of delivery on a $4 million one-time sale of fiber to a government customer that was originally expected to be realized in the first quarter and is now expected later this month. The delay was requested by the customer to allow for the completion of an unrelated customer project prior to the completion of our work.

在 Uniti Fiber，我們報告第一季的營收為 7,200 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 2,900 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 40%。本季非經常性收入低於預期，主要原因是向政府客戶一次性銷售價值 400 萬美元的光纖的交付時間，原先預計在第一季度實現，現在預計在本月晚些時候實現。客戶要求延期，以便在我們的工作完成之前完成一個不相關的客戶專案。

Uniti Fiber net success-based CapEx was $18 million in the first quarter, which represents an approximate 25% decline from prior year's levels. We also incurred about $1.5 million of maintenance CapEx during the quarter. As I've mentioned previously, there continue to be a number of encouraging trends in bookings that are driving this capital efficiency, including our continued focus on lease-up and a higher mix of dark fiber deals, primarily from hyperscalers, that generally come with higher NRCs.

Uniti Fiber 第一季的淨成功資本支出為 1,800 萬美元，比去年同期下降了約 25%。本季我們也花了約 150 萬美元的維護資本支出。正如我之前提到的，預訂方面繼續出現一些令人鼓舞的趨勢，推動著資本效率的提高，包括我們繼續專注於租賃和更高組合的暗光纖交易（主要來自超大規模企業），這些交易通常伴隨著更高的 NRC。

Please turn to slide 9, and I'll now cover our updated 2025 guidance. We are revising our 2025 outlook for business unit-level revisions, the impact from the partial redemption of the 10.5% senior secured notes due 2028, and the impact of transaction-related and other costs incurred to date.

請翻到第 9 張投影片，我現在將介紹我們更新後的 2025 年指南。我們正在修改 2025 年業務部門層面的展望、2028 年到期的 10.5% 優先擔保票據部分贖回的影響以及迄今為止發生的交易相關成本和其他成本的影響。

Our outlook excludes any impact from the expected merger with Windstream, future acquisitions, capital market transactions, and future transaction-related and other costs not mentioned herein. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

我們的展望不包括與 Windstream 預期合併、未來收購、資本市場交易以及未來交易相關成本和其他未提及的成本的影響。實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述有重大差異。

Beginning with Uniti Leasing, we continue to expect revenues and adjusted EBITDA to be $902 million and $872 million, respectively, at the midpoint. We still expect to deploy $185 million of success-based CapEx at the midpoint of our guidance, of which $175 million relates to Windstream GCI investments.

從 Uniti Leasing 開始，我們繼續預期營收和調整後的 EBITDA 中位數分別為 9.02 億美元和 8.72 億美元。我們仍預計在指導中期部署 1.85 億美元的基於成功的資本支出，其中 1.75 億美元與 Windstream GCI 投資有關。

At Uniti Fiber, we expect revenues and adjusted EBITDA to be $304 million and $125 million, respectively, at the midpoint for full year 2025, representing an EBITDA margin of approximately 41%. Our outlook for net success-based CapEx at Uniti Fiber this year remains $85 million at the midpoint of our guidance and represents a capital intensity of 28%.

在 Uniti Fiber，我們預計 2025 年全年的營收和調整後 EBITDA 將分別達到 3.04 億美元和 1.25 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率約為 41%。我們對 Uniti Fiber 今年基於成功的淨資本支出的預期仍為 8,500 萬美元（處於指導中點），代表著 28% 的資本密集度。

As a reminder, given this strong financial performance and declining capital intensity, standalone Uniti is expected to be free cash flow positive on a consolidated basis in 2025. We continue to expect full-year AFFO to range between $1.40 and $1.47 per diluted common share with a midpoint of $1.43 per diluted share, representing a 6% increase from the prior year.

