美國無線通訊 (USM) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to TDS and UScellular's Fourth Quarter 2023 Operating Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 TDS 和 UScellular 2023 年第四季營運業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Colleen Thompson, Vice President of Corporate Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給企業關係副總裁科琳湯普森 (Colleen Thompson)。謝謝。請繼續。

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.

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。

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.

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 website. Please see the websites for slides referred to on this call, including non-GAAP reconciliations.

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。

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-Ks earlier this morning.

我們為調整後的折舊和攤銷前營業收入 (OIBDA) 以及調整後的利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前利潤 (EBITDA) 提供指導，以突出 UScellular 無線合作夥伴關係的貢獻。 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-K。

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 paragraph in our press releases and the extended version included in our SEC filings.

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。

And with that, I will now turn the call over to Vicki Villacrez. Vicki?

現在，我將把電話轉給 Vicki Villacrez。維姬？

Okay. Thank you, Colleen, and hello, everyone. I hope you are doing well. This morning, we'll take a quick look back at last year and also share with you our 2024 priorities and goals. 2023 was a challenging year for the organization, yet the teams navigated it well and we ended the year in a good place as we move into 2024.

好的。謝謝你，科琳，大家好。我希望你一切都好。今天早上，我們將快速回顧去年，並與您分享我們 2024 年的優先事項和目標。 2023 年對本組織來說是充滿挑戰的一年，但團隊順利度過了這一年，在進入 2024 年時我們以良好的成績結束了這一年。

Before we get into the details, I want to reiterate that as we announced on August 4, last year, we've embarked on a review of the strategic alternatives at UScellular. We are not going to comment on the process today, except to say that it remains ongoing and that management of TDS and UScellular, along with both Boards, are committed to a path that is in the best interest of the company and our shareholders. Given the nature of the process, we do not expect to have updates until it is concluded.

在討論細節之前，我想重申一下，正如我們去年 8 月 4 日宣布的那樣，我們已經開始對 UScellular 的戰略替代方案進行審查。我們今天不會對此流程發表評論，只是說該流程仍在進行中，並且 TDS 和 UScellular 的管理層以及兩個董事會都致力於走一條符合公司和股東最佳利益的道路。鑑於該過程的性質，我們預計在結束之前不會有更新。

Now let's talk about the business. In 2023, we continue to make substantial investments in our businesses, in order to improve our competitiveness while enhancing the customer experience. Over the last 2 years, TDS Telecom invested heavily and increased its total footprint by 21%, setting it up for strong top and bottom line growth as evidenced by Telecom's guidance for 2024.

現在我們來談談生意。 2023年，我們持續對業務進行大量投資，以提高競爭力，同時增強客戶體驗。過去 2 年，TDS Telecom 進行了大量投資，總覆蓋範圍增加了 21%，為其實現強勁的營收和利潤成長奠定了基礎，TDS Telecom 的 2024 年指導就證明了這一點。

UScellular has made progress on its 5G rollout and expect to continue investing in mid-band deployment throughout 2024. UScellular also modestly delevered in 2023 and will continue to balance ongoing investments with the need to generate positive free cash flow. While reinvesting still remains a high priority, given the interest rate environment and high cost of debt, we plan on slowing our CapEx investments for TDS Telecom in 2024, as you can see in our guidance.

UScellular 在 5G 部署方面取得了進展，預計將在 2024 年繼續投資中頻段部署。UScellular 也在 2023 年適度去槓桿化，並將繼續在持續投資與產生正自由現金流的需求之間取得平衡。儘管再投資仍然是重中之重，但考慮到利率環境和高債務成本，我們計劃在 2024 年放緩對 TDS Telecom 的資本支出投資，正如您在我們的指南中看到的那樣。

Despite the high interest rate environment, TDS' weighted average cost of debt and preferred equity is 6.5%. We believe that we have the right mix of both long-term maturities and shorter-term financings to help fund our investments while appropriately managing through the current interest rate environment. We ended the year maintaining access to liquidity, and we have a sizable amount of debt that isn't due for quite some time.

儘管利率環境較高，TDS 的債務和優先股的加權平均成本為 6.5%。我們相信，我們擁有長期期限和短期融資的正確組合，可以幫助為我們的投資提供資金，同時在當前的利率環境下進行適當的管理。我們在年底保持了流動性，並且有大量債務在相當長一段時間內沒有到期。

I also want to note that in the fourth quarter, TDS Telecom took a $547 million noncash goodwill impairment charge in conjunction with our annual goodwill assessment. This charge was due to a combination of factors, primarily rising interest rates and competitive pressures in our ILEC legacy markets. The noncash charge eliminates all the goodwill at TDS Telecom and does not impact reported adjusted EBITDA or adjusted OIBDA.

我還想指出的是，在第四季度，TDS Telecom 與我們的年度商譽評估一起收取了 5.47 億美元的非現金商譽減損費用。這項費用是由多種因素造成的，主要是利率上升和 ILEC 傳統市場的競爭壓力。非現金費用消除了 TDS Telecom 的所有商譽，並且不會影響報告的調整後 EBITDA 或調整後 OIBDA。

From a consolidated enterprise perspective, I'm pleased that we are maintaining rigorous cost discipline programs, focusing on both OpEx and CapEx, which led to moderate full year 2023 increases in adjusted EBITDA and reduced capital expenditures. And at the same time, allocating our capital towards critical network investments.

從綜合企業的角度來看，我很高興我們正在維持嚴格的成本紀律計劃，重點關注營運支出和資本支出，這導致 2023 年全年調整後 EBITDA 適度增長並減少資本支出。同時，將我們的資金分配給關鍵的網路投資。

Before I turn the call over, as you probably saw earlier today, TDS announced its first quarter dividend, raising the rate modestly from 2023, as we balance the needs of our businesses and returns to our shareholders. I'd also like to take a moment to thank all of our associates for their exceptional hard work and dedication in these dynamic times. We are positioned well to execute against our priorities for 2024.

在我轉交電話之前，正如您今天早些時候可能看到的那樣，TDS 宣布了第一季股息，從 2023 年開始小幅提高股息率，以平衡業務需求和股東回報。我還想花一點時間感謝我們所有的員工在這個充滿活力的時代所做的非凡的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。我們已做好充分準備來執行 2024 年的優先事項。

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

現在，我將把電話轉給 LT。

Thank you, Vicki. Good morning, everybody. My remarks this morning are going to primarily focus on our annual results, highlighting the key achievements in 2023. But then I'll turn to our priorities for 2024. Doug will then cover the fourth quarter results in a little more detail along with covering guidance.

謝謝你，維基。大家早安。我今天早上的演講將主要關注我們的年度業績，強調 2023 年的主要成就。但隨後我將轉向 2024 年的優先事項。然後，道格將更詳細地介紹第四季度的業績以及指導意見。

So let's start by reviewing the highlights on Slide 5. We've had a consistent message that we've reinforced in prior calls, that our goal for 2023 was to properly balance subscriber objectives with financial goals. And I think our results are a reflection of that deliberate approach.

因此，讓我們先回顧一下投影片 5 上的要點。我們在先前的電話會議中強調了一個一致的訊息，即我們 2023 年的目標是適當平衡訂戶目標與財務目標。我認為我們的結果反映了這種深思熟慮的方法。

As we discussed throughout 2023, our challenge was driving subscriber growth, add momentum in the context of an extremely competitive environment. We delivered on our operating cash flow and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year, and we were able to do so through solid growth in ARPU, coupled with disciplined and efficient spending.

正如我們在 2023 年討論的那樣，我們的挑戰是推動用戶成長，在競爭極其激烈的環境中增加動力。我們實現了今年的營運現金流和調整後的 EBITDA 指導，我們之所以能夠實現這一目標，是因為 ARPU 的穩健成長，加上嚴格而高效的支出。

For the full year, we delivered 2% growth in postpaid ARPU and a 3% increase in adjusted EBITDA.

全年，我們的後付費 ARPU 成長了 2%，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 3%。

Last year was our first full year of offering flat rate plans, and we ended the year with 17% of our postpaid handset customers on these plans. It's up from 5% around this time a year ago. And I'm really pleased with how they're performing. Many of our customers benefit from the options of this lower service plan pricing in exchange for lower promotional value. And as a reminder, these plans generally provide the same economics to us as our traditional plans since we don't incur device expense.

去年是我們提供統一費率方案的第一個全年，到年底我們有 17% 的後付費手機客戶加入了這些方案。比一年前這個時候的 5% 有所上升。我對他們的表現非常滿意。我們的許多客戶都受益於這種較低的服務計劃定價選項，以換取較低的促銷價值。提醒一下，這些計劃通常為我們提供與傳統計劃相同的經濟效益，因為我們不會產生設備費用。

Our average in contract rate for 2023 was just north of 62%, that's up 1.5 points from the prior year, and that helped us to moderate churn. For the full year, we modestly reduced both postpaid and prepaid churn, and that's a nice result given the aggressive competitive environment.

我們 2023 年的平均合約率略高於 62%，比前一年上升 1.5 個百分點，這有助於我們減少客戶流失。全年，我們適度減少了後付費和預付費客戶流失率，考慮到激烈的競爭環境，這是一個不錯的結果。

Turning to growth initiatives. Our third-party tower revenues reached a milestone, crossing $100 million in revenues and growing 8% for the year. As I mentioned last quarter, as the wireless industry has moderated capital expenditures last year, we experienced a slowdown in new tenant and amendment activity, and I expect that will impact tower revenue growth rates also in 2024.

轉向成長舉措。我們的第三方鐵塔營收達到了一個里程碑，營收突破 1 億美元，全年成長 8%。正如我上季度提到的，由於去年無線產業的資本支出有所放緩，我們經歷了新租戶和修改活動的放緩，我預計這也將影響 2024 年的鐵塔收入成長率。

That being said, we remain bullish on the long-term outlook for our tower business. Although the near-term activity has slowed, the long-term capacity needs of the industry are going to require future densification and that's going to drive demand for our towers. We have a unique portfolio of towers that are still below the industry average in terms of colocation. So we have a lot of opportunity to grow.

