威訊通訊 (VZ) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Verizon Fourth 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 年第四季財報電話會議。 （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給東道主投資者關係高級副總裁布雷迪·康納先生。

Thanks, Brad. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth 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，歡迎參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。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. Discussion 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。 Verizon 向 SEC 提交的文件中包含對可能影響未來結果的因素的討論，這些文件可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 fourth quarter and full year results. You'll 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四季度和全年業績的詳細回顧。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。

We'd like to note that Verizon's fourth quarter reporting earnings per share were negatively impacted by a number of special items, which are discussed in the written remarks available on our Investor Relations website. The largest -- the impacts was also disclosed in our 8-K filing last Wednesday. Excluding these special items, adjusted EPS for the fourth quarter was $1.08.

我們想指出的是，Verizon 第四季的每股盈餘報告受到了一些特殊項目的負面影響，這些項目在我們投資者關係網站上的書面評論中進行了討論。最大的影響也在我們上週三的 8-K 文件中披露。排除這些特殊項目，第四季度調整後每股收益為 1.08 美元。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給漢斯。

Thank you, Brady. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. I hope you all had a great start of 2024. I'm pleased to report that Verizon closed out the year with a strong fourth quarter, finishing off a year of solid operation and financial performance. For us, 2023 was a year of continuous improvement and important actions across the business. We made significant changes to how we operate and to our team, and those changes paid off.

謝謝你，布雷迪。大家早安，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。我希望大家在2024 年有一個美好的開始。我很高興地向大家報告，Verizon 以強勁的第四季度業績結束了這一年，為這一年的穩健運營和財務業績畫上了圓滿的句號。對我們來說，2023 年是整個業務持續改善和採取重要行動的一年。我們對營運方式和團隊進行了重大改變，這些改變得到了回報。

We stabilized our core business and positioned the company for renewed growth and profitability. We built strong momentum quarter after quarter, culminating in a very good holiday season. And finally, we met the guidance that we provided to you in each of our key performance indicators.

我們穩定了核心業務，使公司重新實現成長和獲利。我們每季都建立了強勁的勢頭，最終帶來了一個非常好的假期。最後，我們滿足了在每個關鍵績效指標中向您提供的指導。

Entering 2024, Verizon stands ready to further unlock our performance potential at an accelerating rate. We now have all the assets, the best team in the business and a focus on continued operational excellence to deliver even better results going forward.

進入 2024 年，Verizon 已準備好以更快的速度進一步釋放我們的效能潛力。我們現在擁有所有資產、業內最好的團隊，並專注於持續卓越運營，以在未來取得更好的成果。

Let me share some full year highlights with you. Wireless service revenue for 2023 was $76.7 billion, a 3.2% year-over-year increase. We delivered outstanding volumes during a healthy fourth quarter where our customers clearly embraced our offerings. Full year adjusted EBITDA was $47.8 billion, contributing to a very strong free cash flow of $18.7 billion, reflecting our disciplined and strategic approach to profitable growth.

讓我與您分享一些全年亮點。 2023年無線服務收入為767億美元，年增3.2%。我們在健康的第四季度交付了出色的銷量，我們的客戶顯然​​接受了我們的產品。全年調整後 EBITDA 為 478 億美元，帶來 187 億美元的強勁自由現金流，反映了我們實現利潤成長的嚴謹和策略方針。

As a result of our financial strength, we raised our dividend for the 17th year in a row with a healthy free cash flow dividend payout ratio of approximately 59%. We also reduced our year-over-year leverage while continuing to bring CapEx back towards business as usual levels. This aligns with the capital allocation priorities we have shared in recent years.

憑藉我們的財務實力，我們連續第 17 年提高股息，自由現金流股息支付率保持在約 59% 的健康水平。我們也降低了同比槓桿率，同時繼續將資本支出恢復到正常水準。這與我們近年來共同的資本配置優先事項是一致的。

These results provide a solid foundation with Verizon's journey and future success. And I'm pleased that we put the leadership and team in place last year that will serve Verizon stakeholders well in both the short and long term. We, as a team, have focused on capturing the market opportunity, and I'm proud of our progress in 2023.

這些成果為 Verizon 的旅程和未來的成功奠定了堅實的基礎。我很高興我們去年組建了領導層和團隊，這將在短期和長期為 Verizon 利益相關者提供良好的服務。作為一個團隊，我們專注於抓住市場機遇，我為我們在 2023 年的進步感到自豪。

Just two weeks ago, Leslie Berland joined Verizon as our Chief Marketing Officer. I'm excited to bring her on board and have a great confidence in her ability to continue shaping Verizon's premium brand perception and story.

就在兩週前，Leslie Berland 加入 Verizon，擔任我們的首席行銷長。我很高興讓她加入，並對她繼續塑造 Verizon 優質品牌認知和故事的能力充滿信心。

We started 2023 determined to differentiate ourselves by investing even more in profitable growth while transforming Verizon to make the company more efficient and effective. Seeing the continued strength of the U.S. consumer, busy holiday store traffic and rising demand for mobility, broadband and private networks, we also took actions to fuel growth during the fourth quarter, and it showed in our results.

2023 年伊始，我們決心加大對獲利成長的投資，同時對 Verizon 進行轉型，使公司變得更加高效和有效，從而讓自己脫穎而出。看到美國消費者的持續強勁、繁忙的假日商店客流量以及對行動、寬頻和專用網路的需求不斷增長，我們還採取了推動第四季度成長的行動，這在我們的業績中得到了體現。

A standout milestone in 2023 was our launch of myPlan, which was designed from extensive customer research to be the most flexible plan available to U.S. consumers from any wireless company. myPlan has been a great success that has seen stellar adoption. Introduced in May, we already have 13.1 million myPlan subscribers.

2023 年的一個突出里程碑是我們推出了 myPlan，該計劃是根據廣泛的客戶研究而設計的，旨在成為所有無線公司向美國消費者提供的最靈活的計劃。 myPlan 取得了巨大成功，並得到了廣泛的採用。 myPlan 於 5 月推出，目前已有 1,310 萬訂戶。

And these customers are choosing premium packages and our unique perks driving ARPA. Other changes we made in 2023 include establishing a regional distribution model, tailing our approach to every market, revamping sales composition to support productivity and introducing new price plans and promotions in Consumer and Business.

這些客戶正在選擇優質套餐和我們獨特的福利來推動 ARPA。我們在 2023 年做出的其他改變包括建立區域分銷模式、針對每個市場調整我們的方法、改進銷售組成以支持生產力，以及在消費者和企業領域推出新的價格計劃和促銷活動。

Verizon Business also partnered with HCLTech to be more efficient to deliver post-sale implementation and customer support from managed network services, enhancing our customer service while saving Verizon money. These actions paired with all of our assets sets us up very well for 2024. We are now working from an effective model, and this is just a start. Overall, the wireless industry is strong as we head into 2024, and we are confident in our strategy. We have great offerings with optionality to meet the needs of customers of any budget on the best network in the country.

Verizon Business 也與 HCLTech 合作，透過託管網路服務更有效率地提供售後實施和客戶支援，從而增強我們的客戶服務，同時節省 Verizon 資金。這些行動與我們所有的資產相結合，為我們 2024 年的發展奠定了良好的基礎。我們現在正在採用有效的模式來開展工作，而這只是一個開始。總體而言，進入 2024 年，無線產業表現強勁，我們對我們的策略充滿信心。我們提供豐富的產品和選擇，可以滿足任何預算的客戶對國內最佳網路的需求。

Now let me share a bit more how each of our service performed in the fourth quarter. Starting with Mobility. We had 449,000 postpaid phone net adds, driven by improving net adds in Consumer and a continued sustainable performance in Verizon Business. Our disciplined and segmented market approach is working with customers and creating great economics for our shareholders.

現在讓我多分享一下我們每項服務在第四季度的表現。從移動性開始。在消費者淨增加量的改善和 Verizon Business 持續可持續的業績推動下，我們的後付費電話淨增加量為 449,000 部。我們紀律嚴明、細分的市場方法是與客戶合作，為我們的股東創造巨大的經濟效益。

In Consumer, you can see the pattern of continuous improvement from the start of the year. In the fourth quarter, we delivered our best postpaid phone gross adds performance since 2019 and our best net adds in two years. We added 318,000 postpaid phone customers in the fourth quarter, and our gross adds were up almost 17% year-over-year. It is clear that we have momentum in Consumer as we move into 2024, and we'll continue to work to get our fair share of new business.

在Consumer中，你可以看到從年初開始持續改進的格局。第四季度，我們實現了 2019 年以來最好的後付費電話總增加業績以及兩年來最好的淨增加業績。第四季我們增加了 318,000 名後付費電話客戶，總增加量較去年同期成長近 17%。很明顯，進入 2024 年，我們在消費者領域的發展勢頭強勁，我們將繼續努力在新業務中獲得公平的份額。

Our customer-centric offers are resonating in the market, and we're just getting started. By leveraging Verizon's large subscriber base and key partnership, we can deliver exclusive discount offers like Netflix and Max for just $10 a month, underscoring our industry leadership in value-driven content offerings. With our vast network coverage and the largest base of loyal customers, we're uniquely positioned to provide targeted high-value deals that deepen relationships across connected devices, streaming and more.

我們以客戶為中心的服務正在市場中引起共鳴，而我們才剛開始。透過利用 Verizon 龐大的用戶群和重要的合作夥伴關係，我們可以每月僅 10 美元提供 Netflix 和 Max 等獨家折扣優惠，突顯我們在價值驅動內容產品方面的行業領先地位。憑藉我們廣闊的網路覆蓋範圍和最大的忠實客戶群，我們具有獨特的優勢，可以提供有針對性的高價值交易，從而加深跨連接設備、串流媒體等的關係。

Within the value business, which includes our prepaid offerings like TracFone, Visible and Total by Verizon, we still have work do, but are making progress.

在價值業務中，包括 TracFone、Visible 和 Verizon 的 Total 等預付費產品，我們仍有工作要做，但正在取得進展。

Moving to Verizon Business. The team continued to deliver on Mobility with total postpaid phone net adds of 131,000 for the fourth quarter 2023, marking our tenth consecutive quarter of postpaid phone net adds above 125,000. For the full year, business added 562,000 phone net adds, an outstanding result. Our Business customers are prioritizing mobility and value the optionality we offer with highly tailored plans on the best network in the country.

轉移到 Verizon Business。該團隊繼續提供行動服務，2023 年第四季後付費電話淨增總數達到 131,000 部，這標誌著我們的後付費電話淨增數連續第十個季度超過 125,000 部。全年業務新增電話淨增 562,000 戶，成績斐然。我們的企業客戶優先考慮行動性，並重視我們在全國最好的網路上透過高度客製化的計畫提供的選擇性。

Now let's turn to Broadband. For the year, we had more than 1.7 million Broadband net adds with more than 1.5 million net adds from fixed wireless access and 248,000 net adds from Fios, a nice increase over 2022.

