美國無線通訊 (USM) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the TDS and UScellular Third Quarter 2023 Operating Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). Please be advised that this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions). Now at this time, I'll turn things over to Ms. Colleen Thompson, Vice President, Corporate Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

早安，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 TDS 和 UScellular 2023 年第三季營運業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）。請注意，此通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）。現在這個時候，我將把事情交給企業關係副總裁科琳·湯普森女士。請繼續，女士。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We want to make you all aware of the presentation we have prepared to accompany our comments this morning, which you can find on the Investor Relations sections of the TDS and UScellular websites. With me today and offering prepared comments are from TDS, Vicki Villacrez, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; from UScellular, LT Therivel, President and Chief Executive Officer; Doug Chambers, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; and from TDS Telecom, Michelle Brukwicki, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

早安，感謝您加入我們。我們想讓大家了解我們今天早上為配合我們的評論而準備的演示文稿，您可以在 TDS 和 UScellular 網站的投資者關係部分找到該演示文稿。今天與我一起提供準備好的評論的是 TDS 執行副總裁兼財務長 Vicki Villacrez； UScellular 總裁兼執行長 LT Therivel；錢伯斯 (Doug Chambers)，執行副總裁、財務長兼財務長；以及來自 TDS Telecom 的高級財務副總裁兼財務長 Michelle Brukwicki。

This call is being simultaneously webcast on the TDS and UScellular Investor Relations websites. Please see the websites for slides referred to on this call, including non-GAAP reconciliations. We provide guidance for both adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA; and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA to highlight the contributions of UScellular's wireless partnerships. TDS and UScellular filed their SEC Forms 8-K, including the press releases and our 10-Qs earlier this morning.

此次電話會議同時在 TDS 和 UScellular 投資者關係網站上進行網路直播。請參閱網站以取得本次電話會議中提及的投影片，包括非 GAAP 調整表。我們為調整後的折舊和攤銷前營業收入 (OIBDA) 提供指引；並調整息稅折舊攤提前利潤或 EBITDA，以突顯 UScellular 無線合作夥伴的貢獻。 TDS 和 UScellular 今天早上提交了 SEC 表格 8-K，包括新聞稿和我們的 10-Q。

As shown on Slide 2, the information set forth in the presentation and discussed during this call contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Please review the safe harbor paragraphs in our press releases and the extended version included in our SEC filings. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Vicki Villacrez. Vicki?

如投影片 2 所示，簡報中提出的資訊以及本次電話會議中討論的資訊包含有關預期未來事件和財務績效的陳述，這些陳述是前瞻性的，並且存在風險和不確定性。請查看我們新聞稿中的安全港段落以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中包含的擴展版本。現在，我將把電話轉給 Vicki Villacrez。維姬？

Okay. Thank you, Colleen, and good morning, everyone. Before we get into the details for the quarter, I want to reiterate that as we announced in connection with last quarter's earnings call, the Board of Directors of TDS and UScellular have each decided to initiate a process to explore strategic alternatives for UScellular. We are not going to comment on that process at this time, however, to say that it is active and ongoing.

好的。謝謝你，科琳，大家早安。在我們討論本季的細節之前，我想重申一下，正如我們在上季度的財報電話會議上所宣布的那樣，TDS 和 UScellular 的董事會已分別決定啟動一個流程，探索 UScellular 的戰略替代方案。不過，我們目前不會對此過程發表評論，只是說它是活躍且正在進行的。

With that, let's get into the details for the quarter. I am pleased that both business units delivered year-over-year improvements in adjusted EBITDA due to cost optimization programs and efforts to streamline expenses across almost every part of the enterprise. At the same time, we continue to make key network investments in order to take advantage of growth opportunities that can enhance our competitive positions. Year-to-date, through September, UScellular made steady progress delevering, reducing short and long-term debt by approximately $340 million while generating free cash flow. We also renewed the EIP facility for another 2 years at a very attractive rate.

接下來，讓我們了解本季的詳細資訊。我很高興，由於成本優化計劃和精簡企業幾乎每個部門的開支的努力，兩個業務部門的調整後 EBITDA 均實現了同比改善。同時，我們繼續進行關鍵網路投資，以利用成長機會來增強我們的競爭地位。今年迄今為止，截至 9 月份，UScellular 在去槓桿化方面取得了穩步進展，將短期和長期債務減少了約 3.4 億美元，同時產生了自由現金流。我們也以極具吸引力的價格將 EIP 設施再續簽兩年。

TDS was also opportunistic and entered into a $300 million secured term loan in order to fund our fiber expansion program. And while investing back into both our businesses as a priority, the current interest rate environment and access to capital remain a challenge. Going forward, we will pace and size our capital expenditures in order to remain within our funding capacity and leverage ratio threshold even if it means moderating our spend in the near term.

TDS 也抓住機會，簽訂了 3 億美元的擔保定期貸款，為我們的光纖擴張計劃提供資金。儘管優先投資我們的兩項業務，但當前的利率環境和資本取得仍然是一項挑戰。展望未來，我們將調整資本支出的節奏和規模，以保持在我們的融資能力和槓桿率門檻之內，即使這意味著在短期內減少我們的支出。

As you can see on Slide 3, at the end of the quarter, TDS and UScellular combined have available sources of liquidity, including cash and other sources. We have long dated debt extending any sizable maturities until well into the future. This helps us to manage the balance sheet effectively by keeping short-term maturities to a minimum, while we are investing to deploy fiber in new communities and continuing our multiyear mid-band deployment. With that, I'll now turn it over to LT.

正如您在幻燈片 3 中看到的那樣，在本季末，TDS 和 UScellular 合計擁有可用的流動資金來源，包括現金和其他來源。我們的長期債務將相當大的期限延長到未來。這有助於我們透過將短期期限保持在最低限度來有效管理資產負債表，同時我們正在投資在新社區部署光纖並繼續我們的多年中頻段部署。有了這個，我現在就把它交給 LT。

Thanks, Vicki. Good morning, everybody. If we turn to Slide 5, even with the August 4 announcement of the review of strategic alternatives for UScellular. It's important that we remain focused on operating the business to produce the best operational and financial results possible, and I'm pleased to update you on our progress this morning.

謝謝，維基。大家早安。如果我們轉向幻燈片 5，即使 8 月 4 日宣布審查 UScellular 的策略替代方案。重要的是，我們繼續專注於業務運營，以產生盡可能最佳的營運和財務業績，我很高興今天早上向您介紹我們的最新進展。

First and foremost, our top priority remains improving our customer trajectory, while balancing subscriber growth with financial discipline. And while financial results are on track, driving subscriber gross additions remains our primary challenge amidst a very challenging competitive environment. Postpaid ARPU was a highlight again this quarter, increasing 2% as the team has done an excellent job in helping our customers realize the value of our premium plans and services. And this ARPU growth was particularly impressive given the significant number of flat rate customers that we added to the base. These flat rate plans were designed to compete against the wireless offers that cable companies have been flooding the market with and we're seeing strong adoption. Almost 40% of postpaid handset gross adds in the quarter on those flat rate plans.

首先也是最重要的是，我們的首要任務仍然是改善我們的客戶軌跡，同時平衡使用者成長與財務紀律。儘管財務表現步入正軌，但在極具挑戰性的競爭環境中，推動用戶總成長仍然是我們面臨的主要挑戰。後付費 ARPU 再次成為本季的一大亮點，成長了 2%，因為我們的團隊在幫助客戶實現優質方案和服務的價值方面做得非常出色。考慮到我們在基礎上增加了大量的統一費率客戶，這種 ARPU 的成長尤其令人印象深刻。這些統一費率計劃旨在與有線公司大量湧入市場的無線產品競爭，我們看到了它們的廣泛採用。本季度近 40% 的後付費手機總收入是透過這些統一費率計劃增加的。

We remain pleased with our flat rate plan performance, and I'll remind you that these plans deliver similar lifetime economics as our other offerings since the cost of the device is borne by the customer.

我們對統一費率計劃的表現仍然感到滿意，我會提醒您，這些計劃提供與我們其他產品類似的終身經濟效益，因為設備的成本由客戶承擔。

Another accomplishment in the quarter was that adjusted OIBDA and adjusted EBITDA improved significantly, up 35% and 28% respectively, over the past year. We were free cash flow positive in the quarter and for the 9 months ended in 2023, and we expect to be for the full year. I'm really pleased with the cost efficiency that our team has driven, particularly in that challenging competitive environment.

本季的另一項成就是調整後的 OIBDA 和調整後的 EBITDA 顯著改善，較去年分別成長 35% 和 28%。我們本季和截至 2023 年的 9 個月的自由現金流均為正值，我們預計全年也將如此。我對我們團隊所推動的成本效率感到非常滿意，特別是在充滿挑戰的競爭環境中。

And speaking of the competitive environment as it relates to driving subscriber growth, we're being very targeted and deliberate with our promotional spend. We're pulsing campaigns from time to time based on various factors in a given market. As we head into the busy holiday selling season, you'll see us running a number of aggressive promotions designed to target new subscribers as well as incent upgrades for our existing customers and thus increase the percentage of customers in contract. And those aggressive promotions are needed because the market for wireless customers is certainly what I would characterize as fiercely competitive. And that competition includes our traditional competitors, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, but also increasing and significant pressure from the cable companies that resell wireless. And those now compete with us in about 60% of our footprint.

談到與推動用戶成長相關的競爭環境，我們的促銷支出非常有針對性且經過深思熟慮。我們會根據特定市場的各種因素不時推出活動。當我們進入繁忙的假日銷售季節時，您會看到我們開展了一系列積極的促銷活動，旨在瞄準新訂戶，並為現有客戶提供激勵升級，從而提高合約客戶的百分比。這些積極的促銷活動是必要的，因為我認為無線客戶市場的競爭無疑是激烈的。這種競爭包括我們的傳統競爭對手 AT&T、Verizon、T-Mobile，但也包括來自轉售無線業務的有線電視公司的日益增長的巨大壓力。現在，這些公司在我們約 60% 的足跡中與我們競爭。

This year's Apple launch is a good example. You saw hyper aggressive offers in the market and it's important to note that cable's combined pricing and promotional tactics are pressuring industry ARPU. These competitive dynamics result in ARPU and margin pressure and that subsequently challenges the ability to invest in network capacity and future technology developments. And this is a really important shift in dynamics for our industry. While I think our results show that we're striking a balance between subscriber growth and financial results, as an industry, we should be focusing on the actions required to balance competitive pricing with the investment capacity required to effectively keep the U.S. globally competitive.