話雖如此，我們仍然看好鐵塔業務的長期前景。儘管近期活動已經放緩，但該行業的長期產能需求將需要未來的緻密化，這將推動對我們塔樓的需求。我們擁有獨特的塔樓組合，在託管方面仍低於行業平均水平。所以我們有很多成長的機會。

We also have strong momentum in fixed wireless. We finished the year with 114,000 customers, that's up 46% from a year ago. Over the last 2 years, we've seen strong performance with this product. And as a reminder, the vast majority of that growth has been on the low-band spectrum.

我們在固定無線領域也有強勁的發展動能。今年年底，我們的客戶數量達到 114,000 名，比去年同期成長了 46%。在過去的兩年裡，我們看到了該產品的強勁表現。提醒一下，絕大多數成長都發生在低頻段頻譜上。

Now that we're rolling out mid-band spectrum, we're going to be able to offer higher speeds and capacity where that spectrum is deployed. Since fixed wireless leverages the same network as our mobility product and the same investments, we believe this is a cost-efficient means to grow revenue and to grow cash flows.

現在我們正在推出中頻頻譜，我們將能夠在部署該頻譜的地方提供更高的速度和容量。由於固定無線利用與我們的行動產品相同的網路和相同的投資，我們相信這是一種增加收入和增加現金流的經濟高效的方式。

As I mentioned, we delivered a 3% increase in adjusted EBITDA over the prior year, and we did so through very disciplined and efficient spending. In fact, for the full year, we reduced cash expenses across LOE, system operations and SG&A. This is impressive given the usage on the network increased almost 30% in 2023. Speaking of the network, about 80% of our traffic is carried by sites that are modernized for low-band 5G.

正如我所提到的，我們的調整後 EBITDA 比上一年增長了 3%，這是透過非常嚴格和高效的支出來實現的。事實上，我們全年減少了 LOE、系統運作和 SG&A 方面的現金支出。鑑於 2023 年網路使用量增加了近 30%，這一成績令人印象深刻。說到網絡，我們約 80% 的流量是由針對低頻段 5G 進行現代化改造的站點承載的。

During 2023, we shifted our focus from 5G modernization to mid-band deployment. And similar to our previous network deployments, this will be a multiyear build-out. By the end of 2024, we expect to cover 30% of our POPs with mid-band, and we'll have almost half of our data traffic running on sites that are equipped with mid-band spectrum. We plan to be targeted about this rollout, in order to reach the most customers with the best technology as efficiently as possible.

2023 年，我們將重點從 5G 現代化轉向中頻段部署。與我們之前的網路部署類似，這將是一個多年的建設。到 2024 年底，我們預計中頻將涵蓋 30% 的 POP，並且我們將有近一半的資料流量在配備中頻頻譜的站點上運作。我們計劃有針對性地推出此產品，以便盡可能有效地以最好的技術覆蓋最多的客戶。

Finally, on the network, we sunset our CDMA network in mid-January of this year. Team did a great job in helping our customers migrate and the vast majority of them are now on more advanced technologies that provide a better network experience.

最後，在網路方面，我們在今年一月中旬關閉了 CDMA 網路。團隊在幫助我們的客戶遷移方面做得非常出色，其中絕大多數現在都採用了更先進的技術，可以提供更好的網路體驗。

Turning to Slide 6. In 2024, our operational priorities remain consistent. Our top priority remains to balance subscriber growth with financial discipline. We delivered nice ARPU growth last year, and we expect to modestly grow it again in 2024. We feel like there's still room to bring customers up to higher value plans and offerings. And in terms of promotions, we expect to focus heavily on retention offers, anticipate pulsing aggressive upgrade promotions throughout the year to ensure we're taking care of our customers and that we're retaining them.

轉向投影片 6。2024 年，我們的營運重點保持一致。我們的首要任務仍然是在用戶成長與財務紀律之間取得平衡。我們去年實現了不錯的 ARPU 成長，預計 2024 年將再次小幅成長。我們認為仍有空間為客戶提供更高價值的計畫和產品。在促銷方面，我們預計將專注於保留優惠，預計全年將推出積極的升級促銷活動，以確保我們照顧我們的客戶並留住他們。

For fixed wireless in 2024, we expect our momentum to continue. With the addition of mid-band spectrum, we can provide an even better experience for our customers, enabling us to better compete against other carriers and cable wireless providers. As I mentioned, we also expect tower revenues to grow, but not at the level that we saw in early '23, probably closer to a low to single -- mid-single-digit pace in the near term.

對於 2024 年的固定無線，我們預計我們的勢頭將持續下去。透過增加中頻段頻譜，我們可以為客戶提供更好的體驗，使我們能夠更好地與其他營運商和有線無線供應商競爭。正如我所提到的，我們也預期鐵塔收入將會成長，但不會達到 23 年初的水平，短期內可能會接近個位數成長。

We plan to keep working on our multiyear cost reduction program. We've had strong success in reducing costs throughout 2023, and we still see room for more efficiencies in the upcoming year. With all that in mind, we once again intend to be cash flow positive in 2024.

我們計劃繼續致力於我們的多年成本削減計劃。 2023 年，我們在降低成本方面取得了巨大成功，我們仍然認為來年還有提高效率的空間。考慮到所有這些，我們打算再次在 2024 年實現正現金流。

Briefly, I'd like to spend just a moment updating you on efforts to help bridge the digital divide. 41% of the population that the UScellular covers are in rural America. And as I've discussed in past calls, it's more expensive to cover rural America, more challenging network coverage environment and there's less customer density to help pay for the investments needed. We would not have been able to bring the high-quality connectivity to many of these hard-to-serve communities without the support of the Universal Service Fund.

簡而言之，我想花一點時間向您介紹幫助彌合數位落差的最新進展。 UScellular 涵蓋的人口中有 41% 在美國農村。正如我在過去的電話會議中所討論的那樣，覆蓋美國農村地區的成本更高，網路覆蓋環境更具挑戰性，而且客戶密度較低，無法幫助支付所需的投資。如果沒有普遍服務基金的支持，我們就無法為許多難以服務的社區提供高品質的連結。

In Washington, there's 2 programs being rolled out and that can spur further deployment of 5G networks and enhance economic opportunities in rural areas, but those programs need to be aligned and they need to be sequenced carefully. The first program is the 5G Fund for Rural America. You know it as the 5G Fund, that has over $9 billion allocated to improve 5G connectivity across the country. And the second is the BEAD Program. That's $42.5 billion allocated to it, to enhance broadband connectivity for homes and businesses across the country. And these are big dollars. And we as a nation owe it to rural America to spend the dollars effectively and efficiently.

華盛頓正在推出兩項計劃，可以刺激 5G 網路的進一步部署並增加農村地區的經濟機會，但這些計劃需要協調一致，並仔細排序。第一個計畫是美國農村 5G 基金。你知道它是 5G 基金，該基金已撥款超過 90 億美元用於改善全國的 5G 連結。第二個是BEAD 計劃。其中分配了 425 億美元，用於增強全國家庭和企業的寬頻連線。這些都是大筆資金。作為一個國家，我們有責任有效且有效率地使用美國農村的美元。

And as such, we believe the prudent course is to allow all of the BEAD funding decisions to be made before 5G Fund allocations take place. And there's 2 reasons for that. First, BEAD will fund fiber density in areas that lack 5G coverage today, and that will significantly reduce the cost of tower deployment. And second, BEAD will fund some fixed wireless deployments that will, by default, bring 5G mobile connections to those areas. And after we have visibility into fiber and fixed-wireless deployments funded by BEAD, the 5G Fund can then further expand 5G mobile connectivity into rural areas that aren't covered by BEAD.

因此，我們認為謹慎的做法是允許 ​​BEAD 的所有資金決策在 5G 基金分配之前做出。原因有兩個。首先，BEAD 將為目前缺乏 5G 覆蓋的地區的光纖密度提供資金，這將顯著降低塔部署成本。其次，BEAD 將資助一些固定無線部署，預設情況下，這些部署將為這些地區帶來 5G 行動連線。在我們了解 BEAD 資助的光纖和固定無線部署之後，5G 基金就可以進一步將 5G 行動連線擴展到 BEAD 未涵蓋的農村地區。

And speaking of BEAD, we are encouraged with the opportunity we've seen so far in several states within our territory, including Missouri and Illinois and Nebraska, have included fixed-wireless access in their plans for BEAD deployment. And as I said in the past, we have a compelling product that can meet the BEAD speed requirements and deliver a strong broadband experience to on and underconnected geographies in a relatively short period of time. And we see a lot of advantages in working with the states on this, and we're going to continue to do so.

說到BEAD，我們對迄今為止在我們領土內的幾個州（包括密蘇裡州、伊利諾伊州和內布拉斯加州）所看到的機會感到鼓舞，這些州已將固定無線接入納入其BEAD 部署計劃中。正如我過去所說，我們擁有一款引人注目的產品，可以滿足 BEAD 速度要求，並在相對較短的時間內為連接和連接不足的地區提供強大的寬頻體驗。我們看到與各州在這方面合作有很多優勢，我們將繼續這樣做。

And finally, before I hand it off to Doug, let me just share a few thoughts on guidance. Our guidance assumes a continuation of an industry-wide aggressive, competitive environment. That includes aggressive competition from cable wireless players. And that's coupled with a focus on cost reductions and efficient capital spend at UScellular. Our focus remains on maximizing return on capital while generating positive free cash flow. We'll be pulling the available levers to improve both of these measures over time. I want to thank the entire team for their hard work and ongoing commitment to serving our customers.

最後，在我將其交給道格之前，讓我分享一些關於指導的想法。我們的指導假設全行業繼續存在積極的競爭環境。其中包括有線無線營運商的激烈競爭。同時，UScellular 也注重降低成本和高效率的資本支出。我們的重點仍然是最大化資本回報，同時產生正的自由現金流。隨著時間的推移，我們將利用可用的槓桿來改善這兩項措施。我要感謝整個團隊的辛勤工作和對服務客戶的持續承諾。

And I'll now turn the call over to Doug.

我現在會把電話轉給道格。

Okay. Thanks, LT. Good morning, everybody. Let's start with a review of our customer results on Slide 7. For the quarter, postpaid handset gross additions decreased by 25,000 and net additions correspondingly declined 33,000, largely due to the intense competitive environment as well as an increase in churn partially attributable to a decline in our in-contract rate. Connected device results were largely in line with the prior year and include the strong fixed-wireless results that LT previously mentioned.

