威訊通訊 (VZ) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Verizon Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.

早上好，歡迎參加 Verizon 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）今天的會議正在錄音。如果您有任何異議，您可以此時斷開連接。

It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Brady Connor, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations.

現在我很高興將電話轉交給東道主投資者關係高級副總裁 Brady Connor 先生。

Thanks, Brad. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter earnings conference call. I'm Brady Connor, and I'm joined by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hans Vestberg; as well as our Chief Financial Officer, Tony Skiadas.

謝謝，布拉德。大家早安，歡迎參加我們的第三季財報電話會議。我是布雷迪康納 (Brady Connor)，我們的董事長兼執行長 Hans Vestberg 也加入了我的行列。以及我們的財務長托尼·斯基亞達斯。

Before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to our safe harbor statement, which can be found on Slide 2 of the presentation. Information in this presentation contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Discussions of factors that may affect future results is contained in Verizon's filings with the SEC, which are available on our website.

在開始之前，我想提請您注意我們的安全港聲明，該聲明可以在簡報的幻燈片 2 中找到。本簡報中的資訊包含有關預期未來事件和財務績效的陳述，這些陳述具有前瞻性，並受風險和不確定性的影響。對可能影響未來結果的因素的討論包含在 Verizon 向 SEC 提交的文件中，這些文件可以在我們的網站上找到。

This presentation contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the financial materials posted on our website. Earlier this morning, we posted to our Investor Relations website a detailed review of our third quarter results. You will find additional details in the earnings materials on our Investor Relations website.

本簡報包含某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計準則衡量標準與最直接可比較的公認會計準則衡量標準的對帳包含在我們網站上發布的財務資料中。今天早些時候，我們在投資者關係網站上發布了對第三季業績的詳細審查。您可以在我們的投資者關係網站上的收益資料中找到更多詳細資訊。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給漢斯。

Thank you, Brady, and good morning to everyone. I'm pleased to share our strong third quarter results, making another quarter with solid growth and improving profitability. It is clear that our strategy is working. In both the Consumer and the Business groups, we're executing a segmented, agile strategy that provides value to our customers and our bottom line.

謝謝你，布雷迪，祝大家早安。我很高興與大家分享我們強勁的第三季業績，讓另一個季度穩健成長並提高獲利能力。很明顯，我們的策略正在發揮作用。在消費者和商業部門，我們正在執行分段、敏捷的策略，為我們的客戶和我們的利潤提供價值。

We have delivered growth in each of the areas we asked you to grade us on: wireless service revenue, EBITDA and free cash flow. This is evidence that we have the right strategy and are achieving our results in a financially disciplined way.

我們要求您對我們進行評分的每個領域都實現了成長：無線服務收入、EBITDA 和自由現金流。這證明我們擁有正確的策略，並且正在以財務紀律的方式取得我們的成果。

Now let me share our financials for the quarter. Our third quarter wireless service revenue is up 2.9% year-over-year, driven by expanding and deepening our customer relationships. This revenue growth is a key driver for adjusted EBITDA of $12.2 billion for the quarter, which is higher than both Q3 last year and sequentially. Our year-to-date free cash flow of $14.6 billion is already exceeding our full year free cash flow for 2022, thanks to our focus on high-quality revenue growth, disciplined promotion strategy, cost efficiency and CapEx reduction of the recent years of heightened capital intensity driven by the C-Band and fiber investments. I'm proud to share that my team and I have taken actions to further our position of financial strength.

現在讓我分享我們本季的財務狀況。在擴大和深化客戶關係的推動下，我們第三季的無線服務營收年增 2.9%。這一營收成長是本季調整後 EBITDA 達到 122 億美元的關鍵驅動力，高於去年第三季和上一季。我們今年迄今的自由現金流為 146 億美元，已經超過了 2022 年全年自由現金流，這要歸功於我們對高質量收入增長、嚴格的促銷策略、成本效率和資本支出削減的關注。由C 頻段和光纖投資驅動的資本強度。我很自豪地告訴大家，我和我的團隊已採取行動來進一步鞏固我們的財務實力。

Our strong cash generation enabled us to reduce net debt, strengthen our balance sheet and deliver a higher dividend to our shareholders. We are working to bring our leverage ratio to pre-spectrum acquisition levels. During the third quarter, we paid down $2.6 billion in debt and increased our dividend for the 17th consecutive year, a current industry record that we take pride in. Our dividend coverage is very healthy. Year-to-date, our free cash flow dividend payout ratio is approximately 56%, a significant improvement from a year ago.

我們強大的現金產生能力使我們能夠減少淨債務，加強我們的資產負債表，並為股東提供更高的股利。我們正在努力將槓桿率提高到頻譜收購前的水平。第三季度，我們償還了 26 億美元的債務，並連續 17 年增加了股息，這是我們引以為傲的當前行業記錄。我們的股息覆蓋率非常健康。年初至今，我們的自由現金流股息支付率約為 56%，比一年前有了顯著改善。

In summary, in spite of an uncertain economic environment, we're on pace of finish 2023 strong. We're confident that we will deliver on the financial guidance that we issued to you at the start of the year. And this morning, are announcing higher free cash flow guidance for 2023. Tony will provide you more details in a few moments.

總之，儘管經濟環境存在不確定性，但我們仍有望在 2023 年實現強勁成長。我們有信心能夠實現年初向您發布的財務指導。今天早上，我們宣布了 2023 年更高的自由現金流指引。托尼稍後將向您提供更多詳細資訊。

Now let me share more on how our business units are driving our strategy forward. In the quarter, we delivered on our key growth areas: mobility, broadband and private networks, thanks to our network, scale and technology advantages. In Consumer mobility, we achieved sequential and year-over-year improvements in postpaid phone net adds by continuing to put the customer at the center of everything we do. Rather than engaging in aggressive promotional activity like others in the industry, we're offering our consumers optionality and flexibility to choose how they want to use our products and services. Our differentiated approach of segmentation and financial discipline is paying off with growth in postpaid phone gross adds and lower promotional cash cost. There is more work to be done, but our responsible approach position us to grow subscribers profitably.

現在讓我更多地分享我們的業務部門如何推動我們的策略向前發展。憑藉我們的網路、規模和技術優勢，本季我們實現了關鍵成長領域：行動、寬頻和專用網路。在消費者行動領域，透過繼續將客戶置於我們所做的一切的中心，我們在後付費電話網路增加方面實現了連續和逐年的改進。我們不像業內其他公司那樣進行積極的促銷活動，而是為消費者提供選擇性和靈活性，讓他們選擇如何使用我們的產品和服務。我們差異化的細分和財務紀律方法正在帶來回報，後付費電話總增加的成長和促銷現金成本的降低。還有更多工作要做，但我們負責任的態度使我們能夠以有利可圖的方式增加訂戶。

Since its launch in May, myPlan continues to deliver a personalized experience, giving our customers the value, choice and control that they want. During the third quarter, we enhanced myPlan by adding Ultimate Unlimited, a third tier with more value and services, further increasing our premium mix and ARPA growth. This is just one example of the flexibility and speed to market that myPlan provides, and I'm excited about what is to come. Our targeted and segmented market approach also served us well during the iPhone 15 launch, and we continue to execute with an eye towards meeting our customers' needs while maintaining a disciplined approach. Our competitive position is now stronger and we delivered positive consumer postpaid phone net adds in the month of September. We anticipate that momentum will continue as we're on track to exceed our postpaid phone net adds from Q4 of last year. Postpaid phone churn levels are stable, even with our targeted pricing actions throughout the year. We continue to see muted upgrade levels, which is something we're watching carefully, and is a trend we expect will continue for the next few quarters.

自 5 月推出以來，myPlan 繼續提供個人化體驗，為我們的客戶提供他們想要的價值、選擇和控制。在第三季度，我們透過添加 Ultimate Unlimited（具有更多價值和服務的第三層）來增強 myPlan，進一步提高我們的保費組合和 ARPA 成長。這只是 myPlan 提供的靈活性和上市速度的一個例子，我對即將發生的事情感到興奮。我們的針對性和細分市場方法在 iPhone 15 發布期間也為我們提供了良好的幫助，我們將繼續專注於滿足客戶的需求，同時保持嚴格的方法。我們的競爭地位現在更加強大，我們在 9 月實現了積極的消費者後付費電話網路成長。我們預計這一勢頭將持續下去，因為我們預計將超過去年第四季的後付費電話網路增量。即使我們全年採取有針對性的定價行動，後付費電話流失率仍保持穩定。我們繼續看到升級水平低迷，這是我們正在仔細觀察的事情，我們預計這一趨勢將在未來幾季持續下去。

Turning to Business mobility. Verizon Business Group delivered 151,000 phone net adds and reached our ninth consecutive quarter above 125,000. Businesses and governments continue to place an increased emphasis on best-in-class, reliable connectivity that only Verizon provides. Across mobility, postpaid phone net adds were 100,000 compared to 8,000 last year. We have the largest customer base in the industry and are still finding new ways to add customers through innovation, service quality and a variety of offerings and partnerships that competitors cannot match. As we discussed before, we're seeking the optimal balance between price and quantity that allow us to grow our base profitably. In our value business, we have had negative volumes, but I'm encouraged by our quarter-over-quarter improvements. As I've said before, the value business is a key part of our growth strategy, and we will continue to invest in it and adjust to the needs of the market. As we mentioned last quarter, we believe we have seen the bottom for prepaid volumes, and the team is committed and working daily to grow our value business.