今年蘋果的發表會就是一個很好的例子。您看到市場上的報價非常激進，值得注意的是，有線電視的綜合定價和促銷策略正在給行業 ARPU 帶來壓力。這些競爭動態導致 ARPU 和利潤壓力，進而挑戰網路容量和未來技術開發的投資能力。對我們這個產業來說，這是一個非常重要的動態轉變。雖然我認為我們的結果表明我們正在用戶成長和財務績效之間取得平衡，但作為一個行業，我們應該專注於平衡競爭性定價與有效保持美國全球競爭力所需的投資能力所需的行動。

Turning to growth initiatives. Our third-party tower revenues had another strong quarter. Revenues up almost 8%. And as the wireless industry's moderated capital expenditures in '23, we've experienced a slowdown in new tenant and amendment activity in the second and third quarters. And I do expect that will impact tower revenue growth rates in 2024.

轉向成長舉措。我們的第三方塔收入又一個強勁的季度。營收成長近8%。隨著 23 年無線產業資本支出的放緩，我們在第二季和第三季經歷了新租戶和修改活動的放緩。我確實預計這將影響 2024 年鐵塔收入成長率。

That being said, we still believe we're uniquely positioned in the tower space, and I think we have a lot of opportunity to grow. Fixed wireless continues to be a bright spot for us. Fixed Wireless revenues were up 35%. We finished the quarter with 106,000 customers. To date, the vast majority of those subscribers are running entirely on low-band spectrum. We expect strong subscriber earth to continue with the launch of our mid-band spectrum. I'm pleased that we received access to C-band spectrum a few months earlier than planned. And we're consequently able to further improve our 5G network experience faster than initially anticipated.

話雖這麼說，我們仍然相信我們在塔樓領域具有獨特的地位，而且我認為我們有很多成長的機會。固定無線仍然是我們的亮點。固定無線收入成長了 35%。本季結束時，我們擁有 106,000 名客戶。迄今為止，這些用戶中的絕大多數完全在低頻段頻譜上運作。我們預計隨著中頻段頻譜的推出，強勁的用戶群將持續下去。我很高興我們比計劃提前幾個月獲得了 C 波段頻譜的使用權。因此，我們能夠比最初預期更快地進一步改善 5G 網路體驗。

And as mentioned earlier this year, we've been upgrading a number of sites, so they can be deployed as soon as we receive mid-band clearance, so those sites are now operational, and they allow us to bring faster speeds and more capacity to mobile into our fixed wireless customers, and we're doing that earlier than we expected.

正如今年早些時候提到的，我們已經升級了許多站點，因此一旦我們獲得中頻許可，它們就可以部署，所以這些站點現在已經投入運行，它們使我們能夠帶來更快的速度和更大的容量移動到我們的固定無線客戶中，我們的行動比我們預期的要早。

Our mid-band deployment is multiyear, like all of our deployments. By the end of 2024, almost 50% of our data traffic will be carried on sites that are equipped with mid-band. And where we've enabled mid-band, we're marketing a 300 megabit fixed wireless product, and that's really competitive in the marketplace. And briefly, on average, our fixed wireless subscribers are using about 170 gigabits per month this year. That's significantly lower than our peers. However, I do expect that our customers' usage is going to grow as they get access to the upgraded mid-band experience.

與我們的所有部署一樣，我們的中頻部署也需要多年的時間。到 2024 年底，我們將有近 50% 的資料流量在配備中頻的站點上承載。在我們啟用中頻段的地方，我們正在行銷 300 兆位元固定無線產品，這在市場上確實具有競爭力。簡而言之，我們的固定無線用戶今年平均每月使用約 170 Gb。這明顯低於我們的同行。然而，我確實預計，隨著我們的客戶獲得升級的中頻體驗，他們的使用量將會成長。

And one of the note on network initiatives, we will be shutting down our CDMA network at the beginning of 2024. Team has done a great job migrating the base away from CDMA dependent devices. Less than 42,000 customers are left that's down from 386,000 just 18 months ago. We believe we're going to continue to see more customers migrate over the next several months. And we intend to refarm that spectrum to support our LTE network and we expect to see additional systems operation savings once that CDMA network is fully shut down in 2024.

關於網路計劃的一項說明是，我們將在 2024 年初關閉 CDMA 網路。團隊在將基礎從 CDMA 依賴裝置遷移方面做得非常出色。只剩下不到 42,000 名顧客，低於 18 個月前的 386,000 名。我們相信，在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將繼續看到更多的客戶遷移。我們打算重新調整該頻譜以支援我們的 LTE 網絡，並且預計在 2024 年 CDMA 網路完全關閉後，我們將看到更多的系統營運節省。

As always, I want to thank the team for all their hard work and continued dedication. I'll now turn the call over to Doug Chambers to provide more details on our financial results. Doug?

一如既往，我要感謝團隊的辛勤工作和持續奉獻。我現在將把電話轉給道格·錢伯斯 (Doug Chambers)，以提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊。道格？

Thanks, LT. Good morning. Let's start with a review of customer results on Slide 6. Postpaid handset gross additions decreased year-over-year by 23,000 largely due to the intense competitive environment from traditional carriers and MVNOs as well as a decline in the pool of available customers. Correspondingly, postpaid handset net additions were down 16,000. Connected device gross and net additions include fixed wireless subscribers, and as LT mentioned, we continue to see great momentum in fixed wireless with our base of customers up 57% in the prior year and up 10% sequentially.

謝謝，LT。早安.讓我們先回顧一下幻燈片 6 上的客戶結果。後付費手機總銷量同比減少了 23,000 部，這主要是由於傳統運營商和 MVNO 的激烈競爭環境以及可用客戶群的減少。相應地，後付費手機淨增量下降了 16,000 部。連接設備總量和淨增量包括固定無線用戶，正如LT 所提到的，我們繼續看到固定無線領域的強勁勢頭，我們的客戶群比上一年增長了57%，比上一季增長了10 %。

Postpaid handset churn decreased year-over-year and increased sequentially. The sequential increase is partially due to seasonality and a decrease in our in-contract customer base. Also, we have been experiencing a positive trend in postpaid handset churn over the past year, due in part to the aggressive device offers to new and existing customers that we maintain for mid-June 2022 through February 2023.

後付費手機流失率年減，季減。環比成長的部分原因是季節性和我們合約內客戶群的減少。此外，過去一年中，我們的後付費手機流失呈現正面趨勢，部分原因是我們在 2022 年 6 月中旬至 2023 年 2 月期間一直向新客戶和現有客戶提供積極的設備優惠。

Moving to Slide 7. Prepaid gross additions declined 10,000 and net prepaid additions decreased 2,000. In terms of gross additions, the overall pool of available customers declined year-over-year, which we believe is partially driven by competitively priced postpaid offerings.

轉向投影片 7。預付費總增加量下降 10,000，預付費淨增加量減少 2,000。就新增總量而言，可用客戶總數較去年同期下降，我們認為這部分是由於價格具競爭力的後付費產品所致。

Now let's turn to the financial results, starting on Slide 8. Total operating revenues for the third quarter decreased 11%. Consistent with the industry, we saw a decline in upgrade rates contributing to the lower equipment sales. Service revenue declined 2% due to a decrease in our average retail subscriber base and roaming revenue. Inbound roaming revenue declined 53% as a result of negotiating lower rates with other carriers. Note that this decrease in inbound roaming revenue was almost entirely offset by a corresponding decrease in our outbound roaming expense despite a 58% increase in our off-net data traffic.

現在讓我們從投影片 8 開始來看財務業績。第三季的總營業收入下降了 11%。與業界一致，我們看到升級率下降導致設備銷售下降。由於我們的平均零售用戶群和漫遊收入下降，服務收入下降了 2%。由於與其他業者協商降低費率，入境漫遊收入下降了 53%。請注意，儘管我們的網外數據流量增加了 58%，但入境漫遊收入的下降幾乎完全被出境漫遊費用的相應下降所抵消。

On the positive side, LT mentioned the increase in postpaid ARPU. This increase was partially driven by increased device protection revenues and favorable plan and product offering mix as a result of customer adoption of our higher-value higher-tier plans. We continue to see consistent growth in our highest tiers of unlimited plans. And as of the end of the quarter, 46% of our postpaid handset customers are now on these higher tier plans, and that's up from 38% just 1 year ago.

從正面的一面來看，LT 提到了後付費 ARPU 的增加。這一增長的部分原因是設備保護收入的增加以及客戶採用我們更高價值的更高級別計劃帶來的有利計劃和產品組合。我們繼續看到最高級別的無限計劃持續增長。截至本季末，我們 46% 的後付費手機客戶現在採用了這些更高等級的套餐，而一年前這一比例為 38%。

Now let's turn to tower results on Slides 9 and 10. As you can see, the business delivered another strong quarter with 8% revenue growth. Including UScellular sites, our tower tenancy ratio is currently 1.54, up from 1.46 just 2 years ago. We've also added a couple of additional disclosures this quarter to provide you with insight into both the geographical diversity and carrier composition of our tower portfolio.

現在讓我們看看幻燈片 9 和 10 上的塔式結果。正如您所看到的，該業務又一個強勁的季度實現了 8% 的收入增長。包括 UScellular 站點在內，我們的鐵塔租賃率為 1.54，而兩年前為 1.46。本季度我們還添加了一些額外的披露信息，以便您深入了解我們塔樓投資組合的地理多樣性和運營商組成。

As we noted last quarter, our towers are well positioned geographically with about 30% of them not having a competing tower within a 2-mile radius. And you can see that our tower revenue is well distributed among the large wireless carriers.

正如我們上季度指出的，我們的塔樓地理位置優越，其中約 30% 的塔樓在 2 英里半徑內沒有競爭塔樓。您可以看到，我們的鐵塔收入在大型無線營運商之間分佈良好。

Next, let's turn to our quarterly operating performance shown on Slide 11. For this discussion, I will refer to adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization as adjusted operating income. As I noted, total operating revenues declined 11%. However, with lower device sales, lower promotional costs, lower bad debts expense and our steadfast focus on controlling costs, cash expenses decreased, and this decline more than offset the decline in revenue. System operations expense declined 6% due primarily to the previously mentioned decrease in off-net roaming expense.

