WideOpenWest Inc (WOW) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the WideOpenWest second-quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Andrew Posen, Vice President, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。我叫 Desiree，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加 WideOpenWest 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）我現在想將會議轉交給副總裁兼投資者關係主管安德魯·波森 (Andrew Posen)。請繼續。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our second-quarter 2024 earnings call. With me today is Teresa Elder, WOW!'s Chief Executive Officer; and John Rego, WOW!'s Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的是特雷莎·埃爾德，哇！首席執行官;和約翰·雷戈，哇！首席財務長。

Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that during our call, we will make some forward-looking statements about our expected operating results, our business strategy, and other matters relating to our business. These forward-looking statements are made in reliance on the Safe Harbor provisions of the federal securities laws and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual operating results, financial position, or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，在我們的電話會議中，我們將就我們的預期經營業績、我們的業務策略以及與我們業務相關的其他事項做出一些前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述是根據聯邦證券法的安全港條款做出的，並受到已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致我們的實際經營業績、財務狀況或業績出現重大差異來自我們的前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的內容。

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. We disclaim any obligation to update such forward-looking statements. For additional information concerning factors that could affect our financial results or cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements, please refer to our filings with the SEC, including the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K filed with the SEC, as well as the forward-looking statements section of our press release.

請您注意不要過度依賴此類前瞻性陳述。我們不承擔更新此類前瞻性陳述的義務。有關可能影響我們的財務業績或導致實際結果與我們的前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素的更多信息，請參閱我們向SEC 提交的文件，包括向SEC 提交的10-K 表格中的風險因素部分，以及我們新聞稿的前瞻性陳述部分。

In addition, please note that on today's call and in the press release we issued this afternoon, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

此外，請注意，在今天的電話會議和我們今天下午發布的新聞稿中，我們可能會提到某些非公認會計準則財務指標。雖然公司認為這些非公認會計原則財務指標為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些信息的呈現並不旨在被孤立地考慮或作為根據公認會計原則呈現的財務信息的替代品。

Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics to our historical reported results can be found in our earnings releases and our trending schedules, which can be found on our website. We have also included a presentation this afternoon to complement our prepared remarks. Now, I'll turn the call over to WOW!'s Chief Executive Officer, Teresa Elder.

GAAP 和非 GAAP 指標與我們歷史報告結果之間的調整可以在我們的收益發布和趨勢表中找到，這些指標可以在我們的網站上找到。今天下午我們也進行了一次演講，以補充我們準備好的演講。現在，我將把電話轉給 WOW!'s執行長特雷莎·埃爾德。

Thanks, Andrew. Welcome to WOW!'s second-quarter earnings call. Before we start, here is a brief update on the unsolicited, non-binding acquisition proposal from DigitalBridge and Crestview Partners. A special committee of the independent directors has been formed to evaluate the proposal and the work of the committee is ongoing.

謝謝，安德魯。歡迎來到 WOW! 第二季度財報電話會議。在我們開始之前，這裡是 DigitalBridge 和 Crestview Partners 主動提出的、不具約束力的收購提案的簡要更新。已成立獨立董事特別委員會來評估該提案，該委員會的工作正在進行中。

WOW! stockholders do not need to take any action related to the proposal at this time and we do not have any updates to share today. We will take questions at the end of our remarks. However, we will not be taking any questions related to the unsolicited bids.

哇！股東目前不需要採取任何與該提案相關的行動，我們今天沒有任何更新可以分享。我們將在發言結束時回答問題。但是，我們不會接受與主動出價相關的任何問題。

Now, I would like to turn to our second-quarter results. Our results this quarter were in line with our expectations and reflects momentum in our greenfield fiber expansion and improvements in our legacy markets, which were offset by the loss of subscribers due to the ending of the ACP program.