轉向商業移動性。 Verizon Business Group 新增電話數量 151,000 部，連續第九個季度超過 125,000 部。企業和政府繼續更加重視只有 Verizon 才能提供的一流、可靠的連接。在行動領域，後付費電話網路增加了 10 萬部，而去年為 8,000 部。我們擁有業內最大的客戶群，並且仍在尋找透過創新、服務品質以及競爭對手無法比擬的各種產品和合作夥伴關係來增加客戶的新方法。正如我們之前討論的，我們正在尋求價格和數量之間的最​​佳平衡，以使我們能夠盈利地擴大我們的基礎。在我們的價值業務中，我們的銷量為負，但我對我們的季度環比改善感到鼓舞。正如我之前所說，價值業務是我們成長策略的關鍵部分，我們將繼續對其進行投資並根據市場需求進行調整。正如我們上季度提到的，我們相信我們已經看到預付費數量的底部，並且團隊致力於並每天努力發展我們的價值業務。

Moving to Broadband. We delivered another strong quarter with more than 400,000 new subscribers for the fourth quarter in a row. We finished Q3 with 10.3 million broadband subscribers, up by more than 1.7 million subscribers from a year ago, a 21% increase. Critical to the strength of this key area is fixed wireless access, something you know we deeply believe in. Our fixed wireless access net adds of 384,000 continue to be strong, even with the recent $10 increase for new bundled customers, further evidence of the demand for our product. Where FWA is available, our customers take it and love it as seen by the high Net Promoter Score. I'm excited to also share that, on the Fios side, we had 72,000 Internet net adds for the quarter, up almost 20% year-over-year and one of our best performances in 7 years. Fios remains a coveted, high-quality service, and we continue to take share and deliver strong numbers even in a lower mover environment.

轉向寬頻。我們的季度表現再次強勁，新訂閱用戶連續第四季超過 40 萬。第三季結束時，我們的寬頻用戶數為 1,030 萬，比去年同期增加了 170 萬以上，增幅為 21%。這個關鍵領域的實力至關重要的是固定無線接入，您知道我們對此深信不疑。我們的固定無線接入網路新增384,000 戶，仍然保持強勁勢頭，儘管最近新捆綁客戶增加了10美元，這進一步證明了需求對於我們的產品。只要有 FWA，我們的客戶就會接受並喜歡它，這從高淨推薦值就可以看出。我也很高興與大家分享，在 Fios 方面，本季我們的網路淨增加量為 72,000 個，年成長近 20%，是 7 年來最好的表現之一。 Fios 仍然是一項令人垂涎的高品質服務，即使在行動速度較低的環境中，我們也將繼續佔據市場份額並提供強勁的業績。

When it comes to private networks, we see demand for the product continue to grow, especially those solutions built with licensed spectrum, which provides a more secure and differentiated experience for the end users. Businesses are increasingly looking to us for the private network solutions, helping to grow our sales funnel and scale the number of installations each quarter. Let me end by talking about the backbone of our business, our network. During the third quarter, we obtained early access to our remaining C-Band spectrum. In urban markets where C-Band is already deploying, we're firing on all cylinders and leveraging its full potential through software upgrades, delivering 2x to 3x more spectrum debt. As a result, peak speeds go from 900 megabits per second to an amazing 2.4 gigabits per second, enabling an even better experience for our customers.

在專用網路方面，我們看到對該產品的需求持續增長，特別是那些使用許可頻譜構建的解決方案，它為最終用戶提供了更安全和差異化的體驗。越來越多的企業向我們尋求專用網路解決方案，幫助擴大我們的銷售管道並擴大每個季度的安裝數量。最後，我要談談我們業務的支柱—我們的網路。在第三季度，我們提前獲得了剩餘 C 頻段頻譜的使用權。在已經部署 C 頻段的城市市場中，我們正在全力以赴，透過軟體升級充分發揮其潛力，將頻譜債務增加 2 至 3 倍。因此，峰值速度從每秒 900 兆比特增加到驚人的每秒 2.4 吉比特，為我們的客戶帶來更好的體驗。

You've heard me say this before, but let me say it again. C-Band is a game changer for our business, giving us better customer retention and step up as well as strong broadband opportunity with fixed wireless access. Every day, we see the benefits of our generation investment in C-Band spectrum and the impact it will have for our customers for years to come.

你以前聽過我說過這句話，但讓我再說一次。 C 頻段改變了我們的業務，為我們提供了更好的客戶保留和提升，以及透過固定無線存取提供的強大寬頻機會。我們每天都會看到 C 頻段頻譜發電投資的好處以及它將在未來幾年對我們的客戶產生的影響。

And our network is winning. This quarter, we received J.D. Power Awards in all 6 U.S. regions, receiving the Most Award for Wireless Network Quality for the 31st time in a row. We are the best network in the market, and we will extend our lead as we complete our C-Band deployment. First, augmenting urban areas and next year, in suburban and rural markets. This is our key differentiator and the center of everything we do. And we're doing all of this in a responsible way. We're optimizing our network while returning to business as usual levels of CapEx. We're finding cost efficiencies across our business, both as a result of our new structure and by emphasizing profitability when evaluating new opportunities like within Business wireline. Our cost efficiency program remains on track to meet our savings goal of $2 billion to $3 billion annually by 2025.

我們的網路正在獲勝。本季度，我們在美國全部 6 個地區獲得了 J.D. Power 獎，連續 31 次獲得無線網路品質最高獎。我們是市場上最好的網絡，隨著我們完成 C 頻段部署，我們將擴大我們的領先優勢。首先，擴大城市地區，明年擴大郊區和農村市場。這是我們的關鍵差異化因素，也是我們所做一切的中心。我們正在以負責任的方式做這一切。我們正在優化我們的網絡，同時恢復正常的資本支出水準。我們正在尋找整個業務的成本效率，這既是由於我們的新結構，也是透過在評估商業有線等新機會時強調獲利能力。我們的成本效率計畫仍有望實現到 2025 年每年節省 20 億至 30 億美元的目標。

Now let me turn the call over to Tony to discuss our financial and operational performance in more detail.

現在讓我將電話轉給托尼，更詳細地討論我們的財務和營運績效。

Thanks, Hans, and good morning. Our results for the third quarter continue to demonstrate our progress towards our 3 priorities: growing wireless service revenue and driving EBITDA and free cash flow. As Hans said, we are executing on our plan and remain on track to meet our financial guidance for 2023. We've talked about improving our operational performance while maintaining financial discipline, with the third quarter results representing another proof point that demonstrates we can deliver improving key metrics and strong financials.

謝謝，漢斯，早安。我們第三季的業績繼續證明了我們在實現三個優先事項方面取得的進展：增加無線服務收入以及推動 EBITDA 和自由現金流。正如漢斯所說，我們正在執行我們的計劃，並繼續按計劃實現2023 年的財務指導。我們已經討論過在保持財務紀律的同時提高我們的營運績效，第三季度的業績是另一個證明點，顯示我們可以實現改善關鍵指標和強勁的財務狀況。

Consumer postpaid phone net losses totaled 51,000 for the quarter, an improvement of 85,000 sequentially and 138,000 compared to the prior year. During the quarter, we executed well in a low switcher environment, enabling postpaid phone gross add growth of 2.3% year-over-year. Our postpaid phone churn of 0.85% represents a stable result, even after implementing over $1 billion of annualized pricing actions in 2023. Our segmented approach to the market and the structure and discipline of our promotional strategy helped to deliver strong postpaid phone gross adds and lower postpaid upgrades.

本季消費者後付費電話淨損失總計 51,000 部，較上一季減少 85,000 部，較去年同期減少 138,000 部。本季度，我們在低切換環境中表現良好，使後付費電話總附加價值年增 2.3%。即使在2023 年實施了超過10 億美元的年度定價行動後，我們的後付費電話流失率仍為0.85%，這是一個穩定的結果。我們的細分市場方法以及促銷策略的結構和紀律有幫助於實現強勁的後付費電話總增加並降低後付費升級。

The third quarter's consumer upgrade rate of 3.6% is down 150 basis points year-over-year. The quality of the business we are writing in Consumer remains high, as myPlan continues to drive an elevated premium mix. Consumer ARPA of $133.47 increased sequentially by 1.2% and year-over-year by 4.5%. We expect to deliver further ARPA growth as a result of the innovations of myPlan as well as our most recent pricing actions.

第三季消費升級率為3.6%，較去年同期下降150個基點。隨著 myPlan 繼續推動更高的保費組合，我們在《消費者》中撰寫的業務品質仍然很高。消費者 ARPA 為 133.47 美元，季增 1.2%，年增 4.5%。由於 myPlan 的創新以及我們最近的定價行動，我們預計 ARPA 將進一步成長。

Verizon Business delivered another strong quarter with 151,000 phone net adds, which, as Hans mentioned, is our ninth consecutive quarter above 125,000. While the macroeconomic environment is uncertain and businesses are more cautious than a year ago, mobility continues to be a top investment priority for our business customers. We expect to continue to deliver strong volumes and expand our relationships by leveraging our position as the wireless market share leader for small and medium business, large enterprises and public customers.

Verizon Business 再次實現強勁的季度業績，電話淨增數量達到 151,000 部，正如 Hans 所提到的，這是我們連續第九個季度電話淨增量超過 125,000 部。儘管宏觀經濟環境存在不確定性，企業比一年前更加謹慎，但行動性仍是我們企業客戶的首要投資重點。我們希望利用我們作為中小型企業、大型企業和公共客戶的無線市場份額領導者的地位，繼續提供強勁的銷售並擴大我們的關係。

Moving on to broadband. We delivered 434,000 net additions, continuing the pace of over 400,000 net adds for the fourth quarter in a row. Customers are drawn to the quality of our service and overall value proposition for both FWA and Fios. For fixed wireless, gross adds expansion drove 384,000 net adds for the quarter, growing the base to nearly 2.7 million subscribers. The addition of the second tranche of C-Band spectrum will help us continue our FWA momentum as we work to build a long-term sustainable business. Fios Internet net adds were 72,000, up 11,000 year-over-year. We're pleased with the success of Fios with strong gross adds and retention, reflecting the quality and overall value of the product. For prepaid, net losses of 207,000 represents a sequential improvement from the second quarter. We expect a better trajectory for the remainder of the year as the teams continue to scale some of our key brands, such as Visible and Total by Verizon, and execute on our ongoing integration efforts.