好的。謝謝，LT。大家早安。讓我們先回顧一下幻燈片7 上的客戶業績。本季度，後付費手機總增量減少了25,000 部，淨增量也相應下降了33,000 部，這主要是由於激烈的競爭環境以及客戶流失率的增加（部分原因是銷量下降）在我們的合約費率中。連接設備的結果與前一年基本一致，並且包括 LT 之前提到的強勁的固定無線結果。

Moving to Slide 8. Prepaid gross additions declined $18,000, driven by the competitive environment, a lower pool of prepaid gross adds, which is partially due to the availability of lower-end postpaid offerings and a reduced number of national retailers offering our full suite of prepaid products as we rationalize our prepaid distribution based on profitability. This decrease in gross additions was mitigated by an improvement in prepaid churn as we continue to enhance both pricing and digital engagement with our prepaid customers during 2023, and as a result, prepaid net additions decreased 11,000.

轉到投影片 8。由於競爭環境、預付費總增加額減少，預付費總增加額下降了 18,000 美元，部分原因是低端後付費產品的可用性以及提供我們全套服務的全國零售商數量減少。預付費產品，因為我們根據獲利能力合理化我們的預付費分配。隨著我們在 2023 年繼續加強與預付費客戶的定價和數位互動，預付費客戶流失率的改善緩解了總增加量的下降，因此，預付費淨增加量減少了 11,000。

Now let's turn to the financial results starting on Slide 9. Service revenue declined 3% due to a decrease in our average retail subscriber base, partially mitigated by an increase in postpaid ARPU, which was largely driven by a decrease in promotional cost amortization.

現在讓我們轉向從投影片9 開始的財務表現。由於我們的平均零售訂戶基數下降，服務收入下降了3%，後付費ARPU 的增加部分緩解了這一影響，而後付費ARPU 的增加主要是由於促銷成本攤銷的減少所致。

Power results are shown on Slide 10. The business delivered a solid quarter with $25 million of third-party tower revenues, which represents 3% growth. And as LT mentioned, we are bullish on the long-term revenue opportunities of the tower business.

Power 結果如投影片 10 所示。該業務季度表現穩健，第三方塔收入達 2,500 萬美元，成長 3%。正如LT所提到的，我們看好鐵塔業務的長期收入機會。

On the next slide, as disclosed last quarter, our own towers are well diversified from a geographic and revenue distribution standpoint.

在下一張投影片中，正如上季所揭露的那樣，從地理和收入分配的角度來看，我們自己的塔樓非常多元化。

Next, let's turn to our quarterly operating performance shown on Slide 12. For this discussion, I will refer to adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization as adjusted operating income. As I mentioned, service revenues declined 3%. However, this decline was more than offset with expense decreases, which resulted in a 19% increase in adjusted operating income.

接下來，讓我們來看看投影片 12 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。正如我所提到的，服務收入下降了 3%。然而，這一下降被費用減少所抵消，導致調整後營業收入增加了 19%。

Loss on equipment or equipment sales less cost of equipment sold decreased 38% as a result of lower transaction volume and lower promotional costs per transaction, partially due to higher adoption of flat rate plans where customers are not eligible for higher levels of device discounts. Consistent with the industry, we saw a decline in upgrade rates, which contributed to lower equipment sales.

由於交易量減少和每筆交易促銷成本降低，設備或設備銷售損失減去設備銷售成本下降了38%，部分原因是更多地採用統一費率計劃，而客戶沒有資格獲得更高水平的設備折扣。與業界一致，我們看到升級率下降，這導致設備銷售下降。

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 7%, driven by decreases in bad debt expense, the continued favorable impact from the reduction in workforce executed in the second quarter of 2023, lower selling-related expenses driven by decreased transaction volumes and ongoing expense discipline across categories.

銷售、一般和管理費用下降 7%，原因包括壞帳費用減少、2023 年第二季度勞動力減少帶來的持續有利影響、交易量減少導致銷售相關費用下降以及整個行業持續的費用紀律。類別。

Let's turn to our 2024 guidance on Slide 14. Our 2024 guidance contemplates the impact of our subscriber base decline in 2023, modest ARPU growth in a highly competitive and promotional environment as we continue to balance subscriber growth with financial discipline. We expect ranges of approximately $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion in service revenues, $750 million to $850 million in adjusted operating income and $920 million to $1.02 billion in adjusted EBITDA.

讓我們轉向幻燈片14 上的2024 年指導。我們的2024 年指導考慮了2023 年用戶基數下降的影響，以及在高度競爭和促銷環境中ARPU 適度增長的影響，因為我們繼續在用戶增長與財務紀律之間取得平衡。我們預計服務收入約為 29.5 億至 30.5 億美元，調整後營業收入為 7.5 億至 8.5 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 9.2 億至 10.2 億美元。

These ranges include the impact of shutting down our CDMA network from both a revenue and cost perspective in January 2024. At the time of the shutdown, we had approximately 18,000 remaining CDMA connections, and we are still working to provide these customers with new devices to access our network. This is down substantially from 174,000 CDMA customers at the beginning of 2023. And as LT mentioned, reflects the great work by our marketing and sales teams to ensure our CDMA customers transition to new devices to be able to continue service upon the shutdown. These customers will not be reflected as defections or churn in our 2024 results. However, the subset of these customers that ultimately defect, will have the impact of reducing 2024 service revenues.

這些範圍包括 2024 年 1 月從收入和成本角度關閉我們的 CDMA 網路的影響。在關閉時，我們剩餘約 18,000 個 CDMA 連接，我們仍在努力為這些客戶提供新設備存取我們的網路。這比2023 年初的174,000 名CDMA 客戶大幅下降。正如LT 所提到的，這反映了我們的行銷和銷售團隊所做的出色工作，以確保我們的CDMA 客戶過渡到新設備，以便能夠在停機後繼續提供服務。這些客戶不會在我們 2024 年的業績中反映為流失或流失。然而，最終流失的部分客戶將導致 2024 年服務收入減少。

In addition, shutting down our CDMA network is projected to result in approximately $40 million in run rate annual operating expense savings starting in 2025.

此外，從 2025 年開始，關閉 CDMA 網路預計將節省約 4,000 萬美元的年度營運費用。

Further, we expect the CDMA network shutdown to be accretive to 2024 adjusted operating income. For capital expenditures, we expect to invest between $550 million to $650 million as we continue our mid-band 5G deployment while prudently managing the level of this investment and the free cash flow of our business.

此外，我們預計 CDMA 網路關閉將增加 2024 年調整後的營業收入。對於資本支出，我們預計將投資 5.5 億至 6.5 億美元，繼續中頻 5G 部署，同時審慎管理投資水準和業務自由現金流。

I will now turn the call over to Michelle Brukwicki, Michelle?

我現在將電話轉給 Michelle Brukwicki，Michelle？

Thank you, Doug, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report on TDS Telecom's 2023 accomplishments on Slide 15. We are successfully executing on our fiber growth strategy that began many years ago. We had strong momentum in 2023, which is positioning us well for 2024. We ended 2023 with all of our expansion communities initially launched.

謝謝你，道格，大家早安。我很高興在幻燈片 15 上報告 TDS Telecom 2023 年的成就。我們正在成功執行多年前開始的光纖成長策略。我們在 2023 年勢頭強勁，這為我們在 2024 年做好了準備。2023 年結束時，我們所有的擴展社區都已初步啟動。

In 2023, we exceeded our fiber address delivery goal by adding 217,000 new marketable fiber service addresses. That's up 24% from our initial 2023 target, and it's quite an accomplishment for this team. As we make progress on our fiber deployments, we also focus on growing broadband penetration.

2023 年，我們增加了 217,000 個新的可銷售光纖服務地址，超額完成了光纖地址交付目標。這比我們最初的 2023 年目標成長了 24%，這對這個團隊來說是一項相當大的成就。隨著我們在光纖部署方面取得進展，我們也專注於提高寬頻普及率。

For the year, we grew total broadband connections 6%, mainly from growth in our expansion markets. And finally, to address the broadband needs of our most rural markets, we successfully secured enhanced A-CAM funding, which provides us with $90 million of annual regulatory revenue support for the next 15 years. That's $1.3 billion in total, in exchange for delivering high-speed broadband to approximately 270,000 addresses.

今年，我們的寬頻連線總數成長了 6%，主要來自擴展市場的成長。最後，為了滿足大多數農村市場的寬頻需求，我們成功獲得了 A-CAM 增強資金，這為我們在未來 15 年提供了 9,000 萬美元的年度監管收入支持。總計 13 億美元，作為向大約 270,000 個位址提供高速寬頻的交換。

Turning to Slide 16. Let me describe the vision we have for TDS Telecom. We are transforming ourselves into a fiber broadband company. We're doing this through investments in all of our market types, expansion, cable and ILEC markets. First is our fiber expansion program. Today, we have 370,000 service addresses in our expansion markets. They are 100% fiber, and we plan to continue growing our footprint in our expansion markets over the next several years.

轉向投影片 16。讓我描述一下我們對 TDS Telecom 的願景。我們正在將自己轉型為光纖寬頻公司。我們透過投資所有市場類型、擴張、有線電視和 ILEC 市場來實現這一目標。首先是我們的光纖擴張計劃。如今，我們在擴展市場中擁有 370,000 個服務地址。它們是 100% 纖維，我們計劃在未來幾年繼續擴大我們在擴張市場的足跡。

Next, are our cable markets. We have approximately 500,000 cable service addresses, which are already enabled with 1-gig speeds using DOCSIS 3.1 and fiber. 16% of our cable addresses are fiber today. And going forward, we will add more fiber opportunistically in certain markets and in new greenfield areas.