提醒一下，鑑於強勁的財務表現和下降的資本密集度，預計獨立的 Uniti 將在 2025 年實現合併後的自由現金流為正。我們繼續預計全年 AFFO 將在每股稀釋普通股 1.40 美元至 1.47 美元之間，中間值為每股稀釋普通股 1.43 美元，比上年增長 6%。

As a reminder, guidance ranges for key components of our outlook are included in the appendix to our earnings presentation. At quarter end, we had $592 million of combined unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and undrawn revolver capacity. Our leverage ratio was 6.09 times based on net debt to first quarter 2025 annualized adjusted EBITDA, excluding the debt and net contributions from the ABS loan facility.

提醒一下，我們展望的關鍵組成部分的指導範圍包含在我們的收益報告附錄中。截至季末，我們擁有總計 5.92 億美元的非限制性現金、現金等價物和未提取的循環信貸額度。根據淨債務與 2025 年第一季年度調整後 EBITDA 比率計算，我們的槓桿率為 6.09 倍，不包括 ABS 貸款的債務和淨貢獻。

Slide 10 illustrates how Uniti's cost of capital has improved significantly over the past two years. If you go back to this time two years ago when we launched our 10.5% secured notes offering, our secured and unsecured debt was yielding over 12%.

投影片 10 展示了 Uniti 的資本成本在過去兩年中如何顯著改善。如果回顧兩年前我們推出 10.5% 擔保票據的時候，我們的擔保和無擔保債務的收益率超過 12%。

Fast forward to today, and our debt is currently yielding around 7.5% on a blended basis, a 500-basis-point improvement in just two years. As a result, we have taken an opportunistic approach to strengthening our combined balance sheet and will continue to look for opportunities across all of the debt markets to which we have access.

快進到今天，我們的債務目前的混合收益率約為 7.5%，僅兩年就提高了 500 個基點。因此，我們採取了機會主義的方法來加強我們的合併資產負債表，並將繼續在我們可以進入的所有債務市場中尋找機會。

In regard to ABS specifically, we continue to view that market as an attractive source of financing that complements our existing capital structure well by providing an investment grade financing tool, and we will continue to evaluate further opportunities to expand our current program. To that end, we believe that the combined potential for incremental ABS capacity on our commercial fiber assets at Uniti and fiber-to-the-home assets at Kinetic represents a $1 billion-plus near-term opportunity with considerable upside to that over time.

具體到 ABS，我們繼續將該市場視為一個有吸引力的融資來源，它透過提供投資級融資工具很好地補充了我們現有的資本結構，我們將繼續評估進一步擴大我們現有計劃的機會。為此，我們相信，Uniti 的商業光纖資產和 Kinetic 的光纖到戶資產的增量 ABS 容量的綜合潛力代表著 10 億美元以上的短期機遇，並且隨著時間的推移具有相當大的上升空間。

On slide 11, we have provided a 2025 pro forma view of revenue and adjusted EBITDA for new Uniti by each segment we expect to report on post-close. Both Kinetic and fiber infrastructure consist of a highly predictable core recurring revenue base that continues to grow and yield attractive margins.

在第 11 張投影片上，我們提供了新 Uniti 各部門 2025 年收入和調整後 EBITDA 的預測，這些部門是我們預計在收盤後報告的。Kinetic 和光纖基礎設施均包含高度可預測的核心經常性收入基礎，該收入基礎持續成長並產生可觀的利潤率。

As a reminder, our fiber-to-the-home platform will continue to be branded as Kinetic. Fiber infrastructure will include our current Uniti Fiber and Uniti Leasing segments along with the Windstream Wholesale segment, all of which are highly complementary and will combine to create a premier fiber infrastructure company with both national and deep regional capabilities, as well as a fiber network that is predominantly owned and operated.

提醒一下，我們的光纖到戶平台將繼續以 Kinetic 為品牌。光纖基礎設施將包括我們目前的 Uniti Fiber 和 Uniti Leasing 部門以及 Windstream Wholesale 部門，它們高度互補，將合併創建一家擁有全國和深度區域能力的頂級光纖基礎設施公司，以及一個主要由我們擁有和運營的光纖網路。

Going forward, as we continue to transition away from legacy services such as Windstream TDM services, we continue to expect the Kinetic and fiber infrastructure segments to realize low- to mid-single-digit top-line growth with an improving margin profile.