轉向寬頻。我們淨增加了 434,000 人，延續了連續第四季淨增加超過 40 萬人的步伐。客戶被我們的服務品質以及 FWA 和 Fios 的整體價值主張所吸引。對於固定無線業務，總增量擴張帶動本季淨增 384,000 名用戶，使用戶基數增至近 270 萬。第二部分 C 頻段頻譜的增加將有助於我們繼續 FWA 勢頭，努力建立長期可持續的業務。 Fios 網路淨增人數為 72,000 人，較去年同期增加 11,000 人。我們對 Fios 的成功感到高興，它具有強勁的總增加量和保留率，反映了產品的品質和整體價值。就預付費而言，淨虧損為 207,000 美元，較第二季度有所改善。隨著團隊繼續擴大我們的一些關鍵品牌（例如 Verizon 的 Visible 和 Total），並執行我們正在進行的整合工作，我們預計今年剩餘時間會出現更好的發展軌跡。

Let's now look at our financials. Consolidated revenue for the third quarter was $33.3 billion, down 2.6% year-over-year. The decline can be attributed to wireless equipment revenue, which was approximately 12% lower than the prior year, as postpaid upgrades declined 26%. Total wireless service revenue was $19.3 billion, up 2.9% year-over-year and up $217 million sequentially. Strong revenue benefited from targeted pricing actions, more customers selecting premium unlimited plans and growth in fixed wireless access.

現在讓我們看看我們的財務狀況。第三季綜合營收為 333 億美元，年減 2.6%。這一下降可歸因於無線設備收入比上年下降約 12%，而後付費升級則下降了 26%。無線服務總營收為 193 億美元，年增 2.9%，季增 2.17 億美元。強勁的收入得益於有針對性的定價行動、更多客戶選擇優質無限計劃以及固定無線接入的成長。

Additionally, as a result of our discipline around promotions and lower upgrade volumes, we saw a further reduction in headwinds to service revenue growth associated with promo amortization. This was partially offset by pressure from prepaid, which reduced total wireless service revenue growth by approximately 60 basis points year-over-year.

此外，由於我們對促銷和較低升級量的嚴格規定，我們發現與促銷攤銷相關的服務收入成長的阻力進一步減少。這被預付費的壓力部分抵消，預付費使無線服務總收入成長較去年同期下降約 60 個基點。

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $12.2 billion, an increase of $267 million sequentially and up 0.2% compared to the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 100 basis points year-over-year, primarily driven by improved wireless service revenue and lower Consumer postpaid upgrades. Operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization and special items, were down approximately 4% year-over-year, primarily due to the lower cost of equipment from reduced upgrade volumes.

本季綜合調整後 EBITDA 為 122 億美元，較上一季增加 2.67 億美元，比上年同期成長 0.2%。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率年增了 100 個基點，這主要是由於無線服務收入的增加和消費者後付費升級的減少所致。營運費用（不包括折舊、攤提和特殊項目）較去年同期下降約 4%，主要是因為升級量減少導致設備成本降低。

While bad debt is up year-over-year, it was once again flat sequentially consistent with the first half of the year. We continue to make progress on our cost efficiency program, having recently implemented transformations within our Consumer Customer Care group as well as Business Managed Services. We are on track to deliver $200 million to $300 million of savings in 2023, building momentum to generate incremental savings in 2024. Adjusted EPS was $1.22 and includes $0.03 of pressure from a reduction in capitalized interest due to the early clearance of C-Band spectrum. We currently anticipate another incremental $0.03 to $0.04 of pressure in the fourth quarter.

儘管壞帳年增，但與上半年持平。我們繼續在成本效率計劃方面取得進展，最近在消費者客戶服務團隊和業務管理服務中實施了轉型。我們預計在2023 年實現2 億至3 億美元的節省，為2024 年實現增量節省奠定動力。調整後每股收益為1.22 美元，其中包括由於C 頻段頻譜提前清理而導致資本化利息減少的0.03美元壓力。目前，我們預計第四季度壓力還會增加 0.03 美元至 0.04 美元。

Turning the attention to cash flow. Cash flow from operating activities for the third quarter was $10.8 billion, bringing the 2023 year-to-date total to $28.8 billion. The year-to-date performance is up approximately $600 million compared to the prior year, primarily due to working capital improvements associated with fewer upgrades and lower inventory levels, partially offset by higher interest payments. Customer payments continue to be healthy with consistent performance throughout the year.

將注意力轉向現金流。第三季經營活動現金流量為 108 億美元，使 2023 年年初至今的現金流量總額達到 288 億美元。與前一年相比，今年迄今為止的業績增長了約6 億美元，這主要是由於與較少的升級和較低的庫存水平相關的營運資本改善，但部分被較高的利息支付所抵消。客戶付款持續健康，全年表現穩定。

CapEx for the quarter came in at $4.1 billion, totaling $14.2 billion year-to-date. At this point, we expect 2023 CapEx to come in at the upper end of our guidance range of $18.25 billion to $19.25 billion. Third quarter was the second consecutive quarter operating at our business-as-usual run rate. As a result, we would expect a reduction of approximately $4 billion of CapEx in 2023 compared to the prior year.

該季度的資本支出為 41 億美元，年初至今總計 142 億美元。目前，我們預計 2023 年資本支出將達到我們指引範圍的上限，即 182.5 億美元至 192.5 億美元。第三季是我們連續第二季照常運作。因此，我們預計 2023 年的資本支出將比前一年減少約 40 億美元。

Free cash flow for the third quarter was $6.7 billion, bringing our year-to-date total to $14.6 billion, a $2.2 billion improvement over the prior year. As Hans mentioned, we have generated more free cash flow in the first 3 quarters of this year than in all of 2022. Based on our year-to-date results and the strength of our core business, we are pleased to raise our 2023 free cash flow guidance by $1 billion to more than $18 billion. We are raising guidance even with CapEx at the upper end of our range and absorbing the headwinds from interest expense.

第三季自由現金流為 67 億美元，使年初至今的總現金流達到 146 億美元，比前一年增加 22 億美元。正如 Hans 所提到的，我們今年前 3 季產生的自由現金流量比 2022 年全年還要多。根據我們今年迄今的業績和核心業務的實力，我們很高興提高 2023 年的自由現金流指引增加10 億美元至超過180 億美元。即使資本支出處於我們範圍的上限，我們也會提高指引，並吸收利息支出的不利因素。

Strong free cash flow provides flexibility and enables us to deliver on our capital allocation priorities. As Hans said, within the third quarter, we executed a successful $2.6 billion debt tender, of which a majority was floating rate, while also increasing our dividend once again. Additionally, given our cash position and the performance of the business, this month we paid approximately $3.7 billion of spectrum clearing costs primarily using operating cash flow. The remaining spectrum payments are minimal and will be made in 2024.

強勁的自由現金流提供了靈活性，使我們能夠實現我們的資本配置優先事項。正如漢斯所說，第三季我們成功執行了 26 億美元的債務招標，其中大部分是浮動利率，同時也再次增加了股息。此外，考慮到我們的現金狀況和業務表現，本月我們主要使用營運現金流支付了約 37 億美元的頻譜清理成本。剩餘的頻譜付款很少，將於 2024 年支付。

Net unsecured debt at the end of the quarter was $122.2 billion, an improvement of $4.3 billion from the end of second quarter and $7.1 billion lower year-over-year. We ended the quarter with $4.2 billion of cash on hand, which we are using to pay the clearing costs I just described. Our net unsecured debt to consolidated adjusted EBITDA ratio was 2.6x as of the end of the third quarter, representing a 0.1 turn improvement year-over-year.

本季末的淨無擔保債務為 1,222 億美元，比第二季末增加 43 億美元，年減 71 億美元。本季結束時，我們手頭上有 42 億美元現金，我們用這些現金來支付我剛才描述的清算成本。截至第三季末，我們的淨無擔保負債與合併調整後 EBITDA 的比率為 2.6 倍，年增 0.1 倍。

Overall, I'm pleased with our ability to deliver stronger operational and financial trends. We are focused on finishing the year strong with continued improvements in volumes and financials, setting us up for meaningful deleveraging opportunities in 2024.

總的來說，我對我們實現更強勁的營運和財務趨勢的能力感到滿意。我們的重點是透過銷售和財務狀況的持續改善來強勁地結束這一年，為我們在 2024 年抓住有意義的去槓桿化機會做好準備。

I will now turn the call back to Hans for his closing thoughts before we open it up to your questions.

現在，在我們開始回答你們的問題之前，我將把電話轉回給漢斯，詢問他的結束語。

Thank you, Tony. I'm proud of the progress our team has made, and our operating results over the last 3 quarters should also give you confidence in us. We are delivering on our financial targets ahead of schedule on several key metrics, and are restoring our leverage ratios to where we want them to be. We have a great network and our free cash flow generation is industry-leading, and we have more than 10 million broadband subscribers, and that number is growing at near record rates.

謝謝你，托尼。我為我們團隊的進步感到自豪，我們過去三個季度的經營業績也應該讓您對我們充滿信心。我們正在提前實現幾個關鍵指標的財務目標，並將槓桿率恢復到我們想要的水平。我們擁有出色的網絡，我們的自由現金流生成處於行業領先地位，我們擁有超過 1000 萬寬頻用戶，而且這個數字正在以接近創紀錄的速度增長。

As we enter the final quarter of 2023, our goals are clear: deliver strong growth in wireless service revenue, EBITDA and free cash flow. Our segmented and disciplined approach to Consumer mobility is working, and we expect our momentum to continue building in the fourth quarter. Enabling all of this is America's best and most reliable 5G network. Our C-Band spectrum has already benefited mobility and broadband. Deploying the remaining C-Band will make this network even stronger and more resilient, and I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.

進入 2023 年最後一個季度，我們的目標很明確：實現無線服務收入、EBITDA 和自由現金流的強勁成長。我們對消費者移動性的分段和嚴格的方法正在發揮作用，我們預計我們的勢頭將在第四季度繼續增強。實現這一切的是美國最好、最可靠的 5G 網路。我們的 C 頻段頻譜已經使行動性和寬頻受益。部署剩餘的 C 頻段將使該網路更加強大、更具彈性，我對未來的機會感到興奮。

Let me close with this. Our performance has put us firmly on track to meet our full year financial targets and position us well as we approach 2024. We're excited to head into 2024 with all of our assets in place and a great team to execute our strategy.

讓我結束這一點。我們的業績使我們堅定地走上實現全年財務目標的軌道，並在接近 2024 年時處於有利位置。我們很高興帶著所有資產和一支出色的團隊來執行我們的策略，進入 2024 年。

With that, I hand the call back to Brady for questions.

說完，我把電話轉給布雷迪詢問。

Thanks, Hans. Brad, we're ready to take questions this morning.