現在讓我們轉向寬頻。今年，我們的寬頻淨增加量超過 170 萬，其中固定無線存取淨增加量超過 150 萬，Fios 淨增加量為 248,000，比 2022 年有了不錯的成長。

On fixed wireless access, we're consistently adding more than 350,000 subscribers per quarter, which is part of our plan for steady, sustainable growth that exceeds what we expected at launch. Just three years of the launch, we serve more than 3 million fixed wireless access customers, well ahead of our stated goal of 4 million to 5 million subscribers by the end of 2025. With fixed wireless access, we're expanding into new markets and proving the value of Verizon's connectivity.

在固定無線存取方面，我們每季持續增加超過 35 萬名用戶，這是我們穩定、可持續成長計畫的一部分，超出了我們在推出時的預期。推出僅三年時間，我們就為超過300 萬固定無線接入客戶提供服務，遠遠超出了我們設定的到2025 年底擁有400 萬至500 萬用戶的目標。透過固定無線接入，我們正在擴展到新市場和證明 Verizon 連接的價值。

Customers are finding strong reliability and speed in fixed wireless access, and that shows in our results, including a very strong Net Promoter Score. For a product that still is in the beginning, the pace of adoption has the team super excited. We expect this will be a long-term source of recurring revenue for Verizon, and we're entering this year with a strong base for continued growth.

客戶發現固定無線存取具有強大的可靠性和速度，這在我們的結果中得到了體現，包括非常強大的淨推薦值。對於仍處於起步階段的產品來說，採用的速度讓團隊非常興奮。我們預計這將成為 Verizon 的長期經常性收入來源，並且我們將帶著持續成長的堅實基礎進入今年。

Turning to the private networks and our 5G business solutions. We continue to see interest from large enterprises running complex logistics and operations like ports, automotive and heavy industries. In November, Norfolk International Terminal contracted us to build a second private 5G network for them. All the already one of our partners in smart car development has contracted us to build a private network for their automotive tech testing environment. And Nucor, one of the country's largest steel companies, has us building private networks for three of its sites with more to come over the next year.

轉向專用網路和我們的 5G 業務解決方案。我們繼續看到經營複雜物流和業務（如港口、汽車和重工業）的大型企業的興趣。 11 月，諾福克國際航站樓與我們簽約，為其建造第二個專用 5G 網路。我們所有智慧汽車開發合作夥伴都已與我們簽約，為其汽車技術測試環境建立專用網路。美國最大的鋼鐵公司之一紐柯公司 (Nucor) 讓我們為其三個工廠建造專用網絡，明年還將建造更多網絡。

Strategically, we are building a new source of revenue expansion where we are the clear leader. Last year, we also expanded existing 5G private network partnerships with NFL to bring new spectator and retail experience to fans everywhere. When we build relationships with these large enterprises, and they see what our network can do for them, there is always potential for more business. And our network is just getting better and better every day.

從策略上講，我們正在建立一個新的收入擴張來源，我們是明顯的領導者。去年，我們也擴大了與 NFL 現有的 5G 專網合作夥伴關係，為世界各地的球迷帶來新的觀眾和零售體驗。當我們與這些大型企業建立關係，並且他們看到我們的人脈可以為他們做些什麼時，總是會有更多業務的潛力。我們的網路每天都在變得越來越好。

With full access to our spectrum as of the end of third quarter last year, our mission is to optimize experience in every market and expand into suburban and rural markets, where we know our Consumer and Business customers are eager to take up our offerings. We have been expanding and improving our network in key markets through 2023 and into this year. I have said it before, and I will say it again, our network is the foundation of how we offer the best value and premium experience to our customers. And we are now seeing our investment in C-Band paying off in terms of customer experience and loyalty.

截至去年第三季末，我們已完全進入我們的業務範圍，我們的使命是優化每個市場的體驗，並擴展到郊區和農村市場，我們知道我們的消費者和企業客戶渴望使用我們的產品。到 2023 年及今年，我們一直在擴大和改善我們在主要市場的網路。我之前說過，現在我還要再說一遍，我們的人脈是我們為客戶提供最佳價值和優質體驗的基礎。現在，我們看到我們對 C 頻段的投資在客戶體驗和忠誠度方面得到了回報。

Where we have C-Band, we see higher gross adds, lower churn and more step-ups to premium services. We also see increased uptake of customers taking both mobility and broadband services. Meanwhile, millimeter wave, which we have now deployed in many urban areas and all 30 NFL stadiums, sets Verizon apart with an outstanding performance at high-density areas and public event spaces. And for the 32nd consecutive time, Verizon was the most awarded company in the country for wireless network quality with the first place rankings in each of J.D. Power's 6 regions. We are the network that America relies on, and we take that commitment very seriously.

在擁有 C 頻段的地方，我們會看到更高的總增加量、更低的客戶流失率以及更多的優質服務升級。我們也看到越來越多的客戶同時使用行動和寬頻服務。同時，我們現在已在許多城市地區和所有 30 個 NFL 體育場部署毫米波，使 Verizon 在高密度區域和公共活動空間中表現出色，脫穎而出。 Verizon 連續 32 次成為美國無線網路品質獲獎最多的公司，在 J.D. Power 的 6 個地區均排名第一。我們是美國所依賴的網絡，我們非常重視這項承諾。

Looking ahead, our priority for 2024 are crystal clear. We remain laser-focused on growing wireless service revenue and expanding our adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow to allow for a meaningful debt reduction in the year ahead. This is what our whole team is working towards and what you, our shareholders and our Board want us to focus on.

展望未來，我們 2024 年的優先事項非常明確。我們仍然專注於增加無線服務收入並擴大調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流，以便在未來一年實現有意義的債務削減。這是我們整個團隊正在努力的目標，也是您、我們的股東和董事會希望我們關注的重點。

Tony will have more details for you, but we anticipate strong wireless service revenue growth of 2% to 3.5% in 2024, which reflects our ability to sustain the top line of our business as we continue to pursue the right balance or profitability and customer growth. Our adjusted EBITDA profile will continue to improve as we become even more efficient with growth, cost saving measures and our disciplined promotional spending. Our capital allocation priorities remain consistent. And as we lower our capital intensity from the C-Band build-out and our new business structure, we expect to see continued strong free cash flow generation going forward. That will enable our Board to continue to raise our dividend and also enable us to bring down leverage.

托尼將為您提供更多詳細信息，但我們預計2024 年無線服務收入將強勁增長2% 至3.5%，這反映了我們在繼續追求盈利能力與客戶增長之間的適當平衡的同時維持業務收入的能力。隨著我們透過成長、成本節約措施和嚴格的促銷支出變得更加高效，調整後的 EBITDA 狀況將繼續改善。我們的資本配置優先事項保持一致。隨著我們透過 C 頻段建設和新業務結構降低資本密集度，我們預計未來將持續強勁地產生自由現金流。這將使我們的董事會能夠繼續提高股息，並降低槓桿。

Now Tony will discuss the quarter as well as our operations and guidance in more detail.

現在托尼將更詳細地討論本季以及我們的營運和指導。

Thanks, Hans, and good morning. Executing on our plan, we finished the year strong and delivered on our financial guidance. We exited the year with good momentum and remain committed to our three priorities of growing wireless service revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.

謝謝，漢斯，早安。按照我們的計劃，我們強勁地結束了這一年，並實現了我們的財務指導。我們以良好的勢頭結束了這一年，並繼續致力於增加無線服務收入、調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流這三個優先事項。

In 2023, we set out to improve our operational performance while sustaining financial discipline. Our fourth quarter and full year results confirm that our strategy is working and that we can deliver strong financials and improve key operating metrics. Consumer postpaid phone net adds totaled 318,000 for the quarter, a substantial improvement of 369,000 sequentially and 277,000 compared to the prior year. Our Consumer postpaid phone churn of 0.88% represents a stable result even after we implemented over $1 billion of annualized pricing actions in 2023. While we do not provide specific guidance on volumes, we wanted to share a couple of items as we look into 2024.

2023 年，我們著手提升營運績效，同時維持財務紀律。我們的第四季和全年業績證實我們的策略正在發揮作用，我們可以提供強勁的財務狀況並改善關鍵營運指標。本季消費者後付費電話淨增加總數為 318,000 部，比上一季大幅增加 369,000 部，比去年同期增加 277,000 部。即使我們在2023 年實施了超過10 億美元的年度定價行動，我們的消費者後付費電話流失率為0.88%，這也是一個穩定的結果。雖然我們沒有提供具體的銷售指導，但我們希望在展望2024 年時分享一些項目。

In the first quarter, we are taking additional targeted pricing actions that we expect will result in incremental pressure on Consumer postpaid phone churn in the period. However, we expect to deliver positive Consumer postpaid phone net adds in full year 2024 as we execute on our strategy of growing our subscriber base while being financially disciplined.

在第一季度，我們正在採取額外的有針對性的定價行動，我們預計這將對這段期間的消費者後付費電話流失帶來更大的壓力。然而，我們預計在 2024 年全年將實現積極的消費者後付費電話網路成長，因為我們執行擴大用戶群的策略，同時遵守財務紀律。

Postpaid phone gross adds in the quarter were up nearly 17% year-over-year. This represents our best quarterly consumer gross add performance in four years. Our attractive myPlan offers combined with our segmented approach to the market, regional sales structure and disciplined promotional strategy continued to deliver strong results. Additionally, postpaid upgrades remained lower as compared to the prior year. The Consumer postpaid upgrade rate was 4.4% in the fourth quarter, down 120 basis points year-over-year as a result of approximately 19% fewer upgrades.

本季後付費電話總銷量較去年同期成長近 17%。這是我們四年來最好的季度消費者總增加業績。我們極具吸引力的 myPlan 優惠與我們的細分市場方法、區域銷售結構和嚴格的促銷策略相結合，繼續帶來強勁的業績。此外，與前一年相比，後付費升級仍然較低。第四季消費者後付費升級率為 4.4%，年減 120 個基點，原因是升級次數減少了約 19%。

As Hans said, we continue to see better performance in markets where we have deployed C-Band. In our first 76 C-Band markets, fourth quarter Consumer postpaid phone gross add growth was 8 percentage points better than in non-C-Band markets.

正如 Hans 所說，我們在部署 C 頻段的市場中繼續看到更好的表現。在我們的前 76 個 C 頻段市場中，第四季消費者後付費電話總增加成長率比非 C 頻段市場高出 8 個百分點。

Additionally, Consumer postpaid phone churn and C-Band markets was 4 basis points better than in non-C-Band markets. The strong momentum in the quarter, combined with the continued deployment of our C-Band network positions us well in 2024. The quality of the business we are writing in Consumer remains high as myPlan continues to drive premium plan adoption. The premium take rate in C-Band markets for the quarter was more than 10 percentage points higher than in non-C-Band markets. Consumer ARPA of $134.10 represents an increase of 4.7% year-over-year. This was driven by new customer additions, premium plan adoption and fixed wireless subscriber growth. We expect continued and healthy organic ARPA growth in 2024.