展望未來，隨著我們繼續從 Windstream TDM 服務等傳統服務轉型，我們繼續預期 Kinetic 和光纖基礎設施部門將實現低至中等個位數的營收成長，同時利潤率也將持續提高。

With that, I'll now turn the call back over to Kenny.

說完這些，我現在將電話轉回給肯尼。

Thanks, Paul. Slide 13 showcases the reach of new Uniti's insurgent fiber network, extending our successful strategy of targeting less competitive markets for wholesale and enterprise now into residential fiber-to-the-home. Our true north is building fiber first in less competitive markets, giving us the right to win for many years into the future.

謝謝，保羅。幻燈片 13 展示了新 Uniti 叛亂光纖網路的覆蓋範圍，將我們針對批發和企業等競爭較弱的市場的成功策略擴展到住宅光纖到戶。我們的真正目標是首先在競爭不那麼激烈的市場中建立光纖，這將使我們在未來許多年內擁有獲勝的權利。

Slide 14 highlights some of the benefits of bringing Uniti and Windstream together. At Uniti, we have been able to drive attractive financial results in large part because of our fully-owned fiber network and associated owners' economics.

幻燈片 14 重點介紹了 Uniti 和 Windstream 結合在一起的一些好處。在 Uniti，我們能夠取得可觀的財務業績，很大程度上得益於我們全資擁有的光纖網路和相關業主的經濟效益。

Our combination with Windstream not only extends our fiber network materially, but will bring large parts of Windstream's business on net immediately, with a four-year plan to achieve virtually 100% on net. As such, with owners' economics and our same disciplined growth strategy, we will eventually see similar economic trends in Windstream's business, including mid-single-digit revenue growth, growing EBITDA, and declining capital intensity.

我們與 Windstream 的合併不僅實質地擴展了我們的光纖網絡，而且將立即使 Windstream 的大部分業務上網，並計劃在四年內實現幾乎 100% 的上網率。因此，憑藉業主經濟學和我們同樣嚴謹的成長策略，我們最終將在 Windstream 的業務中看到類似的經濟趨勢，包括中等個位數的收入成長、EBITDA 的成長以及資本密集度的下降。

A big part of moving Windstream on net is transitioning Kinetic off of legacy-based copper systems and onto fiber. As mentioned earlier, by the end of 2025, we expect to have converted about 2 million of Kinetic's 4.4 million homes to fiber. And by 2029, we expect to have built fiber to approximately 3.5 million homes.

將 Windstream 遷移到網路上的一個重要部分是將 Kinetic 從傳統的銅系統轉移到光纖上。如前所述，到 2025 年底，我們預計將 Kinetic 的 440 萬戶家庭中的約 200 萬戶轉換為光纖。到 2029 年，我們預計將為約 350 萬戶家庭鋪設光纖。

I am excited to share more details in the coming months when we have the plan fully locked in. Lastly, we have aggressively managed out-of-legacy services at Uniti and plan to continue that strategy at the combined new Uniti.

當我們的計劃完全確定後，我很高興在接下來的幾個月分享更多細節。最後，我們積極管理 Uniti 的非傳統服務，並計劃在合併後的新 Uniti 繼續實施此策略。

Turning to slide 15, our ability to address the burgeoning hyperscaler opportunity is going to be enhanced as well. Windstream's wholesale network is highly complementary to ours on key routes, and Windstream's largely lit waves product capabilities are additive to our strong dark fiber portfolio.

翻到第 15 張投影片，我們應對蓬勃發展的超大規模機會的能力也將得到增強。Windstream 的批發網路在主要路線上與我們的高度互補，並且 Windstream 的大部分照明波浪產品能力可以增強我們強大的暗光纖產品組合。

On a combined basis, we will be able to sell a full product suite and immediately begin selling into an expanded customer base, given that Windstream has an incremental 40 different MLAs with hyperscalers to complement Uniti's current count of only four.