現在，我想談談我們的第二季業績。我們本季的業績符合我們的預期，反映了我們綠地光纖擴張和傳統市場改善的勢頭，但由於 ACP 計劃結束而導致的用戶流失抵消了這一勢頭。

As we have emphasized over the past several quarters, we are focused on growing our fiber footprint in our expansion markets, including both greenfield and edge-outs, and stabilizing the losses in our legacy footprint. This quarter, we made substantial progress on both fronts. Excluding the impact of losses related to ACP, we would have reported a net gain of more than 300 high-speed data customers.

正如我們在過去幾季所強調的那樣，我們專注於擴大我們在擴張市場中的光纖足跡，包括綠地和邊緣擴張，並穩定我們傳統足跡的損失。本季度，我們在這兩方面都取得了實質進展。如果排除與 ACP 相關的損失的影響，我們將淨增加 300 多個高速資料客戶。

Our second quarter results include high-speed data revenue of $105 million, down 1.6% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA of $70 million increased 2.8% year over year and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 44.1% was up 4.6 percentage points from the same period last year and 2.4 percentage points from last quarter.

我們第二季的業績包括高速數據收入 1.05 億美元，年減 1.6%。調整後 EBITDA 為 7,000 萬美元，年增 2.8%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 44.1%，比去年同期增長 4.6 個百分點，比上季度增長 2.4 個百分點。

We have now fully realized the target of $35.5 million savings, more than a year ahead of schedule. I am pleased with the progress that we continue to make, both in terms of growing our fiber business in new markets while also reducing our cost base and managing expenses to drive adjusted EBITDA growth.

我們現已全面實現節省 3550 萬美元的目標，比原計劃提前一年多。我對我們繼續取得的進展感到高興，無論是在新市場中發展我們的纖維業務，還是在降低成本基礎和管理費用以推動調整後的 EBITDA 成長方面。

During the second quarter, our fiber expansion proceeded well. We passed an additional 7,000 new homes in our greenfield markets, bringing our total number of homes passed in greenfield markets to 52,500. We also added 1,900 new homes through edge-outs.

第二季度，我們的光纖擴張進展順利。我們在綠地市場上新增了 7,000 套新房屋，使綠地市場上的房屋總數達到 52,500 套。我們還透過邊緣淘汰增加了 1,900 套新住宅。

Our expansion efforts are further driving our growth and continue to lay the foundation for our exciting future, providing exceptional quality, fiber-to-the-home broadband service with what we believe is the best value in the market. The consistent improvement in our penetration rates across edge-outs and greenfields reinforces my conviction in our strategy.

我們的擴張努力進一步推動我們的成長，並繼續為我們令人興奮的未來奠定基礎，提供卓越品質的光纖到戶寬頻服務，我們認為這是市場上最好的價值。我們在邊緣地區和未開發地區的滲透率的持續提高增強了我對我們策略的信念。

The penetration rates in our greenfield markets increased nearly three percentage points to 15.4%, up from 12.5% at the end of the first quarter. Our edge-outs are also performing extremely well, especially the 2024 vintage, which increased to 38.6%, growing over six percentage points from the end of last quarter.

綠地市場的滲透率從第一季末的 12.5% 上升了近三個百分點，達到 15.4%。我們的邊緣出品也表現得非常好，尤其是 2024 年份，成長至 38.6%，比上季末成長了 6 個百分點以上。

Our 2023 edge-out vintage increased to a penetration rate of 28.6%, which is also a great improvement from last quarter. The 2022 vintage remains strong at 31%.

我們2023年的邊緣年份滲透率增加到28.6%，這也比上季有了很大的進步。2022 年年份酒的酒精度仍維持在 31% 的強勁水平。

I am pleased with further progress we made during the quarter with respect to our subscriber numbers. The ending of the ACP program resulted in a churn of 5,000 high-speed data subscribers, resulting in a total net loss of 4,700 high-speed data subscribers. Excluding the ACP impact, HSD net adds increased by 300 subscribers.