謝謝，漢斯。布拉德，我們今天早上準備好回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) And the first question for today will come from Phil Cusick of JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Phil Cusick。

Two, if I can. Tony, how should we think about the pieces of free cash flow growing or stability next year? And after making the C-Band relocation payments, what obligations other than the dividend will prevent you from delevering? And then, Hans, as a follow-up, there's a lot of speculation about M&A in the fiber and wireless spaces lately, can you talk about any interest you have in buying fiber or wireless assets in the market? And if so, what might be criteria for that?

兩個，如果可以的話。東尼，我們該如何考慮明年自由現金流的成長或穩定性？在支付 C 級搬遷付款後，除了股息之外，還有哪些義務會阻止您去槓桿化？然後，Hans，作為後續，最近有很多關於光纖和無線領域併購的猜測，您能談談您對在市場上購買光纖或無線資產的興趣嗎？如果是這樣，其標準是什麼？

I will start and I'll hand it over to Tony. I mean, first on the cash flow, I think you have seen us now the last couple of years are focusing very much on our service revenue expansion, EBITDA and cash flow expansion, and all our incentives for the management is set there from the Board, both short and long term. So this is a key thing for us to see that we are continuing to generate a lot of cash flow. Tony will talk you through the puts and takes.

我將開始並將其交給托尼。我的意思是，首先是現金流，我想你已經看到我們過去幾年非常關注我們的服務收入擴張、EBITDA 和現金流擴張，我們對管理層的所有激勵措施都是由董事會制定的，短期和長期。因此，我們要看到我們正在繼續產生大量現金流，這是一個關鍵的事情。托尼將向您介紹如何進行投資和投資。

Regarding fiber assets, first of all, I love our strategy. I mean our strategy was clear from. In the Fios footprint, of course, we build a lot of fiber. Doing extremely well. You saw this quarter, again, a record quarter of Fios subscribers. Outside, we build on fiber over a couple of years. We're basically in all the major markets, we have One Fiber to our own network. Right now, our strategy clear that we want to take the broadband subscribers with fixed wireless access. Because we get them right now, it's a superior product. And we don't see a need right now for adding any fiber to that footprint. Over time, of course, we will always look into it. And anyone that would dispose any telecommunication assets in the market will talk to us, but the hurdle is high. I mean we have a great network, and we have a really good strategy around our technology.

關於纖維資產，首先，我喜歡我們的策略。我的意思是我們的策略很明確。當然，在 Fios 足跡中，我們建造了大量光纖。做得非常好。本季 Fios 用戶數再次創下歷史新高。在外面，我們在光纖上進行了幾年的建設。我們基本上遍布所有主要市場，我們都有一條光纖連接到我們自己的網路。目前，我們的策略很明確，我們希望透過固定無線存取來吸引寬頻用戶。因為我們現在就得到它們，所以它是一種優質產品。我們認為目前不需要在該佔地面積上添加任何光纖。當然，隨著時間的推移，我們將始終對其進行調查。任何想在市場上處置任何電信資產的人都會與我們交談，但障礙很高。我的意思是，我們擁有一個很棒的網絡，並且圍繞我們的技術制定了非常好的策略。

Phil, so on the cash generation, so we're very pleased thus far, I'll start with where we are in the third quarter. So we're pleased with the cash generation of the Business. The performance of the Business, and as you saw, the continued discipline that we had with promos and retention gave us the confidence to raise the free cash flow guide by $1 billion to more than $18 billion, and that's with CapEx at the upper end of the range and also with higher interest expense. So we feel very good about the balance of the year and our positioning heading into next year.

菲爾，關於現金生成，到目前為止我們非常滿意，我將從第三季的情況開始。因此，我們對該業務的現金產生感到滿意。業務的表現，正如您所看到的，我們對促銷和保留的持續紀律使我們有信心將自由現金流指南提高 10 億美元，達到超過 180 億美元，這還是在資本支出處於上限的情況下。範圍，且利息支出也較高。因此，我們對今年的剩餘情況以及明年的定位感到非常滿意。

Obviously, we're not going to guide on 2024 at this time, but I can share some qualitative aspects as we look ahead to free cash flow for 2024. On the plus side, we continue to focus the team on an improving EBITDA profile, and that's the focus of the team. With respect to CapEx, we said a couple of times here in the past that we expect to run at $17 billion to $17.5 billion for 2024, which is back to a business as usual level of spend that you've seen from us. And then we also strive to make continued improvements in working capital.

顯然，我們目前不會對 2024 年進行指導，但在我們展望 2024 年的自由現金流時，我可以分享一些定性方面的內容。從好的方面來說，我們繼續讓團隊專注於改善 EBITDA 狀況，這就是團隊的重點。關於資本支出，我們過去曾多次表示，預計 2024 年資本支出將達到 170 億至 175 億美元，這將回到您從我們這裡看到的正常支出水平。然後我們也努力持續改善營運資金。

And then offsetting that, we expect higher interest costs from both from the rate environment and the reduction in capitalized interest due to the early clearing of the C-Band spectrum. And then with taxes, as you know, under current legislation, taxes are going to be pressured by the continued phaseout of bonus depreciation, and we'll see how that plays out. And so heading into 2024, we continue to focus on strong free cash flow generation and opportunities for meaningful debt reduction, and we don't see any obstacles to delevering.

然後，我們預期利率環境和 C 頻段頻譜提前清理帶來的資本化利息減少將帶來更高的利息成本。然後，在稅收方面，如您所知，根據現行立法，稅收將因紅利折舊的持續逐步取消而受到壓力，我們將看看結果如何。因此，進入 2024 年，我們將繼續關注強勁的自由現金流產生和有意義的債務削減機會，我們認為去槓桿化沒有任何障礙。

The next question comes from Simon Flannery of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·弗蘭納裡。

Hans, you talked a lot about fixed wireless. You've got the rest of the C-Band. Can you help update the fixed wireless footprint be open for sale and where you are today, and how you get to the 50 million households or any updated target that you have there? And then, Tony, you talked a little bit about some of the pricing actions you've taken so far. Can you just tease out for us what you've recognized in Q3? And what -- I think you've talked about a tailwind going into Q4, so how we think about some of the kind of sequential benefits that are still to come?

漢斯，您談論了很多有關固定無線的內容。您已經獲得了 C 頻段的其餘部分。您能否協助更新開放銷售的固定無線足跡以及您目前所處的位置，以及您如何實現 5000 萬個家庭或您在那裡的任何更新目標？然後，托尼，您談到了迄今為止所採取的一些定價行動。您能為我們梳理一下您在第三季中所認知的內容嗎？我想您已經談到了進入第四季度的順風車，那麼我們如何看待即將到來的一些連續效益？

Simon, I can start with fixed wireless access. As you can see, we continue on that rhythm with 350,000, 400,000 every quarter. The additional C-Band we got just a couple of weeks ago will initially go straight to augmenting our urban areas, where we already have the sites. And then in the early part of next year, we will also start deploying that in suburban and rural areas. And of course, that's an even greater opportunity for us because there are more underserved markets, and our fixed wireless access will come extremely quickly into those markets.

西蒙，我可以從固定無線接入開始。正如您所看到的，我們繼續保持每個季度 350,000、400,000 的節奏。我們幾週前獲得的額外 C 頻段最初將直接用於增強我們已經擁有站點的城市地區。然後明年初我們也會開始在郊區和農村地區進行部署。當然，這對我們來說是一個更大的機會，因為還有更多服務不足的市場，而我們的固定無線存取將極快地進入這些市場。

So that will just fortify our situation and how we want to I want to roll this out. We have a target of 4 million to 5 million subscribers by 2025. We keep that. Of course, we have dimensioned our network for way more. And the team, of course, have internal targets that were set by me. But right now, there's nothing else that we want to deliver this target as well to the market. We always want to deliver what we tell the market and we're going to do that, and then we have a conversation about that when we are past it.

因此，這只會強化我們的處境，以及我們想要如何推出這項計畫。我們的目標是到 2025 年擁有 400 萬到 500 萬訂閱者。我們會堅持下去。當然，我們已經對網路進行了更多規模的調整。當然，團隊有我設定的內部目標。但目前，我們沒有其他任何事情想要向市場實現這一目標。我們總是想向市場傳達我們所說的訊息，我們也會這樣做，然後當我們過去的時候我們會就此進行對話。

And Simon, on your question on pricing, so a few things here. We executed a number of pricing actions, as you saw. The legacy Mix & Match that we did earlier in September will yield about $100 million of incremental benefit in the fourth quarter. And we also see improving volumes on mobility, and year-over-year improvements there. We also see an increasing contribution from fixed wireless access. You saw the growth we had in the quarter with 384,000 net adds, we had 2.7 million -- almost 2.7 million subs in our base. So we feel very good about the momentum there. So very good progress on service revenue and setting us up well for next year.

西蒙，關於定價問題，這裡有一些事情。正如您所看到的，我們執行了許多定價行動。我們在 9 月初進行的傳統 Mix & Match 將在第四季度產生約 1 億美元的增量效益。我們也看到流動性的增加以及逐年改善。我們也看到固定無線存取的貢獻日益增加。你看到了我們在本季度的成長，淨增加了 384,000 人，我們的基地有 270 萬——近 270 萬訂閱者。所以我們對那裡的勢頭感到非常滿意。服務收入取得了非常好的進展，為我們明年做好了準備。

The next question comes from John Hodulik of UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜里克。

Just 2 questions. First on upgrades. Obviously, that number continues to come down or solidly into the sort of 3% range. I mean, Hans, in your prepared remarks, you sort of suggested that you expect to see the same for the next few quarters. I guess 2 questions there. First of all, what -- in your view, what is really driving it? And do you think that this is a temporary issue and that it will go back to some sort of normalized rate? And then any comments on what that low rate is really doing for your business. And then secondly, in the past, you guys have given some numbers and some metrics on what the C-Band is doing for your business as it gets rolled out. Any update there? Are you still seeing improvement in things like gross adds, ARPU, churn as you roll that C-Band out?