從綜合角度來看，我們將能夠銷售全套產品，並立即開始向擴大的客戶群銷售，因為 Windstream 已擁有 40 個不同的超大規模 MLA，以補充 Uniti 目前僅有的 4 個 MLA。

Finally, as we mentioned previously, we believe the real opportunity with generative AI is when the inference phase begins in earnest. With a dramatic increase of distributed endpoints coming with our Windstream combination, our ability to provide enhanced broadband connectivity with low latency increases materially.

最後，正如我們之前提到的，我們相信產生人工智慧的真正機會在於推理階段的真正開始。隨著我們的 Windstream 組合帶來的分散式端點的急劇增加，我們提供低延遲增強寬頻連線的能力也得到了顯著提升。

Moving to slide 16, we remain committed to making progress on numerous key initiatives between signing and closing of our transaction. First, both companies continue to execute well operationally, and we continue to provide a unified investor relations outreach to help investors understand the new company.

轉到第 16 張投影片，我們仍然致力於在簽署和完成交易之間在許多關鍵舉措上取得進展。首先，兩家公司在營運上持續表現良好，我們繼續提供統一的投資者關係拓展，以幫助投資者了解新公司。

Next, we're very excited to have completed the simplification of our new pro forma balance sheet at closing, thus paving the way to roll out our accelerated and expanded fiber-in-the-home plan. We're also actively working with Kinetic on an integration plan to achieve our synergy goals. In the coming months, we plan to provide more details on our longer-term goals for the combined company, with a primary focus on the holistic Kinetic build plan and other key strategic initiatives.

接下來，我們非常高興在收盤時完成了新備考資產負債表的簡化，從而為推出加速和擴展的家庭光纖計劃鋪平了道路。我們也積極與 Kinetic 合作制定整合計劃，以實現我們的協同目標。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們計劃提供有關合併後公司長期目標的更多細節，主要關注整體 Kinetic 建設計劃和其他關鍵策略舉措。

Let me close by restating how excited we are for our pending merger with Windstream. The new unity is at the epicenter of the growing convergence trend, highlighting substantial strategic value on Kinetic and its scaled fiber-to-the-home platform. Our fiber infrastructure business is uniquely positioned to benefit from the explosion in broadband demand in general, including the demand being fueled by hyperscalers.

最後，我想再次表達我們對即將與 Windstream 合併的興奮之情。這一新的合併正處於日益增長的融合趨勢的中心，凸顯了 Kinetic 及其規模化光纖到府平台的巨大戰略價值。我們的光纖基礎設施業務具有獨特的優勢，可以從寬頻需求的激增中受益，包括超大規模企業推動的需求。

With that, we'd be happy to take your questions. Operator?

我們很樂意回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Greg Williams, TD Cowen.

（操作員指示）Greg Williams，TD Cowen。

Kenny, I appreciate the color on the tariffs and recessionary insulation, but I had that same concern around the M&A environment. Are we pencils down at the moment? Or are deals moving forward in this environment?

肯尼，我很欣賞關於關稅和經濟衰退隔離的論述，但我對併購環境也有同樣的擔憂。我們現在把鉛筆放下了嗎？或者說在這種環境下交易有進展嗎？

Second question is just on the high mix of lease-ups, 72%. I think that's at or near a company record. I understand it's lumpy with that mix, but are we seeing a shift away from the new builds towards training data centers and maybe eventually towards inference? Any insights there would be great.

第二個問題是關於租賃比例高，為 72%。我認為這已經達到或接近公司最高紀錄了。我知道這種組合不太平衡，但是我們是否看到了從新建資料中心向訓練資料中心的轉變，甚至最終轉向推理？任何見解都很棒。

Good questions. Yeah, on M&A, the short answer is no. We definitely don't see any slowdown in activity there at all. In fact, I'd say probably the opposite or, at the very least, no speed bumps related to the conversations that we're aware of and the progress that people are making on various strategic fronts.