此外，消費者後付費電話流失率和 C 頻段市場比非 C 頻段市場高 4 個基點。本季的強勁勢頭，加上我們 C 頻段網路的持續部署，使我們在 2024 年處於有利地位。隨著 myPlan 繼續推動高級計劃的採用，我們在消費者領域撰寫的業務品質仍然很高。本季 C 頻段市場的溢價率比非 C 頻段市場高出 10 個百分點以上。消費者 ARPA 為 134.10 美元，較去年同期成長 4.7%。這是由新客戶增加、高級計劃採用和固定無線用戶成長所推動的。我們預計 ARPA 在 2024 年將持續健康的有機成長。

Our prepaid results remained challenged in the fourth quarter. This is in part to seasonally weaker national retail sales volumes, which is the primary sales channel for our TracFone brands. We also continue to see pricing pressures from low-end postpaid offerings. Prepaid net losses for the quarter were 289,000. During the quarter, we saw continued strong growth within the Visible and Total by Verizon brands, which we will continue to scale. The team is also focused on our partnerships to improve the performance of the Straight Talk brand. We believe we're taking the right steps to better position our offerings in the market and expect to see some stabilization in 2024.

我們的預付費業績在第四季仍面臨挑戰。這在一定程度上是由於全國零售量季節性疲軟，這是我們 TracFone 品牌的主要銷售管道。我們也繼續看到低端後付費產品帶來的定價壓力。該季度預付淨虧損為 289,000。在本季度，我們看到 Verizon 品牌的 Visible 和 Total 持續強勁成長，我們將繼續擴大規模。該團隊還專注於我們的合作夥伴關係，以提高 Straight Talk 品牌的績效。我們相信，我們正在採取正確的措施來更好地定位我們的產品在市場上的地位，並預計 2024 年會出現一些穩定性。

Verizon Business delivered another strong quarter with 131,000 phone net adds which, as Hans mentioned, is our tenth consecutive quarter above 125,000. The Business Markets Group had its best phone net add performance in the last two years, demonstrating how our value proposition is resonating with small and medium businesses. Similar to Consumer, we are taking pricing actions in the first quarter in Business that could result in elevated phone churn in the period. However, we are confident that we will continue to deliver strong Business volumes in 2024.

Verizon Business 再次表現強勁，電話淨增數量達到 131,000 部，正如 Hans 所提到的，這是我們連續第十個季度電話淨增量超過 125,000 部。商業市場集團在過去兩年中取得了最好的電話網絡增加業績，展示了我們的價值主張如何與中小型企業產生共鳴。與消費者類似，我們在第一季的商業領域採取了定價行動，這可能會導致該時期的手機流失率上升。然而，我們有信心在 2024 年繼續實現強勁的業務量。

Moving on to broadband. We delivered 413,000 net additions in the quarter, continuing the pace of over 400,000 broadband net adds for the fifth consecutive quarter. We see strong demand for both our fiber and fixed wireless offerings, and we continue to see positive responses from customers regarding the quality and reliability of our services. In fixed wireless, we delivered 375,000 net adds for the quarter, growing the base to over 3 million subscribers.

轉向寬頻。本季我們淨增加了 413,000 戶寬頻用戶，延續了連續第五個季度寬頻淨增用戶超過 40 萬戶的步伐。我們看到對我們的光纖和固定無線產品的強勁需求，我們繼續看到客戶對我們服務的品質和可靠性的積極回應。在固定無線領域，本季我們淨增加了 375,000 名用戶，用戶數已超過 300 萬。

We launched C-Band in early 2022 and our fixed wireless success in the last two years reflects the strong demand for high-quality broadband and the strength and reliability of our product. Notably, in the fourth quarter, over 80% of our consumer fixed wireless gross adds came from C-Band markets. The growth trajectory for fixed wireless continues to be robust, and we are ahead of schedule to achieve our 4 million to 5 million subscriber goal by year-end 2025. Fios Internet net adds were 55,000, down 4,000 year-over-year. We are pleased with the success of Fios with strong gross adds and retention, reflecting the quality and overall value of the product. We expect broadband subscriber momentum to extend into 2024 as we continue deployment of our C-Band spectrum, further expand our Fios footprint and bring new products and offers to the market.

我們在 2022 年初推出了 C 頻段，過去兩年固定無線的成功反映了對高品質寬頻的強烈需求以及我們產品的實力和可靠性。值得注意的是，第四季超過 80% 的消費者固定無線總增量來自 C 頻段市場。固定無線的成長軌跡持續保持強勁，我們提前實現了到 2025 年底擁有 400 萬至 500 萬用戶的目標。Fios 網路淨新增用戶為 55,000 人，同比下降 4,000 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。隨著我們繼續部署 C 頻段頻譜、進一步擴大 Fios 覆蓋範圍並向市場推出新產品和服務，我們預計寬頻用戶動能將延續到 2024 年。

Let's now look at our financials. Consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter was $35.1 billion, down 0.3% year-over-year. This change can be attributed to the wireless equipment revenue, which was approximately 2% lower than the prior year as total postpaid upgrades declined by approximately 18%. Total wireless service revenue was $19.4 billion, up 3.2% year-over-year. Strong revenue benefited from targeted pricing actions, more customers selecting premium unlimited plans and growth in fixed wireless access. This was partially offset by pressure from prepaid, which reduced total wireless service revenue growth by approximately 70 basis points year-over-year as well as promo amortization.

現在讓我們看看我們的財務狀況。第四季綜合營收為 351 億美元，年減 0.3%。這項變更可歸因於無線設備收入，由於後付費升級總量下降了約 18%，無線設備收入比前一年下降了約 2%。無線服務總收入為194億美元，年增3.2%。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。這部分被預付費的壓力所抵消，預付費使總無線服務收入成長年減約 70 個基點以及促銷攤銷。

Consolidated adjusted EBIT in the quarter was $11.7 billion, a decrease of 0.6% compared to the prior year. Higher wireless service revenue and the benefits of lower upgrades were more than offset by higher marketing and bad debt expense and ongoing declines in business wireline revenue. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.2% was relatively flat year-over-year. In 2023, we implemented transformations within our Consumer customer care group as well as Business managed services. We are pleased with what we have achieved this year, and our cost-saving measures are meeting our expectations. We expect further progress on our cost efficiency program in 2024. Adjusted EPS was $1.08 in the quarter, resulting in full year adjusted EPS of $4.71.

該季度綜合調整後息稅前利潤為 117 億美元，較上年下降 0.6%。較高的無線服務收入和較低的升級帶來的好處被較高的行銷和壞帳費用以及企業有線收入的持續下降所抵消。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 33.2%，與去年同期相比相對持平。 2023 年，我們在消費者客戶服務團隊和業務管理服務中實施了轉型。我們對今年所取得的成績感到滿意，我們的成本節約措施也達到了我們的預期。我們預計 2024 年成本效率計畫將取得進一步進展。本季調整後每股收益為 1.08 美元，全年調整後每股收益為 4.71 美元。

Turning to our cash flow summary. Cash flow from operating activities for the fourth quarter was $8.7 billion, bringing the total for 2023 to $37.5 billion. This marks the year-over-year improvement of over $300 million, primarily due to working capital improvements. CapEx for the quarter came in at $4.6 billion compared to $7.3 billion in the prior year. The full year CapEx totaled $18.8 billion, which represents a more than $4 billion reduction in capital spending from 2022 as we come down from our peak C-Band spending level.

轉向我們的現金流摘要。第四季經營活動現金流量為 87 億美元，使 2023 年的現金流量總額達到 375 億美元。這標誌著同比增長超過 3 億美元，這主要歸功於營運資本的改善。本季資本支出為 46 億美元，而去年同期為 73 億美元。全年資本支出總額為 188 億美元，這意味著隨著我們從 C 頻段支出高峰迴落，自 2022 年起資本支出將減少超過 40 億美元。

Free cash flow for the fourth quarter was $4.1 billion, bringing our year-to-date total to $18.7 billion, a $4.7 billion increase over the prior year, driven by operational improvements and the lower CapEx spending that we previously noted. We are pleased to have delivered on our guidance of more than $18 billion of free cash flow for the full year, which reflects our balanced and strategic approach to delivering profitable growth.

第四季的自由現金流為 41 億美元，使我們年初至今的總現金流達到 187 億美元，比前一年增加 47 億美元，這得益於我們先前提到的營運改善和資本支出下降。我們很高興實現全年自由現金流超過 180 億美元的指導，這反映了我們實現盈利增長的平衡和戰略方法。

Net unsecured debt at the end of the quarter was $126.4 billion, a $1.6 billion improvement year-over-year. Net unsecured debt increased sequentially primarily due to settling the $3.7 billion in incentive payments to satellite operators for our remaining C-Band spectrum. Our net unsecured debt consolidated adjusted EBITDA ratio was 2.6x as of the end of the fourth quarter, in line with the prior two quarters.

本季末的淨無擔保債務為 1,264 億美元，年減 16 億美元。淨無擔保債務連續增加，主要是由於我們向衛星營運商支付了剩餘 C 頻段頻譜的 37 億美元激勵付款。截至第四季末，我們的淨無擔保債務綜合調整後 EBITDA 比率為 2.6 倍，與前兩季一致。

We expect deleveraging of the balance sheet to accelerate in 2024 as CapEx comes down to BAU levels, and we continue to generate strong cash flow. Additionally, we continue to benefit from our approach to managing long-term debt and have only $3.6 billion of unsecured debt maturing in 2024. Overall, I'm pleased with our momentum exiting the year and our performance in 2023, delivering an improved operational profile while also meeting our financial guidance.

我們預計，隨著資本支出降至 BAU 水平，資產負債表去槓桿化將在 2024 年加速，並且我們將繼續產生強勁的現金流。此外，我們繼續受益於我們管理長期債務的方法，到2024 年只有36 億美元的無擔保債務到期。總體而言，我對我們今年退出的勢頭和2023 年的表現感到滿意，我們的營運狀況得到了改善同時也滿足我們的財務指導。

Now I want to take a few moments to look ahead and walk through our 2024 guidance. Our 2024 guidance demonstrates our expectations for accelerating wireless service revenue growth. As a reminder, the reported 2023 wireless service revenue growth of 3.2% included approximately 190 basis points of benefit from a reallocation of other revenues. Excluding this reallocation, the 2023 wireless service revenue growth was 1.3%.

現在我想花一些時間展望未來並概述我們的 2024 年指導。我們的 2024 年指引顯示了我們對加速無線服務收入成長的期望。需要提醒的是，所報告的 2023 年無線服務收入成長 3.2%，其中包括其他收入重新分配帶來的約 190 個基點的收益。剔除此重新分配，2023年無線服務收入成長1.3%。

For 2024, we expect total wireless service revenue to grow between 2% and 3.5%. This will be driven by anticipated positive postpaid phone additions to both Consumer and Business, continued fixed wireless access subscriber growth, further adoption of premium unlimited plans, growth in products and services and pricing action benefits. We expect consolidated adjusted EBITDA to grow by 1% to 3% versus the prior year.