我對本季度我們在訂戶數量方面取得的進一步進展感到高興。ACP 計畫的結束導致 5,000 名高速資料用戶流失，總共淨損失 4,700 名高速資料用戶。排除 ACP 的影響，HSD 淨增訂戶數量增加了 300 名。

I would like to break this down a little bit further to emphasize the progress we are making in our legacy footprint. Specifically, in the second quarter, our greenfield markets added 2,400 new HSD subscribers. Excluding the 5,000 subs from ACP, the losses in our legacy markets accounted for a loss of 2,100 HSD subs, which is 1,000 fewer losses than the first quarter and a significant improvement from the fourth quarter of last year.

我想進一步分解這一點，以強調我們在遺留足跡方面所取得的進展。具體來說，第二季度，我們的綠地市場新增了 2,400 名 HSD 用戶。除去 ACP 中的 5,000 台低音炮，我們傳統市場的損失佔 2,100 台 HSD 低音炮的損失，比第一季度減少了 1,000 台，比去年第四季度有了顯著改善。

While there will be further impact from the ACP in the third quarter, our efforts to keep those customers on our platform are mitigating some of these losses. Overall, we continue to see very low churn across our base and the strategic steps we introduced during the first quarter are continuing to show extremely positive results.

雖然 ACP 在第三季將產生進一步的影響，但我們為將這些客戶保留在我們平台上所做的努力正在減輕部分損失。總體而言，我們繼續看到整個基地的客戶流失率非常低，並且我們在第一季採取的策略步驟繼續顯示出非常積極的成果。

Specifically, we introduced speed upgrades and our simplified pricing plan, which includes an optional price lock, modem included, no data cap, and no contracts. The continued success of these strategies has given us additional confidence in the progress we are making to strengthen our subscriber numbers in our legacy footprint.

具體來說，我們引入了速度升級和簡化的定價計劃，其中包括可選的價格鎖定、調製解調器、無數據上限和無合約。這些策略的持續成功使我們對我們在增強傳統足跡中的用戶數量方面所取得的進展更加充滿信心。

The chart on the lower-left quadrant of the slide shows customers buying in the lower tiers was consistent with last quarter as we work to lower the impact from the ending of the ACP program. This resulted in a slight decrease in HSD ARPU relative to last quarter.

投影片左下象限的圖表顯示，由於我們努力降低 ACP 計畫結束的影響，低階顧客的購買量與上季一致。這導致 HSD ARPU 較上季度略有下降。

Although compared to the same period last year, ARPU increased 2.6%. The year-over-year increase was largely driven by last year's rate increase as well as the impact of new customers buying higher-speed tiers, especially in greenfield markets.

儘管與去年同期相比，ARPU 成長了 2.6%。年比成長主要是由於去年的費率上漲以及新客戶購買更高速度層的影響，特別是在新建市場。

As of the second quarter, we now have 485,000 HSD subscribers. As expected, our traditional video business declined further during the quarter, which will continue as we transition to YouTube TV.

截至第二季度，我們現有 485,000 名 HSD 用戶。正如預期的那樣，我們的傳統影片業務在本季度進一步下滑，隨著我們轉向 YouTube TV，這種情況將持續下去。

The success of this partnership is another factor that is contributing to the consistent low churn across our customer base. We are seeing a nice increase in customer sign and HSD YouTube TV bundle, a trend we expect to continue, especially in our expansion markets. Our partnership provides a fantastic opportunity to offer more content at a much better value and to capitalize on the shift to video streaming, which we believe will also contribute to great results this year.

這種合作關係的成功是我們客戶群持續維持低流失率的另一個因素。我們看到客戶標誌和 HSD YouTube TV 套裝的數量大幅增加，我們預計這一趨勢將持續下去，尤其是在我們的擴張市場中。我們的合作關係提供了一個絕佳的機會，可以以更好的價值提供更多內容，並利用向視訊串流的轉變，我們相信這也將有助於今年取得出色的業績。

To conclude before handing the call to John, I want to reiterate the key points that I made at the outset of the call. First, we continue to make great progress with our fiber build in expansion markets, both in terms of passing new homes and increasing our penetration rates, and we are seeing ongoing progress with regard to stabilizing numbers in our legacy footprint. I'll now turn the call over to John, who will go over our financial results in more detail.