接下來，讓我們來看看投影片 11 中顯示的季度營運表現。在本次討論中，我將折舊和攤銷前的調整後營運收入稱為調整後營運收入。正如我所指出的，總營業收入下降了 11%。然而，隨著設備銷售的下降、促銷成本的降低、壞帳費用的降低以及我們對控製成本的堅定關注，現金支出有所下降，這一下降足以抵消收入的下降。系統營運費用下降 6%，主要是因為前面提到的網外漫遊費用減少。

In 2024, we will begin to realize net savings associated with the shutdown of our CDMA network that LT previously mentioned, offset partially by decommissioning costs. Starting in 2025, we expect annual run rate savings of approximately $30 million related to the CDMA shutdown. These expected savings will help mitigate expense increases associated with our ongoing 5G mid-band deployment. Loss on equipment or equipment sales less cost of equipment sold decreased $25 million as a result of lower device sales and promotional costs. As previously mentioned, we ran an aggressive new and existing promotion for the entire duration of the third quarter of 2022 and did not execute this level of promotional intensity in 2023.

到 2024 年，我們將開始實現 LT 之前提到的與關閉 CDMA 網路相關的淨節省，部分抵消了退役成本。從 2025 年開始，我們預計因 CDMA 關閉而每年可節省約 3,000 萬美元的營運費用。這些預期節省將有助於緩解與我們正在進行的 5G 中頻段部署相關的費用增加。由於設備銷售和促銷成本降低，設備或設備銷售損失減去設備銷售成本減少了 2500 萬美元。如前所述，我們在 2022 年第三季整個期間都進行了積極的新促銷活動和現有促銷活動，但在 2023 年並未執行這種級別的促銷力度。

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 10% driven primarily by decreases in bad debts expense and the favorable impact from the reduction of workforce that was executed in the second quarter of 2023. As we indicated last quarter, we estimate full year run rate savings related to the reduction in workforce of approximately $45 million, which we expect to fully realize in 2024.

銷售、一般和管理費用下降了 10%，主要是由於壞帳費用減少以及 2023 年第二季度執行的勞動力減少的有利影響。正如我們上季度所示，我們估計全年運行率節省相關我們預計將在2024 年完全實現裁員約4,500 萬美元。

Wrapping up this slide, adjusted operating income increased 35% in adjusted EBITDA, which incorporates the earnings from our equity method investments, along with interest and dividend income increased 28%. Both of these amounts have been adjusted to exclude the $3 million of expenses incurred in the third quarter related to our strategic alternatives review. Capital expenditures decreased 18%, mainly driven by the timing of expenditures in 2023 relative to the prior year. Free cash flow was $237 million for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023, and we expect healthy positive free cash flow for the full year 2023 as we continue to invest in our multiyear 5G mid-band deployment while prudently managing our free cash flow.

總結這張投影片，調整後的營業收入在調整後的 EBITDA 中成長了 35%，其中包括我們權益法投資的收益，利息和股息收入成長了 28%。這兩項金額均經過調整，以排除第三季與我們的策略替代方案審查相關的 300 萬美元費用。資本支出下降 18%，主要是由於 2023 年的支出時間較前一年下降。截至2023 年9 月30 日的9 個月，自由現金流為2.37 億美元，隨著我們繼續投資多年5G 中頻部署，同時審慎管理我們的自由現金流，我們預計2023 年全年將實現健康的正自由現金流。

As shown on Slide 12, service revenue and capital expenditure guidance remains unchanged. Further, we have retained the midpoint of our adjusted operating income and adjusted EBITDA guidance and tighten the ranges of these measures, reflecting reduced uncertainty given we are in the later stages of the year. I will now turn the call over to Michelle Brukwicki. Michelle?

如投影片 12 所示，服務收入和資本支出指引保持不變。此外，我們保留了調整後營業收入和調整後 EBITDA 指引的中點，並收緊了這些指標的範圍，這反映出鑑於我們正處於今年後期階段，不確定性有所減少。我現在會把電話轉給 Michelle Brukwicki。米歇爾？

Thank you, Doug, and good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 14. I'll share third quarter highlights for TDS Telecom. Our team delivered 61,000 fiber service addresses in the quarter, our highest quarter to date, bringing our year-to-date total to 127,000 at the end of September. Given where we are in the year and the strong momentum we've had, we are raising our 2023 goal to 200,000 fiber service addresses, up from 175,000. Another important milestone for our fiber program is that we expect all of our expansion markets will be launched by the end of 2023. These markets are primarily in Wisconsin and the Pacific Northwest. And a few of our recently announced markets are Missoula, Butte, Helena and Great Falls, Montana, Twin Falls and Caldwell, Idaho; and Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

謝謝你，道格，大家早安。轉向幻燈片 14。我將分享 TDS Telecom 第三季的亮點。我們的團隊在本季度交付了 61,000 個光纖服務地址，這是我們迄今為止最高的季度，使我們截至 9 月底的年初至今總數達到 127,000 個。考慮到今年的情況以及我們所擁有的強勁勢頭，我們將 2023 年光纖服務地址的目標從 175,000 個提高到 200,000 個。我們光纖計畫的另一個重要里程碑是，我們預計所有擴展市場都將在 2023 年底之前推出。這些市場主要位於威斯康辛州和太平洋西北地區。我們最近宣布的一些市場包括蒙大拿州米蘇拉、比尤特、海倫娜和大瀑布城、愛達荷州特溫福爾斯和考德威爾；以及威斯康辛州豐迪拉克和希博伊根。

Another important highlight this quarter is that TDS Telecom elected to participate in the federal enhanced A-CAM program in 24 states. This program will provide us with revenue support through 2038 in return for us delivering increased speeds of 100 megabits down and 20 up to about 270,000 locations. As a reminder, the existing A-CAM program provided $82 million a year through 2028. The new program increases the revenue amount to approximately $90 million per year beginning in 2024 and extends through 2038. Therefore, we expect to receive a total of about $1.3 billion of [EA-CAM] revenue support over the next 15 years. We anticipate this program will help to accelerate the delivery of higher speed broadband to various rural high-cost areas that we serve. This is a fantastic outcome for TDS Telecom and our customers.

本季的另一個重要亮點是 TDS Telecom 選擇參與 24 個州的聯邦增強 A-CAM 計劃。該計劃將為我們提供到 2038 年的收入支持，以換取我們在約 270,000 個地點提供 100 兆比特以下和 20 兆比特以上的速度提升。提醒一下，現有的A-CAM 計劃到2028 年每年提供8,200 萬美元。新計劃從2024 年開始將收入金額增加到每年約9,000 萬美元，並延續到2038 年。因此，我們預計總共將收到約1.3 美元未來 15 年將提供 10 億美元的 [EA-CAM] 收入支持。我們預計該計劃將有助於加快向我們服務的各個農村高成本地區提供更高速的寬頻。對於 TDS Telecom 和我們的客戶來說，這是一個了不起的結果。

Now let's jump into our quarterly results, starting on Slide 15. As you just heard, with our successful fiber service address results, we have increased our fiber service address goal to 200,000 this year. We are really proud that we have developed a strong competency in managing builds and navigating challenges. Longer term, you can see where we are in our scorecard. We are targeting 1.2 million marketable fiber service addresses by 2026. We ended the quarter with 709,000, so we're making good progress. We are also targeting 60% of our total service addresses to be served by fiber by 2026. We ended the quarter with 44%. This reflects progress in growing fiber through our expansion markets as well as fibering up our incumbent markets.

現在讓我們從幻燈片 15 開始進入季度業績。正如您剛才所聽到的，憑藉我們成功的光纖服務地址結果，我們已將今年的光纖服務地址目標提高到 200,000 個。我們非常自豪我們在管理建置和應對挑戰方面擁有強大的能力。從長遠來看，您可以在記分卡中看到我們所處的位置。我們的目標是到 2026 年擁有 120 萬個可銷售光纖服務地址。截至本季末，我們擁有 709,000 個地址，因此我們取得了良好的進展。我們也計劃到 2026 年，我們總服務地址的 60% 將由光纖提供服務。本季結束時，這一比例為 44%。這反映了我們透過擴張市場以及增強現有市場在纖維種植方面取得的進展。

Specifically, by 2026, we plan to serve half of our ILEC addresses with fiber. At the end of the quarter, 40% of our ILEC was fibered up. And finally, we are expecting to offer speeds of 1 gig or higher to at least 80% of our footprint by 2026. We finished the quarter with 69% at gig speeds.

具體來說，到 2026 年，我們計劃透過光纖為一半的 ILEC 位址提供服務。到本季末，我們 40% 的 ILEC 已完成光纖化。最後，我們預計到 2026 年，至少 80% 的足跡將提供 1 G 或更高的速度。本季結束時，我們的 69% 的速度為 GIG 速度。

We continue to believe these long-term targets are achievable. Although our address delivery numbers may fluctuate from year to year depending on a number of factors, our 2026 goals remain front and center throughout the organization, and we are pleased with the results of our fiber builds to date. We continue to achieve the broadband penetrations that are projected in our business cases.

我們仍然相信這些長期目標是可以實現的。儘管我們的地址傳送數量可能會因多種因素而每年有所波動，但我們的 2026 年目標仍然是整個組織的首要目標，並且我們對迄今為止光纖構建的結果感到滿意。我們持續實現業務案例中預期的寬頻普及率。

On Slide 16, you can see that we are growing our footprint with an 11% double-digit growth in total service addresses year-over-year. Shown on the graph on the right, we see increasing demand for higher broadband speeds with 75% of our customers taking 100 megabits per second or greater, up from 69% a year ago. We continue to increase the availability of Gig+ speeds, and we're now even offering 8 gig speeds in certain markets. Customer take rates of these speeds are growing with 14% of our customer base on 1 gig or higher at the end of the quarter. Our broadband investments are driving positive results, including a 10% increase in total residential broadband revenue.

在投影片 16 上，您可以看到我們的足跡不斷擴大，服務位址總數比去年同期增加了 11% 的兩位數。如右圖所示，我們看到對更高寬頻速度的需求不斷增長，75% 的客戶每秒使用 100 兆或更高速度，高於一年前的 69%。我們不斷提高 Gig+ 速度的可用性，現在我們甚至在某些市場提供 8 GB 速度。這些速度的客戶採用率正在成長，截至本季末，我們的客戶群中有 14% 的客戶使用 1 兆或更高的資料。我們的寬頻投資正在取得積極成果，其中住宅寬頻總收入增加了 10%。

As shown on Slide 17, we experienced a 5% increase year-over-year in total broadband residential connections. Average residential revenue per connection was up 3% due to price increases and product mix, partially offset by promotions.