到 2024 年，我們預計無線服務總收入將成長 2% 至 3.5%。這將受到消費者和企業預期後付費電話的積極增長、固定無線接入用戶的持續增長、高級無限計劃的進一步採用、產品和服務的增長以及定價行動優勢的推動。我們預計綜合調整後 EBITDA 將比上年增長 1% 至 3%。

This outlook reflects expected higher wireless service revenue and the impact of our cost transformation initiatives, partially offset by continued pressure in Business wireline revenues and increased wireless network operating expenses. Full year adjusted earnings per share is expected to be $4.50 to $4.70. As noted, we expect adjusted EBITDA to grow in 2024, offset by certain below-the-line impacts.

這一前景反映了預期更高的無線服務收入以及我們成本轉型計劃的影響，但部分被商業有線收入的持續壓力和無線網路營運支出的增加所抵消。全年調整後每股收益預計為 4.50 美元至 4.70 美元。如前所述，我們預計調整後 EBITDA 將在 2024 年成長，但會被某些線下影響所抵銷。

Specifically, higher interest expense is expected to impact adjusted EPS by $0.16 to $0.19, over 75% of which is driven by the continued reduction in capitalized interest related to the C-Band licenses being placed into service. In addition, EPS is expected to be impacted by approximately $0.07 to $0.09, of higher pension and OPEB expense, primarily due to the expiration of certain credits. This impact will flow through the other income and expense line on our income statement. We expect depreciation and amortization to be relatively flat in 2024 compared to 2023.

具體而言，較高的利息支出預計將影響調整後每股收益 0.16 美元至 0.19 美元，其中超過 75% 的影響是由於與投入使用的 C 頻段許可證相關的資本化利息持續減少。此外，每股盈餘預計將受到退休金和 OPEB 費用增加約 0.07 至 0.09 美元的影響，這主要是由於某些信貸到期所致。這種影響將流經我們損益表上的其他收入和支出項目。我們預計 2024 年的折舊和攤提將與 2023 年相比相對持平。

Our adjusted effective income tax rate is expected to be in the range of 22.5% to 24% based on current legislation. As discussed in prior quarters, capital spending for the full year is expected to be between $17 billion and $17.5 billion, down from $18.8 billion in 2023. While we are not providing guidance on 2024 free cash flow, we wanted to provide some additional color to aid with your analysis.

根據現行立法，我們調整後的有效所得稅率預計在 22.5% 至 24% 之間。正如前幾季所討論的，全年資本支出預計在170 億美元至175 億美元之間，低於2023 年的188 億美元。雖然我們沒有提供2024 年自由現金流的指導，但我們希望提供一些額外的資訊可幫助您分析。

Tailwinds to free cash flow will come from our adjusted EBITDA growth outlook as well as the expected $1.5 billion reduction in CapEx in 2024 based on the midpoint of our guided CapEx range. Offsets will be higher interest expense and higher cash taxes. As a reminder, the majority of the higher interest expense relates to reductions in capitalized interest. Such interest was recognized in cash flow from investing prior to placing the C-Band spectrum into service.

自由現金流的動力將來自我們調整後的 EBITDA 成長前景，以及基於我們指導資本支出範圍中點的 2024 年資本支出預計減少 15 億美元。抵銷將是更高的利息支出和更高的現金稅。提醒一下，大部分較高的利息支出與資本化利息的減少有關。此類利息已在 C 頻段頻譜投入使用之前的投資現金流量中確認。

The higher cash taxes are primarily related to the continued phaseout of bonus depreciation in 2024 based on current legislation. Overall, we expect a strong free cash flow profile that will support our capital allocation priorities and position us for meaningful unsecured debt reduction in 2024, which we expect to come in the latter half of the year.

較高的現金稅主要與根據現行立法在 2024 年繼續逐步取消紅利折舊有關。總體而言，我們預計強勁的自由現金流狀況將支持我們的資本配置優先事項，並使我們能夠在 2024 年實現有意義的無擔保債務削減，我們預計這將在今年下半年實現。

With that, I will now turn the call back over to Hans for his closing thoughts.

現在，我將把電話轉回給漢斯，聽聽他的結束語。

Thank you, Tony. As you've heard today, we are confident and well positioned to deliver a solid 2024. Thanks to our best-in-class network, which is only getting better, we offer the mobile and broadband services that customers value and need the most. Our industry is critical to the next wave of innovation, and Verizon is ready to capitalize on the opportunity of the AI economy to bring this technology to live for all our stakeholders.

謝謝你，托尼。正如您今天所聽到的，我們有信心並有能力實現堅實的 2024 年目標。憑藉我們一流的網路（而且只會變得更好），我們提供客戶最重視和最需要的行動和寬頻服務。我們的產業對於下一波創新至關重要，Verizon 已準備好利用人工智慧經濟的機遇，為我們所有的利害關係人帶來這項技術。

As I said in the beginning, we have the right team in place to execute the next chapter in Verizon's history. I'm proud of the work our team accomplished in 2023 and are excited what we will deliver in 2024. Our results in C-Band market speaks for themselves and support our investment decisions, and we're going to lean in further as we expand into suburban and rural markets while maintaining the financial discipline you come to expect from us. We will continue to stay very close to our customers to understand their needs and preferences so that we can offer the right promotions at the right times in the right markets.

正如我在一開始所說的，我們擁有合適的團隊來執行 Verizon 歷史的下一個篇章。我為我們的團隊在2023 年完成的工作感到自豪，並對我們將在2024 年交付的成果感到興奮。我們在C 頻段市場的成果不言而喻並支持我們的投資決策，隨著我們的擴張，我們將進一步傾斜進入郊區和農村市場，同時保持您對我們期望的財務紀律。我們將繼續與客戶保持密切聯繫，了解他們的需求和偏好，以便我們能夠在正確的時間、正確的市場提供正確的促銷活動。

We have the right people, the right assets and the right strategy. Our focus for 2024 is on execution. It's a winning combination, and we are very confident heading into this year.

我們擁有合適的人才、合適的資產和正確的策略。 2024 年我們的重點是執行。這是一個成功的組合，我們對今年充滿信心。

Finally, I want to remind you that we are hosting an investor event on February 5 and encourage everyone to tune in to the webcast. Given the financial update today, next month will be more of an operational and strategic update on the company.

最後，我想提醒您，我們將於 2 月 5 日舉辦投資人活動，鼓勵大家收聽網路廣播。鑑於今天的財務更新，下個月將更多是該公司的營運和策略更新。

Now Brady, we are ready to take questions.

現在布雷迪，我們準備好回答問題。

Thanks, Hans. Brad, we're ready for the first question.

謝謝，漢斯。布拉德，我們準備好回答第一個問題了。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) The first question will come from John Hodulik of UBS.

我們現在開始問答環節。 （操作員說明）第一個問題將由瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜里克（John Hodulik）提出。

I'd love to drill down on a couple of things. First, the sub trends, 17% growth is some real momentum. I know, Hans, you talked about a number of sort of potential drivers. But if there's anything you could sort of be specific and sort of talk about what drove that in the quarter? And is that likely to continue, also the account growth, is that likely to continue? And then you talked about some churn on the price increase. Anything you could say about sort of the net add momentum as we look into '24? That's first.

我很想深入研究一些事情。首先，從分趨勢來看，17%的成長是一些真正的動力。我知道，漢斯，你談到了一些潛在的驅動因素。但您是否可以具體說明本季的推動因素？這種情況是否可能持續下去，帳戶成長是否可能持續？然後您談到了價格上漲帶來的一些影響。當我們展望 24 世紀時，您對淨增加動力有什麼想說的嗎？這是第一名。

And maybe for Tony, nice service revenue growth. Any additional info you can give us to sort of unpack that in terms of the price increase impact versus last year and what you're seeing in terms of Tier, that would be great.

也許對托尼來說，服務收入成長不錯。您可以向我們提供任何其他信息，以便我們了解與去年相比價格上漲的影響以及您在等級方面所看到的情況，那就太好了。

John, thank you for the question. So let me start about the subs then. On the Business side, tenth quarter in a row, more than 125,000, Kyle and the team is doing a great job where our network is performing so well. So our customers just continue to buy in with us, not only that. Our offerings in our go-to-market is as strong as ever. So we feel really good about what Kyle and the team is doing.

約翰，謝謝你的提問。那麼就讓我開始談談潛水艇吧。在業務方面，Kyle 和團隊連續第十個季度超過 125,000，我們的網路表現非常出色。因此，我們的客戶只是繼續購買我們的產品，不僅如此。我們的上市產品一如既往地強大。所以我們對凱爾和團隊所做的事情感到非常滿意。

On the Consumer side, yes, we had a good fourth quarter. But you have seen also all through the year that we have sequentially improved all the time. Everything started where -- we started with a new offering myPlan, which resonates with the market, very much consumer insights in it. Then on top of that, Sampath has done a lot of changes in our structure all the way from the go-to-market, the incentives in our stores and our decentralization of it.

在消費者方面，是的，我們第四季表現良好。但你也看到，這一年來我們一直在不斷進步。一切都從那裡開始——我們從新產品 myPlan 開始，它與市場產生共鳴，其中有許多消費者的見解。除此之外，Sampath 對我們的結構進行了許多改變，從市場進入、商店激勵措施到權力下放。

So it hangs together all the way. So I think the most important, we have the right offerings in the market, and that has really resonated on the Consumer side. So I'm really happy with the team. We will continue to execute on the plan we have, and we have started.

所以它一直掛在一起。所以我認為最重要的是，我們在市場上擁有合適的產品，這確實引起了消費者的共鳴。所以我對這個團隊非常滿意。我們將繼續執行我們已經開始的計劃。

John, it's Tony. So just to add on to what Hans mentioned. We did really well in Tier 1 markets. As we mentioned in the prepared remarks, about 8 percentage points better and we were also net add positive in both Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets as well. We improved our competitive positioning against all providers. We continue to build out C-Band, as we said earlier in suburban and rural markets, and we see further opportunity there. And as Hans mentioned, we had strong momentum in the VBG side as well, on both mobility and FWA, so good results.

約翰，這是東尼。所以只是補充一下漢斯提到的內容。我們在一級市場做得非常好。正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，大約提高了 8 個百分點，而且我們在 2 級和 3 級市場也實現了淨增長。我們提高了相對於所有提供者的競爭地位。正如我們之前在郊區和農村市場所說的那樣，我們繼續建造 C 頻段，並且我們在那裡看到了更多機會。正如 Hans 所提到的，我們在 VBG 方面在行動性和 FWA 方面也有強勁的勢頭，因此取得了很好的結果。

And then on your question on service revenue. So we feel really good about the shape of service revenue in 2024. The guidance that we gave of 2% to 3.5% reflects accelerated growth, and we talked about the jump-off point of 1.3% in the prepared remarks. The midpoint of our guidance range implies over $2 billion of service revenue growth. If we think about the assumptions in the guide in terms of tailwinds, as you know, we've executed a number of pricing actions, both in the back half of 2023 that do carry into 2024 as well as in recent weeks, we've taken further pricing actions in both Consumer and Business that provide a tailwind.