接下來是我們的電纜市場。我們擁有約 500,000 個有線服務位址，這些位址已使用 DOCSIS 3.1 和光纖實現 1 GB 速度。如今，我們的電纜位址中有 16% 是光纖。展望未來，我們將在某些市場和新的綠地地區趁機添加更多光纖。

And finally, in our incumbent wireline markets, which we also refer to this as our ILEC, we have just over 800,000 service addresses today. 43% of those addresses are fiber doc. We've been working to bring higher speeds to our ILEC for over a decade. Enhanced A-CAM will help us put even more fiber into our ILEC network in order to meet the required speeds of 100 megabits per second down and 20 megabits per second up. The EA-CAM builds are expected to take place over the next several years. So as you can see, we have plans for how we will serve customers in each of our market types. We have many investment opportunities ahead of us with our fiber expansion and EA-CAM builds that will require capital spending.

最後，在我們現有的有線市場（我們也稱之為 ILEC）中，我們目前擁有超過 80 萬個服務地址。其中 43% 的位址是光纖文件。十多年來，我們一直致力於提高 ILEC 的速度。增強型 A-CAM 將幫助我們在 ILEC 網路中投入更多光纖，以滿足每秒 100 兆位元下行和每秒 20 兆位元上行的速度要求。 EA-CAM 預計將在未來幾年內建造。正如您所看到的，我們已經制定瞭如何為每種市場類型的客戶提供服務的計劃。我們的光纖擴張和 EA-CAM 建設需要資本支出，因此我們面臨許多投資機會。

As we've consistently stated, we will prioritize our projects and continue to pace and manage our spending on these investments to stay within prudent capital and leverage levels.

正如我們一貫指出的那樣，我們將優先考慮我們的項目，並繼續調整和管理我們在這些投資上的支出，以保持在審慎的資本和槓桿水平之內。

Moving to Slide 17, I'll review our longer-term goals that we've set at TDS Telecom. We have been making solid progress on these goals. First, across our entire footprint, we're targeting approximately 1.2 million marketable fiber service addresses. We added 89,000 fiber addresses in the fourth quarter, which is our highest quarter to date. We ended the year with 799,000 total fiber service addresses. So we've accomplished 2/3 of our goal already. We are targeting 60% of our total service addresses to be served by fiber. We ended 2023 with fiber to 47%. This reflects progress in growing fiber through our expansion markets as well as fibering up our incumbent markets.

前往投影片 17，我將回顧我們在 TDS Telecom 設定的長期目標。我們在這些目標上一直取得紮實進展。首先，在我們的整個覆蓋範圍內，我們的目標是大約 120 萬個可銷售的光纖服務地址。我們在第四季度添加了 89,000 個光纖位址，這是迄今為止最高的季度。截至年底，我們的光纖服務地址總數為 799,000 個。所以我們已經完成了 2/3 的目標。我們的目標是透過光纖服務佔總服務地址的 60%。到 2023 年底，我們的纖維利用率達到 47%。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。

And finally, we are expecting to offer speeds of 1-gig or higher to at least 80% of our footprint. We finished 2023 with 72% at gig speeds, and that's a combination of our fiber and DOCSIS 3.1 technologies.

最後，我們期望為至少 80% 的足跡提供 1g 或更高的速度。到了 2023 年，我們的演出速度達到 72%，這是我們的光纖和 DOCSIS 3.1 技術的結合。

Another important metric to measure the success of our fiber program is broadband penetration. The lower-right graph shows our business case expectations for broadband penetration and our new expansion markets. We expect to achieve penetration rates of about 40% in a steady state, which is generally year 4 or 5. We are meeting or exceeding our business case expectations at the same time that we're growing our footprint.

衡量我們光纖計畫成功與否的另一個重要指標是寬頻普及率。右下圖顯示了我們對寬頻普及率和新擴張市場的業務案例預期。我們預計在穩定狀態下（通常是第 4 年或第 5 年）實現約 40% 的滲透率。在擴大業務範圍的同時，我們正在達到或超過我們的業務案例預期。

On Slide 18, you can see that we grew our total service addresses 12% year-over-year. Shown on the right side of the slide, we are increasing take rates for higher broadband speeds, with 76% of residential broadband customers choosing 100 megabits per second or greater, and 16% are choosing 1-gig or higher at the end of the quarter. Our broadband investments are producing positive results.

在投影片 18 上，您可以看到我們的服務地址總數年增了 12%。如幻燈片右側所示，我們正在提高更高寬頻速度的採用率，到本季末，76% 的住宅寬頻客戶選擇每秒100 兆或更高速度，16% 的客戶選擇每秒1 兆或更高速度。我們的寬頻投資正在產生積極成果。

As shown on Slide 19, we had 7,200 residential broadband net adds in the quarter, which contributed to a 6% growth in residential broadband connections for the year. This was largely driven by increases in expansion markets.

如投影片 19 所示，本季住宅寬頻淨增數量為 7,200 個，全年住宅寬頻連線數增加了 6%。這主要是由擴張市場的成長所推動的。

Net additions from our expansion in ILEC fiber markets more than offset the connection losses in copper and cable markets. Average residential revenue per connection was up 5% in the quarter due to price increases and product mix, partially offset by increased promotional activity.

我們在 ILEC 光纖市場擴張所帶來的淨增量遠遠抵銷了銅纜和纜線市場的連接損耗。由於價格上漲和產品組合，本季每個連接的平均住宅收入增加了 5%，但部分被促銷活動的增加所抵消。

As shown in the chart on the right, we grew residential revenue 6% in the quarter, with expansion market revenues increasing to $23 million. As expected, our commercial revenues decreased 13% in the quarter as we continue to decommission our CLEC markets.

如右圖所示，本季住宅收入成長了 6%，擴張市場收入增至 2,300 萬美元。正如預期的那樣，隨著我們繼續停用 CLEC 市場，我們本季的商業收入下降了 13%。

On Slide 20, I will share some financial highlights. Total operating revenues increased 2% in the fourth quarter and 1% for the full year, as residential revenues offset commercial and wholesale declines. Almost 70% of our 2023 fiber service addresses were completed in the back half of the year. As such, we are just starting to ramp up penetration and revenues in those markets.

在幻燈片 20 上，我將分享一些財務亮點。由於住宅收入抵消了商業和批發收入的下降，第四季度總營業收入增長了 2%，全年增長了 1%。我們的 2023 年光纖服務地址中近 70% 已在今年下半年完成。因此，我們才剛開始提高這些市場的滲透率和收入。

Cash expenses decreased 4% in the quarter and increased 2% for the year. Adjusted EBITDA grew 19% in the quarter and was down 2% for the year. Remember that cost to get a community initially launched are incurred upfront before revenues start to grow. We are now starting to see more expansion market revenue growth along with very disciplined cost management across our organization, which is resulting in an improved adjusted EBITDA this quarter. Full year capital expenditures of $577 million were up from the prior year due to increased investment in fiber deployments.

本季現金支出下降 4%，全年現金支出增加 2%。調整後 EBITDA 本季成長 19%，全年下降 2%。請記住，最初啟動社區的成本是在收入開始成長之前預先產生的。我們現在開始看到更多的擴張市場收入成長以及整個組織非常嚴格的成本管理，這導致本季調整後的 EBITDA 有所改善。由於光纖部署投資增加，全年資本支出比前一年增加 5.77 億美元。

We had great momentum with our fiber builds in 2023, so we opportunistically chose to pull capital forward and get more service addresses than we originally planned. We also added more internal construction crews, which required upfront investment in 2023 but are expected to benefit build costs in future years.

我們在 2023 年的光纖建設勢頭強勁，因此我們機會主義地選擇向前推進資本並獲得比最初計劃更多的服務地址。我們也增加了更多的內部施工人員，這需要 2023 年的前期投資，但預計將有利於未來幾年的建設成本。

On Slide 21, we provided guidance for 2024. We are forecasting total telecom revenues of $1.07 billion to $1.1 billion. This reflects our goal of top line growth driven by continued improvements in residential revenues, primarily from our expansion markets, offsetting pressures in our ILEC copper markets. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $310 million and $340 million in 2024.

在投影片 21 中，我們提供了 2024 年的指引。我們預測電信總收入為 10.7 億美元至 11 億美元。這反映了我們的目標是透過住宅收入的持續改善（主要來自我們的擴張市場）來推動營收成長，從而抵消我們的 ILEC 銅市場的壓力。 2024 年調整後 EBITDA 預計將在 3.1 億美元至 3.4 億美元之間。

As previously discussed, we incurred upfront costs in 2022 and 2023, to get our new expansion markets launched. As penetrations and revenues grow in those markets, we expect to see adjusted EBITDA increase.

如前所述，我們在 2022 年和 2023 年產生了前期成本，以啟動新的擴張市場。隨著這些市場的滲透率和收入的成長，我們預期調整後的 EBITDA 將會增加。

In 2024, we're planning to deliver about 125,000 fiber service addresses. We pulled forward some CapEx spend in addresses into 2023, so we'll be slowing the pace of our builds and our spending in 2024. Again, we'll resize and pace our capital expenditures commensurate with our financial capacity. With that said, capital expenditures are expected to be between $310 million and $340 million in 2024.

到 2024 年，我們計劃提供約 125,000 個光纖服務地址。我們將一些地址的資本支出推遲到 2023 年，因此我們將放慢 2024 年的建設速度和支出。同樣，我們將根據我們的財務能力調整資本支出的規模和節奏。儘管如此，2024 年的資本支出預計將在 3.1 億美元至 3.4 億美元之間。

And we believe we can deliver a meaningful number of fiber service addresses with lower capital spending in 2024 for the following reasons. First, all of our expansion markets have been initially launched. That means our upfront capital spending is behind us, and we can leverage the foundational systems that we put in place over the last several years. Second, we have also invested in our own internal construction crews to supplement building out fiber in certain areas. These crews provide us with both operational and financial flexibility. And finally, another reason CapEx is expected to be lower in 2024 is because we will be doing planning and engineering for our EA-CAM builds during 2024. We do not expect capital spend on these projects to ramp up until after this year.