只有 2 個問題。首先是升級。顯然，這個數字繼續下降或穩定在 3% 的範圍內。我的意思是，漢斯，在您準備好的發言中，您暗示您預計在接下來的幾個季度會看到相同的情況。我想有兩個問題。首先，在您看來，真正推動這股趨勢的因素是什麼？您是否認為這是暫時的問題並且會回到某種正常化的水平？然後是關於低利率對您的業務真正有何影響的任何評論。其次，在過去，你們已經給了一些數字和一些指標，說明 C 頻段推出後能為你們的業務帶來什麼。有更新嗎？當您推出 C 頻段時，您是否仍看到總增加量、ARPU、客戶流失率等指標有所改善？

Thanks, John. On the upgrade, as we have seen now for a couple of quarters, when we started our segmented approach on the Consumer side, where we actually try to meet our customers in different segments with the right offerings, that, of course, has driven a lower upgrade rate as we are not doing peanut butter spread sort of that everybody gets everything. So we are really trying to see that we have the right offer for our customer. And what is giving me confidence is that our gross adds is just continue to grow for us. So we have the right offering in the market, together with myPlan. Of course, fourth quarter is always a little bit higher on upgrades because that's normally a seasonality. But in general, I see that our model is working, and this is both helping our customers with the right offerings. But not only that, it's helping us with the bottom line and the cash flow generation that we're very focused here at Verizon. And then on the C-Band, we see the same things as we have discussed before. We see lower churn where we deploy C-Band. We see better step-ups in those regions. And then on top of it, we increased fixed wire access so there's no difference on that. So I think we -- same thing. And that's why we're so excited by C-band continue to roll out, and we have gotten hold of the all C-Band here just a couple of weeks ago.

謝謝，約翰。在升級方面，正如我們在幾個季度中所看到的那樣，當我們開始在消費者方面採取細分方法時，我們實際上試圖透過合適的產品來滿足不同細分市場的客戶，這當然推動了升級率較低，因為我們不做花生醬塗抹，讓每個人都能得到一切。因此，我們確實在努力確保為客戶提供合適的產品和服務。讓我充滿信心的是，我們的總增加額正在持續成長。因此，我們在市場上提供了合適的產品以及 myPlan。當然，第四季度的升級總是略高一些，因為這通常是季節性的。但總的來說，我發現我們的模式正在發揮作用，這都有助於我們的客戶提供正確的產品。但不僅如此，它還幫助我們提高利潤和現金流生成，這是我們在 Verizon 非常關注的。然後在 C 頻段上，我們看到了與之前討論過的相同的情況。我們發現部署 C 頻段的客戶流失率較低。我們看到這些地區取得了更好的進步。除此之外，我們還增加了固定線路接入，因此沒有什麼區別。所以我認為我們——同樣的事情。這就是為什麼我們對 C 頻段的繼續推出感到如此興奮，並且就在幾週前我們已經在這裡掌握了所有 C 頻段。

The next question comes from Brett Feldman of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼。

Coming back to service revenue growth as we're looking ahead into next year and maybe digging a little bit into ARPU drivers. I know you don't report postpaid phone ARPU, but it's clearly an important component of what drives your ARPA. And I was hoping you could give us some insight into how you're thinking about those drivers next year. So for example, are you still -- do you still see opportunity to make further pricing adjustments in the base? Could you maybe give us some insight into what the mix is looking like? And are you continuing to see the highest tiered plans being among the most popular? And then are there any headwinds that might be emerging in the ARPU dynamic we need to be taking account for?

回到服務收入成長，我們展望明年，也許會深入研究 ARPU 驅動因素。我知道您不會在報告後付費電話 ARPU，但這顯然是推動 ARPA 的重要組成部分。我希望您能給我們一些關於您明年如何看待這些車手的見解。例如，您是否仍認為有機會在基礎上進行進一步的定價調整？您能否給我們一些關於混合的見解？您是否繼續看到最高級別的計劃是最受歡迎的？那麼，我們需要考慮到 ARPU 動態中可能出現的任何不利因素嗎？

So let me start on the high level. I mean, first of all, we need to think about our total offering on wireless. And we haven't spoken so far much about the business side. But the business side, again, for the ninth quarter in a row, had more than 125,000 phone net adds, actually 150,000-plus. So they are doing really good in a market where our customers on that side is really looking on the performance of the network and the high-quality distribution we have. So I'm very pleased with that and I have -- I would like to say it. On the Consumer side, I think we have found the model with myPlan on how we go to market. All the changes in the Consumer Group and Sampath have done since earlier this year with the plans, decentralization, sales incentive is helping us to be in the right proposition. Then we always look to order new value added we can give to our customers to broaden the scope for us and for our customers, like we did with third tier on the network side on myPlan or that we took away the discount on the convergence within mobility and fixed wireless access in this quarter. So we will continue to look at it, but it's nothing -- that is the most important right now because I think we have an offering that is really compelling to our customers.

讓我從高層次開始。我的意思是，首先，我們需要考慮我們在無線方面的整體產品。到目前為止我們還沒有過多談論業務方面。但業務方面再次連續第九個季度新增超過 125,000 部電話，實際上超過 150,000 部。因此，他們在市場上做得非常好，我們那邊的客戶真正專注於網路的性能和我們擁有的高品質分銷。所以我對此非常滿意，我想說。在消費者方面，我認為我們已經透過 myPlan 找到瞭如何進入市場的模型。自今年稍早以來，消費者集團和 Sampath 所做的所有變化以及計劃、權力下放、銷售激勵正在幫助我們採取正確的主張。然後，我們總是尋求訂購新的增值服務，為我們的客戶提供新的增值服務，以擴大我們和我們的客戶的範圍，就像我們在myPlan 網路方面的第三層所做的那樣，或者我們取消了行動性融合的折扣本季還有固定無線接入。因此，我們將繼續關注它，但這沒什麼——這是目前最重要的，因為我認為我們的產品對我們的客戶來說確實很有吸引力。

And then, Brett, on your service revenue question, just some qualitative thoughts for you. On the plus side, I would say, look, the pricing actions we took this year, obviously, have a tailwind in the fourth quarter and carry over into next year. So we continue to see momentum there. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we do expect an improving volume profile in the Consumer business. So that's something that the team is very focused on.

然後，布雷特，關於你的服務收入問題，我想為你提供一些定性的想法。從好的方面來說，我想說，看，我們今年採取的定價行動顯然在第四季度有順風車，並延續到明年。因此，我們繼續看到那裡的勢頭。此外，正如我之前提到的，我們確實預期消費者業務的銷售狀況會有所改善。所以這是團隊非常關注的事情。

Fixed wireless access continues to scale. So as I mentioned earlier, another 384,000 net adds. Even as Hans said, and taking away the discount as well, so the momentum is strong there, and continued increased premium mix with myPlan. So myPlan is seeing roughly 70% premium mix, and we're very pleased with the progress there. And we're also seeing some of the headwinds from the primary amortization starting to ease a little bit, that's starting to flatten out, which is good news and also a function of all the discipline that we've had this year. And then offsetting that, as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, prepaid continues to be a headwind in the near term as we continue to work to improve the business, and that's still ongoing. So those are the puts and takes in terms of service revenue.

固定無線接取持續擴大。正如我之前提到的，還有 384,000 名淨增加者。正如 Hans 所說，並且還取消了折扣，因此那裡的勢頭強勁，並繼續增加與 myPlan 的保費組合。因此，myPlan 看到了大約 70% 的優質組合，我們對那裡的進展感到非常滿意。我們也看到主要攤銷帶來的一些不利因素開始有所緩解，開始趨於平緩，這是個好消息，也是我們今年所有紀律的結果。然後抵消這一點，正如我們在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，隨著我們繼續努力改善業務，預付費在短期內仍然是一個阻力，而且這種情況仍在持續。這些就是服務收入的投入和支出。

The next question comes from Michael Rollins of Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯。

Curious if you can unpack the ways in which Verizon will look to achieve its cost-cutting targets through 2025 as well as how much of those benefits could come through in 2024 and versus 2025. And then just separately on prepaid, just an update would be great on the integration of TracFone, and how Verizon is thinking about the opportunities and timing of potentially taking some of those prepaid customers in migrating them over to your postpaid base.

很好奇您是否能解開 Verizon 將採取哪些方式在 2025 年之前實現其成本削減目標，以及 2024 年和 2025 年相比可以實現多少這些好處。然後單獨預付費，只需更新即可非常適合TracFone 的集成，以及Verizon 如何考慮可能將其中一些預付費客戶遷移到您的後付費基礎的機會和時機。

Thank you, Mike. On the cost target, we are definitely on track for delivering on the 2 million to 3 million that we talked about when we launched the new structure. The new structure started this year, the 1st of January. We see a lot of tractions on it. And probably, as you follow us closely, you have seen that we're -- we have worked on the managed services side together with HL. We have done a big transaction on the customer care side. We are doing a lot of transaction on the IT side. We're bringing more AI into the network and to the customer care. It's a lot of things ongoing. So I have a high confidence that we are finding along the road that are all the savings we need, and the traction is very high in the company on efficiency given that we have one organization right now, Verizon Global Services, supporting all others to see that we find the best measurements across the company. And I can come back to prepaid, and maybe Tony has some more comments on the cost side.

謝謝你，麥克。在成本目標方面，我們絕對有望實現我們在推出新結構時談到的 200 萬至 300 萬美元。新結構於今年 1 月 1 日開始實施。我們看到它有很多吸引力。當您密切關注我們時，您可能會發現我們與 HL 一起在託管服務方面開展工作。我們在客戶服務方面做了一筆大交易。我們在IT方面做了很多交易。我們正在將更多的人工智慧引入網路和客戶服務。很多事情正在進行中。因此，我非常有信心，我們正在尋找我們需要的所有節省，而且公司對效率的牽引力非常高，因為我們現在有一個組織，即 Verizon Global Services，支持所有其他組織看到這一點。我們在整個公司找到最好的測量方法。我可以回到預付費，也許托尼對成本還有更多評論。

Sure. Thanks. And Mike, just a couple of other additional points that Hans mentioned. So we're on track to deliver $2 billion to $3 billion as Hans said. $200 million to $300 million of that will come this year in 2023 in EBITDA, and that was already contemplated in the guide. Hans mentioned a lot of the initiatives. The other item I would mention is we're being very disciplined in Business wireline by deemphasizing low-margin deals. So that's something that the team is very, very focused on as well. We're not going to give cost targets for '24 at this time. But we feel good that we have a good foundation that are driving EBITDA improvements. And you saw it in the quarter with both sequential and year-over-year improvements in EBITDA, and that's going to set the foundation for an improving EBITDA profile in 2024.