好問題。是的，關於併購，簡短的回答是否定的。我們絕對沒有看到那裡的活動有任何放緩。事實上，我想說的可能恰恰相反，或者至少，就我們所知的對話以及人們在各個戰略方面取得的進展而言，不會出現任何障礙。

And look, from our perspective, we're very focused on integration, putting an integration plan in place, and getting our transaction closed and hitting the ground running on legal day one without any disruption of service, but also accelerating our insurgent fiber go-to-market strategy and really accelerating the Kinetic build but always have M&A in the back of our minds. Right? That's a gene that we've had at Uniti for many, many years, and that's never going to change.

從我們的角度來看，我們非常注重整合，制定整合計劃，完成交易，在合法的第一天就開始運行，不會中斷服務，同時也加速了我們的叛亂光纖上市戰略，真正加速了 Kinetic 的建設，但我們始終將併購放在心上。正確的？這是我們 Uniti 多年來一直秉持的基因，永遠不會改變。

So we're staying very engaged with the strategic market, both strategic and financial parties. And I just think there's a lot of interest in the fiber space. I think it's fueled by both the convergence themes that we're seeing across the industry. And it's also, of course, fueled by the hyperscaler activity.

因此，我們一直密切關注策略市場，包括策略方和金融方。我認為人們對光纖領域很感興趣。我認為這是由我們在整個行業中看到的融合主題所推動的。當然，它也受到超大規模活動的推動。

And we happen to have a set of assets, certainly on a combined basis with Kinetic, that are right down the fairway on both of those. And so we're in the middle of a lot of interesting conversations, and I look forward to -- we look forward to continuing that on a go-forward basis.

我們恰好擁有一套資產，當然是與 Kinetic 合併後的資產，這兩方面都恰好處於有利地位。因此，我們正在進行許多有趣的對話，我期待著——我們期待在未來繼續進行這樣的對話。

Look, on lease-up, yeah, I think you nailed it, Greg. I think it ebbs and flows when you just have the quarterly check-in. But from the standpoint of hyperscalers, we're definitely not seeing any slowdown in the investment required for the large-language models. And I think that's not going to change anytime soon.

看，關於租賃，是的，我認為你說對了，格雷格。我認為，當你進行季度檢查時，情況就會有起有落。但從超大規模計算者的角度來看，我們絕對沒有看到大語言模型所需的投資有任何放緩。我認為這種情況短期內不會改變。

I think we're in a one- or two- or three-year investment cycle here for those models. I think you're going to see some large -- probably some large greenfield-type opportunities coming down the pipe for us later this year, especially on a combined basis with Windstream wholesale.

我認為我們對於這些模型的投資週期為一至三年。我認為，今年晚些時候，你會看到一些大型的——可能是一些大型的綠地類型的機會，尤其是與 Windstream 批發公司合併後的機會。

We've got some opportunities in the funnel that we're very, very excited about and can't wait to talk to you about. So you're still going to see those large greenfield opportunities. But I do think the inference phase is going to be upon us a lot sooner than expected or at least sooner than we originally expected, Greg.

我們獲得了一些機會，對此我們感到非常興奮，迫不及待地想與您討論。所以你仍然會看到那些巨大的綠地機會。但我確實認為推理階段將比預期來得更快，或至少比我們最初預期的要早，格雷格。

And as you've heard us talk about many times, that's the phase that we're most excited about because that's when I think you're going to see the real ramp in recurring revenue for fiber businesses as these large-language models start to fuel people's usage of AI across all the different endpoints that we have.

正如您多次聽到我們談論的那樣，這是我們最興奮的階段，因為我認為那時您將看到光纖業務的經常性收入真正增長，因為這些大語言模型開始推動人們在我們擁有的所有不同端點上使用人工智慧。

And when you listen to what the hyperscalers say publicly, they're starting to have trouble discerning between AI workstreams and cloud-based workstreams. They're starting to mesh into one single -- or AI is starting to be infused in all the other workstreams, cloud-based workstreams and others, which I think is an early indication that inference is already here. And at some point, we're not going to be able to distinguish what's AI versus not. And I think that's very exciting.