我們相信，由於以下原因，我們可以在 2024 年以較低的資本支出提供大量光纖服務地址。首先，我們所有的拓展市場都已經初步啟動。這意味著我們的前期資本支出已經過去，我們可以利用過去幾年建立的基礎系統。其次，我們也投資了自己的內部施工人員，以補充某些區域的光纖建設。這些工作人員為我們提供了營運和財務靈活性。最後，預計 2024 年資本支出較低的另一個原因是我們將在 2024 年期間為 EA-CAM 建設進行規劃和工程設計。我們預計這些項目的資本支出要到今年之後才會增加。

Along with that, we have pulled back on capital in our incumbent markets, knowing that EA-CAM investment will be coming soon. Although capital spending on new fiber builds is expected to be lower in 2024, we will not be slowing down our sales efforts. We will be very focused on ramping up broadband penetration and revenues across all of our deployed fiber addresses during 2024.

同時，我們已經撤回了現有市場的資本，因為我們知道 EA-CAM 投資即將到來。儘管 2024 年新建光纖的資本支出預計會下降，但我們不會放慢銷售力度。我們將非常專注於在 2024 年期間提高我們所有部署的光纖位址的寬頻滲透率和收入。

Before turning over the call, I want to once again thank the team. We have an amazing group of associates who navigated a dynamic and challenging year. The team has demonstrated time and again they can execute and pivot as the business evolves. We ended the year with a lot of momentum, and I look forward to what 2024 brings.

在接通電話之前，我想再次感謝團隊。我們擁有一群優秀的員工，他們度過了充滿活力且充滿挑戰的一年。團隊一次又一次地證明，他們可以隨著業務的發展而執行和調整。我們以強勁的勢頭結束了這一年，我期待 2024 年會帶來什麼。

I'll now turn the call back to Colleen.

我現在將電話轉回給科琳。

Okay. Just as a reminder, we will not be answering questions related to the strategic review of UScellular today.

好的。提醒一下，我們今天不會回答與 UScellular 策略審查相關的問題。

Operator, we are ready for the first question.

接線員，我們準備好回答第一個問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Ric Prentiss from Raymond James.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Ric Prentiss。

A couple of questions. First, I think people are a little surprised that there's a shelf filing at USM for, I guess, it says it's a mixed shelf debt preferred or maybe some depositary shares. Explain to us, what's the purpose of that shelf? And I've got 2 other quick follow-ups.

有幾個問題。首先，我認為人們對 USM 的擱置申請感到有點驚訝，我猜，它說這是混合擱置債務優先股或可能是一些存託股票。向我們解釋一下，那個架子的用途是什麼？我還有另外 2 個快速跟進。

Yes, Ric, first off, the shelf filing, we made a shelf filing actually both at TDS and at UScellular. Right now, we're giving ourselves flexibility to keep all our options open. This is really an administrative at this point, and it's in conjunction with replenishing our shelves. And specifically at UScellular, our shelf was set to expire in May, and we're getting ahead of it with the 10-K filing. So at this point, we don't really have any specific current intentions to use it now.

是的，Ric，首先是擱置歸檔，我們實際上在 TDS 和 UScellular 都進行了擱置歸檔。現在，我們給予自己靈活性，以保持所有選擇的開放性。在這一點上，這實際上是一項行政管理，並且與補充我們的貨架有關。特別是在 UScellular，我們的貨架原定於 5 月到期，我們提前提交了 10-K 申請。因此，目前我們還沒有任何具體的使用它的意圖。

Okay. Second question is, LT you talked and Doug, you talked about churn and gross adds on the postpaid side. Looking at Slide 7, obviously, there had been a tick up even seasonally on the churn side. I think you also mentioned you're going to focus in '24 on retention. How should we think about churn going into '24? Is third and fourth quarter indicative of kind of what we think is happening in the competitive universe? Or are you going to really be attempting to get down back to prior year levels?

好的。第二個問題是，LT，您談到了後付費方面的流失和毛增加。看看投影片 7，顯然，客戶流失率甚至出現了季節性上升。我想你也提到你將在 24 年專注於保留。我們該如何看待 24 世紀的客戶流失？第三和第四季是否顯示了我們認為競爭領域正在發生的情況？或者你真的會嘗試回到去年的水平嗎？

A few things with that. One is when you look at the fourth quarter churn, about half of that increased about 5 basis points was due to some involuntary churn that got pushed from Q3 to Q4 based on some systems issues we had with our collections queue. So that's one time that's not going to recur. And as LT mentioned during his remarks, we're very focused on retention in 2024 and investing a lot of our promotional dollars in maintaining our existing customers.

與此相關的一些事情。一個是，當你查看第四季度的客戶流失率時，大約有一半的客戶流失率增加了約5 個基點，這是由於我們的催收隊列中出現的一些系統問題導致一些非自願客戶流失，這些客戶流失率從第三季推到了第四季。所以這只是一次，不會再發生。正如 LT 在演講中提到的，我們非常注重 2024 年的保留，並投入大量促銷資金來維護現有客戶。

So our expectation, or our goal in 2024 is to bring churn down. I will say early in '24, we've seen some good signs. And we ought to keep highly focused on postpaid handset churn in particular.

因此，我們 2024 年的期望或目標是減少客戶流失。我想說，在 24 年初，我們已經看到了一些很好的跡象。我們應該特別關注後付費手機的流失情況。

Okay. And then on the tower segment, obviously, some pressure there. CapEx spending in the industry has kind of slowed down a little bit. I know in the past, we've talked about why not put in place a tower segment reporting, right, of anchor contract between UScellular wireless and UScellular towers. Can you update us as far as thinking about why not put in place a contractual relationship between UScellular towers and UScellular wireless?

好的。然後在塔架部分，顯然存在一些壓力。該行業的資本支出略有放緩。我知道過去我們討論過為什麼不建立一個塔段報告，對吧，美國蜂窩無線和美國蜂窩塔之間的錨定合約。您能否向我們介紹為什麼不在 UScellular 訊號塔和 UScellular 無線網路之間建立合約關係？

Ric. So I mean, that's kind of 2 questions there. I mean, the first is from a slowdown perspective, this is industry-wide, not surprising. As we've heard, both all the other wireless carriers report pullback in CapEx, they're primarily complete with their mid-band rollout. And so everybody is pulling back a bit from a spend perspective, and that affects new tenancies, it affects amendments. And you've also seen that in all the other tower companies' earnings results. And so we're not immune to that.

瑞克.所以我的意思是，這是兩個問題。我的意思是，第一個是從放緩的角度來看，這是整個行業的，並不奇怪。正如我們所知，所有其他無線營運商都報告了資本支出的縮減，他們主要完成了中頻段的推出。因此，從支出角度來看，每個人都在削減一點，這會影響新的租約，也會影響修正案。您在所有其他鐵塔公司的獲利結果中也看到了這一點。所以我們也不能倖免。

Long term, we do remain really bullish on our towers. We have I believe, strong MLAs in place with all the wireless carriers. My sense is that, I mean, without knowing their strategy, my sense is DISH is taking a breather after hitting their last build-out obligation, but they've got more to come.

從長遠來看，我們確實仍然看好我們的塔樓。我相信，我們與所有無線營運商都制定了強而有力的工作重點。我的感覺是，我的意思是，在不知道他們的策略的情況下，我的感覺是 DISH 在完成最後的擴建任務後正在喘口氣，但他們還有更多的事情要做。

If I fast forward what's going to drive further capacity expansion in the wireless industry, there's no new spectrum on the horizon. We can talk about this on a -- in a different topic. I mean the SEC doesn't even have spectrum authority right now. And so there's no new spectrum on the horizon. So the way to add capacity is going to be more radios and more towers, and that means more long-term growth for the tower segment. And so we remain optimistic about it even though we did see a bit of a slowdown in '23, and we expect that slowdown to increase in '24.

如果我快轉推動無線產業進一步容量擴張的因素，就會發現並沒有新的頻譜即將出現。我們可以在另一個主題中討論這個問題。我的意思是，美國證券交易委員會現在甚至沒有頻譜授權。因此，沒有新的頻譜即將出現。因此，增加容量的方法將是增加無線電設備和訊號塔，這意味著訊號塔領域的長期成長。因此，我們仍然對此保持樂觀，儘管我們確實在 23 年看到了一些放緩，並且我們預計這種放緩將在 24 年加劇。

As far as your question about separate segment reporting, we continue to evaluate it, frankly, and to be transparent on this, this is one of those things that once you do it, you can't dial it back. And so we're trying to be deliberate and disciplined about what information we provide and when and how we provide it. We have heard you and others in terms of a desire to have more information on our towers, and we provided that. And so we continue to provide more detail on that tower business. The separate segment reporting is not something that we're ready to pull the trigger on just yet, but that may be something we do in the future.

至於你關於單獨分部報告的問題，我們將繼續對其進行評估，坦白說，並且要對此保持透明，這是一旦你這樣做就無法收回的事情之一。因此，我們在提供哪些資訊、何時以及如何提供資訊方面努力做到深思熟慮並遵守紀律。我們聽到您和其他人希望獲得有關我們塔樓的更多信息，我們也提供了這些信息。因此，我們將繼續提供有關該塔業務的更多詳細資訊。我們還沒有準備好啟動單獨的分部報告，但這可能是我們將來要做的事情。

Our next question comes from Simon Flannery from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·弗蘭納裡。

To start off, do you have any sizing of any exposure to ACP across the businesses?

首先，您是否對各企業的 ACP 風險敞口有任何規模？

Simon, yes, we do. So we're under-index in ACP. We have about 20,000 ACP customers. And so we just don't have a lot there. Our marketing teams are working on giving those customers a soft landing to the extent that ACP does go away, which is the current expectation. And so the short answer is minimal exposure.

西蒙，是的，我們願意。所以我們的 ACP 指數偏低。我們有大約 20,000 個 ACP 客戶。所以我們那裡沒有太多。我們的行銷團隊正在努力為這些客戶提供軟著陸，直至 ACP 確實消失，這是目前的預期。因此，簡短的答案是盡量減少曝光。

Yes. And Simon, in the TDS Telecom side, very similar story. We have about 19,000 customers enrolled in ACP, and we, too, are following the FCC's direction in terms of winding down that program. We're working with all of those customers in order to try to find the right broadband product for them. There might be a little exposure there to customers who may not land with us but we actually also see this as an opportunity. There's ACP customers of other companies that might be looking for a new provider, and we'd be happy to serve them and we've got efforts in place to try to attract those customers. So impact should be minimal and anything is included in our guidance.