當然。謝謝。麥克，還有漢斯提到的其他幾點。因此，正如漢斯所說，我們預計將交付 20 億至 30 億美元。其中 2 億至 3 億美元將在今年（即 2023 年）以 EBITDA 形式體現，指南中已經考慮到了這一點。漢斯提到了很多舉措。我要提到的另一件事是，我們在商業有線方面非常嚴格，不再強調低利潤交易。所以這也是團隊非常非常重視的事情。目前我們不會給出 24 年的成本目標。但我們感到很高興，因為我們擁有推動 EBITDA 改善的良好基礎。您在本季度看到了 EBITDA 的環比和同比改善，這將為 2024 年 EBITDA 狀況的改善奠定基礎。

On the value segment in prepaid and TracFone. As we said in the prepared remarks, we were at the low point in the first half of '23. And from here on, we should start sequentially improving. Secondly, this is really important for our strategy. We want to build the network [adds] and have as many connections as possible, and address the entire market on wireless. And of course, being strong and being the #1 in the value segment is important. Then from a market point of view, we all know that there has been some sort of a blend between the low end on postpaid and prepaid, which means that the volumes in prepaid is a little bit lower. And we have not been part of that transformation of taking customer for prepaid. So what we're doing right now in our own operation, which is a lot, but one, we are building up Total by Verizon, which is a great seed we have on opening new doors. That's going to help us to move up the postpaid for the customers that want to do that, but also have a high-end value proposition. Secondly, we work with the national retailers that we have to see that we are fortifying our offerings in our store. And finally, you're seeing that DISH continues with the pace it has. And then we're working with a lot of other things. So it's a lot of ongoing here that gives us confidence that we will sequentially continue to improve. But clearly, this is very important for our overall strategy.

關於預付費和 TracFone 的價值部分。正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，我們在 23 年上半年處於低點。從現在開始，我們應該開始逐步改進。其次，這對我們的戰略非常重要。我們希望建立網路[添加]並擁有盡可能多的連接，並透過無線滿足整個市場的需求。當然，強大並成為價值領域的第一名也很重要。然後從市場的角度來看，我們都知道後付費和預付費的低端之間存在某種混合，這意味著預付費的數量要低一些。我們還沒有參與讓客戶進行預付費的轉變。因此，我們現在在自己的營運中所做的事情很多，但其中之一是，我們正在建立 Verizon 的 Total，這是我們打開新大門的一顆偉大的種子。這將有助於我們為想要這樣做的客戶提高後付費價格，同時也擁有高端價值主張。其次，我們與全國零售商合作，我們必須確保我們正在加強我們商店的產品。最後，您會看到 DISH 繼續保持其現有的步伐。然後我們正在處理很多其他事情。因此，這裡正在進行的大量工作讓我們有信心繼續改進。但顯然，這對我們的整體策略非常重要。

The next question comes from Bryan Kraft of Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的布萊恩‧克拉夫特。

I have a question on fixed wireless. There continues to be a lot of debate regarding sustainability of fixed wireless served by macro cell sites given the trajectory of broadband usage and, of course, the unit economics of radio access networks versus fiber. So really, I guess, 2 questions. One, since you started the fixed wireless deployment, have your assumptions changed at all regarding usage or the number of fixed wireless customers you can optimally load the network with over time? And secondly, what developments have occurred in millimeter waves delivered fixed wireless this year? And how at this point are you thinking about millimeter wave evolving over the next couple of years as a scalable access technology?

我有一個關於固定無線的問題。考慮到寬頻使用的軌跡，當然還有無線存取網路與光纖相比的單位經濟性，關於宏蜂窩站點提供的固定無線的可持續性仍然存在許多爭論。我想，真的有兩個問題。第一，自從您開始固定無線部署以來，您對使用情況或隨著時間的推移可以優化網路負載的固定無線客戶數量的假設是否發生了根本變化？其次，今年毫米波固定無線技術有何進展？目前您如何看待毫米波作為一種可擴展的接入技術在未來幾年的發展？

Bryan, at first, yes, our assumption has changed on fixed wire access because our technology has improved more than we thought from the beginning, that means that we can take on even more capacity. And we are only on the first inning on the software improvements and our optimization of the network. I think Joe and his team is doing a fantastic job with it. Customers are using it on the Consumer side, equally much as on the Fios. So there's no difference on usage. So I think we have a great path forward with the technology. And we are not seeing everything we can do still with fixed wireless access when it comes to software development, radio improvement, et cetera. So I have no hesitation over the assumption we made that we're actually having better assumptions today.

布萊恩，首先，是的，我們對固定有線接入的假設已經改變，因為我們的技術比我們一開始想像的要進步，這意味著我們可以承擔更多的容量。我們在軟體改進和網路優化方面才剛起步。我認為喬和他的團隊在這方面做得非常出色。客戶在消費者端使用它，就像在 Fios 上一樣。所以使用上沒有差別。所以我認為我們在這項技術上有一條偉大的前進道路。在軟體開發、無線電改進等方面，我們並沒有看到固定無線接入所能做的一切。因此，我毫不猶豫地認為我們今天實際上有了更好的假設。

When it comes to millimeter wave, that is playing a vital role for us for many reasons. First of all, it takes in all high-density areas. They take the majority of the capacity. And that's very important for several reasons. I unleashed a mid-band spectrum in order to have better performance on the street, but also in fixed wireless access. So millimeter wave will continue to play a very vital role. As we have said several times, we built very quickly in all major places. And now we're sort of augmenting where we see a lot of traffic. On top of that, of course, we see opportunities for using our millimeter wave also for MDUs over time, to see that we address that market with fixed virus access.

當談到毫米波時，出於多種原因，它對我們發揮著至關重要的作用。首先，它涵蓋所有高密度區域。他們佔據了大部分容量。出於多種原因，這一點非常重要。我釋放了中頻段頻譜，以便在街道上以及固定無線接入中獲得更好的性能。因此毫米波將繼續發揮非常重要的作用。正如我們多次說過的，我們在所有主要地方的建設速度都非常快。現在，我們正在增加流量較多的地方。當然，最重要的是，隨著時間的推移，我們看到了將毫米波用於 MDU 的機會，以確保我們能夠透過固定的病毒存取來滿足該市場的需求。

So all in all, we still have a lot of technology evolution to see that we can serve even more customers with even better performance and more capacity. So I'm very happy. And as you have seen on fixed wireless access, our NPS score is off the chart. I mean the customers love it. It's easy. It's quick to deploy. It's self-install. So I think we hit it clearly with this product, and we want to push it with our team and see the customer gets the right products.

總而言之，我們仍然需要大量的技術發展才能看到我們能夠以更好的性能和更大的容量為更多的客戶服務。所以我很高興。正如您在固定無線存取上看到的那樣，我們的 NPS 得分非常高。我的意思是顧客喜歡它。這很容易。部署速度很快。是自行安裝的。所以我認為我們透過這個產品明確地達到了目標，我們希望與我們的團隊一起推動它，並看到客戶獲得正確的產品。

The next question comes from Frank Louthan of Raymond James.

下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Frank Louthan。

Great. Quick question, and I apologize if this was addressed. Can you quantify how much of the interest expense going from capitalization to the income statement from the C-Band? And then secondly, where are you as far as being able to utilize fixed wireless to help reduce costs for type 2 circuits and that sort of thing?

偉大的。快速提問，如果這個問題得到解決，我深表歉意。您能否量化 C 頻段從資本化到損益表的利息支出有多少？其次，您在利用固定無線來幫助降低 2 類電路之類的成本方面處於什麼水平？

I can start with the fixed wise access and Tony will -- yes, great question. Sometimes we're focused on fixed wireless access being sort of a consumer solution for broadband. Today, we sell a lot of fixed wire access for -- in the business segment as well, both for large enterprises and for small and medium customers, which has a different usage pattern, which is great. And also, we see -- and Kyle has discussed several times, he also this is a way of optimizing our access cost by having fixed wireless access as the barrier of transport in many cases. So clearly, again, this is how we built our network from the beginning to be able, from the data center to the edge of the network, have a total harmonized network that can fastly move all the data. And then at edge of the network, we will have different type of access technologies in order to serve our customers. And fixed wireless access can serve many different use cases. And we tend to talk a lot about the Consumer fixed wireless access use case, but I have -- or Kyle have a lot of use cases in the business segment. And if you just look at the numbers this quarter, he's continuing to add a lot of fixed wireless access customers as well.

我可以從固定的明智訪問開始，托尼會——是的，很好的問題。有時，我們專注於固定無線接入，將其視為寬頻消費者解決方案。今天，我們在業務領域也銷售了大量的固定有線接入，無論是大型企業還是中小型客戶，它們都有不同的使用模式，這很棒。而且，我們看到 - 凱爾已經討論過多次，他還認為這是通過在許多情況下將固定無線接入作為傳輸障礙來優化我們的接入成本的一種方法。很明顯，這就是我們從一開始就建立網路的方式，以便能夠從資料中心到網路邊緣擁有一個可以快速移動所有資料的全面協調的網路。然後在網路邊緣，我們將擁有不同類型的接入技術來為我們的客戶提供服務。固定無線存取可以服務許多不同的用例。我們傾向於談論很多關於消費者固定無線存取用例的內容，但我或凱爾在商業領域有很多用例。如果你只看本季的數字，他還將繼續增加大量固定無線接取客戶。

And then, Frank, on the capitalized interest question, in the quarter, we saw about $0.03 of pressure from capitalized interest from the time we got the licenses. And then for the fourth quarter, we estimate $0.03 to $0.04 of pressure from capitalized interest. So I hope that helps.

然後，弗蘭克，關於資本化利息問題，在本季度，自從我們獲得許可證以來，我們看到了約 0.03 美元的資本化利息壓力。然後，我們估計第四季度來自資本化利息的壓力為 0.03 至 0.04 美元。所以我希望這會有所幫助。

The next question comes from David Barden of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的大衛‧巴登。

Two, if I could. Just the first one, Hans. At the very beginning of the call, you said that you were being really successful at 3 things: mobility, broadband and private networks. And we haven't really heard a lot about what you're doing in private networks, what your goals are, what your successes have been. So if you could elaborate a little bit on what that is and why it's one of the big 3 things that we should care about Verizon being good at, that would be super helpful.