在將電話交給約翰之前，我想重申我在電話會議開始時提出的要點。首先，我們在擴張市場的光纖建設方面繼續取得巨大進展，無論是在透過新住宅還是提高滲透率方面，我們都看到在穩定我們的傳統足跡方面不斷取得進展。我現在將把電話轉給約翰，他將更詳細地審查我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Teresa. In the second quarter, we reported $105 million of HSD revenue, which decreased 1.6% year over year, largely reflecting the decrease in HSD subscribers due to ACP as well as the impact of lower ARPU during the quarter.

謝謝，特蕾莎。第二季度，我們報告 HSD 收入為 1.05 億美元，年減 1.6%，主要反映了 ACP 導致的 HSD 用戶減少以及本季 ARPU 下降的影響。

Total revenue for the second quarter decreased 8% to $158.8 million as video and telephony revenue dropped 26% and 11.6%, respectively in addition to the decline in HSD revenue during the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 2.8% from the same period last year to $70 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 44.1%.

第二季總收入下降 8%，至 1.588 億美元，除 HSD 收入下降外，視訊和電話收入分別下降 26% 和 11.6%。調整後 EBITDA 較去年同期成長 2.8%，達到 7,000 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 44.1%。

The incremental contribution margin increased sequentially and continued to grow year over year, driven by the proportionate increase in HSD revenue, which increased to more than 66% of our total revenue this quarter, which is up from 62% in the same period last year. With respect to our cost structure alignment, we made significant progress this quarter and have now fully realized the target of $35.5 million more than a year ahead of schedule.

在HSD營收比例成長的推動下，增量貢獻利潤率較上季成長並持續年增，本季HSD營收佔總營收的比例增至66%以上，高於去年同期的62%。在成本結構調整方面，我們本季取得了重大進展，現已提前一年多完全實現了 3,550 萬美元的目標。

In addition to these measures, we made further expense reductions, predominantly in our corporate and administrative areas, as we continue to focus on reducing our cost structure, which helped drive our adjusted EBITDA higher this quarter. We ended the quarter with total cash of $20.7 million and total outstanding debt of $974.5 million, with our leverage ratio at 3.4 times.

除了這些措施之外，我們還進一步削減了開支，主要是在公司和行政領域，因為我們繼續專注於降低成本結構，這有助於推動本季度調整後的 EBITDA 更高。本季末，我們的現金總額為 2,070 萬美元，未償債務總額為 9.745 億美元，槓桿率為 3.4 倍。

Our current cash position is largely in line with the last quarter as we continue to lower our cost base and manage working capital. We reported total capital spend of $51.1 million, down $12.5 million from last year and down $21.4 million from last quarter. This reflects a significant decrease in expansion CapEx.

我們目前的現金狀況與上季基本一致，因為我們繼續降低成本基礎並管理營運資金。我們報告的總資本支出為 5,110 萬美元，比去年減少 1,250 萬美元，比上季減少 2,140 萬美元。這反映了擴張資本支出的顯著下降。

Our core CapEx efficiency was 21.1% in the second quarter. Expansion CapEx decreased $12.8 million from the same period last year and $29.4 million from last quarter as we emphasize lighting up homes we passed and increasing penetration in our expansion markets.

第二季我們的核心資本支出效率為 21.1%。擴張資本支出較去年同期減少 1,280 萬美元，較上季減少 2,940 萬美元，因為我們強調照亮我們經過的房屋並提高在擴張市場的滲透率。

In the second quarter, we spent $10.2 million on greenfields, $2.7 million on edge-outs, and an additional $4.7 million on business services. We believe we're on track to spend no more than $60 million on greenfield expansion this year.