是的。 TDS Telecom 方面的 Simon 也有非常相似的故事。我們有大約 19,000 名客戶註冊了 ACP，我們也正在遵循 FCC 的指示來逐步結束該計劃。我們正在與所有這些客戶合作，試圖為他們找到合適的寬頻產品。對於那些可能不會與我們合作的客戶來說，可能會有一些曝光，但我們實際上也認為這是一個機會。其他公司的 ACP 客戶可能正在尋找新的供應商，我們很樂意為他們提供服務，我們已採取措施來吸引這些客戶。因此，影響應該是最小的，並且所有內容都包含在我們的指導中。

Great. That's very helpful. And then on the wireless affiliates, some -- just looking at the guidance, it seems like the expectation is for fairly similar contribution to EBITDA in '24 versus '23. Is that right? And any comments on the trends there or any growth expectations on that?

偉大的。這非常有幫助。然後在無線附屬公司方面，一些 - 只要看看指導，似乎預期 24 年與 23 年對 EBITDA 的貢獻相當相似。是對的嗎？對那裡的趨勢有何評論或對此有何成長預期？

Yes, you're exactly right, Simon, we're expecting that to be relatively flat in '24 relative to what you saw in '23. So no significant changes there. And obviously, we don't directly control those entities or the distributions, but our expectation is pretty flat.

是的，你說得完全正確，西蒙，我們預計 24 年的情況與你在 23 年看到的情況相比會相對持平。所以那裡沒有重大變化。顯然，我們不直接控制這些實體或分佈，但我們的期望相當平坦。

Great. And then just the last one on the BEAD timing. I know LT, you talked about the program on the 5G. In working with your states, I know we're going through sort of challenge processes and so forth. But what's your latest view on when we'll actually see actual awards take place and when we'll know more about the FWA role and so forth?

偉大的。然後是 BEAD 計時的最後一個。我知道LT，你談到了5G上的方案。在與你們各州合作時，我知道我們正在經歷某種挑戰過程等等。但是，當我們真正看到真正的頒獎典禮以及我們何時會更多地了解 FWA 的角色等時，您有何最新看法？

So I think dollars, Simon, will probably start to flow late this year. I think the majority of dollars will probably start coming in, in 2025. I also expect to have a bit of a, call it, a sequenced or you could call it a take 2 on funding plans. My expectation is that states will first come out with quite aggressive plans in terms of expectations of fiber build-out, expectations of low-cost pricing plans, expectations of a whole bunch of other, let's call it, overhead associated with those plans. It will be interesting to see how much uptake they get, right? Is this -- is round one of BEAD going to be a tremendous success? Or is round one of BEAD is going to be (inaudible) off all over again. I think that's a question that still needs to be answered.

所以我認為，西蒙，美元可能會在今年晚些時候開始流動。我認為大部分資金可能會在 2025 年開始流入。我還預計會有一些融資計劃，稱之為“排序”，或者你可以稱之為“第二次融資”計劃。我的預期是，各州將首先在光纖建設的預期、低成本定價計劃的預期、與這些計劃相關的一系列其他費用的預期方面提出相當激進的計劃。看看他們得到了多少關注會很有趣，對吧？ BEAD 第一輪會取得巨大成功嗎？或者 BEAD 的第一輪將再次（聽不清楚）關閉。我認為這是一個仍然需要回答的問題。

Based on our conversations, I still feel quite optimistic about the long-term role of fixed wireless that we can play, particularly for our more rural states, it's unclear to me if that will be kind of part of the first round, with some of the states that we're talking about, or it's going to be later. But I wouldn't expect meaningful dollars to flow until next year.

根據我們的談話，我仍然對我們可以發揮的固定無線的長期作用感到非常樂觀，特別是對於我們更多的農村州，我不清楚這是否會成為第一輪的一部分，其中一些我們正在談論的州，或者稍後會發生。但我預計直到明年才會有有意義的資金流入。

Our next question comes from Michael Rollins from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

Just following up on the BEAD topic. When you look at UScellular as well as TDS, can you frame the type of financial capacity you have to go after BEAD opportunities? And if there are significant wins, how does that influence capital allocation for each side or both?

只是跟進 BEAD 主題。當您考慮 UScellular 和 TDS 時，您能否確定為追求 BEAD 機會而必須具備的財務能力類型？如果取得重大勝利，這將如何影響雙方或雙方的資本分配？

Mike...

麥克風...

LT, do you want me to take that first TDS?

LT，你想讓我接受第一個 TDS 嗎？

Sure. Go ahead, Michelle.

當然。來吧，米歇爾。

Yes. So Mike, for TDS Telecom, there is an important distinction here. So there -- the 2 federal broadband programs. The first one is the Enhanced A-CAM Program, and the second one is BEAD. And it's our understanding that if addresses are under the Enhanced A-CAM Program, which we opted into in almost all of our states, those addresses also cannot be funded by BEAD, which makes sense that you wouldn't have 2 federal programs funding the same addresses.

是的。對於 TDS Telecom 來說，Mike 認為這裡有一個重要的區別。這就是兩個聯邦寬頻計劃。第一個是增強型 A-CAM 程序，第二個是 BEAD。我們的理解是，如果地址屬於增強型A-CAM 計劃（我們在幾乎所有州都選擇加入該計劃），那麼這些地址也不能由BEAD 資助，這是有道理的，因為您不會有2 個聯邦計劃資助該地址。相同的地址。

So because we've opted to be a large participant in the EA-CAM program, at TDS Telecom, we actually don't plan to be a BEAD participant. So for capital allocation, our competing priorities are our fiber expansion program and the Enhanced A-CAM program, and BEAD does not enter into that equation in any significant way.

因此，由於我們選擇成為 TDS Telecom EA-CAM 計劃的主要參與者，因此我們實際上並不打算成為 BEAD 參與者。因此，對於資本分配，我們的競爭優先事項是我們的光纖擴張計劃和增強型 A-CAM 計劃，而 BEAD 並沒有以任何重要方式參與該等式。

So let me tackle it from a fixed wireless perspective, Mike. So the first place I would point to is where there are going to be BEAD opportunities that can be served within the radius of our current tower build. Where we can do that, it's a pretty simple equation. We utilize existing mobile capacity. The -- we leverage that capacity towards serving a fixed wireless need. And if we can do that with the support of BEAD dollars, all the better. And so for those homes and businesses, we think we have a really compelling return on capital equation that comes along with that. What percentage of those are going to be? I have no clue, right? We kind of have to wait and see what the states come out with.

所以讓我從固定無線的角度來解決這個問題，麥克。因此，我要指出的第一個地方是，在我們目前塔樓的半徑內可以提供服務的 BEAD 機會。我們可以做到這一點，這是一個非常簡單的方程式。我們利用現有的行動容量。我們利用這種能力來滿足固定無線需求。如果我們能在 BEAD 美元的支持下做到這一點，那就更好了。因此，對於這些家庭和企業來說，我們認為我們擁有非常引人注目的資本回報率。其中的百分比是多少？我沒有任何線索，對吧？我們必須等待，看看各州會拿出什麼結果。

There's a second set of homes, obviously, that are not currently reached by either fiber or by a sufficiently strong enough mobile signal that we can deliver a compelling fixed wireless product. And for that, you need to put a new tower in. The reason that we've advocated for BEAD is, and the reason -- I'll go back to our sequencing point that I made earlier. I expect the BEAD will create a significantly denser fiber grid, completely irrespective of fixed wireless. So that will bring our overall cost down to serve.

顯然，還有第二組家庭目前無法透過光纖或足夠強的行動訊號到達，因此我們無法提供引人注目的固定無線產品。為此，你需要放置一個新的塔。我們提倡使用 BEAD 的原因是——我將回到我之前提出的排序點。我預計 BEAD 將創建一個密度明顯更高的光纖網格，完全與固定無線無關。這將降低我們的整體服務成本。

And if I can -- I've mentioned this number before, but our cost to put a tower in rural America is between $650,000 to $1 million. If with BEAD dollars, I can bring that down to $100,000 or $200,000, then that could create a pretty compelling investment opportunity. I'll point you, though -- from an overall high-level guidance, I'll point you to the priority that I finished our conversation with about 2024, which is we're laser-focused on return on capital. And so if there are BEAD opportunities in '24 or in '25, that help us expand return on capital, meaning we can have really efficient use of our internal capital spend, and we can drive attractive returns on it, we'll participate. If it's not a good use of capital, we won't.

如果可以的話——我之前已經提到過這個數字，但我們在美國農村建造一座塔的成本在 65 萬到 100 萬美元之間。如果使用 BEAD 資金，我可以將其降低至 100,000 美元或 200,000 美元，那麼這可能會創造一個非常有吸引力的投資機會。不過，我會向您指出——從整體高層指導來看，我會向您指出我在 2024 年結束談話時的優先事項，即我們將專注於資本回報率。因此，如果 24 年或 25 年有 BEAD 機會，幫助我們擴大資本回報，這意味著我們可以真正有效地利用我們的內部資本支出，並且我們可以從中獲得有吸引力的回報，我們就會參與其中。如果這不能很好地利用資本，我們就不會這樣做。

And I've also made that really clear to both the states and to NTIA. These programs have to be structured in a way that it's a positive return on capital equation, not just for UScellular, but for anyone that's going to participate. And so if we were to expand our capital spend in the future because of BEAD, it would be because we see returns that are over and above the current ones that we would expect as part of our long-term plan.

我也向各州和 NTIA 明確表達了這一點。這些計劃的結構必須能夠帶來積極的資本回報，不僅對 UScellular 如此，對於任何將要參與的人也是如此。因此，如果我們因為 BEAD 而擴大未來的資本支出，那是因為我們看到的回報超出了我們長期計劃的預期回報。

And just one other for you, LT. Going back to Slide 7, I mean, just looking at the trajectory of postpaid handset gross adds. And I'm wondering if you can unpack a bit more of what's happening on the gross at front for UScellular? And are there opportunities to start to bend the curve on this and get greater output on that front?