兩個，如果可以的話。只是第一個，漢斯。在通話一開始，您就說您在三件事上取得了真正的成功：行動性、寬頻和專用網路。我們還沒有真正聽說過很多關於您在專用網路中所做的事情、您的目標是什麼以及您取得的成功。因此，如果您能詳細說明這是什麼以及為什麼它是我們應該關心 Verizon 擅長的三件事之一，那將非常有幫助。

And then the second is, maybe this is for Tony. Just -- I think we just touched on it a little bit. But the success that you guys have been having in the postpaid phone subscriber net adds in Business, could you elaborate a little bit on where that's coming from? Like given that the Consumer isn't growing, how is it that the Business continues to be so successful quarter after quarter after quarter? And should we assume that, that just can continue?

第二個是，也許這是給東尼的。只是——我想我們只是觸及了一點。但是你們在後付費電話用戶網路中所取得的成功增加了商業領域，您能詳細說明一下它的來源嗎？既然消費者沒有成長，那麼業務為何能夠一個季度又一個季度地持續如此成功呢？我們是否應該假設這種情況可以持續下去？

Thank you, David. On the private network, yes, good question. What is happening in the private network right now is that we are doing a proof-of-concept to go to commercial. We have ramped up a fantastic funnel. We're starting getting more and more deals every quarter. They start pretty small. They start sort of like a Wi-Fi substitution. And then when it works, let's say, you have one big logistic company, they take it one logistics center and then they do it in all. We are in that phase of ramping that up to do in one too many at the moment.

謝謝你，大衛。在專用網路上，是的，好問題。目前專用網路中正在發生的事情是，我們正在進行商業化的概念驗證。我們已經建立了一個很棒的漏斗。每個季度我們開始獲得越來越多的交易。他們一開始規模很小。它們一開始有點像 Wi-Fi 替代品。然後當它起作用時，比方說，你有一家大型物流公司，他們把它當作一個物流中心，然後他們就全部完成了。我們目前正處於一個階段，需要做太多的事情。

What we have done, we have done 2 things very important. We have cut the lead times on proof-of-concept to actually do commercial deal. And it's very clear for our customers that the capacity, the security and the low latency is a game changer for them when they see it. And secondly, we also now have an ecosystem of products, infrastructure, modem, chipset, phones and radios that can serve different use cases. So that's why we're excited over it.

我們所做的，我們做了兩件非常重要的事。我們縮短了概念驗證的交付時間，以實際進行商業交易。我們的客戶非常清楚，當他們看到容量、安全性和低延遲時，他們會改變遊戲規則。其次，我們現在還擁有一個由產品、基礎設施、數據機、晶片組、電話和無線電組成的生態系統，可以服務不同的用例。這就是我們對此感到興奮的原因。

We're not going to see any significant revenues that has an impact on Verizon overall in '24. We're going to see that in '25. But what is important is that this is an area we've never been into. This is a total new TAM we can address by running private networks for different industries, for different large enterprises across the country. With our distribution and technology, I see this is a great opportunity to how we use our spectrum. So that's why we pay a lot of attention to it and with a lot of opportunities coming to it.

24 年我們不會看到任何對 Verizon 整體產生影響的重大收入。我們將在 25 年看到這一點。但重要的是，這是一個我們從未涉足的領域。這是一個全新的 TAM，我們可以透過為全國不同產業、不同大型企業運行專用網路來解決。憑藉我們的分銷和技術，我認為這是我們如何使用頻譜的絕佳機會。這就是為什麼我們非常關注它並且有很多機會到來。

And before Tony talks about the business segment and the wireless, I would say one main reason why we continue to do so well is our network is the best. I mean if you ask any of our enterprise customers or SMB customers, the reliability and the performance of our network is just the best. And that's a very important buying criteria in that segment. Tony?

在托尼談論業務部門和無線之前，我想說我們繼續做得這麼好的一個主要原因是我們的網路是最好的。我的意思是，如果您詢問我們的任何企業客戶或中小企業客戶，我們網路的可靠性和效能是最好的。這是該細分市場非常重要的購買標準。托尼？

Sure. So Dave, a couple of things. We're pleased again with the strong results from Kyle and the team. We saw a great phone net adds in the quarter, 151,000 and over 430,000 year-to-date. And we saw healthy demand across the board. That would be enterprise, public sector and small, medium biz, and that performance is in a very uncertain environment. And as Hans said, strong results validate that businesses continue to trust the Verizon network, even during uncertain economic times. And we do see certain pressures in certain sectors, and we're certainly not immune to it, but we're not seeing anything significant. And from a competitive standpoint, I would tell you that we're being very disciplined and we're not going to chase bad deals that are unprofitable. The other thing I would mention is FWA volumes also continue at a strong pace in Business, and we had 132,000 net adds in the third quarter and over 400,000 year-to-date. So we have great momentum heading into the fourth quarter here and as we set up for next year.

當然。戴夫，有幾件事。我們再次對凱爾和團隊的強勁成果感到高興。我們看到本季電話網增加了 151,000 部，年初至今已超過 43 萬部。我們看到了全面健康的需求。這將是企業、公共部門和中小型企業，其業績處於非常不確定的環境中。正如 Hans 所說，強勁的業績證明，即使在經濟不確定的時期，企業仍然信任 Verizon 網路。我們確實看到某些行業面臨一定的壓力，當然也不能倖免，但我們沒有看到任何重大的壓力。從競爭的角度來看，我會告訴你，我們非常自律，我們不會追逐無利可圖的糟糕交易。我要提到的另一件事是 FWA 數量在業務領域也繼續保持強勁增長勢頭，第三季淨增加 132,000 輛，今年迄今淨增加超過 40 萬輛。因此，我們在進入第四季度以及為明年做好準備時勢頭強勁。

And if I could, just one more and I apologize. So Hans, it's been 6 months since the team kind of got reset and you put all the people to work. The results seem to be moving in the right direction. Are you -- how happy are you with the choices you made right now?

如果可以的話，請再來一張，我深感抱歉。漢斯，自從團隊重新調整、讓所有人員投入工作以來，已經過了 6 個月。結果似乎正在朝著正確的方向發展。您對現在所做的選擇有多滿意？

I'm very happy with the choices. I think, as always, when you make a change, and we did quite a big change and I think 6 out of the 8 seats in the leadership team change in one swoop. I think we had good alignment from the first week, what we need to do all the way from Kyle, Tony and Sampath, which was very important, and Joe, which is sort of the 4 operational units. And you can see the results right now. I mean the guys are executing extremely well.

我對這些選擇非常滿意。我認為，一如既往，當你做出改變時，我們做了相當大的改變，我認為領導團隊的 8 個席位中有 6 個會一下子發生變化。我認為我們從第一周開始就保持了良好的協調，我們需要從凱爾、托尼和薩姆帕斯一路做起，這非常重要，還有喬，這是 4 個運營單位。您現在就可以看到結果。我的意思是這些人的表現非常好。

So though I'm happy with it, I'm going to push them even harder, but these guys are really good. They take hard pressure and they deliver on it. So no, I'm happy on the choices and the team is doing well.

因此，儘管我對此感到滿意，但我會更加努力地推動他們，但這些人真的很棒。他們承受巨大的壓力並付諸實行。所以不，我對這些選擇很滿意，而且團隊做得很好。

The next question comes from Craig Moffett of MoffetNathanson.

下一個問題來自 MoffetNathanson 的 Craig Moffett。

Maybe starting with Tony. Tony, can you talk about what contribution you're getting from your wholesale wireless revenues as the cable industry scales? And then could you just talk about what benefits that's having in terms of margin accretion and what have you? And then I wonder if you just -- how we should think about potential risk to that revenue stream as Comcast and Charter start to roll out strand-mounted small cells to potentially offload more of that traffic onto their own networks?

也許從托尼開始。東尼，您能談談隨著有線電視產業規模的擴大，您從無線批發收入中獲得了哪些貢獻嗎？然後您能談談在利潤增加方面有什麼好處嗎？您有什麼好處？然後我想知道，當康卡斯特和查特開始推出串裝小型基地台以將更多流量轉移到自己的網路上時，我們應該如何考慮該收入流的潛在風險？

Okay. So a few things here. So as you know, we can't discuss the particular economics of any commercial deal, and that includes the commercial deals we have with the cable companies. What I can tell you is that we are very happy with the MVNO agreements and those agreements are accretive. It's an important business for us. And as Hans said many times, it's consistent with our strategy to monetize the network. It's a very profitable business for us, it's growing and we're very comfortable with the arrangement, but that's as far as we'll go.

好的。這裡有一些事情。如您所知，我們無法討論任何商業交易的特定經濟效益，其中包括我們與有線電視公司的商業交易。我可以告訴您的是，我們對 MVNO 協議非常滿意，而且這些協議具有增值作用。這對我們來說是一項重要的業務。正如漢斯多次說過的那樣，這與我們透過網路貨幣化的策略是一致的。這對我們來說是一項非常有利可圖的業務，它正在不斷增長，我們對這種安排非常滿意，但這就是我們所能做的。

The next question comes from Kannan Venkateshwar from Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Kannan Venkateshwar。

Maybe, Hans, for you, in terms of the fixed wireless business, when you think about the capacity that you have with C-Band, and you've talked a couple of times about momentum heading into next year as you expand into other footprints, is there any kind of goalpost that you have in terms of the kind of growth you're -- growth aspirations that you have to balance it with the capacity used that the network may have? So the 350,000, 400,000 kind of a number, does it go to 500,000? Or is there some kind of a framework you guys are thinking about in terms of your aspiration there?

漢斯，也許對您而言，就固定無線業務而言，當您考慮 C 頻段的容量時，您已經多次談到明年隨著您擴展到其他業務領域的勢頭，就您的增長類型而言，您是否有某種目標——您必須在增長願望與網路可能使用的容量之間取得平衡？那麼35萬、40萬之類的數字，會變成50萬嗎？或者你們正在考慮某種框架來實現你們的願望？

Thank you, Kannan. I think on a fixed wireless access, what I've said a couple of times now, we like to read them on 400,000 per quarter because it's putting our sort of our operations in the right mode of deploying this. And as we have also decentralized or regionalized our go-to-market, we can work with the markets where we actually open for sale fixed-wireless access, work with the local community, work with the local government and also address it through our stores. We can focus our efforts in that region and see that we capture all the demand and the funnel we have there. So we think it's a good model that we have right now. And then also, there are some laws of physics, how quickly we can roll out the C-Band. But I can tell you, there's no one holding back any investments here in order to get the C-Band to our customers as soon as possible. So I think we will continue to look at that, I mean, that type of levels going forward as well. And that will help us with reaching any goalposts we have or whatever goalposts were are communicating to the market.