然後關於你關於服務收入的問題。因此，我們對 2024 年服務收入的狀況感到非常滿意。我們給出的 2% 至 3.5% 的指導反映了加速成長，我們在準備好的演講中談到了 1.3% 的起點。我們指導範圍的中點意味著服務收入成長超過 20 億美元。如果我們考慮指南中的順風假設，如您所知，我們已經執行了許多定價行動，無論是在 2023 年下半年，還是在最近幾週，這些行動都會延續到 2024 年，我們已經在消費者和企業方面採取了進一步的定價行動，從而提供了推動力。

We also have an improving volume profile in our Consumer business. As we said in the prepared remarks, we expect to have positive phone net adds in consumer in 2024 and stable business volumes as well. And then the third tailwind I'd point to is an increasing contribution from fixed wireless access. We have really good momentum and over 3 million subs in the base.

我們的消費者業務的銷售狀況也有所改善。正如我們在準備好的演講中所說，我們預計 2024 年消費者的電話網絡將出現積極增長，業務量也將穩定。我要指出的第三個推動因素是固定無線存取的貢獻日益增加。我們的勢頭非常好，基地裡有超過 300 萬訂閱者。

In terms of headwinds, prepaid, has been a drag on service revenue both in the fourth quarter and the full year was about $142 million in the fourth quarter, and we expect the prepaid headwinds to continue into 2024 as we stabilize that business. And then on promo amortization, that continues to be a headwind with the increase in 2024, similar to the increase we experienced in 2023. But when you put that all together, we like the trajectory of service revenue.

就不利因素而言，預付費在第四季度一直拖累服務收入，第四季度全年收入約為 1.42 億美元，隨著我們穩定該業務，我們預計預付費不利因素將持續到 2024 年。然後，在促銷攤銷方面，隨著 2024 年的增長，這仍然是一個阻力，類似於我們在 2023 年經歷的增長。但當你把所有這些放在一起時，我們喜歡服務收入的軌跡。

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。

Just following up there on the fixed wireless. Could you just give us a little bit of color around how the churn is performing? What are you seeing in terms of those cohorts that have had this service for some time and any comments on sort of capacity and so forth.

只需透過固定無線進行追蹤即可。您能為我們介紹一下客戶流失的表現嗎？您對那些已經使用此服務一段時間的群體有何看法，以及對容量等方面的任何評論。

And also, are you seeing emerging seasonality in this product driven by strong back-to-school in Q3 and then maybe a little bit softer in Q4. And then anything you can -- color you can provide on your exposure to ACP and how that may affect you and your latest thoughts on the BEAD program.

此外，您是否看到該產品出現了季節性現象，這是由第三季強勁的返校季推動的，然後在第四季度可能會稍微疲軟一些。然後，您可以提供有關您接觸 ACP 的任何信息，以及這可能如何影響您以及您對 BEAD 計劃的最新想法。

Okay. Thank you. On the fixed wireless access, I think the product is maturing. We're now past 3 million subs, both on the Business side and Consumer together. Clearly, the rollout and the product is unique. It has -- it resonates so good in the market, simplicity of the product and installing it, which was the -- which was our idea. And even if we took out the discount that we had in the third quarter, we haven't seen any slowdown. The product is resonating so well.

好的。謝謝。在固定無線接入方面，我認為產品正在成熟。現在，我們的訂閱人數已超過 300 萬，其中包括企業端和消費者端。顯然，其推出和產品是獨一無二的。它在市場上引起了很好的反響，產品和安裝都很簡單，這就是我們的想法。即使我們扣除第三季的折扣，我們也沒有看到任何放緩。該產品引起了很好的共鳴。

We are constantly improving it. The NPS is really high on the product. And as I said so many times before, for us, is to keep the same volume right now because that -- we are demanding our capacity, or our capital in the best way. It's the most efficient way. So we will continue to be in these levels, and we think they are very important.

我們正在不斷改進它。該產品的 NPS 確實很高。正如我之前多次說過的那樣，對我們來說，現在就是保持相同的數量，因為我們正在以最好的方式要求我們的能力或資本。這是最有效的方法。所以我們將繼續處於這些級別，我們認為它們非常重要。

And hoping that, of course, that our consumers using fixed wireless access that, they are using the network as anybody else. And as I said before, we have dimensioned the network to handle it, so that's not the challenge. And the most important for us is that we have fiberized all our network, and so we can transport all the data. The guys are doing a great job on fixed wireless access across the board.

當然，我們希望使用固定無線存取的消費者能夠像其他人一樣使用網路。正如我之前所說，我們已經確定了網路的規模來處理它，所以這不是挑戰。對我們來說最重要的是我們已經將所有網路光纖化，這樣我們就可以傳輸所有資料。這些人在固定無線存取方面做得非常出色。

Yes. And then just one additional point there. So the longer-dated churn, Simon, is very strong, and we're very pleased with the progress thus far.

是的。然後還有一點。因此，西蒙，長期的流失非常強烈，我們對迄今為止的進展感到非常滿意。

On your other question on ACP, just maybe a few points to make here. The guidance assumes that the ACP funding remains intact. In the event the funding goes away, we have plans to address it, and we'll see what happens there. The majority of the exposure on ACP is in our prepaid business. We have about 1.2 million prepaid subs that benefit from the ACP program, and that's less than 10% of our prepaid base. On the postpaid side, we have minimal exposure to ACP, both Fios and postpaid wireless. And the margin exposure from ACP is very, very small.

關於您關於 ACP 的其他問題，這裡可能需要說明幾點。該指南假設 ACP 資金保持不變。如果資金消失，我們有計劃解決這個問題，我們將看看會發生什麼。 ACP 的大部分風險來自我們的預付費業務。我們有大約 120 萬預付費用戶受益於 ACP 計劃，這不到我們預付費用戶群的 10%。在後付費方面，我們對 ACP 的接觸很少，包括 Fios 和後付費無線。 ACP 的保證金風險非常非常小。

And on the BEAD program, we will participate when that comes out in the market where we see we can compete and where we see good return on investment. We have already won a couple in the early stages, but we expect that this will roll out over years to come. And -- but again, we will see that we participate when it makes sense for us, usually -- or not usually, always with financial discipline.

對於 BEAD 計劃，當我們看到我們可以競爭並且看到良好的投資回報的市場出現時，我們將參與其中。我們在早期階段已經贏得了一些勝利，但我們預計這將在未來幾年內推廣。而且——但同樣，我們會看到我們在對我們有意義的時候參與，通常——或者不通常，總是遵守財務紀律。

Great. And just one follow-up on the fiber build, is that again about 500,000 homes passed this year?

偉大的。僅就光纖建設而言，今年是否又通過了約 50 萬個家庭？

Yes, Simon, it will be a little bit over 400,000 next year.

是的，西蒙，明年會超過 40 萬。

The next question comes from Phil Cusick of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的菲爾·庫西克。

I think you said you expect postpaid phone positive for the year. What's the durability of Consumer growth? Could that also be positive for 2024? And remind us the impact that price increases tend to have on churn over the last couple of years.

我想你說過你預計今年的後付費電話會積極。消費者成長的持久性如何？這對 2024 年也會有正面影響嗎？並提醒我們過去幾年價格上漲往往會對客戶流失產生影響。

And then second, maybe you could just dig into where your gross adds are coming from, the improvements as you're doing better there. Churn has sort of been in line, but gross add is doing a lot better. If you could dig into that. Is there any significant shift in where customers are coming from, maybe from myPlan?

其次，也許你可以深入研究你的總增加來自哪裡，當你在那裡做得更好時的改進。客戶流失率一直在成長，但總增加量卻好得多。如果你能深入研究一下的話。客戶來源（可能來自 myPlan）是否有任何重大轉變？

I can just start by saying but I'm going to hand it over to Tony. I think you're spot on. On myPlan, and I said it in my opening remarks, stellar performance so far on myPlan. But it's not only that the plan is good, it's both flexible, you have cost control and our customers get value of it.

我可以先說，但我要把它交給東尼。我認為你說得對。關於我的計劃，我在開場白中說過，到目前為止，我的計劃表現出色。但這不僅是因為該計劃很好，而且還很靈活，您可以控製成本，而且我們的客戶也能從中獲得價值。

And I think that goes back to the -- what I talked about for years, disciplined approach, but also very segmented. And that's what's happening right now, and we can see that we allocate money to the right product to the right customer in the right market. So there's a lot of that. But Tony will give you a little bit of rundown on the numbers.

我認為這可以追溯到我多年來談論的，紀律嚴明的方法，但也非常細分。這就是現在正在發生的事情，我們可以看到我們將資金分配給正確市場中正確的客戶的正確產品。所以有很多這樣的事情。但托尼會給你一些有關數字的概要。

Sure. So just, Phil, on the churn. I mean, obviously, we'll see a little bit of an uptick from the pricing changes we made in both Consumer and in Business. And those changes were announced in the last few weeks. And then as Hans mentioned, we really had good performance in Consumer. You saw the gross add number at 17% and 10% for the full year, and that's despite being in a much lower upgrade environment as well, so we feel really good.

當然。菲爾，就這樣吧。我的意思是，顯然，我們會看到消費者和企業的定價變化上升。這些變化是在過去幾週內宣布的。正如漢斯所說，我們在消費者方面確實取得了良好的表現。您看到全年的總增加量分別為 17% 和 10%，儘管升級環境也低得多，所以我們感覺非常好。

Like I said earlier, the Tier 1 markets were very strong, and we see further opportunity as we build out C-Band, the churn profile is much better. The ARPA is much better. So we're very comfortable with what we're seeing so far with C-Band and the performance.

正如我之前所說，一級市場非常強勁，隨著我們建立 C 頻段，我們看到了更多機會，客戶流失狀況也好得多。 ARPA 的情況要好得多。因此，我們對迄今為止所看到的 C 頻段和性能感到非常滿意。

And in terms of the durability of postpaid and growth there?

就後付費的持久性和成長性而言？

Yes. Look, we said we're going to be postpaid phone positive in Consumer in 2024, and we'll also continue to see strong momentum in Business as well. We did 562,000 net adds this year. And Kyle and the team did a great job, and we expect continued solid growth from the Business side as well.

是的。我們說過，到 2024 年，我們將在消費者領域看到後付費電話的積極發展，我們也將繼續看到商業領域的強勁勢頭。今年我們淨增加了 562,000 人。凱爾和團隊做得很好，我們預計業務方面也將持續穩健成長。

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。

Just one more on wireless pricing. Can you provide some additional context on how you're seeing the competitive landscape evolve with respect to pricing? And how Verizon is trying to balance the volume versus price equation as you look out from the recent pricing actions that you've taken?