如投影片 17 所示，寬頻住宅連線總數年增了 5%。由於價格上漲和產品組合，每次連接的平均住宅收入增加了 3%，但部分被促銷活動所抵消。

As shown in the chart on the right, we had another quarter of 4% growth in residential revenues with expansion market residential revenues increasing to $20 million in the quarter. This aligns with our expectation of steady revenue growth following the timing of service address delivery as penetration ramps in these new markets.

如右圖所示，隨著市場擴張，住宅收入在本季增至 2,000 萬美元，住宅收入又成長了 4%。這符合我們的預期，隨著這些新市場滲透率的提高，隨著服務地址交付時間的推移，收入將穩定成長。

Residential wireline incumbent and cable revenues were flat as the decline in video and voice connections was offset by price increases and growth in broadband connections. Our wireline incumbent, which includes our ILEC market is facing increasing competitive pressures. We consider capital prioritization and expected economic returns as we response to competition in select ILEC markets with fiber builds. The EA-CAM program will provide funding to help us defend these markets.

由於視訊和語音連接的下降被價格上漲和寬頻連接的成長所抵消，住宅有線營運商和有線電視收入持平。我們的有線營運商，包括我們的 ILEC 市場，正面臨越來越大的競爭壓力。當我們透過光纖建設來應對特定 ILEC 市場的競爭時，我們會考慮資本優先順序和預期經濟回報。 EA-CAM 計劃將提供資金來幫助我們捍衛這些市場。

As expected, commercial revenues decreased 12% in the quarter, primarily driven by lower CLEC connections. And lastly, wholesale revenues decreased 3% for the quarter, primarily due to lower special access revenue.

如預期，本季商業收入下降 12%，主要是由於 CLEC 連線減少。最後，本季批發收入下降 3%，主要是因為特殊接取收入減少。

On Slide 18, you can see our quarterly performance. Operating revenues were flat in the quarter as the growth in residential revenues was offset by the decline in commercial and wholesale. Cash expenses decreased modestly in the quarter. This decrease is a result of our intense focus on cost efficiencies and disciplined spending. As a reminder, the expense results shown here include the cost to initially launch our fiber markets, which are incurred upfront and prior to generating revenues. Adjusted EBITDA was up 3% in the quarter as a result of the decrease in cash expenses. Capital expenditures of $172 million were up modestly from the prior year due to our investments in fiber. Keep in mind that these investments support our multiyear strategy and our goal of increasing free cash flow and return on capital over the long run.

在投影片 18 上，您可以看到我們的季度業績。本季營業收入持平，因為住宅收入的成長被商業和批發收入的下降所抵消。本季現金支出小幅下降。這一下降是我們高度重視成本效率和嚴格支出的結果。提醒一下，此處顯示的費用結果包括最初啟動我們的光纖市場的成本，這些成本是在產生收入之前預先產生的。由於現金支出減少，本季調整後 EBITDA 成長 3%。由於我們對光纖的投資，資本支出較上一年略有增加 1.72 億美元。請記住，這些投資支持我們的多年策略以及我們增加自由現金流和長期資本回報率的目標。

Slide 19 shows our 2023 guidance. We are keeping our revenue guidance range unchanged from last quarter, although we expect to be towards the low end of our range of $1.03 billion to $1.06 billion. Even though we are expecting to deliver more fiber addresses than originally planned this year, the majority will be launched in late 2023, and it will take time for penetrations and revenues to build. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to remain between $270 million and $300 million in 2023. As we look forward, we are still on track to have our expansion communities launch this year. This means we can begin serving customers and generating revenues. Starting next year and over the next several years, we expect our broadband penetrations, revenues and adjusted EBITDA to grow.

幻燈片 19 顯示了我們的 2023 年指導。儘管我們預期營收指引範圍將接近 10.3 億美元至 10.6 億美元的下限，但我們仍維持上季的營收指引不變。儘管我們預計今年將提供比原計劃更多的光纖地址，但大多數將在 2023 年底推出，並且滲透率和收入的建立需要時間。到 2023 年，調整後的 EBITDA 預計將保持在 2.7 億美元至 3 億美元之間。展望未來，我們仍有望在今年推出我們的擴展社區。這意味著我們可以開始為客戶提供服務並創造收入。從明年開始以及未來幾年，我們預計我們的寬頻普及率、收入和調整後的 EBITDA 將成長。

Moving on to CapEx. Consistent with our uptick in expected fiber service address delivery and our investments to establish internal construction crews, we are now expecting capital expenditures for this year to be approximately $550 million. As Vicki mentioned earlier, going forward, we will continue to size and pace the timing of our capital expenditures to be commensurate with our financial capacity. Due to the pull forward of service addresses and corresponding higher CapEx in 2023, next year, we plan to slow our spending and focus on driving broadband penetration and revenues in our new fiber markets. Service addresses in 2024 will likely be closer to what we delivered in 2022.

轉向資本支出。與我們預期光纖服務地址交付的增加以及我們對建立內部施工人員的投資一致，我們現在預計今年的資本支出約為 5.5 億美元。正如 Vicki 之前提到的，展望未來，我們將繼續調整資本支出的規模和節奏，以與我們的財務能力相稱。由於 2023 年服務地址的提前和相應更高的資本支出，明年我們計劃放慢支出，專注於推動新光纖市場的寬頻普及率和收入。 2024 年的服務地址可能會更接近我們在 2022 年提供的地址。

In summary, we remain on track to achieve our 2026 fiber program goals. Recognizing the number of service addresses may fluctuate from year-to-year. We will give more specific guidance for 2024 during our year-end call. However, we wanted to provide directional insight on next year's fiber program in the context of our expected address and CapEx results for 2023.

總之，我們仍有望實現 2026 年光纖計畫目標。認識到服務地址的數量可能會逐年波動。我們將在年終電話會議中為 2024 年提供更具體的指導。然而，我們希望在 2023 年的預期地址和資本支出結果的背景下，提供明年光纖計畫的方向性見解。

In closing, I want to acknowledge all of the TDS Telecom associates. It is taking a tremendous amount of engagement and adaptability to execute on our strategy, and I want to thank the entire organization for pulling together to make that happen. I'll now turn the call back over to Colleen.

最後，我要感謝所有 TDS Telecom 員工。執行我們的策略需要大量的參與和適應性，我要感謝整個組織齊心協力實現這一目標。我現在將把電話轉回給科琳。

Okay. We will now open up the call to questions. As a reminder, our focus today is on the quarter, and we will not be taking questions on the strategic alternatives review for UScellular. Operator, we are ready for the first question.

好的。我們現在開始接受提問。提醒一下，我們今天的重點是本季度，我們不會回答有關 UScellular 戰略替代方案審查的問題。接線員，我們準備好回答第一個問題了。

(Operator Instructions). We'll go first this morning to Rick Prentiss at Raymond James.

（操作員說明）。今天早上我們首先去雷蒙德詹姆斯的里克普倫蒂斯那裡。

First question, thanks for the extra color on the tower revenue distribution pie chart. Have you had a chance to think through of the T-Mobile 29%, I think it shows. How much is sprint or potential sprint churn that might be out there, LT, I think you mentioned that you expect the industry CapEx slowdown will affect the 24-hour leasing revenue, but just also wondering about kind of a churn effect.

第一個問題，感謝塔收入分配餅圖上的額外顏色。我想這顯示你有機會思考一下 T-Mobile 29% 嗎？衝刺或潛在的衝刺流失率可能有多少，LT，我想您提到您預計行業資本支出放緩將影響 24 小時租賃收入，但也想知道某種流失效應。

Yes. Rick, we don't -- Sprint T-Mobile disconnects, a lot of that activity occurred in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, we've had about 100 cumulative of lease terminations as a result of the merger. That slowed way down in the second and third quarter. So we think we're through most of it. So the short answer is, we don't think there's a lot left with respect to additional terminations. And you can see sequentially, our tenancy rate went down a little bit because of that exact reason.

是的。 Rick，我們沒有——Sprint T-Mobile 斷開連接，許多此類活動發生在去年第四季度和今年第一季度，由於合併。在第二季和第三季度，這一速度明顯放緩。所以我們認為我們已經完成了大部分工作。所以簡短的回答是，我們認為額外終止的情況已經不多了。您可以依次看到，由於這個確切原因，我們的租賃率略有下降。

Okay. That's what I assumed. Okay. And then on fixed wireless, obviously, you've got the C-band now earlier than originally planned. Can you help us understand where you think the addressable market is as far as households for the fixed wireless product, how many households do you cover now, how many households would you like to cover over the next couple of years, just so we can kind of size that opportunity.

好的。這就是我的假設。好的。然後，在固定無線領域，顯然，您現在已經比原計劃更早獲得了 C 頻段。您能否幫助我們了解您認為固定無線產品的家庭市場在哪裡，您現在涵蓋了多少家庭，您希望在未來幾年內涵蓋多少家庭，以便我們能夠了解機會的大小。

Yes, sure, Rick. So the -- let me talk a little bit about the dynamics there. I mean, the first dynamic is -- I mentioned it in the prepared remarks, but as we turn on our mid-band spectrum that allows us to both provide better speed experience to our customers. It also allows us to handle more capacity. One of the things I pay a lot of attention to is do we need to stop selling anywhere because of the impact that fixed wireless subs are putting on to the mobile network. And thus far, we've been able to restrict any stop sells to a truly very, very small number of towers.

是的，當然，瑞克。那麼，讓我談談那裡的動態。我的意思是，第一個動態是——我在準備好的評論中提到過，但是當我們打開中頻頻譜時，這使我們能夠為客戶提供更好的速度體驗。它還使我們能夠處理更多的容量。我非常關注的一件事是，由於固定無線潛水艇對行動網路的影響，我們是否需要停止在任何地方銷售。到目前為止，我們已經能夠將任何停損銷售限制在真正非常非常少量的塔樓上。

And so the impact on the mobile network has been manageable thus far. And we expect that to continue because we are going to be targeted in how we roll out mid-band. Part of the rationale for which towers we choose to put mid-band on is the demands placed on it by fixed wireless. And so at a high level, if you look at the growth rate that we've experienced in the past, over the last, let's call it, 18, 24 months, I expect that growth rate to continue.