當你聽到超大規模企業公開發表的言論時，你會發現他們開始難以區分人工智慧工作流程和基於雲端的工作流程。它們開始融合成一個整體——或者說人工智慧開始融入所有其他工作流程、基於雲端的工作流程和其他工作流程中，我認為這是推理已經出現的早期跡象。到了一定時候，我們將無法區分什麼是人工智慧，什麼是非人工智慧。我認為這非常令人興奮。

And we certainly haven't seen any slowdown in hyperscaler activity. And really, bringing that back to your question about lease-up, a large portion of the lease-up that we saw this quarter actually was from hyperscalers.

而且我們確實沒有看到超大規模活動有任何放緩。實際上，回到您關於租賃的問題，我們本季看到的很大一部分租賃實際上來自超大規模企業。

And another theme that we've mentioned previously was that some of these really high-strand count transactions that we've seen in the past 12, 18 months, we're now seeing hyperscalers come back to us and double down on those high-strand count requests, which, again, is an exciting trend because it validates their infrastructure investments from a couple years ago, a year ago. And they're now seeing that capacity be consumed and needing more, even when they're initially asking for 400 strands or 1,800 strands and coming back for more.

我們之前提到的另一個主題是，我們在過去 12 到 18 個月中看到的一些真正高鏈數交易，現在我們看到超大規模企業又回到我們這裡並加倍處理這些高鏈數請求，這又是一個令人興奮的趨勢，因為它驗證了他們幾年前、一年前的基礎設施投資。現在他們發現產能已被消耗，需要更多產能，即使他們最初要求 400 股或 1,800 股，後來又要求更多。

So exciting times. I think you're going to always see a good, healthy mix of lease-up in our model, though. That's a conscious effort on our part, and that's what keeps our free cash flow yields approaching between 25% and 30% when you're really sweating the asset in that way. So good call-out, Greg, but good themes behind all of that.

多麼激動人心的時刻。不過，我認為在我們的模型中，您總是會看到良好、健康的租賃組合。這是我們有意識的努力，當你真正以這種方式利用資產時，這使我們的自由現金流收益率接近 25% 到 30% 之間。格雷格，你的呼籲非常好，但背後的主題也很好。

(Operator Instructions) Frank Louthan, Raymond James & Associates.

（操作員指示）Frank Louthan，Raymond James & Associates。

This is Rob on for Frank. Hey. Congratulations on the strong bookings this quarter. I'm wondering if you can unpack the nature of those bookings, including roughly how much of those are AI-related. And also, can you guys characterize the returns on these AI-driven builds relative to some of the other builds you've seen historically?

這是羅布 (Rob) 取代弗蘭克 (Frank)。嘿。恭喜本季的預訂量強勁。我想知道您是否可以解釋這些預訂的性質，包括其中有多少與人工智慧相關。此外，你們能否描述一下這些人工智慧驅動的建構相對於你們歷史上見過的其他一些建構的回報？

Hey, Rob. Good morning. On the bookings -- so directly to your question, the percentage related to hyperscalers is probably around 20%, depending on how you measure it, so somewhere in the 15% to 20% range, which, by the way, has been pretty consistent over the past 12, 18 months.

嘿，羅布。早安.關於預訂量——直接回答您的問題，與超大規模相關的百分比可能在 20% 左右，具體取決於您的衡量方式，所以在 15% 到 20% 的範圍內，順便說一下，在過去 12 到 18 個月中，這個數字一直相當穩定。

It's been a growing percentage, but it's been relatively consistent in that range over the past couple -- three quarters, which is great. We always talk about one of the benefits of the wholesale fiber business is that we're agnostic as to the winning use cases of fiber or the use case of the day in fiber.

這個比例一直在增長，但在過去的幾個季度裡，這個比例一直保持相對穩定，這很好。我們總是談論批發光纖業務的好處之一是，我們不清楚光纖的成功用例或光纖的當前用例。

Right now, AI is front and center for everybody. But the reality is, when you peel back the onion, all of the different use cases of fiber for us are accelerating. Last year, and continuing into this year, our biggest customer segment is actually the fiber-to-the-home providers across the country procuring backhaul to support the fiber-to-the-home build-out, and we're seeing that again this year.