再談一談無線定價。您能否提供一些額外的背景信息，說明您如何看待定價方面的競爭格局的演變？從您最近採取的定價行動來看，Verizon 如何平衡銷售與價格等式？

And then second, can you provide an update on how much the cost-cutting program yielded in '23 and how much you can capture it in '24 relative to the previously articulated target?

其次，您能否提供最新信息，說明成本削減計劃在 23 年取得了多少成果，以及相對於之前闡明的目標，您在 24 年可以實現多少成果？

Thanks, Mike. I think when it comes to our pricing and our promotions, I think we look more about we are the leader in the market. We look at the different segments we have to see that we have the right offerings for our right customer with the right value. That's the focus we have had for, I would say, the last two years, very much focused on our customer base and the consumers and the customers we can attract the Verizon.

謝謝，麥克。我認為，當談到我們的定價和促銷活動時，我認為我們更關注我們是市場的領導者。我們著眼於不同的細分市場，確保我們能夠為合適的客戶提供具有合適價值的合適產品。我想說，這就是我們過去兩年的重點，非常關注我們的客戶群、消費者以及我們可以吸引 Verizon 的客戶。

And so far, that disciplined approach we have, you saw the fourth quarter, for example, we invested in a little bit more because we have really good momentum. So sometimes, we're going to invest more, but it's always going to be with a return on investment in mind to see that we're doing the right for all our stakeholders. So that's the focus we have on the pricing we have, both on broadband and on wireless.

到目前為止，我們採取了嚴格的方法，例如，您看到第四季度，我們投資了更多，因為我們有非常好的勢頭。因此，有時，我們會進行更多投資，但始終會考慮到投資回報，以確保我們為所有利害關係人做正確的事。因此，這就是我們對寬頻和無線定價的關注點。

On the cost program, '23 was a big year for us. You probably are following all our press releases, but we did a lot in customer care. We did a lot with managed services without sourcing the HCL, we implemented some really large IT systems and application that's going to be a fantastic platform. We continue to deploy our offshore centers and being even stronger and using that as a platform on the basis that we created Verizon Global Services, the 1st of January '23. So I'm really pleased with the platforms, and that means we're on track for the savings we talked about, going into '24. It's more about the same. Tony?

就成本計劃而言，23 年對我們來說是重要的一年。您可能正在關注我們所有的新聞稿，但我們在客戶服務方面做了很多工作。我們在沒有採購 HCL 的情況下做了很多託管服務，我們實施了一些非常大型的 IT 系統和應用程序，這將是一個很棒的平台。我們繼續部署我們的離岸中心，並變得更加強大，並將其用作我們於 23 年 1 月 1 日創建的 Verizon 全球服務的平台。所以我對這些平台非常滿意，這意味著我們正在朝著 24 世紀實現我們所說的節省的方向前進。更多的是相同的。托尼？

Sure. So just to add a couple of things here. So on 2023, we delivered about $300 million to $400 million in savings. And as Hans mentioned, we expect the program to ramp in 2024, and the savings are contemplated in the guide. Portion will hit the bottom line while also giving us the flexibility to invest in the business. And I think you saw that in the fourth quarter and the results speak for themselves.

當然。所以在這裡添加一些內容。因此，到 2023 年，我們節省了約 3 億至 4 億美元。正如 Hans 所提到的，我們預計該計劃將在 2024 年逐步推進，指南中也考慮到了節省費用。部分將達到底線，同時也使我們能夠靈活地投資業務。我想你在第四季就看到了這一點，結果不言而喻。

We're not going to give specific cost targets, but what -- in addition to what Hans mentioned, we have work going on in IT platform transformation, in real estate and fleet optimization and we're also opening up shared service center in Ireland. So we feel really good about the cost actions that are driving the EBITDA improvements that you see in the guidance for this year.

我們不會給出具體的成本目標，但除了 Hans 提到的之外，我們還在 IT 平台轉型、房地產和車隊優化方面正在進行工作，我們還在愛爾蘭開設共享服務中心。因此，我們對推動 EBITDA 改善的成本行動感到非常滿意，正如您在今年的指導中看到的那樣。

And just one other. Where are you in the process of restructuring of the Business wireline operations? And how close are you to an inflection where that segment can stabilize financially or potentially, eventually grow at some point?

還有另外一個。您在有線業務重組過程中處於什麼階段？該細分市場距離財務穩定或最終在某個時候實現成長的轉折點還有多遠？

Thank you, Mike. No, that's a big focus for us. We have the secular decline, and we've had that for quite a while. So there's nothing new and nothing new to that story. But our cost efficiency is, of course, happening very, very quickly. And the team is doing a great job. Not only that, we also see that we have the right pricing for our customers and also seeing where we don't have great contract we have decided to walk away from them.

謝謝你，麥克。不，這是我們的重點。我們經歷了長期衰退，而且這種情況已經持續了一段時間了。所以這個故事沒有什麼新意，也沒有什麼新意。但當然，我們的成本效率正在非常非常快地發生。團隊做得很好。不僅如此，我們還看到我們為客戶提供了合適的定價，並且看到我們沒有簽訂很好的合同，我們決定放棄他們。

So very much tackling, blocking and tackling to see that we'll continue to improve. And of course, our target is to get that to sort of being neutral to our P&L over time. And that is one of the important pieces for getting the 25% of the Verizon Business Group in EBITDA, but not only that, of course, we're offsetting that by growing our wireless business and our broadband business.

如此多的搶斷、阻擋和搶斷，我們將繼續進步。當然，我們的目標是隨著時間的推移，使其對我們的損益表保持中性。這是獲得 Verizon 業務集團 25% EBITDA 的重要組成部分之一，但不僅如此，我們當然還透過發展無線業務和寬頻業務來抵消這一影響。

So typical management of a product portfolio, and I would say Kyle and the team is doing a great job with the full support from Tony and me.

這是典型的產品組合管理，我想說，在托尼和我的全力支持下，凱爾和團隊做得很好。

The next question comes from Frank Louthan of Raymond James.

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

So you've made a lot of changes in the last year to kind of retail marketing to correct some of the past periods. You now got a new CMO. What can we expect her to be doing differently? Should we see this as another reset or change of direction? How should we think about that adjustment?

因此，去年你們對零售行銷進行了許多改變，以糾正過去的一些時期。您現在有了一位新的 CMO。我們可以期望她做些什麼不同的事情？我們是否應該將此視為另一次重置或方向改變？我們該如何看待這種調整？

You're right. Last year, we did a lot of changes. But looking at the result, I think many of the changes was absolutely right, all the way from our structural changes to go to market, the products. And also, we did quite a lot of management changes, getting the -- many of the executive new positions, including the recruiting a new CMO, Leslie Berland. We are excited to have her on.

你說得對。去年，我們做了很多改變。但從結果來看，我認為許多變化是絕對正確的，從我們的結構變化到產品上市。此外，我們也進行了大量的管理層變動，獲得了許多新的高階主管職位，包括招募新的首席行銷長 Leslie Berland。我們很高興她能加入。

I think where we are with our brand and with our offerings, we're in a great place. But you cannot see still here, and that's why we recruited Leslie. Leslie will work with the full team to see how we continue to refine the leadership in the brand because we are the number one brand in the market, we're just going to refine that. But we're not going to sit still. So I think Leslie has been over two weeks. So I see a lot of great initiatives and ideas, and we will work together with her, to make this company even better.

我認為我們的品牌和產品目前處於一個很好的位置。但你不能在這裡看到靜止的東西，這就是我們招募萊斯利的原因。萊斯利將與整個團隊合作，看看我們如何繼續完善品牌的領導地位，因為我們是市場上的第一品牌，我們只是要完善這一點。但我們不會坐以待斃。所以我認為萊斯利已經兩週多了。所以我看到了很多很棒的舉措和想法，我們將與她共同努力，讓這家公司變得更好。

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。

A couple, if I could. Just the first, you went out of your way to highlight how well fixed wireless access is doing in the C-Band markets. These are kind of the main markets, probably the densest markets. Obviously, we're going to see the C-Band deployment expand both in terms of spectrum density and in terms of geography. 350 has been kind of the baseline expectation for fixed wireless access adds in the current C-Band deployment. Would you be willing to put a stake in the ground? Where could that go? Could that double by the time we get the full C-Band deployment out there by the end of next year? That's the first question.

如果可以的話，一對。首先，您刻意強調了固定無線接取在 C 頻段市場的表現。這些是主要市場，可能是最密集的市場。顯然，我們將看到 C 頻段部署在頻譜密度和地理方面都擴展。 350 一直是目前 C 頻段部署中固定無線存取新增的基準期望。你願意在地上立一根木樁嗎？那能去哪裡呢？當我們在明年底全面部署 C 頻段時，這個數字是否會翻倍？這是第一個問題。

And I guess the second question. Tony, you gave us the kind of moving parts, the EBITDA growth 2%. That's about $0.75 billion after tax. Interest expense at $0.175, that's about $3 billion -- $0.75 billion after tax, $1.5 billion CapEx savings. So the big moving part that none of us really know is the cash tax and how that might impact free cash flow, whether free cash flow could be up a little bit, down a little bit. Could you be more transparent around that moving part?

我猜第二個問題。東尼，你為我們帶來了那種活躍的部分，EBITDA 成長了 2%。稅後約為 7.5 億美元。利息支出為 0.175 美元，約 30 億美元——稅後 7.5 億美元，資本支出節省 15 億美元。因此，我們都不知道的最重要的部分是現金稅，以及它如何影響自由現金流，自由現金流是否會上升一點，下降一點。你能在那個移動部分更透明嗎？

Thank you, David. When it comes to fixed wireless access, yes, when we got the C-Band, the initial chunk of spectrum got was in urban places. Now since the end of the third quarter, we got the suburban and rural areas. But we continue at the end of the year to strengthen our urban area. So now we're sort of deploying much more in the suburban and rural. That creates a new opportunity for us, both from our strength in wireless in many of those markets together with our fixed wireless access.

謝謝你，大衛。當談到固定無線存取時，是的，當我們獲得 C 頻段時，最初獲得的頻譜區塊是在城市地區。現在從第三季末開始，我們得到了郊區和農村。但我們將在年底繼續加強我們的城市地區。所以現在我們在郊區和農村部署了更多。這為我們創造了一個新的機會，無論是我們在許多這些市場的無線實力還是我們的固定無線存取。

But I said it many times before, for us, it's very important to have a certain volume and a certain cadence because we can optimize our resources, our capital, et cetera. So Tony and I feel really good about being around 400,000 net adds for broadband in total, including Fios.