因此，到目前為止，對行動網路的影響是可控的。我們預計這種情況會持續下去，因為我們將有針對性地推出中頻段。我們選擇在哪些塔上放置中頻段的部分原因是固定無線對其的要求。因此，在高水準上，如果你看看我們過去經歷的成長率，在過去，我們稱之為 18、24 個月，我預計這種成長率將持續下去。

The final full potential of that product -- it's a little bit difficult to predict. You have to think through both the -- how the product plays competitively. And certainly, for -- if I just look at how well it matches up against cable products and upgraded fiber footprint and so on. I could see that product growing to 400,000 or more households. The challenge though will come as those households come on board as they start using mid-band spectrum. Obviously, the usage per household increases as well. And so you have to scale that back a little bit based on demands on mobile capacity. I don't know what that looks like yet because we're in the very early days of rolling that product out.

該產品最終的全部潛力——預測有點困難。你必須考慮產品如何發揮競爭力。當然，如果我只看它與電纜產品和升級的光纖足跡等的匹配程度。我可以看到該產品將擴展到 400,000 或更多家庭。然而，隨著這些家庭開始使用中頻段頻譜，挑戰就會隨之而來。顯然，每戶的使用量也在增加。因此，您必須根據行動容量的需求稍微縮減這一規模。我還不知道它是什麼樣子，因為我們正處於推出產品的早期階段。

Thus far, we're very bullish. We haven't had to, like I said, shut down any sites or stop selling at any sites. But I think probably 400,000 is the absolute top of the addressable market range, simply because you are going to have to dial it back based on capacity needs. Hopefully, that answers your question.

到目前為止，我們非常看好。正如我所說，我們不必關閉任何網站或停止在任何網站上銷售。但我認為 400,000 可能是可尋址市場範圍的絕對上限，因為您必須根據容量需求來調整它。希望這能回答你的問題。

It does. And final one, it's a theoretical question. I'll try to slip that in there. When you think about the difference between OIBDA and EBITDA, large part is the minority interest, you guys receive dividends from those minority interest. So if you think about one of the strategic alternatives might be to do something with the minority interest, how should we think about theoretically, why sell something where you get a dividend. Is there some tax-efficient means. Would you consider stock? Just trying to think through the logics of that minority interest line item of what might be interesting to do and why?

確實如此。最後一個，這是理論問題。我會試著把它塞進去。當你考慮 OIBDA 和 EBITDA 之間的差異時，很大一部分是少數股東權益，你們從這些少數股東權益中獲得股息。因此，如果你考慮的戰略選擇之一可能是做一些涉及少數股權的事情，那麼我們應該如何從理論上思考，為什麼要在獲得股息的情況下出售某些東西。有沒有一些節稅的手段。會考慮庫存嗎？只是想透過少數利益行項目的邏輯來思考什麼可能是有趣的，為什麼？

Yes. So -- I mean, the -- as you mentioned, I mean, we do see healthy cash flow distributions from those partnerships. We're happy with how those partnerships operate. How those partnerships interact and influence the strategic assessment, I'm not going to comment on today.

是的。所以——我的意思是——正如你所提到的，我的意思是，我們確實從這些合作夥伴關係中看到了健康的現金流分配。我們對這些合作關係的運作方式感到滿意。這些夥伴關係如何相互作用並影響策略評估，我今天不打算發表評論。

Would -- one thing that maybe is safety on is would stock be a consideration instead of cash if things were looked at as kind of when you think about tax efficiency methods?

可能安全的一件事是，如果在考慮稅收效率方法時將股票視為考慮因素，那麼股票而不是現金會成為考慮因素嗎？

Yes. Yes, Rick, we're not going to comment on any questions that relate in that area. So we're just not going to comment on any outcome implications. We're not even going to speculate today, but thank you.

是的。是的，瑞克，我們不會評論與該領域相關的任何問題。因此，我們不會對任何結果影響發表評論。我們今天甚至不打算猜測，但謝謝你。

We'll go next now to Phil Cusick at JPMorgan.

接下來我們請摩根大通的菲爾庫西克 (Phil Cusick) 發言。

So you said no outcome or implications, but is there anything you can say about timing in terms of where we are and when we might hear something?

所以你說沒有結果或影響，但是關於我們所處的位置以及我們何時可能聽到消息的時間安排，你有什麼可以說的嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Phil. Thanks for the question to both of you. It is an opportunity for us to reiterate our comments. Our announcement on August 4, we are focused on all strategic options that are in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. And this process is active and ongoing. That's all I can comment on right now. And I'm not going to comment on the timing or speculate on the timing either but thank you.

是的。謝謝，菲爾。謝謝你們兩位的提問。這是我們重申意見的機會。我們在 8 月 4 日宣布，我們專注於符合公司及其股東最佳利益的所有策略選擇。而這個過程是積極且持續的。我現在能評論的就是這些。我不會評論時間或推測時間，但謝謝。

I figured it's worth a shot. Okay. So another question. LT, you're pretty clearly paring back on mobile spending, accepting the slower gross adds that come with that. Does it make sense to pull back further on sales and marketing, especially in a quarter where the noise volume will be high from here to save even more money given the strategic review? And also, are you paring back on CapEx as well near term because of the review as well?

我認為值得一試。好的。那麼另一個問題。 LT，您顯然正在削減行動支出，並接受隨之而來的總成長放緩。進一步縮減銷售和行銷是否有意義，特別是在這個季度，考慮到策略審查，噪音量將會很大，以節省更多資金？此外，由於審查，您近期是否也會削減資本支出？

So what we try to do as we think about balancing our promotional spend is matching, right, the volume of that spend to the available volume in the marketplace. Fourth quarter, right, because of holiday is when we see most, the highest level, certainly a switching activity. And we need to match that available switching activity with as much volume as we can put in the marketplace.

因此，當我們考慮平衡促銷支出時，我們要做的就是將支出量與市場上的可用量相匹配。第四季是吧，因為假期是我們看到最多、最高水準的時候，肯定是一個轉換活動。我們需要將可用的轉換活動與我們可以投入市場的盡可能多的數量相匹配。

And so I'm not adjusting our promotional spend or our capital spend based on any potential outcomes of the strategic review. What we're doing is we're adjusting that spend based on what we see as the dynamics in the marketplace.

因此，我不會根據策略審查的任何潛在結果來調整我們的促銷支出或資本支出。我們正在做的是根據我們所看到的市場動態來調整支出。

In the third quarter, we saw an opportunity to pull back a little bit in terms of spending, and you see that in our strong financial performance. We see there is going to be an opportunity in the fourth quarter, particularly on the upgrade side to ramp up our volumes. And so we plan on aggressively pursuing those.

在第三季度，我們看到了在支出方面稍微縮減的機會，您可以從我們強勁的財務業績中看到這一點。我們認為第四季將有機會增加我們的銷量，特別是在升級方面。因此，我們計劃積極追求這些目標。

As far as capital goes, the capital moves have really been driven by two factors. The first factor is we're very comfortable with the results of our 5G modernization program. We now have 5G active on sites that carry 80% of our traffic. And Mike and team have done a really nice job of rolling that out. And so what we're able to do is we're able to slow our capital spending associated with 5G. While at the same time, we're replacing some of that spending with mid-band. We mentioned it on the call, we got early access to that C-band spectrum. Where we roll that out, we see really strong mobile performance and it helps us sell a better fixed wireless product. And so much of that slowdown in CapEx that's associated with 5G is being replaced by acceleration of mid-band. And the net of it is what you see in our -- both in our numbers for this year and thinking about next year, fairly similar capital spend as well.

就資本而言，資本流動實際上是由兩個因素所驅動的。第一個因素是我們對 5G 現代化計劃的結果非常滿意。現在，我們的 80% 流量的網站都已啟用 5G。麥克和他的團隊在這方面做得非常出色。因此，我們能夠做的是減緩與 5G 相關的資本支出。同時，我們正在用中頻段取代部分支出。我們在電話中提到了這一點，我們提前獲得了 C 波段頻譜。當我們推出產品時，我們看到了非常強大的行動性能，它有助於我們銷售更好的固定無線產品。與 5G 相關的資本支出放緩大部分正被中頻加速所取代。其淨結果是你在我們今年的數據和明年的數據中看到的，資本支出也相當相似。

So CapEx and promotional approach really driven by marketplace dynamics not being influenced by the strategic assessment.

因此，資本支出和促銷方法實際上是由市場動態驅動的，不受策略評估的影響。

Okay. And then one for Michelle, if I can. Can you dig more into the competition in the ILEC markets. Is that cable footprint expansion you're alluding to or maybe fixed wireless? I'm a little surprised that A-CAM funding can be used to defend yourself against cable incursion. Is that what's going on?

好的。如果可以的話，再給米歇爾一份。您能否更深入了解 ILEC 市場的競爭情況？您所指的電纜足跡擴充是指有線足跡擴充還是固定無線？我有點驚訝 A-CAM 資金可以用來防禦電纜入侵。是這樣的嗎？

Phil, thanks a lot for the question. Yes, so in our ILEC, we are facing a little bit more of a competitive pressure than we had in prior years. And it's not primarily coming from fixed wireless. Cable is always a tough competitor for us, but it's starting to be some of the smaller fiber overbuilders are starting to come into some of our ILEC markets. And so we have been very focused on our ILEC for the last decade. We've been building fiber in our ILEC and so we've got 40% of our ILEC fibered up right now. We have goals to continue that. And that's a really great way to defend and compete in those markets. And we do see that the EA-CAM program once we get those builds going -- those are going to be fiber builds. And that will also be a way that helps us defend those ILEC markets from those fiber overbuilders from potentially coming any farther or entering in the first place.

菲爾，非常感謝你的提問。是的，所以在我們的 ILEC 中，我們面臨著比前幾年更多的競爭壓力。而且它主要並非來自固定無線。電纜對我們來說始終是一個強大的競爭對手，但一些較小的光纖過度建設商開始進入我們的一些 ILEC 市場。因此，過去十年我們一直非常關注 ILEC。我們一直在 ILEC 中建造光纖，因此現在我們的 ILEC 中已經有 40% 已完成光纖化。我們有目標繼續下去。這是捍衛和競爭這些市場的真正好方法。我們確實看到，一旦我們開始進行這些構建，EA-CAM 計劃就會成為光纖構建。這也將成為幫助我們保護 ILEC 市場免受光纖過度建設者侵害的一種方式，防止它們進一步發展或進入。

We go next now to Simon Flannery at Morgan Stanley.