第二季度，我們在新建案上花費了 1,020 萬美元，在邊緣化工程上花費了 270 萬美元，在商業服務上花費了 470 萬美元。我們相信今年我們將在綠地擴張上花費不超過 6000 萬美元。

Although the pace of greenfield construction has slowed down compared to Q1, it is in line with our CapEx, and we'll continue to operate at a slower pace for the time being. We're currently exploring options to enhance our ability to accelerate our expansion initiatives.

儘管綠地建設速度較第一季放緩，但與我們的資本支出相符，我們暫時將繼續以較慢的速度運作。我們目前正在探索增強我們加速擴張計劃的能力的選項。

Specifically, we're actively exploring a number of options to secure additional funding. This process may or may not result in a near-term transaction. Our unlevered adjusted free cash flow, which we define as adjusted EBITDA less CapEx, was $18.9 million for the second quarter, a significant improvement from last quarter, driven by the reduction in expansion CapEx.

具體來說，我們正在積極探索多種選擇來獲得額外資金。此過程可能會也可能不會導致近期交易。第二季的無槓桿調整後自由現金流（我們定義為調整後 EBITDA 減去資本支出）為 1,890 萬美元，較上季顯著改善，這是由於擴張資本支出減少所致。

Finally, I'd like to provide our expectations for the third quarter. As Teresa indicated in her comments this morning, we're seeing positive indications from the steps we are taking to address the challenges in our legacy markets. However, we believe that our results in the third quarter will reflect a number of competing dynamics that may negatively impact our HSD subscriber numbers.

最後，我想表達一下我們對第三季的預期。正如特蕾莎今天早上在評論中指出的那樣，我們從我們為應對傳統市場挑戰而採取的措施中看到了積極的跡象。然而，我們認為第三季的業績將反映出許多競爭動態，這些動態可能會對我們的 HSD 用戶數量產生負面影響。

First, we believe that there will be an additional ACP impact on our numbers this quarter. And secondly, we're anticipating reduction in capital spend on our expansion initiatives, which could lower the number of HSD subscribers in these markets.

首先，我們相信 ACP 將對我們本季的數據產生額外的影響。其次，我們預期擴張計畫的資本支出將減少，這可能會減少這些市場的 HSD 用戶數量。

As a result of these items, we expect our HSD net adds to be between negative 5,000 and negative 3,000. We believe HSD revenue will be between $106 million and $109 million. We expect total revenue for the third quarter to be between $157 million and $160 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $67 million and $70 million. Thank you so much. And now we're going to open up the line for some questions.

由於這些項目的影響，我們預期 HSD 淨增量將在負 5,000 至負 3,000 之間。我們認為 HSD 收入將在 1.06 億美元至 1.09 億美元之間。我們預計第三季總營收將在 1.57 億美元至 1.6 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 將在 6,700 萬美元至 7,000 萬美元之間。太感謝了。現在我們要開放熱線詢問一些問題。

(Operator Instructions) Brandon Nispel, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員指令）Brandon Nispel，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. John, I was hoping you could go a little bit deeper in terms of the options you're exploring for liquidity. It looks like you ended the quarter with a fully drawn revolver and $20 million cash. Maybe level-set us, what do you expect for free cash flow for the rest of the year and what does that mean in terms of home expansion on greenfield for this year? Thanks.

嘿，夥計們。感謝您提出問題。約翰，我希望您能更深入地了解您正在探索的流動性選擇。看起來您在本季結束時擁有一把已拔出的左輪手槍和 2000 萬美元的現金。也許讓我們了解一下，您對今年剩餘時間的自由現金流有何期望？謝謝。

Okay. So thanks, Brandon, a lot in there. So clearly, we're managing our cash position. I think we did a great job of it in the second quarter. We've done a lot of different things that we mentioned on the call. So we've lowered our OpEx, and that's one of the reasons we were able to hit the three-year target of $35.5 million early.

好的。所以非常感謝布蘭登。很明顯，我們正在管理我們的現金部位。我認為我們在第二季度做得很好。我們做了很多我們在電話中提到的不同的事情。因此，我們降低了營運支出，這也是我們能夠提前實現 3550 萬美元的三年目標的原因之一。

We've gone beyond that. Clearly, we've not stopped, but we slowed the pace of capital spending and expansion. And obviously, we're managing our working capital. So we've got lots of ways to preserve liquidity and I don't really feel we have any issues there.