但我之前說過很多次，對我們來說，有一定的量和一定的節奏是非常重要的，因為我們可以優化我們的資源、我們的資本等等。因此，托尼和我對於寬頻淨增加總數約為 40 萬人（包括 Fios）感到非常高興。

That has sort of been a mantra, that can be, of course, coming up and down a little bit, but it's not like we are forcing a lot of capital and resources in the quarter and then doing less, that's not efficient in a company like ours. We are very financially disciplined, as you know. And that's best for our customers and for our stakeholders, like shareholders. So that's what you're going to expect from us.

這有點像一個口頭禪，當然，可能會有點上下，但這並不是說我們在本季度投入大量資本和資源，然後做得更少，這對公司來說效率不高就像我們的一樣。如您所知，我們在財務方面非常嚴格。這對我們的客戶和股東等利害關係人來說是最好的。這就是您對我們的期望。

And Dave, just on your -- question on cash taxes. So we said we're going to be pressured by the phaseout of bonus. We did see a tax benefit in 2023 from the spectrum clearing payments. And if you think about the headwind, we'd see it at about $2 billion right now, and we'll have to see how things play out with what the proposed legislation is.

戴夫，關於你關於現金稅的問題。所以我們說我們將面臨獎金逐步取消的壓力。我們確實在 2023 年從頻譜清算付款中看到了稅收優惠。如果你考慮一下逆風，我們現在看到的金額約為 20 億美元，我們必須看看擬議的立法的效果如何。

The next question comes from Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson.

下一個問題來自 MoffettNathanson 的 Craig Moffett。

I wonder if you could talk about your market growth expectations for postpaid coming into the year. I know you're the first one to report. So we haven't seen the results from anyone else yet. But what's your sense of what we can expect in terms of total postpaid and maybe total phone growth for 2024 market-wide?

我想知道您是否可以談談您對今年後付費市場成長的預期。我知道你是第一個檢舉的。所以我們還沒有看到其他人的結果。但您對 2024 年整個市場的後付費總額以及手機總額成長的預期有何看法？

Thank you, Craig. If I think about this year, I mean, first of all, mobility in broadband is two of the most important infrastructure in the country. And I don't think it's any one company, person or organization can live without those services. We are the number one in basically everything we're doing.

謝謝你，克雷格。如果我考慮今年，我的意思是，首先，寬頻行動性是全國最重要的兩個基礎設施。我認為沒有任何一家公司、個人或組織可以離開這些服務。基本上我們所做的每一件事都是第一。

I think it's a healthy industry. It's an important product we have, then it can come up and down. So I cannot give you a percentage of what's going to happen. I think our offering is great. I think the product is so important, both mobility and broadband for all parts of our society. I wouldn't like to be in any other business, and it's sort of so important for our society that mobility and broadband is working.

我認為這是一個健康的行業。這是我們擁有的重要產品，它可能會上下波動。所以我無法告訴你將要發生的事情的百分比。我認為我們的產品很棒。我認為該產品對於我們社會的各個部分來說非常重要，無論是移動性還是寬頻。我不想從事任何其他行業，行動性和寬頻的表現對我們的社會來說非常重要。

And can I just maybe drill down a little bit though? I mean the growth numbers we've seen have been as high as 6 million plus, is that a feasible growth rate? Population growth, including immigration is more like 3 million. Is your sense as you go into -- your own expectations for the year, that we'll see some deceleration? Or is your sense that there's still something going on that's keeping growth so far in excess of population growth?

我可以稍微深入一下嗎？我的意思是我們看到的成長數字高達600萬以上，這是可行的成長速度嗎？人口成長（包括移民）約為 300 萬人。當您進入您對今年的預期時，您是否感覺我們會看到一些減速？或者您感覺仍然存在某些因素導致經濟成長遠遠超過人口成長？

I think that we're going to -- whatever number is going to be, we're going to get our fair share of it and that's what we are aiming for. But you're right, of course, immigration is lower. So the pool is smaller, but we've also seen a really good uptake between value segment to postpaid. So there's a lot of factors coming in.

我認為，無論數字是多少，我們都會得到公平的份額，這就是我們的目標。但你是對的，當然，移民人數較低。因此，池子較小，但我們也看到價值細分市場和後付費市場之間的採用率非常高。所以有很多因素在起作用。

And then, of course, what we have done when we think about offerings, we have myPlan, we're adding the perks for example, in Netflix and Max. We are expanding also ARPA because we have such a great offering to our customers. So this is a new time. But again, the product is so important for the market and for each and every one of us. So I feel really good about coming into this year, what we have done and where we go, and let's see where we end up.

當然，當我們考慮產品時，我們做了什麼，我們有 myPlan，我們正在添加額外的福利，例如，在 Netflix 和 Max 中。我們也在擴展 ARPA，因為我們為客戶提供瞭如此出色的產品。所以這是一個新的時代。但同樣，該產品對於市場和我們每個人來說都非常重要。所以我對今年的到來感覺非常好，我們做了什麼，我們去了哪裡，讓我們看看我們最終會取得什麼結果。

The next question comes from Kannan Venkateshwar from Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Kannan Venkateshwar。

So maybe a couple. I guess, firstly, on the fiber side, Hans, as you think about the base of fixed wireless subscribers. By next year, you'll have a pretty big critical mass overall of 5 million-plus potentially. And it's not too far away from where your Fios base is. And you have deep money coming in, potentially, there's more interest from private equity funds and so on and so forth.

所以也許是一對。我想，首先，在光纖方面，漢斯，當你考慮固定無線用戶的基礎。到明年，您的整體臨界質量將達到 500 萬以上。而且距離你的 Fios 基地也不太遠。而且你有大量的資金進來，潛在地，私募股權基金等會產生更多的興趣。

And I know you've talked about being a lot more disciplined on fiber, but does your breakeven threshold change just given the kind of critical mass you get to in fixed wireless and also the kind of capital alternatives that we are starting to see in the market? That's one.

我知道您已經談到要在光纖方面更加嚴格，但是考慮到您在固定無線領域達到的臨界質量以及我們開始在市場中看到的資本替代方案，您的收支平衡閾值是否會發生變化？市場？這是一個。

And secondly, on the wireless side, over the last two or three years, I mean, obviously, there's been a pretty big tailwind to service revenue from prices and explicit price increases. So your thoughts on how long that can continue. And when does mix take over and become a bigger component overall from a service revenue growth perspective? And how we should expect that transition to happen would be helpful.

其次，在無線方面，在過去的兩三年裡，我的意思是，顯然，價格和明確的價格上漲對服務收入產生了相當大的推動力。那麼您對這種情況可以持續多久的想法。從服務收入成長的角度來看，混合何時會接管並成為整體更大的組成部分？我們應該如何期待這種轉變的發生將會有所幫助。

Thank you, Kannan. Yes, I have to go back a little bit when it comes to our broadband strategy. We have a multipurpose network. We build the network once and we have multiple options at the edge. That was sort of the infancy of the Verizon Intelligent Edge Network. From the data center to the edge, we have harmonized everything. We have fiber in between everything. We have multi routers. We have one transport network. That is super important, it's sort of the brain of the network. Then at the edge, we have optionality, what type of access we have. In the ILEC, of course, we're going to continue with our success in Fios and outside, we're doing fixed wireless access.

謝謝你，康南。是的，當談到我們的寬頻策略時，我必須回顧一下。我們有一個多功能網路。我們建構一次網絡，我們在邊緣就有多種選擇。那是 Verizon 智慧邊緣網路的起步階段。從資料中心到邊緣，我們已經協調了一切。我們在一切之間都有光纖。我們有多個路由器。我們擁有交通網。這非常重要，它是網路的大腦。然後在邊緣，我們有選擇權，我們有什麼類型的存取權限。當然，在 ILEC 中，我們將繼續在 Fios 中取得的成功，而在外部，我們正在進行固定無線存取。

But it gives us optionality over time. I like honest economics. I think that, that makes us very competitive in pricing and offerings to our customers. There are, of course, a lot of offerings from people that want to ship in capital. But ultimately, it has paid off for us to be very, very prudent in financial discipline with our own money. But you can never outrule, but that's really my view on it. But I'm creating optionality with the network and Joe and his team are super agile if we need to be within that.

但隨著時間的推移，它給了我們選擇的空間。我喜歡誠實的經濟學。我認為這使我們在為客戶提供的定價和產品方面非常有競爭力。當然，有很多想要運送資本的人提供了許多產品。但最終，我們用自己的錢在財務紀律上非常非常謹慎，這為我們帶來了回報。但你永遠不能排除這一點，但這確實是我的看法。但我正在透過網路創造選擇性，如果我們需要的話，喬和他的團隊非常敏捷。

On the wireless, I would say, I mean, if you look at our Business side, they have great offerings in the market. They have taken the fair share over 10 quarters, and then have also made new offerings so they can expand. So I think they both have done quantity and value. And wireless, of course, on the Consumer side, they have historically have more ARPA increase with new offerings, new pricing, new products, rather than volumes. But you have seen us performing in the last part of the year.

在無線方面，我想說，我的意思是，如果你看看我們的業務方面，他們在市場上有很棒的產品。他們在十個季度中獲得了公平份額，然後還推出了新產品，以便擴大規模。所以我認為他們都做到了數量和價值。當然，在無線方面，在消費者方面，他們歷來透過新產品、新定價、新產品而不是銷售增加了更多的 ARPA。但你們已經看到我們在今年下半年的表現了。

And I think Sampath and his team, they have said that they want to increase the part of getting new customers. But again, it will be financial discipline, and we should get the right customers. And if you look at our quality of our Consumer base, it's just amazing, and we will continue to be financially prudent on that. But clearly, we want to have more volumes and -- but not to any cost, we will do it with the right cost and the right product to our customers.

我認為 Sampath 和他的團隊已經說過，他們希望增加獲得新客戶的部分。但同樣，這將是財務紀律，我們應該找到合適的客戶。如果你看看我們消費者基礎的質量，你會發現這真是太棒了，我們將繼續在財務上保持謹慎。但顯然，我們希望擁有更多的銷量，並且不惜任何代價，我們將以正確的成本和為客戶提供正確的產品來實現這一目標。

The next question comes from Peter Supino of Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的彼得·蘇皮諾。

On the subject of consumption and network utilization, I wondered if you could update us on the number of gigabytes per month that postpaid phone customers are consuming nowadays and extending that thought over the next few years, does that growth and the robust FWA business that you're building suggests that we should prepare for densification or other radio access network or spectrum costs for capacity over the next several years, certainly not a 2024 question.

關於消費和網路利用率的問題，我想知道您是否可以向我們介紹目前後付費電話客戶每月消耗的千兆位元組數量，並在未來幾年內擴展這一想法，這種增長和強勁的FWA業務是否會影響您的業務？正在建設的建議表明，我們應該為未來幾年的緻密化或其他無線電接入網路或頻譜容量成本做好準備，這當然不是 2024 年的問題。

Yes. I'll go back to how we build the network because building the network is so very important because the biggest challenge with a lot of traffic is, of course, transporting it in an efficient way, having your own fiber and that we've already built.