接下來我們請摩根士丹利的西蒙‧弗蘭納裡 (Simon Flannery) 發言。

LT, just following on, on the FWA. Good results continue there. Could you just give us a little bit on the profile of these customers, where they're coming from? Is this in kind of more suburbia are you seeing in more areas? What's the kind of the sweet spot here for that customer base? And then just coming back to the point you were making about the competitiveness in wireless, cables being aggressive for some time. I mean their adds have sort of leveled out here for a few quarters. Were you seeing something new? Was it more players in your markets? Or what was the delta here in the last few months that you were kind of trying to highlight?

LT，接下來是 FWA。良好的結果繼續在那裡。您能否向我們介紹一下這些客戶的概況以及他們來自哪裡？這是您在更多地區看到的更多郊區嗎？該客戶群的最佳點是什麼？然後回到您剛才提到的關於無線領域的競爭力的觀點，電纜在一段時間內表現得非常積極。我的意思是他們的增加量在幾個季度內已經趨於平穩。你看到什麼新東西了嗎？您的市場中有更多參與者嗎？或者你想強調的過去幾個月的增量是什麼？

And then maybe just one last one on the fiber side. The slower build, are you going to concentrate more your builds next year on in or out of region on the fiber side?

然後也許只是光纖一側的最後一個。建造速度越慢，您明年的建造是否會更多地集中在光纖方面的區域內或區域外？

Thanks, Simon, and kudos to you for not trying to slip in a strategic assessment question. We appreciate it. It was appreciated. Yes. Let me start with fixed wireless. The -- interestingly enough, we actually see a fairly decent blend of customers. So -- I mean, I'll remind again, right, this is a low-band product almost exclusive we've been selling on thus far, which would lead you to believe that it would skew heavily rural. Right, where the primary competition is satellite or DSL. And interestingly enough, I mean, we've seen a really good blend of customers, which would -- there's no switching information out there. So we don't know. It's not you're switching a number over. So we don't know exactly who they're coming from or if they're necessarily adding maybe a backup connection. So we don't know where they're coming from. But the geographical mix would indicate that we're taking from cable, and we're primarily -- and in many cases, we're even taking where cable has upgraded their plant.

謝謝西蒙，並感謝你沒有試圖插入戰略評估問題。我們很感激。這是值得讚賞的。是的。讓我從固定無線開始。有趣的是，我們實際上看到了相當不錯的客戶組合。所以——我的意思是，我會再次提醒，對吧，這是我們迄今為止幾乎獨家銷售的低頻段產品，這會讓你相信它會嚴重偏向農村。是的，主要競爭是衛星或 DSL。有趣的是，我的意思是，我們已經看到了非常好的客戶組合，這將 - 那裡沒有交換資訊。所以我們不知道。不是你要換號碼。因此，我們不知道他們到底來自誰，也不知道他們是否有必要添加備份連線。所以我們不知道他們從哪裡來。但地理組合表明我們正在從有線電視中獲取，而且我們主要是——在許多情況下，我們甚至是在有線電視已經升級其工廠的地方獲取。

And so that's also what gives me a lot of optimism about the mid-band fixed wireless as we roll out that 300 meg product. It isn't purely just a speed game. There's a simplicity of installation, there's a positive customer experience associated with this product. Our churn continues to go down on the product, we continue to see really good churn performance. And so it isn't just a rural oriented product as, frankly, I had initially assumed it might be. We're seeing really good performance even in places where cable is quite active.

因此，當我們推出 300 兆產品時，這也讓我對中頻固定無線產品非常樂觀。這不僅僅是一場速度遊戲。產品安裝簡單，客戶體驗良好。我們的產品流失率持續下降，我們繼續看到非常好的流失性能。因此，坦白說，它不僅僅是一種面向農村的產品，正如我最初假設的那樣。即使在電纜非常活躍的地方，我們也看到了非常好的性能。

The one place I can tell you where we have not seen significant progress is places where you've got fiber, right? So if you've got a dense fiber build, the economics of the product, it's pretty difficult to compete against those, against the physics that fiber provides. We see a really robust blend.

我可以告訴你的唯一一個我們沒有看到重大進展的地方就是那些擁有光纖的地方，對嗎？因此，如果您擁有緻密的纖維結構，那麼產品的經濟性就很難與它們競爭，與纖維提供的物理特性競爭。我們看到了一種非常強勁的混合。

Let me switch to the cable, your question about cable. What's different? Really two things are different for us. The first is you've seen just a steady expansion of their footprint. So early on, UScellular was a bit insulated from cable competition because they started in large cities. And so our competitors saw a larger competitive impact from cable than we did.

讓我轉向電纜，你關於電纜的問題。有什麼不同？對我們來說，確實有兩件事是不同的。首先，您看到他們的足跡正在穩步擴大。早期，UScellular 與有線電視競爭有點隔離，因為它們是從大城市起步的。因此，我們的競爭對手看到了有線電視帶來的競爭影響比我們更大。

I think a few quarters ago, I mentioned that we saw cable competition in 50% of our footprint. As of today, it's 60% of our footprint. And so we've simply seen an expansion of that cable competition. The other dynamic that I expect to see that I would just highlight is, up until now, we've had larger -- the large cable companies providing an MVNO and providing that wireless service. And I expect that we'll see smaller cable players do that. I expect to see smaller cable players roll out a wireless service, and that will create a little bit of increased competition.

我想幾個季度前，我提到我們 50% 的足跡都面臨電纜競爭。截至今天，它占我們足跡的 60%。因此，我們只是看到了有線電視競爭的擴大。我希望看到的另一個動態是，到目前為止，我們已經擁有規模更大的大型有線電視公司，提供 MVNO 並提供無線服務。我預計我們會看到規模較小的有線電視業者這樣做。我預計較小的有線電視營運商會推出無線服務，這將加劇競爭。

And the final dynamic that I think is kind of interesting is that we're seeing a larger amount of the cable players start to subsidize devices. I think that's going to be a really interesting dynamic to track because in the early days, it's quite easy to offer wireless service and see really positive net add performance because, one, you obviously don't have to deal with churn dynamics of customers rolling off of your service. And two, you can cherry pick in the sense that you can take customers who maybe aren't ready to upgrade their device, and that's who you offer service to. And I think that's what cable has done.

我認為有趣的最後一個動態是，我們看到越來越多的有線電視業者開始補貼設備。我認為這將是一個非常有趣的動態跟踪，因為在早期，提供無線服務並看到真正積極的淨增加性能非常容易，因為，第一，您顯然不必處理客戶滾動的流失動態停止為您提供服務。第二，你可以選擇，因為你可以選擇那些可能還沒準備好升級他們的設備的客戶，而這就是你提供服務的對象。我認為這就是有線電視所做的。

Now I believe that, that business is mature enough inside some of the larger cable players that they're having to deal with customers who now want to upgrade their device and where they don't provide some form of subsidy they'll start to have to deal with churn dynamics. And so I think that, that subsidy -- and we saw that in the iPhone launch, by the way, the subsidies that cable is providing is a third dynamic that I'm tracking pretty carefully.

現在我相信，在一些較大的有線電視營運商內部，這項業務已經足夠成熟，他們必須與現在想要升級設備的客戶打交道，而如果他們不提供某種形式的補貼，他們將開始提供處理客戶流失動態。所以我認為，補貼——順便說一句，我們在 iPhone 的發布中看到了有線電視提供的補貼是我正在非常仔細地追蹤的第三個動力。

For the third question, Michelle, I'll hand it to you.

對於第三個問題，米歇爾，我把它交給你。

Yes. Thanks, LT. And thanks for the question, Simon. So you asked about next year whether we're going to prioritize fiber in or out of region. And I can tell you, the short answer is it's going to be prioritized and out of region, but let me give you a little bit more context as to why that's our focus. So as I mentioned, in 2023, given our momentum, we have allowed ourselves to spend more this year and to deliver more addresses in 2023, and then we can start selling into those addresses. But next year, we do plan to slow our spending, and we do expect addresses to come in lower, and we expect CapEx to be lower next year than it has been in the 2022 and 2023 levels. And we're able to do that by prioritizing our spending for a number of reasons.

是的。謝謝，LT。謝謝你的提問，西蒙。所以你問明年我們是否會優先考慮區域內或區域外的光纖。我可以告訴你，簡短的答案是它將被優先考慮並且超出區域，但讓我給你更多背景資訊來解釋為什麼這是我們的重點。正如我所提到的，在 2023 年，鑑於我們的勢頭，我們允許自己今年花費更多，並在 2023 年提供更多地址，然後我們可以開始向這些地址進行銷售。但明年，我們確實計劃放緩支出，我們確實預計地址數量會減少，並且我們預計明年的資本支出將低於 2022 年和 2023 年的水平。出於多種原因，我們可以透過優先考慮支出來做到這一點。

So one of the reasons is because of the EA-CAM program. In 2023, we're going to wrap up our existing A-CAM obligations and milestones and spending, and then we're going to pivot and shift our focus to planning and engineering and getting contractors lined up so that we can start delivering the higher speeds and doing those builds to more addresses that are now going to be in that program starting in 2024. So there's going to be a period where we're not spending quite as much on A-CAM while we're doing that spending, and then that will ramp up more significantly at the end of 2024 and going into 2025. But because of that EA-CAM program, that also is going to allow us to not spend as much in our base business because we know that, that EA-CAM funding is coming and will help fortify those markets through that program.

所以原因之一是因為 EA-CAM 程序。到 2023 年，我們將完成現有的 A-CAM 義務、里程碑和支出，然後我們將把重點轉向規劃和工程，並讓承包商排隊，以便我們可以開始提供更高的服務速度並對更多地址進行構建，這些地址將從2024 年開始納入該計劃。因此，在一段時期內，我們在A-CAM 上投入的資金不會那麼多，而且那麼到2024 年底並進入2025 年，這一數字將會更顯著地增加。但是由於EA-CAM 計劃，這也將使我們能夠在基礎業務上花費更少的資金，因為我們知道，EA- CAM 資金即將到來，並將透過該計劃幫助鞏固這些市場。

So we're able to back off a little bit on some of our incumbent spending of CapEx and in-builds next year sort of waiting for that EA-CAM funding to be able -- it's not necessarily that we're waiting for the funding, but waiting for that EA-CAM work to begin to be able to really start giving a lot more attention into those ILEC markets.