還有另一件送給你，LT。回到投影片 7，我的意思是，看看後付費手機總增加的軌跡。我想知道您是否可以詳細介紹 UScellular 的毛收入狀況？是否有機會開始改變這方面的曲線並在這方面獲得更大的產出？

Yes. The -- I mean the thing that has driven the slowdown in gross adds, it's a pretty simple equation, and it's been the expansion and the rise of the cable wireless players. If I rewind 3 years, they had a share of essentially 0 in our marketplace or in the markets where we operate across our footprint. Even though we see cable competing, by now, in about 2/3 of our footprint, they're still not everywhere. And their market share is still only in the 3% to 4%, but their share of gross adds is about 15%.

是的。我的意思是導致總增加量放緩的因素，這是一個非常簡單的方程式，而且是有線無線播放器的擴張和崛起。如果我倒回 3 年，他們在我們的市場或我們業務覆蓋的市場中的份額基本上為 0。儘管我們看到電纜競爭，到目前為止，它們佔據了我們約 2/3 的足跡，但它們仍然不是無處不在。他們的市佔率仍然只在3%到4%之間，但他們的總增加份額卻在15%左右。

And so how are they able to do this? Well, it's really twofold. The first is they offload almost 90%, depending on which statistics you look at, let's call it, 90% of their traffic is offloaded to WiFi. But for us, that number is about 80%. So 80% of the usage of our devices is done on WiFi versus 20% is on cellular. And that doesn't sound like a big difference until you think about it from a usage on cellular perspective, and then you say, okay, well, 10% of a cable device user is on cellular and they have to turn around and pay for that from a wholesale rate perspective, whereas 20% of our usage is on cellular. So double the usage on the cellular network.

那麼他們是如何做到這一點的呢？嗯，這確實是雙重的。首先是他們卸載了幾乎 90%，這取決於你查看的統計數據，我們可以這麼說，他們 90% 的流量都卸載到了 WiFi。但對我們來說，這個數字約為 80%。因此，我們的設備 80% 的使用是透過 WiFi 完成的，而 20% 是透過蜂巢網路完成的。這聽起來並沒有什麼大的區別，直到你從蜂窩網絡的使用角度考慮它，然後你說，好吧，好吧，10% 的有線設備用戶使用蜂窩網絡，他們必須轉身付費從批發費率的角度來看，而我們20% 的使用量是透過蜂窩網路使用的。因此，蜂窩網路的使用量加倍。

And so their overall network economics are quite attractive. And you couple that with their ability to essentially cross-subsidize their plans with profits from their wireline business, different people can agree whether or not it's [across] with a wireless is a profitable business for the cable wireless players or not. But these are smart people, and they're driven by economics. And so they wouldn't be in the business if they didn't find a way to make money, and I think they're either making money on wireless even with the price competition they're putting in place, or at the very least, they're breaking even and they're seeing the benefit on churn.

因此他們的整體網路經濟非常有吸引力。再加上他們能夠透過有線業務的利潤來本質上交叉補貼他們的計劃，不同的人可以同意無線業務對於有線無線營運商來說是否是一項有利可圖的業務。但這些人都是聰明人，他們是受經濟驅動的。因此，如果他們找不到賺錢的方法，他們就不會進入這個行業，我認為他們要么在無線領域賺錢，即使他們正在進行價格競爭，或者至少，他們正在實現收支平衡，並且看到了客戶流失帶來的好處。

And so the combination of better offload economics, coupled with being able to cross subsidize with their wireless plans, it makes a difference. And we've got spectrum in our markets that offering a $29 plan for a month with one line free. So you're talking $15 a month unlimited on the Verizon network, that's significant price pressure that's been put in place over time, and that's affected us. It's affected everybody in the industry. I mean that is the major driver of change that has occurred.

因此，更好的卸載經濟性，再加上能夠與無線計劃交叉補貼，它會產生影響。我們在市場上的頻譜提供每月 29 美元、免費一條線路的套餐。所以你所說的 Verizon 網路每月 15 美元無限制，這是隨著時間的推移而產生的巨大價格壓力，這對我們產生了影響。它影響了行業中的每個人。我的意思是這是已經發生的變化的主要驅動力。

And so how do you deal with that? Well, I mean the first is, and we talked about this earlier in the call, we're really investing in retaining our customers. We invest in trying to provide a great customer experience. We've invested significantly in our digital platform, that's there to ensure that customers have a smooth and seamless experience. We've put aggressive promotions in place. We went through the holidays with existing -- same as new pricing, and you can expect us to [pole set] in and out throughout the year. And so step one will be to really continue to invest in customer retention.

那你要如何處理這個問題呢？嗯，我的意思是，第一個問題是，我們在電話會議的早些時候談到了這一點，我們確實在留住客戶方面進行了投資。我們致力於提供卓越的客戶體驗。我們在數位平台上投入了大量資金，以確保客戶擁有流暢、無縫的體驗。我們已經實施了積極的促銷活動。我們以現有的價格度過了假期——與新的價格相同，你可以期待我們全年都會[桿組]進出。因此，第一步是真正繼續投資於客戶保留。

And the second step, and this is a big one for us, is to continue to enhance our network experience. We talked about rolling out mid-band. Everywhere will be modernized for 5G, we see better customer results and higher customer perception of our network. Everywhere where we roll out mid-band, we see the same thing. And so we've pivoted our capital spending. We buy in the large -- we haven't completed it, but we've slowed the rest of our 5G modernization. By now, you've already got 80% of our traffic being carried on 5G-modernized sites. So we've pivoted the capital spend towards mid-band. And that mid-band investment will create a better customer experience. And we think it will compete well in the marketplace. And the combination of a good network experience with an attractive price point. It's always been network and price that operates in our industry, we can -- we expect that to continue.

第二步，對我們來說是重要的一步，是繼續增強我們的網路體驗。我們討論了推出中頻段。各地都將實現 5G 現代化，我們看到更好的客戶成果和更高的客戶對我們網路的認知。無論我們在哪裡推出中頻段，我們都會看到同樣的情況。因此，我們調整了資本支出的方向。我們大規模購買——我們還沒有完成，但我們已經放慢了 5G 現代化的其餘部分。到目前為止，我們 80% 的流量已經透過 5G 現代化站點進行傳輸。因此，我們將資本支出轉向中檔。中頻投資將創造更好的客戶體驗。我們認為它將在市場上具有良好的競爭力。並將良好的網路體驗與有吸引力的價格點相結合。我們的行業一直以網路和價格為主導，我們可以——我們預計這種情況將繼續下去。

But that's the fundamental change, Mike, in the industry, has been over the last couple of years has been the rise of cable wireless. I don't see that changing in the near term. I continue to think that we offer a really attractive alternative of a great network and an attractive price. We're going to keep doing that. We're going to keep competing. But that's what's driven the challenges in gross adds, and that's what we're doing to address it in the future.

但這是行業中的根本性變化，麥克在過去幾年中一直在有線無線的興起。我認為這種情況短期內不會改變。我仍然認為我們提供了一個非常有吸引力的替代方案，除了良好的網路和有吸引力的價格。我們將繼續這樣做。我們將繼續競爭。但這正是增加總收入面臨挑戰的原因，也是我們未來為解決這個問題所採取的措施。

And one other quick one. You mentioned the overlap of cable in terms of the competitive nature against the wireless footprint that you have. What's the overlap competitively with the big 3 wireless national providers?

還有另外一個快的。您提到了電纜與無線覆蓋範圍的競爭性質的重疊。與三大無線國內供應商的競爭有哪些重疊？

So we see them in -- you mean the 60% some-odd that I quoted in terms of the percentage of our markets where we compete against them. And you're asking what that number would be for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile?

所以我們看到他們——你的意思是我引用的 60% 有點奇怪，也就是我們與他們競爭的市場百分比。您可能會問 AT&T、Verizon、T-Mobile 的號碼是多少？

Yes. For each of them, what's the percent overlap against each of those 3 national wireless players?

是的。對於他們中的每一個來說，與這 3 個國家無線運營商中每一個的重疊百分比是多少？

Do you know that, Doug?

你知道嗎，道格？

Yes, it's substantially all. It's greater than 90% for all the big 3.

是的，這基本上就是全部。三大巨頭的比例都超過 90%。

Our last question will come from Sergey Dluzhevskiy from GAMCO Investors.

我們的最後一個問題將來自 GAMCO Investors 的 Sergey Dluzhevskiy。

My first question is for LT on fixed wireless. So this C-band being deployed and in general, mid-band range being deployed for you, how does that impact your approach to fixed wireless over medium term? And also, what is the addressable market that you see with fixed wireless now that you have all your spectrum that we can deploy over the next few years? And also, how do you think about the capacity needs for fixed wireless over the next few years?

我的第一個問題是關於固定無線上的 LT。因此，正在部署的 C 頻段以及一般情況下為您部署的中頻段範圍，這對您中期內的固定無線方法有何影響？此外，既然您擁有我們可以在未來幾年部署的所有頻譜，您認為固定無線的潛在市場是什麼？另外，您如何看待未來幾年固定無線的容量需求？

So let me start with the overall market opportunity. I've referenced this number in the past. It hasn't changed. We see the overall opportunity for this business at around 400,000 subscribers. That's a combination of 2 factors, and it's a combination of the market dynamics where we believe this product is competitive versus the network dynamics of -- I mean, this is a product that rides on top of the investments that have been made in mobility.

讓我從整體市場機會開始。我過去曾引用過這個數字。它沒有改變。我們認為該業務的總體機會約為 40 萬名訂戶。這是兩個因素的結合，也是市場動態的結合，我們認為該產品相對於網路動態具有競爭力——我的意思是，這是一個建立在行動性投資之上的產品。

I've been transparent about this in the past. This is not a product that pays for itself, right? It doesn't pay for all the capital requirements that are needed to put new radios and new towers in place. And so you put capacity in place for the mobile subscriber and then you pivot that capacity where you have it available and you serve the needs of fixed wireless. And so you put those 2 things together. We see a market opportunity of about 400,000.