是的。我將回到我們如何建立網絡，因為建立網路非常重要，因為大量流量的最大挑戰當然是以有效的方式傳輸它，擁有自己的光纖，而且我們已經建造的。

When it comes to the growth in the network, yes, everybody is using the network more. It's no different between fixed wireless access and Fios. And of course, wireless consumers are using the network more as well. But we have built a very stable network all the way from the data centers to the edge. And then, of course, we have assets that nobody else has. We have a lot of our traffic on millimeter wave, which is the cheapest way to deliver data in the market by far and we have our C-Band just coming out. So -- and we have our best engineers. So I feel really good with that people and customers are using our network more. That's what this was intended for, and we have designed it like that.

當談到網路的成長時，是的，每個人都在更多地使用網路。固定無線存取和 Fios 沒有什麼區別。當然，無線消費者也越來越多地使用網路。但我們已經建立了一個從資料中心到邊緣的非常穩定的網路。當然，我們擁有其他人沒有的資產。我們的大量流量都在毫米波上，這是迄今為止市場上傳輸資料最便宜的方式，而且我們的 C 頻段剛剛推出。所以——我們擁有最好的工程師。因此，我對人們和客戶更多地使用我們的網路感到非常高興。這就是它的目的，我們就是這樣設計的。

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 had two, if I could. First, following up on John's earlier question, can you give us a sense for how much of the year-over-year improvement in gross adds in the fourth quarter was the result of healthy industry volumes versus the improved execution and product that you've got in the market now? And additionally on that, did you see stronger performance in December versus the rest of the quarter? I asked because I think your last public presentation was in early December, and your results seem to even more positive than your tone back then. So it seems like maybe you picked up momentum as the quarter progressed.

如果可以的話，我有兩個。首先，繼約翰之前的問題之後，您能否讓我們了解一下，第四季度總增加額的同比改善有多少是由於健康的行業數量與您所執行和產品的改進所帶來的結果？現在上市了嗎？除此之外，您是否認為 12 月的表現比本季其餘時間更強勁？我問這個問題是因為我認為你最後一次公開演講是在 12 月初，而且你的結果似乎比你當時的語氣還要積極。因此，隨著本季度的進展，您似乎獲得了動力。

And then I just had a separate question on the issue of lead cables. I was wondering if you would comment on the latest media report that the EPA has conducted its own testing, some of your lead sheet cables that have shown lead levels above EPA standard for safety. Any sense for whether these reports are accurate? And if so, how you're thinking about the potential impact at this point around this issue?

然後我有一個關於鉛電纜問題的單獨問題。我想知道您是否會對最新的媒體報告發表評論，該報道稱美國環保局已經進行了自己的測試，你們的一些鉛片電纜的鉛含量超過了美國環保局的安全標準。這些報道是否準確有什麼意義嗎？如果是這樣，您目前如何考慮此問題的潛在影響？

Yes. Thank you, Bryan. Let me start with the market in the fourth quarter. We don't know. I mean the others haven't reported. We only know that we have performed really well. And -- but that has been -- it's not a one quarter phenomenon. If you think about from the second quarter, third quarter, even in the first quarter, we were sequentially improving all the time, and we have done that in a disciplined ways with a lot of actions and that we need to keep up.

是的。謝謝你，布萊恩。首先從第四季的市場情況說起。我們不知道。我的意思是其他人還沒有報告。我們只知道我們表現得非常好。而且──但這已經是──這不是四分之一的現象。如果你想一想，從第二季度、第三季度，甚至第一季開始，我們一直在不斷進步，我們已經透過大量行動以有紀律的方式做到了這一點，我們需要跟上。

So -- and then the comment on how the quarter shaped so you probably talk about consumer more than anything else. I think we're solid through the quarter, there was nothing sort of different during the month in the quarter. We were solid through the quarter, doing well performance.

那麼，然後是對本季度如何形成的評論，因此您可能會更多地談論消費者。我認為我們整個季度都很穩定，本季的一個月裡沒有什麼不同。我們整個季度表現穩定，表現良好。

On the lead. As I said before, we take that very seriously. I cannot comment what media is doing. We work with all the agencies and see that we are following this up and we have revealed all the information we have. So we don't have any more. We have also disclosed how much lead cable we have in the network, which is very little. But again, we take it seriously and we work with all the agencies.

領先。正如我之前所說，我們非常重視這一點。我無法評論媒體正在做什麼。我們與所有機構合作，確保我們正在跟進此事，並透露了我們所掌握的所有資訊。所以我們沒有更多的了。我們也透露了我們網路中有多少引線電纜，數量很少。但我們再次嚴肅對待這個問題，並與所有機構合作。

Your last question will come from Walter Piecyk of LightShed.

您的最後一個問題將來自 LightShed 的 Walter Piecyk。

Hans, this is -- I apologize, probably the fourth time you're coming back to the gross add question. But I think earlier, you made mention of kind of the change in structure from nationalization to localization. I think that was something that Sampath had kind of stated as one of his specific things and probably something that maybe, could be more sustainable than just a change in a rate plan that obviously could be replicated or just addresses the market. So just a couple of questions on that.

漢斯，我很抱歉，這可能是你第四次回到總加問題了。但我想早些時候，您提到了從國有化到本土化的結構變化。我認為這是薩姆帕斯所說的他的具體事項之一，而且可能比僅僅改變顯然可以複製或只是針對市場的費率計劃的變化更具可持續性。對此只有幾個問題。

First, if you think about kind of the ramp in fourth quarter, I know this is kind of a soft question, but like the impact of localization, and that's change in the structure of the sales organization versus myPlan, which had a larger impact. And then, I guess, more importantly, the sustainability, meaning that, yes, you typically do see sequential growth seasonally around this time of the year. Obviously, more pronounced this year than past.

首先，如果你考慮到第四季度的成長情況，我知道這是一個軟性問題，但就像在地化的影響一樣，這是銷售組織結構與 myPlan 相比的變化，後者產生了更大的影響。然後，我想，更重要的是永續性，這意味著，是的，你通常會在一年中的這個時候看到季節性的持續成長。顯然，今年比往年更明顯。

But are we going to see even more sequential growth or more abnormal growth in the first half of the year as some of the implementation of that localization continues? Or have we largely already seen that impact as we go into 2024?

但是，隨著部分在地化的實施繼續進行，今年上半年我們是否會看到更多的環比成長或更多的異常成長？或者說，當我們進入 2024 年時，我們基本上已經看到了這種影響嗎？

Walt, I think that was -- it's a good question. So the whole -- remember, we started with the network as the C-Band is sort of rolling out in different ZIP codes all the time, we are engaging locally. The same we did with the Consumer group to be much more local, to be able to do local marketing, cater forward the local market, have local flavors of our marketing. We worked with a sports league like NFL and the teams in different markets to see that happen.

沃爾特，我認為這是一個很好的問題。因此，請記住，我們從網路開始，因為 C 頻段一直在不同的郵遞區號中推出，我們正在本地參與。我們對消費者群體也做了同樣的事情，使消費者群體更加本地化，​​能夠進行本地行銷，迎合本地市場，使我們的行銷具有本地風味。我們與 NFL 等體育聯盟以及不同市場的球隊合作，以實現這一目標。

So of course, I'm going to attribute part of our growth during the year to the decentralization. But we just got started to see that we have that team in place and Sampath and the team are working with them with his market precedent -- make it. But it's also a sign of where the market is going. You need to be local, and you need to be on the ground in the different societies in order to perform and be knowledge. And Verizon is most visible in all the grounds and now we're taking next step with our structure. So very pleased with what I've seen so far, but more to be done.

當然，我將把我們這一年的成長部分歸功於權力下放。但我們剛開始看到我們的團隊已經就位，薩姆帕斯和團隊正在與他們合作，以他的市場先例——成功。但這也是市場走向的跡象。你需要融入當地，並且需要深入不同的社會，才能有所作為並成為知識。 Verizon 在所有場地中都是最引人注目的，現在我們正在對我們的結構採取下一步措施。我對迄今為止所看到的非常滿意，但還有更多工作要做。

Yes, Walt. I'll just add on to what Hans said. The regional structure is a lot closer to the customer, and we've run the business this way for many, many years. And we can do things like different promos for different markets and local resources and decision-making and the localization offset some of the price up as well. So we feel really good about where we're heading, especially with the Tier 2 and Tier 3 rollouts with C-Band and the opportunity that provides.

是的，沃爾特。我將補充漢斯所說的內容。區域結構更接近客戶，我們已經以這種方式經營業務很多很多年了。我們可以針對不同的市場、本地資源和決策做不同的促銷活動，在地化也可以抵銷部分價格上漲。因此，我們對自己的發展方向感到非常滿意，特別是隨著 C 頻段的第 2 層和第 3 層的推出以及所提供的機會。

Tony, can you also remind us when the Board considers share repurchase as it relates to leverage? And I think the leverage that you mentioned earlier in the call excludes the unsecured debt because you were referencing a 2.6 number. So assuming we're basing it off the 2.6 number, I think your target -- your long-term target was 2.0. So clearly, you wouldn't let it go below 2.0 before you start buying stock back, but is there a consideration under 2.5 where the Board starts to consider share repurchase?

東尼，您能否提醒我們董事會何時考慮與槓桿相關的股票回購？我認為您之前在電話會議中提到的槓桿率不包括無擔保債務，因為您引用的是 2.6 的數字。因此，假設我們以 2.6 為基礎，我認為您的目標——您的長期目標是 2.0。很明顯，在開始回購股票之前，你不會讓它低於 2.0，但董事會是否會開始考慮股票回購，而低於 2.5？

Thank you, Walt. I think this is something that we are being very disciplined. Our capital allocation priority is clear. Number one, money to the business, basically our CapEx; number two, continue to put the Board in a place so they can continue to increase our dividend and then number three paying down debt.

謝謝你，沃特。我認為這是我們非常自律的事情。我們的資本配置優先順序很明確。第一，為業務帶來資金，基本上就是我們的資本支出；第二，繼續讓董事會就位，以便他們能夠繼續增加我們的股息，然後第三，償還債務。

When we come down to 2.25 we have said we will start considering buybacks, but our ultimate long-term goal is to get around 2. So yes, that's the plan. But of course, it will play in where the market is, where the interest rates are, where the capital is and where our equity is. But clearly, that's the plan we have right now, and the Board is fully tuned to that plan.

當我們降至 2.25 時，我們已經說過我們將開始考慮回購，但我們的最終長期目標是達到 2 左右。所以是的，這就是計劃。但當然，它會在市場在哪裡、利率在哪裡、資本在哪裡以及我們的股本在哪裡發揮作用。但顯然，這就是我們現在的計劃，董事會已完全適應該計劃。

Yes. Thanks, Walt. Brad, back to you.

是的。謝謝，沃爾特。布拉德，回到你身邊。

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。