因此，我們能夠稍微減少一些現有的資本支出和明年的內部建設支出，等待 EA-CAM 資金到位——這並不一定是我們在等待資金，但等待EA-CAM 工作開始真正開始對那些ILEC 市場給予更多關注。

So that's why we're able to then focus and prioritize a little bit more on our out-of-territory our expansion market regions next year. So hopefully, that helps.

因此，這就是為什麼我們明年能夠更加關注和優先考慮我們的境外擴張市場區域。希望這會有所幫助。

Next now to Michael Rollins at Citi.

接下來是花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

Just a couple of follow-ups. First, on the wireline side. Just curious, as you look at the goals for 2026, can you give us an update in terms of the total spend to get to those goals, whether it's on a gross basis or just capital investment needed to get to that point or on a net basis, so what the net funding need for the businesses is over the next few years?

只是幾個後續行動。首先，在有線方面。只是好奇，當您查看 2026 年的目標時，您能否向我們提供實現這些目標的總支出的最新情況，無論是總額還是僅實現該目標所需的資本投資或淨額那麼未來幾年企業的淨資金需求是多少？

And then on the wireless business, commented a little bit earlier on the churn dynamics. And curious, when you look at your churn versus maybe where some of the national carriers are, is this the obvious opportunity to try to push that down 20, 30, 40 basis points and improve the total subscriber postpaid phone trajectory for the business?

然後是無線業務，早些時候對客戶流失動態進行了評論。好奇的是，當您比較一些全國性業者的客戶流失情況時，您會發現這是否是一個明顯的機會，可以嘗試將客戶流失率降低20、30、40 個基點並改善企業的總訂戶後付費電話軌跡？

Mike, this is Michelle. I'll start and then let LT jump in. So in terms of fiber funding and our 2026 goals, I'm not going to give guidance or specific numbers beyond 2023 right now, but I can give you some context. We do still believe that those 2026 goals are achievable. We still have a plan in place to get to those 2026 goals. It will take additional CapEx versus where telecom had historically been. You've seen the elevated CapEx in 2022, 2023. But what I can tell you is that for 2024, directionally, I can tell you anyhow, that CapEx is going to be lower next year.

麥克，這是米歇爾。我將開始，然後讓 LT 介入。因此，就光纖資金和我們 2026 年的目標而言，我現在不會提供 2023 年之後的指導或具體數字，但我可以給您一些背景資訊。我們仍然相信 2026 年的目標是可以實現的。我們仍然制定了實現 2026 年目標的計劃。與電信業歷史上的情況相比，這將需要額外的資本支出。你已經看到了 2022 年、2023 年資本支出的增加。但我可以告訴你的是，對於 2024 年，無論如何，我可以直接告訴你，明年的資本支出將會降低。

And that's for a couple of reasons. I just mentioned about A-CAM. We're going to be spending a little bit less on that as we get our planning going for the new program. And in our incumbent and in our cable markets, we are being very prudent with CapEx. We are identifying anything that can be reduced or deferred, especially knowing that, that EA-CAM program work is coming and can address some of the needs that we have in our ILEC markets.

這有幾個原因。我剛剛提到了 A-CAM。當我們為新計劃進行規劃時，我們將在這方面花費一點點。在我們現有的電纜市場中，我們對資本支出非常謹慎。我們正在確定任何可以減少或推遲的事情，特別是知道 EA-CAM 計劃工作即將到來，並且可以滿足我們在 ILEC 市場中的一些需求。

And then third, another reason that CapEx will be lower next year is on our expansion markets, you've seen very elevated CapEx the last couple of years, but a lot of that has been to get that upfront spending in, in order to get those markets launched. And by the time we get done with this year, all those markets will be launched, which means that, that upfront spending will largely be behind us. And that's things like getting the hub sites, cabinets, plays, transport routes, things like that. So going forward, we're going to be able to deliver addresses at an incrementally lower cost than what we've had in the last couple of years. So that's also going to be able to bring our CapEx down slightly next year -- or not slightly, but just bring it down commensurate with the addresses that we're expecting to deliver next year.

第三，明年資本支出較低的另一個原因是我們的擴張市場，過去幾年你已經看到資本支出非常高，但其中很大一部分是為了獲得前期支出，以便獲得這些市場啟動了。到今年結束時，所有這些市場都將啟動，這意味著前期支出將在很大程度上成為過去。這包括獲取樞紐站點、櫥櫃、遊戲、交通路線等。因此，展望未來，我們將能夠以比過去幾年更低的成本提供地址。因此，這也將能夠使我們明年的資本支出略有下降——或者不是小幅下降，但只是根據我們預計明年交付的地址進行相應的下降。

So we've been really disciplined with CapEx, OpEx. We're focusing on growing our EBITDA and managing our CapEx so that we can self-fund this fiber program as much as possible. And that's really important to us as we manage within our leverage that we're comfortable with and considering capital markets today and the high cost of capital. So CapEx will continue to be elevated but just know that our focus is to try to drive profitability and manage CapEx such that we're able to self-fund as much as we possibly can.

因此，我們在資本支出和營運支出方面一直非常嚴格。我們專注於增加 EBITDA 並管理我們的資本支出，以便我們能夠盡可能為該光纖計劃提供資金。這對我們來說非常重要，因為我們在我們熟悉的槓桿範圍內進行管理，並考慮到當今的資本市場和高昂的資本成本。因此，資本支出將繼續上升，但要知道我們的重點是努力提高獲利能力並管理資本支出，以便我們能夠盡可能地自籌資金。

And Mike, let me tackle the churn question. I mean the simple answer to your question is yes. But you probably want a little bit more color than just yes. So talking briefly about churn, I mean what you've identified is the opportunity, which is how do we drive that -- continue to drive that churn number down. We do see that as the biggest opportunity to improve our net add performance.

麥克，讓我來解決客戶流失問題。我的意思是你的問題的簡單答案是肯定的。但您可能想要更多一點的顏色，而不僅僅是“是”。因此，簡單地談論一下客戶流失率，我的意思是，您所發現的是機會，這就是我們如何推動這一機會——繼續降低客戶流失率。我們確實認為這是提高淨增加業績的最大機會。

Doug mentioned in his prepared comments about the positive trend that we've seen in postpaid handset churn over the past year. And the thing that's driving that is the aggressive offers that we had in the marketplace around new and existing. New and existing basically means, hey, we're going to provide attractive upgrade offers. We saw a lot of customers adopt those, and that's helped us with year-over-year churn. We plan on doing something very similar through the holiday period. So we're focused very carefully on upgrades, improving our in-contract rate. It's something it's spend that we see as efficient, so the money that you spend on those upgrade offers is not cheap, right? It's an aggressive offer you have to put in the marketplace, but it works. And the reason it works to see customers in contract and then contract customers churn at a much lower rate. So yes, we do see that as the biggest opportunity in front of us in the next couple of months.

道格在他準備好的評論中提到了我們在過去一年中看到的後付費手機流失的積極趨勢。推動這一趨勢的是我們在市場上圍繞新產品和現有產品提供的積極報價。新的和現有的基本上意味著，嘿，我們將提供有吸引力的升級優惠。我們看到很多客戶都採用了這些，這幫助我們減少了逐年流失的情況。我們計劃在假期期間做一些非常類似的事情。因此，我們非常謹慎地關注升級，提高我們的合約費率。我們認為這是一種高效的支出，因此您在這些升級優惠上花費的錢並不便宜，對嗎？這是你必須在市場上提供的一個激進的報價，但它確實有效。原因是看到合約客戶，然後合約客戶的流失率要低得多。所以，是的，我們確實認為這是未來幾個月擺在我們面前的最大機會。

We are next now to Sergey Dluzhevskiy at Gabelli Funds.

我們現在的下一位是 Gabelli Funds 的 Sergey Dluzhevskiy。

My first question is for LT on the tower business. Could you talk a little bit more about the progress that you're making in increasing the number of co-locators but more broadly, I guess if you could talk a little bit about the medium-term strategy for the tower business. What has been working well so far, would you still need to improve in order to gain a much larger scale and have a more pronounced revenue growth in the business?

我的第一個問題是關於塔業務的 LT。您能否多談談您在增加主機託管數量方面所取得的進展，但更廣泛地說，我想您是否可以談談塔業務的中期戰略。到目前為止，哪些方面運作良好，您是否還需要改進，以獲得更大的規模並獲得更顯著的業務收入成長？

Sergey, I mean the improvement in co-location, I mean, the numbers on the slide, right, were up 2% year-over-year. But I mean to speak a little bit more about that, the growth itself in terms of new tenants and in terms of amendments on existing towers has slowed. But we think that's slowed because of, let's call it, macro industry dynamics, not because of anything that we are or aren't doing well in terms of marketing the towers.

Sergey，我的意思是託管方面的改進，我的意思是，幻燈片上的數字（右側）同比增長了 2%。但我想多說一點，新租戶和現有塔樓的修改本身的成長已經放緩。但我們認為這一速度放緩是因為宏觀產業動態，而不是因為我們在塔樓行銷方面做得或做得不好。

We've mentioned it, we've slowed our capital spend. If you look at our competitors and their announcements, they're doing the same thing, and we're seeing the impact of that as we see new amendments and new co-locators in the tower business. By the way, that's entirely consistent with our tower competitors as well they're seeing and reporting exactly the same thing.

我們已經提到過，我們已經放慢了資本支出。如果你看看我們的競爭對手和他們的公告，他們正在做同樣的事情，當我們看到塔業務中的新修正案和新的主機託管時，我們就會看到這種影響的影響。順便說一句，這與我們的塔式競爭對手完全一致，他們所看到和報告的情況也完全相同。

Midterm, we remain optimistic. And the reason for that optimism is there's several. The first, let me just start from a macro industry demand perspective. The FCC does not have spectrum authority right now. By the way, I think that's a travesty. But nonetheless, there's no spectrum auctions on the horizon. And even though we haven't seen the spectrum plan from the NTIA, there's no obvious near-term mid-band spectrum that they're talking about releasing, notwithstanding my best efforts to try to convince them otherwise.