我們已經超越了這一點。顯然，我們並沒有停止，但我們放慢了資本支出和擴張的步伐。顯然，我們正在管理我們的營運資金。因此，我們有很多方法來保持流動性，而且我真的不認為我們在這方面有任何問題。

The theoretical possible funding options or any other options, we would look at. Too early to give you great detail on that, but the whole purpose of that would be to be able to expand the pace, I think, of expansion CapEx.

我們會研究理論上可能的融資方案或任何其他方案。現在向您提供詳細資訊還為時過早，但我認為，這樣做的全部目的是能夠加快擴張資本支出的步伐。

So right now, we're on a pace to spend the $60 million for greenfield that we said we would spend at the beginning of the year. We've already done about $51 million of it. I don't see any change at all in that. And to the extent that we create some sort of transaction, then I think you'll see us expand that a bit. That's where we're at right now.

所以現在，我們正計劃花費 6000 萬美元用於綠地建設，正如我們在年初所說的那樣。我們已經完成了大約 5100 萬美元。我認為這沒有任何變化。在我們創建某種交易的範圍內，我想你會看到我們稍微擴展一下。這就是我們現在所處的情況。

Great. Thank you for taking the question.

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。

Batya Levi, UBS.

巴蒂亞‧萊維，瑞銀集團。

Great, thank you. Can you just provide a little bit more color on HSD subscriber trends you're seeing, specifically the guidance for third quarter? How much of that, do you think, is related to ACP? Are you taking any reserves against that? And should we assume it will be done by the end of third quarter?

太好了，謝謝。您能否就您所看到的 HSD 用戶趨勢提供更多信息，特別是第三季度的指導？您認為其中有多少與 ACP 有關？你有為此準備金嗎？我們是否應該假設這將在第三季末完成？

And a bit of color in terms of the competitive environment would be helpful. In terms of fixed wireless, are you seeing any incremental build from overbuilders or anything different from the cable side? And maybe lastly, a bit more sort of how you're thinking about HSD ARPU trends going forward would be helpful. Thank you.

就競爭環境而言，一些色彩會有所幫助。在固定無線方面，您是否看到過度建設者的任何增量建設或與電纜方面不同的東西？也許最後，多了解您對未來 HSD ARPU 趨勢的看法將會有所幫助。謝謝。

Thanks, Batya. So first of all on the HSD subscribers, I think we're feeling very good about, certainly, this quarter we're talking about right now. We would have had 300 net-add positive, except for ACP. And I feel like we've been managing the ACP base quite well. At our peak, we have 30,000 subscribers, so certainly less exposure than many of our peers out there.

謝謝，巴蒂亞。首先，關於 HSD 用戶，我認為我們對現在正在談論的這個季度感覺非常好。除 ACP 外，我們的淨增加值為 300。我覺得我們對 ACP 基地的管理得很好。在高峰期，我們擁有 30,000 名訂戶，因此曝光度肯定低於許多同行。

Specifically, for the third quarter, we will continue to see some impact from ACP. And I can tell you, well over half of the disconnects that we are seeing are customers who were in a non-pay status. So they may have had all of their fees subsidized with the $30 or the majority of it. But then, when the subsidy went away with the ACP program, they were no longer able to cover those.

具體來說，在第三季度，我們將繼續看到 ACP 的一些影響。我可以告訴你，我們看到的斷線有一半以上是處於非付費狀態的客戶。因此，他們可能用 30 美元或其中大部分來補貼所有費用。但後來，當補貼隨著 ACP 計畫取消後，他們就無法再支付這些費用了。

I think we've done a good job converting as many as possible into ongoing paying subscribers. We certainly are always balancing preserving EBITDA. We're throwing caution to the wind on ARPU and balancing that with customers.