謝謝你，康南。我認為在固定無線存取方面，我已經說過幾次了，我們喜歡每季閱讀 400,000 個，因為這使我們的營運處於正確的部署模式。由於我們也對市場進行了分散或區域化，因此我們可以與實際開放銷售固定無線接入的市場合作，與當地社區合作，與當地政府合作，並透過我們的商店解決這個問題。我們可以將我們的努力集中在該地區，並確保我們捕捉到那裡的所有需求和管道。所以我們認為這是我們現在擁有的一個很好的模型。此外，還有一些物理定律，我們可以多快推出 C 頻段。但我可以告訴你，為了盡快向我們的客戶提供 C 頻段，沒有人會阻止任何投資。所以我認為我們將繼續關注這一點，我的意思是，未來也會關注這種類型的水平。這將幫助我們達到我們所擁有的任何目標，或任何正在與市場溝通的目標。

The next question comes from Greg Williams of TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Greg Williams。

First one, Hans, you mentioned the improving KPIs when you launched C-Band in the markets, similar to last quarter as well. Just what thinking should we see churn improvements from here as the C-Band sort of match rates in these markets or sort of optimal levels? And then second one, just on media reports suggesting that you're hiring feverishly on the wireline side. And I'm just thinking about your fiber-to-the-home build. Maybe it's not on the M&A side, because of this high hurdle, but on the organic side, if you would bring up your builds or even the feed opportunity there.

首先，Hans，您提到當您在市場上推出 C-Band 時，KPI 有所改善，與上季度類似。我們應該如何看待客戶流失率的改善，作為這些市場中 C ​​波段的匹配率或最佳水平？然後是第二個，媒體報道表明你們正在有線方面瘋狂招募。我只是在考慮你們的光纖到府建設。也許這不是在併購方面，因為這個障礙很高，而是在有機方面，如果你能提出你的構建，甚至是那裡的飼料機會。

Okay. On the KPIs, you're correct. We rolled out the C-Band, we have better retention and better step-ups. And of course, we also expect that we can take share. I think in the Consumer side and the Business side, in both sides, we see opportunities as we come with the fixed wireless access to this market and with the C-Band. So there is share gains we are planning to do here, and our teams are very focused on it going forward.

好的。在 KPI 上，你是對的。我們推出了 C 頻段，我們有更好的保留率和更好的提升。當然，我們也希望能夠分享。我認為在消費者方面和商業方面，我們都看到了機遇，因為我們透過固定無線存取這個市場和 C 頻段來實現這一目標。因此，我們計劃在這裡實現份額成長，我們的團隊非常關注未來的發展。

The second question was around fiber, in our ILEC, I guess. And we are not holding back on that. I mean, first of all, you saw how great we're doing this quarter with Fios. We will continue to invest in Fios to see where our customers. Outside the Fios, our primary strategy is to build on a One Fiber and do fixed wireless access to capture the market before anybody else is even remotely there. That's what we do.

我猜第二個問題是關於纖維的，在我們的 ILEC 中。我們對此毫不猶豫。我的意思是，首先，您看到了本季我們與 Fios 的合作有多出色。我們將繼續投資 Fios，看看我們的客戶在哪裡。在 Fios 之外，我們的主要策略是在 One Fiber 上建造並進行固定無線接入，以搶先於其他人遠端佔領市場。這就是我們所做的。

Then over time, as I said 100 times, I got to have optionality if I would have another access technology over time. But that's not in the cards right now. We have all the capacity and the technology out in the fields right now. And the quicker we can come out, the quicker we can meet the demand that's out there and meeting the customer that wants our broadband, which is a lot.

隨著時間的推移，正如我說過 100 次一樣，如果我願意擁有另一種接入技術，我必須擁有選擇權。但現在還不可能。我們現在擁有該領域的所有能力和技術。我們越快推出，就能越快滿足市場需求並滿足需要我們寬頻的客戶，數量很多。

Your last question will come from Tim Horan of Oppenheimer.

你的最後一個問題將來自奧本海默的蒂姆·霍蘭。

Hans, just looking back a second, can you talk about the ability for yourselves and the industry to monetize all these leads the last few years, both to accelerate the free cash flow? And how important is pricing here? Because inflation is running 4%, GDP is growing above 5%, inflation is probably above 4% again next year, and we're not really seeing much revenue growth. So what do you think needs to be done for the industry to kind of monetize all the investments?

漢斯，回顧一下，您能否談談您自己和整個行業在過去幾年中將所有這些領先優勢貨幣化的能力，以加速自由現金流？定價在這裡有多重要？因為通膨率為 4%，GDP 成長超過 5%，明年通膨率可能再次高於 4%，而我們實際上並沒有看到太多收入成長。那麼您認為該行業需要做什麼才能將所有投資貨幣化？

I can talk for ourselves. I think we are in a moment where we actually are monetizing by being very segmented, both in our Business side and in our Consumer side, and that we both having the right offers for our customers. At the same time, we are generating bottom line for ourselves. So I think that's where we are. And we have done some price adjustment, but that has also included new values for our customers. I think we now are coming to a moment we're probably going to have a little bit more of quantities, not only price, given the track that we have in our business right now.

我可以為自己說話。我認為我們現在正處於這樣一個時刻，我們實際上是透過在業務方面和消費者方面進行非常細分來實現盈利的，並且我們都為客戶提供了合適的產品。同時，我們也在為自己創造底線。所以我認為這就是我們現在的情況。我們已經進行了一些價格調整，但這也為我們的客戶帶來了新的價值。我認為，考慮到我們目前的業務發展軌跡，我們現在可能會擁有更多的數量，而不僅僅是價格。

So we're going to balance that out doing the right for our customers, but also doing right for our shareholders. And then we, of course, adding that with our broadband growth, which is also helping us. And then as Tony said, we're taking out costs at the same time so that's how we work. And that's why we can lift the free cash flow for this year, the guidance, even though we're on the high end on our CapEx guidance, as well as higher -- or headwinds from the interest rate. So that tells you a little bit how we feel about our business, how we now have the right propositions in the market, and we can sort of retooling that, if it's -- something happened. But right now, we feel confident about the model we have.

因此，我們將在為客戶做正確的事和為股東做正確的事之間取得平衡。當然，我們也會隨著寬頻的成長而增加這一點，這也對我們有幫助。然後，正如托尼所說，我們同時削減成本，這就是我們的工作方式。這就是為什麼我們可以提高今年的自由現金流和指導，即使我們處於資本支出指導的高端，以及更高的利率或逆風。因此，這可以告訴您我們對我們業務的看法，我們現在如何在市場上擁有正確的主張，並且如果發生了某些事情，我們可以對其進行重組。但現在，我們對我們擁有的模型充滿信心。

And related to that, I know you want to get debt to EBITDA back to pre-auction levels. Do you have kind of a time frame on that? And just remind us what -- how do you view that?

與此相關的是，我知道您希望將 EBITDA 債務恢復到拍賣前的水平。你對此有一個時間框架嗎？請提醒我們—您如何看待這一點？

Yes. So what we have said before was that we want to come to a ratio of 2.25% of net debt to EBITDA. And we're going to continue to work our way down, and that is a primary goal for us. Number one, capital allocation is to invest in our business. Number two is continue to put our Board in a position so they can increase our dividend. We are on 17 years of consecutive increases. And thirdly, we're paying down our debt. When we come to that ratio, we will start having a conversation about buybacks. But we want to do buybacks, not as one-off or something. It has to be a consecutive program over time so -- but we're not there yet. But the team is doing a great job. Tony talked about the $2.6 billion that were used to pay debt this quarter with the tenders we have done. So we will continue to do that with the cash flow that we're [seeing] right now.

是的。所以我們之前說過，我們希望淨負債與 EBITDA 的比率達到 2.25%。我們將繼續努力，這是我們的首要目標。第一，資本配置是投資我們的業務。第二是繼續讓我們的董事會處於適當的位置，以便他們可以增加我們的股息。我們已連續 17 年成長。第三，我們正在償還債務。當我們達到這個比率時，我們將開始討論回購問題。但我們想要進行回購，而不是一次性回購或其他回購。隨著時間的推移，它必須是一個連續的計劃——但我們還沒有做到這一點。但團隊做得很好。托尼談到了我們在本季進行的招標中用於償還債務的 26 億美元。因此，我們將繼續利用我們現在[看到]的現金流來做到這一點。

Yes. Thanks, Tim. Brad, before we end the call, I want to turn it back over to Hans for a few closing statements here.

是的。謝謝，蒂姆。布拉德，在我們結束通話之前，我想把它轉回給漢斯，讓他做一些結束語。

Before we close, I want to take a moment to address the humanitarian crisis in Israel and Palestine that has continued to escalate over the past few weeks. At Verizon, we stand against terrorism in all its forms and condemn the violence that has claimed the lives of so many innocent civilians. The Verizon Foundation has committed a $2 million donation to organizations supporting relief efforts, and we continue to waive international long-distance charges for calls and texts from U.S. to the region.

在結束之前，我想花點時間談談過去幾週持續升級的以色列和巴勒斯坦人道主義危機。在 Verizon，我們反對一切形式的恐怖主義，並譴責奪走眾多無辜平民生命的暴力行為。 Verizon 基金會已承諾向支持救援工作的組織捐贈 200 萬美元，我們將繼續免除從美國至該地區的國際長途電話和簡訊費用。

My hope is that we will move to a peaceful resolution as soon as possible. In the meantime, we need to come together as a society and lean into what connect us, not what divides us.

我希望我們能夠盡快達成和平解決方案。同時，我們作為一個社會需要團結起來，專注於將我們連結在一起的事物，而不是分裂我們的事物。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for your participation and for using Verizon Conference Services. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與和使用 Verizon 會議服務。您現在可以斷開連線。