中期來看，我們保持樂觀。這種樂觀的原因有幾個。首先，我從宏觀的產業需求角度出發。 FCC 目前沒有頻譜授權。順便說一句，我認為這是一種諷刺。但儘管如此，目前還沒有頻譜拍賣。儘管我們還沒有看到 NTIA 的頻譜計劃，但他們並沒有談論發布明顯的近期中頻段頻譜，儘管我盡了最大努力試圖說服他們。

What does that mean? It means that as we get into 6G, the way that you're going to be able to support the increased demand from wireless customers, whether it's consumer, or whether it's enterprise, it is going to be with the denser grid. You either have to put more spectrum on the existing grid. We don't currently have a road map towards that. And so if wireless companies are going to support that need, they're going to have to densify their grid. And a denser grid in the long run is good for a tower business, and it's particularly good for our tower business. And the reason I say it's particularly good for our tower business is that I think that our towers are particularly differentiated in terms of their proximity to other competitive towers.

這意味著什麼？這意味著，當我們進入 6G 時，您將能夠透過更密集的網格來支援無線客戶不斷增長的需求，無論是消費者還是企業。您必須在現有電網上放置更多頻譜。我們目前還沒有實現這一目標的路線圖。因此，如果無線公司要滿足這項需求，就必須增加網格密度。從長遠來看，更密集的網格對塔式業務有利，對我們的塔式業務尤其有利。我之所以說這對我們的塔樓業務特別有利，是因為我認為我們的塔樓在與其他競爭塔樓的接近程度方面特別有差異化。

Doug mentioned in his prepared remarks, 30% of our tower portfolio doesn't have another tower within 2 miles. And what that means is as we move towards 6G and as the needs of the network get towards higher and higher bandwidth, those towers are going to be particularly differentiated. And so you couple that with the fact that our existing colocation rate is already significantly below our competitors. I view that as only upside, couple that with wireless companies are going to have to densify and our tower portfolio is really well positioned to support that densification. That's why we remain really optimistic about the long-term growth in this segment. And well, I say segment, not formally a segment. The long-term growth in this portion of the business and notwithstanding some of the kind of more near-term slowdowns that we're seeing, as folks pull back on capital. Hopefully, that gives you a sense about how we're thinking about it.

Doug 在他準備好的演講中提到，我們 30% 的塔樓組合在 2 英里內沒有其他塔樓。這意味著，隨著我們向 6G 邁進，並且網路的頻寬需求越來越高，這些塔將變得特別與眾不同。因此，我們現有的主機代管率已經明顯低於競爭對手。我認為唯一的好處是，無線公司必須實現密集化，而我們的塔式產品組合確實能夠很好地支援這種密集化。這就是為什麼我們對這領域的長期成長仍然非常樂觀。好吧，我說的是分段，不是正式的分段。儘管隨著人們縮減資本，我們看到一些近期的放緩，但這部分業務的長期成長。希望這能讓您了解我們是如何思考這個問題的。

Yes. And my second question is both for LT and Michelle. So I think earlier this year, management of both companies talked about kind of stepping up collaboration efforts, including an MVNO relationship, reselling each other products, potentially applying for government funding together. So I was wondering we're close to the end of the year. Where you are in this collaboration process? And looking into 2024, I guess, to what degree does it make sense to apply for BEAD funding or other government funding together or roll out fiber services in some of UScellular markets if it makes sense to explore possibilities for a bundled offering? And any other thoughts you have on kind of broader collaboration opportunities?

是的。我的第二個問題是問 LT 和米歇爾的。因此，我認為今年早些時候，兩家公司的管理層都談到了加強合作的努力，包括建立 MVNO 關係、相互轉售產品、可能共同申請政府資助。所以我想知道我們已經接近年底了。您在這個合作過程中處於什麼階段？展望 2024 年，我想，如果探索捆綁產品的可能性有意義的話，一起申請 BEAD 資金或其他政府資金或在美國一些蜂窩市場推出光纖服務的意義有多大？您對更廣泛的合作機會還有其他想法嗎？

Is Sergey, I'll let Michelle talk about MVNO and how she and TDS are thinking about that. In terms of collaboration opportunities, you keyed on 2 of them. I think we continue to explore opportunities where we can co-sell. We have multiple pilots running where our footprint overlap. It's a relatively small overlap as far as UScellular's overall footprint, but where we do, we continue to see if there's opportunities for us to market and sell and serve TDS's wireline products, particularly fiber. You keyed on BEAD. I think that could be a really interesting opportunity. But we have to wait and see how the states are going to define the bid parameters.

是 Sergey，我會讓 Michelle 談談 MVNO 以及她和 TDS 對此的看法。在合作機會方面，您重點關注了其中兩個。我認為我們將繼續探索可以共同銷售的機會。我們有多名飛行員在我們的足跡重疊的地方運行。就 UScellular 的整體足跡而言，這是一個相對較小的重疊，但我們會繼續關注是否有機會行銷、銷售和服務 TDS 的有線產品，特別是光纖。您鍵入了 BEAD。我認為這可能是一個非常有趣的機會。但我們必須等待，看看各州將如何定義投標參數。

Let me just explain what I mean. It's not clear to me if states are going to create a set geography and then put that, let's call it, 1/4 of a state or 1/10 of a state or a county. And they're going to say, please bid on this geography and what it would cost to connect all of the homes in that geography and underserved with whatever the best technologies that you have. If that's the way states should choose to approach it, I think fiber companies of any sort, including TDS, are going to have to partner with wireless players because there's almost certainly going to be homes in that geography, but it's not cost effective and it's not time effective to connect with fiber. Beautiful thing about this is, obviously, we already have an existing solid partnership and solid connections with TDS. So we think we'll be particularly well positioned to bid for those areas where states choose that approach.

讓我解釋一下我的意思。我不清楚各州是否要創建一個固定的地理區域，然後將其稱為（我們稱之為）1/4 的州或 1/10 的州或縣。他們會說，請競標這個地區，以及用你所擁有的最好的技術連接該地區所有服務不足的家庭的成本。如果這是各州應該選擇的處理方式，我認為包括 TDS 在內的任何類型的光纖公司都將不得不與無線運營商合作，因為幾乎肯定會在該地區建立住宅，但這不符合成本效益，而且光纖連接不及時。顯然，這方面的美妙之處在於，我們已經與 TDS 建立了牢固的合作夥伴關係和聯繫。因此，我們認為我們將特別有能力競標各州選擇這種方法的領域。

But there's a different approach they could take, right? The second approach they could take is instead, they could define a geography and they could say, okay, fiber players. Please bid for whichever connections, whichever homes you think you can connect in this area with fiber. And then they could come back with a second round and say, okay, whether it's wireless players, fixed wireless swifts, I don't think satellite is particularly going to play very well, but they might try to. Can you now -- what would it take for you to cover the rest of those homes? In that situation, there wouldn't be as much opportunity to bid jointly.

但他們可以採取不同的方法，對吧？他們可以採取的第二種方法是，他們可以定義一個地理區域，然後他們可以說，好吧，光纖玩家。請競標您認為可以透過光纖連接該地區的任何連接、任何家庭。然後他們可能會在第二輪比賽中回來說，好吧，無論是無線播放器還是固定無線雨燕，我認為衛星播放器不會特別好，但他們可能會嘗試這樣做。現在您能—您需要什麼才能覆蓋其餘的房屋？在這種情況下，聯合投標的機會就不會那麼多了。

I personally think, based on my conversations with state officials, they're going to be leaning more towards the former approach, which would lead for some really good collaboration opportunities. But it's a little bit early to tell. We're still only seeing the first state plan start to trickle out, and we're going to have to see more before we can really define the full potential of what that partnership might look like. I'll let Michelle talk whatever she'd like to about the MVNO options at Telecom.

我個人認為，根據我與州官員的對話，他們將更傾向於前一種方法，這將帶來一些非常好的合作機會。但現在說還太早。我們仍然只看到第一個州計劃開始逐漸出台，在我們真正確定這種夥伴關係的全部潛力之前，我們將不得不看到更多。我會讓 Michelle 暢所欲言地談論電信的 MVNO 選項。

Yes. Thanks, LT. Yes, so for MVNO, we are currently making great progress on getting an MVNO product launched for TDS Telecom. It's going to be called TDS Mobile. We're in the final stages of contract negotiations and integrations with our partners. We are an NCTC member and so we have chosen to participate in the NCTC MVNO program and sign up with the partners that they have selected to support that program. However, we will also be working with UScellular. As we've mentioned in the past, UScellular does overlap with TDS Telecom's footprint and about 40% of our geographies could be served by UScellular. And where that overlap happens, we do expect UScellular to be our partner to offer TDS Mobile. Where that does not overlap, then we will have to leverage a different wireless carrier, and that's the partner that NCTC has chosen.

是的。謝謝，LT。是的，對於 MVNO，我們目前在為 TDS Telecom 推出 MVNO 產品方面取得了巨大進展。它將被稱為 TDS Mobile。我們正處於與合作夥伴的合約談判和整合的最後階段。我們是 NCTC 成員，因此我們選擇參加 NCTC MVNO 計劃，並與他們選擇支持該計劃的合作夥伴簽約。不過，我們也將與 UScellular 合作。正如我們過去提到的，UScellular 確實與 TDS Telecom 的覆蓋範圍重疊，我們大約 40% 的地區可以由 UScellular 提供服務。如果發生重疊，我們確實希望 UScellular 成為我們的合作夥伴，提供 TDS Mobile。如果不重疊，那麼我們將不得不利用不同的無線營運商，這就是 NCTC 選擇的合作夥伴。

So we're very excited about this new TDS Mobile product. We're getting very close, and we expect to have it launched here within in the next few months.

因此，我們對這款新的 TDS Mobile 產品感到非常興奮。我們已經非常接近了，我們預計它將在未來幾個月內在這裡推出。

Ms. Thompson, I'll turn things back to you for any closing comments at this time.

湯普森女士，此時我會將所有的結案意見轉回給您。

Okay. Thanks, everyone, for your time today. Have a good weekend.

好的。謝謝大家今天抽出時間。有一個美好的周末。

Thank you, Ms. Thompson. Ladies and gentlemen, it does conclude the TDS and UScellular Third Quarter 2023 Operating Results Call. We'd like to thank you all so much for joining us and wish you all a great day. Goodbye.

謝謝你，湯普森女士。女士們先生們，TDS 和 UScellular 2023 年第三季營運業績電話會議確實結束了。我們非常感謝大家加入我們，並祝大家有個愉快的一天。再見。