我認為我們在將盡可能多的用戶轉變為持續付費訂閱者方面做得很好。當然，我們始終在保持 EBITDA 之間取得平衡。我們把對 ARPU 的謹慎拋之腦後，並與客戶進行平衡。

So for the third quarter, we'll still see of that impact. It's hard to know exactly how much that will be, which is why we've put the guide out there the way that we're seeing it.

因此，在第三季度，我們仍然會看到這種影響。很難確切知道具體金額是多少，這就是為什麼我們以我們現在看到的方式發布指南的原因。

From -- I think your second question was around the competitive environment. And I think things have shifted a bit in terms of the competitive environment. I think we've seen a softening of any competitive impact from fixed wireless, as has been widely reported throughout the industry.

我認為你的第二個問題是關於競爭環境的。我認為競爭環境方面情況已經發生了一些變化。我認為，正如整個行業廣泛報道的那樣，我們已經看到固定無線的競爭影響有所減弱。

I see, I guess, two reasons for that. One is just the fixed wireless providers themselves. I don't know if they're getting to saturation on that, so what their issues are. But specifically, I can point to the competitive strategies we took starting February 1 of this year.

我想，我認為有兩個原因。一是固定無線提供者本身。我不知道他們是否已經飽和，那麼他們的問題是什麼。但具體來說，我可以指出我們從今年 2 月 1 日開始採取的競爭策略。

Specifically, on our customer base, we upgraded the 200 meg subscribers to 300 and our 500 meg customers to 600. And I think our customers have appreciated that surprise and delight and appreciate the speeds that they're getting.

具體來說，在我們的客戶群上，我們將 200 兆訂閱者升級到 300 名，將 500 兆訂閱者升級到 600 名。我認為我們的客戶已經欣賞到這種驚喜和喜悅，並欣賞他們所獲得的速度。

We also rolled out on September 1 simplified pricing that provides no contract, no data fees, no hidden fees. We also have an optional price lock that gives that certainty to customers of what their bill will be over time as an option. So I think all of those things that we did competitively have helped us both on the top end of the sales funnel with connect, as well as continuing to delight our customers, which is why we're seeing very strong low churn, so very low churn.

我們也於 9 月 1 日推出了簡化定價，不提供合約、數據費、隱藏費用。我們還有一個可選的價格鎖定選項，可以讓客戶確定他們的帳單隨著時間的推移會是多少。因此，我認為我們在競爭中所做的所有這些事情都幫助我們在銷售漏斗的頂端建立了聯繫，並繼續取悅我們的客戶，這就是為什麼我們看到非常低的客戶流失率，非常低的原因攪動。

And then the third question I believe you had was around HSD ARPU. And we are pleased that we see ARPU up on a year-over-year basis. I believe on the last quarter, the ACP did have a bit of a pull on our ARPU as we tried to place those customers who are especially cost-conscious into appropriate pricing and, of course, the $30 subsidy went away. But in general, we are always balancing customer growth, churn with EBITDA, and the revenue and ARPU growth. So I think I addressed the three questions.

我相信您提出的第三個問題是關於 HSD ARPU 的。我們很高興看到 ARPU 逐年上升。我相信上個季度，ACP 確實對我們的 ARPU 產生了一些影響，因為我們試圖為那些特別注重成本的客戶提供適當的定價，當然，30 美元的補貼消失了。但總的來說，我們始終在客戶成長、EBITDA 流失以及營收和 ARPU 成長之間取得平衡。所以我想我已經回答了這三個問題。

Yeah, that was helpful. Thank you.

是的，這很有幫助。謝謝。

Okay. Thanks, Batya.

好的。謝謝，巴蒂亞。

Frank Louthan, Raymond James.

弗蘭克·勞森，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Great, thank you. Back to the ACP, I think last quarter, your guidance was inclusive of ACP losses. Just wanted to clarify, your 3,000 to 5,000 loss for Q3, does that include ACP losses or does that not include them? And if you didn't include them, do you think you would be positive?