我過去對此一直保持透明。這不是能收回成本的產品，對嗎？它無法滿足安裝新無線電台和新塔所需的所有資本要求。因此，您可以為行動用戶提供容量，然後將該容量轉移到可用的地方，並滿足固定無線的需求。所以你把這兩件事放在一起。我們看到大約40萬個市場機會。

Usually, you would see growth rates starting to slow as you reach the kind of customer scale that we've reached. So when you first roll out a product, the first 5,000, the first 10,000 customers, you see fantastic growth, right? But then as you start hitting scale, the numbers become more challenging. The real impact of mid-band for us is all of a sudden, we can offer a drastically faster product that competes in not just in rural areas, not just in -- on an underserved and not just where the competitor is DSL or satellite or nothing. We can offer 300 megs on a mid-band enabled product. And so that competes extremely well against cable. And so we expect that mid-band product to be the key driver of growth going into 2024 and in 2025. And it opens up new geographies for us.

通常，當您達到我們所達到的客戶規模時，您會發現成長率開始放緩。因此，當您首次推出產品時，前 5,000 名、前 10,000 名客戶，您會看到驚人的成長，對吧？但當你開始達到規模時，數字就變得更具挑戰性。中頻對我們的真正影響是突然的，我們可以提供一種速度快得多的產品，該產品不僅在農村地區競爭，而且不僅在服務不足的地區競爭，而且不僅在競爭對手是 DSL 或衛星或沒有什麼。我們可以提供 300 兆的中頻產品。因此，它與有線電視的競爭非常激烈。因此，我們預計中端產品將成為 2024 年和 2025 年成長的關鍵驅動力。它為我們開闢了新的地域。

As I mentioned, we should have 30% of our towers carrying almost 50% of our traffic fired up with mid-band by the end of the year. We'll be doing that on a steady cadence. And every time we upgrade a product -- we upgrade a tower with mid-band, that shows up in -- for our stores as an opportunity to sell an enhanced broadband product to our fixed wireless customers. And so the net impact of it all is that we expect that attractive growth that we've seen in fixed wireless to continue, notwithstanding, right, the fact that business continues to scale to larger and larger numbers. So hopefully, that gives you a sense about how we're thinking about it and the impact of fixed wire -- I mean, excuse me, of mid-band.

正如我所提到的，到今年年底，我們應該有 30% 的訊號塔承載近 50% 的流量，啟動中頻段。我們將以穩定的節奏做到這一點。每次我們升級產品時——我們都會升級帶有中頻的塔，這會出現在我們的商店中——作為向我們的固定無線客戶銷售增強型寬頻產品的機會。因此，這一切的最終影響是，我們預計固定無線領域的有吸引力的成長將繼續下去，儘管業務規模仍在不斷擴大。希望這能讓您了解我們如何考慮它以及固定線路的影響 - 我的意思是，對不起，中頻。

Yes. And my second question is for Doug. You've made some progress, obviously on cost optimization program, but it's still a focus for you in 2024. If you could provide more color on maybe which cost categories do you see as opportunities for more meaningful cost reduction over the next 12 to 18 months. How should we think about that?

是的。我的第二個問題是問道格的。您已經取得了一些進展，顯然是在成本優化計劃方面，但這仍然是您2024 年關注的焦點。如果您能提供更多信息，說明您認為哪些成本類別是在未來12 到18 年內實現更有意義的成本削減的機會幾個月。我們該如何思考這個問題？

Yes. Well, Sergey, first of all, you see the progress we've made on that. And when you look at our 2022 margin compared to our 2023 margin, it went from 25% to 27%, as we talked about in our remarks, the program is working. And just to emphasize, we have this program organized across our business. We have 12 campuses. We have accountability from all of our leaders and everybody is delivering on this program.

是的。嗯，謝爾蓋，首先，你看到了我們在這方面取得的進展。當你看到我們 2022 年的利潤率與 2023 年的利潤率相比，它從 25% 上升到 27%，正如我們在評論中談到的，該計劃正在發揮作用。需要強調的是，我們在整個業務範圍內組織了該計劃。我們有 12 個校區。我們所有的領導者都負有責任，每個人都在執行這個計畫。

So it's been really successful. We'll continue to go across the whole business for savings. We still have opportunities in really all of our areas. But as far as where most of the dollars are, it sort of follows our P&L, right? So we have a lot of dollars, of course, in engineering OpEx that will continue to provide significant savings as well market in IT. So we've really are proud of what we've done so far. There's more to do, and it's going to be across the business.

所以它真的很成功。我們將繼續在整個業務範圍內進行節約。我們在所有領域仍然擁有機會。但就大部分美元的去向而言，它有點遵循我們的損益表，對吧？當然，我們在營運支出工程方面投入了大量資金，這將繼續為 IT 市場提供大量節省。因此，我們對迄今為止所做的事情感到非常自豪。還有更多工作要做，而且將涉及整個行業。

And Sergey, I'll just chime in. Thank you for directing the cost question to the CFO, but the CEO occasionally has something to do with it too. So I won't dump it all on Doug.

謝爾蓋，我插話一下。感謝您向財務長提出成本問題，但執行長有時也與此有關。所以我不會把這一切都推給道格。

One thing that we've seen a lot of success is our efforts around automation and our efforts around transparency and flexibility for our customers. And so the example I'll give there is the upgraded bill that we provided to our customers. So we both -- we've rolled out a new bill format. The first change that we made was almost a year ago, where we changed our approach to prorations. The second thing that we've done is we've recently launched an entirely new format for our customers, providing them a lot of transparency, what they can expect, how the bill breaks down, what they can expect the following months. It's all automated. That has significantly driven down cost to care, that significantly reduced what I would call, service-driven visits to our stores. We still love to see our customers in our stores, so it does not bother me.

我們取得巨大成功的一件事是我們在自動化方面所做的努力以及我們在為客戶提供透明度和靈活性方面所做的努力。因此，我將舉的例子是我們向客戶提供的升級後的帳單。所以我們雙方都推出了新的帳單格式。我們所做的第一個改變是大約一年前，我們改變了按比例分配的方法。我們做的第二件事是我們最近為客戶推出了一種全新的格式，為他們提供了很大的透明度，他們可以期待什麼，帳單如何分解，他們在接下來的幾個月可以期待什麼。一切都是自動化的。這顯著降低了護理成本，顯著減少了我所說的服務驅動的商店訪問量。我們仍然喜歡在我們的商店裡見到顧客，所以這並不困擾我。

But it helps if a customer is walking in the store with the intent to buy rather than with a billing question. And so simple moves like that, moves that are focused on transparency, moves that are focused on flexibility, they're upfront investments that we make, but they'd also bring down costs, but they bring down costs without any kind of a negative experience on the customer. In fact, it's a positive experience on the customer. And you can probably expect to see more of those automation and digital investments from us in this year and beyond as well.

但如果顧客走進商店時是出於購買意圖而不是詢問帳單問題，這會有所幫助。像這樣簡單的舉措，注重透明度的舉措，注重靈活性的舉措，它們是我們所做的前期投資，但它們也會降低成本，但它們會降低成本，而不會帶來任何負面影響對客戶的體驗。事實上，這對客戶來說是一次正面的體驗。您可能會在今年及以後看到我們更多的自動化和數位投資。

Got it. And my last question is for Michelle. So you've made significant investments obviously in expanding your fiber footprint, and you still continue with your fiber build. I guess, given where you are right now in terms of pacings, how do you feel about conversion of your pacings into paying fiber customers? And also, maybe if you could provide more color as far as what has been working lately for you in terms of conversion of pacings into paying customers? And what still needs to be improved in your opinion, in 2024?

知道了。我的最後一個問題是問米歇爾的。因此，您顯然在擴大光纖覆蓋範圍方面進行了大量投資，並且仍在繼續建造光纖。我想，考慮到您目前在節奏方面的情況，您對將節奏轉變為付費光纖客戶有何看法？另外，也許您可以提供更多關於最近在將節奏轉化為付費客戶方面對您有用的內容嗎？您認為2024年還有哪些方面需要改進？

So yes, we have had a lot of success in continuing to grow our footprint and getting our builds really progressing in 2023. We had our biggest year yet. And what we're seeing in terms of customer sales and conversions into our service address is actually becoming paying service addresses is meeting and exceeding what we had expected to see. And this is happening generally across all of the markets that we've been launching. So in our broadband penetration, we do have a chart in one of our slides that shows you how we expect that broadband penetration to ramp over the first few years after addresses get launched.

所以，是的，我們在繼續擴大我們的足跡並使我們的構建在 2023 年真正取得進展方面取得了很大的成功。我們度過了迄今為止最重要的一年。我們所看到的客戶銷售和服務地址轉換實際上正在成為付費服務地址，達到並超越了我們的預期。這種情況在我們推出的所有市場中普遍存在。因此，在我們的寬頻滲透率方面，我們在一張幻燈片中確實有一個圖表，向您展示了我們預計寬頻滲透率在地址推出後的最初幾年內將如何提升。

In year 1, we expect it to be about 25% to 30%. So of the addresses that we launch, about 25% or 30% of those addresses turn into paying customers. And that's what we're seeing. And then slowly over the next few years, that continues to build until you get to about a steady-state of what we expect about 40% broadband penetration in those markets. So a few of our markets have been launched and around for long enough to be able to get to steady-state. And in all of those early markets, we are over the 40% broadband penetration that we had been looking for. So we're really pleased with how the builds have been going and then also how the sales and marketing and customer conversion processes have been going.

在第一年，我們預計約為 25% 至 30%。因此，在我們推出的地址中，大約 25% 或 30% 的地址變成了付費客戶。這就是我們所看到的。然後在接下來的幾年裡，這種情況會繼續緩慢發展，直到達到我們預期的這些市場寬頻滲透率約 40% 的穩定狀態。因此，我們的一些市場已經啟動並運行了足夠長的時間，能夠達到穩定狀態。在所有這些早期市場中，我們的寬頻普及率都超過了我們一直在尋求的 40%。因此，我們對建立的進度以及銷售、行銷和客戶轉換流程的進度感到非常滿意。

We have no further questions. I'll turn the call back over to Colleen Thompson for closing remarks.

我們沒有其他問題了。我會將電話轉回給科琳湯普森 (Colleen Thompson) 作結束語。

Okay. Thanks, everyone, for your time today. Please reach out to IR with any additional questions, and have a great weekend.

好的。謝謝大家今天抽出時間。如有任何其他問題，請聯絡 IR，祝您週末愉快。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。