現在，人工智慧是每個人關注的焦點。但事實是，當你剝開洋蔥時，我們會發現我們對纖維的各種不同用途都在加速成長。去年以及今年，我們最大的客戶群實際上是全國各地的光纖到戶提供商，他們採購回程線路以支持光纖到戶的建設，今年我們再次看到這種情況。

Very excited about that. We're excited about the AI theme. I mentioned in my prepared remarks that the wireless carriers are starting to spin again. Bookings for wireless was double the first quarter, what it was the first quarter of last year, which -- again, we sort of foreshadowed that at the end of last year, that wireless was picking up.

我對此感到非常興奮。我們對人工智慧主題感到非常興奮。我在準備好的發言中提到，無線業者又開始運作了。今年第一季度，無線預訂量是去年第一季的兩倍，這再次預示著，在去年年底，無線業務將會回升。

All that to say, AI bookings are growing. It's just the rest of our bookings are growing as well, and so it's continuing to be in that 15% to 20% range.

綜上所述，AI 預訂量正在成長。只是我們其餘的預訂量也在成長，所以成長率仍然在 15% 到 20% 的範圍內。

Also, just a call-out, Rob, on AI. We've mentioned this before. But because we're still in this large investment period for the learning models, many of those deals don't get reflected in bookings in the traditional way because these are greenfield builds that have very high or high NRCs and get treated as either IRUs or strategic fiber sales.

另外，Rob，關於人工智慧，我還要提醒大家。我們之前提到過這一點。但由於我們仍處於學習模型的大量投資期，許多交易並沒有以傳統方式反映在預訂中，因為這些都是綠地建設，具有非常高或高的 NRC，並被視為 IRU 或戰略光纖銷售。

The activity with the hyperscalers is a little bit understated by the bookings number when in reality, I think it's a lot greater. Back to my point about inference, I think that's going to change once we really get into the inference ramp later on.

超大規模企業的活動預訂數量有點低估了，但實際上，我認為這個數字要大得多。回到我關於推理的觀點，我認為一旦我們真正進入推理階段，情況就會改變。

With respect to the returns on these deals, look, I think that we treat them in the same way that we treat all other anchor lease-up models that we look at, and for the most part, the hyperscaler deals are generally anchor deals for us.

關於這些交易的回報，我認為我們對待它們的方式與我們對待所有其他錨定租賃模式的方式相同，在大多數情況下，超大規模交易通常對我們來說是錨定交易。

As a reminder, our strategy is to target 5% to 10% yields for the anchor with a really clear path to lease-up beyond 10% after the anchor deal. And that's why we track and report each quarter to show that across the portfolio, we're nearing 30% blended yields on our initial anchor deals.

提醒一下，我們的策略是將主力專案收益率定為 5% 至 10%，並在主力專案交易後製定出明確的租賃率提昇路徑，使其超過 10%。這就是為什麼我們每季進行追蹤和報告，以表明整個投資組合中，我們最初的主力交易的混合收益率接近 30%。

When you put the hyperscaler opportunities and you look at it through that lens, we're nearing 20% yields on our hyperscaler deals. So inclusive of anchor yields plus lease-up, over the past couple of years, we're already approaching 20% yields.

當你把超大規模機會放在這個角度來看時，我們的超大規模交易的收益率接近 20%。因此，如果算上基準收益率和租賃收益率，過去幾年我們的收益率已經接近 20%。

We don't like to talk about specific customers and specific customer deals. But on a blended basis, our hyperscaler deals are tracking, frankly, ahead of our traditional anchor lease-up model.

我們不喜歡談論特定的客戶和特定的客戶交易。但從綜合來看，我們的超大規模交易坦率地說領先於我們的傳統錨定租賃模式。

That ends the Q&A session and concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

問答環節到此結束，今天的電話會議也圓滿結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。