太好了，謝謝。回到 ACP，我認為上個季度，你們的指導包括了 ACP 損失。只是想澄清一下，您第三季的 3,000 到 5,000 損失，是否包括 ACP 損失？如果你不包括它們，你認為你會積極嗎？

And then I'm sure you don't want to discuss about the deal, but is there a timeframe that this is -- that the deal is under? And are you able to accept competing bids at the time? Are you actively looking for them as part of the process? If you can give us any color on that, that would be great.

然後我確定您不想討論這筆交易，但是交易是否有一個時間表？當時你們能接受競爭性投標嗎？作為該過程的一部分，您是否正在積極尋找他們？如果您能給我們任何顏色，那就太好了。

Okay. So on the ACP, really, our guidance last quarter was very much a guess because we didn't know what was going to happen with the dynamics of ACP. If you think about just a quarter ago, we were reporting, we really didn't know what the plans were, how it might filter out. So that was a guess. So I don't think our guidance for the second quarter fully encompassed what might happen with ACP.

好的。因此，對於 ACP，實際上，我們上季度的指導很大程度上是猜測，因為我們不知道 ACP 的動態會發生什麼。如果你想想就在一個季度前，我們報道過，我們真的不知道計劃是什麼，也不知道它會如何過濾掉。所以這是一個猜測。因此，我認為我們對第二季的指導並未完全涵蓋 ACP 可能發生的情況。

We've now started to see how our transition plans for those customers are working and we've seen the amount of customers who are struggling and getting into non-pay status. So the negative of 3,000 to 5,000 that we're guiding to for the third quarter, I think, is better informed by what we've learned from the last couple of months with the ACP program gone. So last quarter, it was not fully in our guidance. This quarter, we feel more confident that we have a sense of impact that they will make. And as for anything related to the unsolicited proposal, we really can't comment.

我們現在已經開始了解針對這些客戶的過渡計畫如何發揮作用，我們已經看到有多少客戶正在苦苦掙扎並進入非付費狀態。因此，我認為，我們在第三季度指導的 3,000 至 5,000 人的負數，可以更好地了解我們從過去幾個月 ACP 計劃取消後所學到的情況。所以上個季度，它並不完全在我們的指導範圍內。本季度，我們對他們將產生的影響更有信心。至於與主動提議相關的任何內容，我們確實無法發表評論。

Okay, thank you. But to be -- so the 3,000 to 5,000, that would include ACP losses. Can you give us an idea of what that amount is? Is it more than 5,000 you think you're going to lose or how should we think about it?

好的，謝謝。但 3,000 到 5,000 之間，這將包括 ACP 損失。您能告訴我們這個金額是多少嗎？您認為您會損失的金額是否超過 5,000，或者我們應該如何考慮？

Yeah, I think until we get there, I can't break it down in great detail. But I can tell you, we do feel good about how we have been stabilizing the legacy base through all the things I mentioned with the new simplified pricing and our optional price lock, the churn reduction, YouTube TV. All of those things are definitely having a positive impact on the legacy base, as well as the rapid penetration that we're seeing on the greenfield side. So we feel good about those forces that are all at play, as well as managing the ACP. So more to come.

是的，我想在我們到達那裡之前，我無法詳細解釋它。但我可以告訴你，我們確實對透過我提到的新的簡化定價和可選價格鎖定、減少客戶流失、YouTube TV 等所有措施來穩定傳統基礎感到滿意。所有這些事情肯定會對傳統基礎產生積極影響，以及我們在綠地方面看到的快速滲透。因此，我們對這些正在發揮作用的力量以及對 ACP 的管理感到滿意。未來還會有更多。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Thanks, Frank.

謝謝，弗蘭克。

There are no further questions at this time. Ms. Elder, I turn the call back over to you.

目前沒有其他問題。艾德女士，我把電話轉給您。

Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining our call this afternoon and we hope you have a great rest of your day.

好的。非常感謝您今天下午參加我們的電話會議，希望您今天休息愉快。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。