Liberty Broadband Corporation

Welcome to GCI Liberty 2026 First Quarter Earnings Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone. As a reminder, this conference will be recorded May 7th. I would now like to turn the call over to Hooper Stephens, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you everyone for joining us today for GCI Liberty's first quarter 2026 earnings call. As you know, this call may include certain poor-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those mentioned in the most recent forms 10-K and 10-Q filed by GCI Liberty and Liberty Broadband with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and GCI Liberty and Liberty Broadband expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in GCI Liberty or Liberty Broadband's expectations with regard to any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based. On today's call, We will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for GCI Liberty, including adjusted OIBDA margin and free cash flow. Information regarding the required definitions, along with the comparable GAAP metrics and reconciliations for GCI Liberty can be found in the earnings press release issued today, which is available on GCI Liberty's IR website. Speaking on today's call will be Ron Duncan, the CEO of GCI Liberty, and Brian Wendling, GCI Liberty's Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer. Also, during Q&A, we will take questions related to Liberty Broadband should they arise, and we have additional members of GCI and Liberty Broadband Management available to answer questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ron Duncan.

Thank you, and good morning. We had an incredibly productive start to the year and delivered solid first quarter results. We continue to execute on our mission of delivering quality connectivity to all Alaskans. At GCI, we recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire quintillion for consideration of $310 million in cash subject to certain adjustments, reimbursement of up to $50 million for capital expenditures incurred by Quintilian prior to closing, and potential earn-out payments. We are incredibly excited to marry two of Alaska's best networks. This transaction will bring together complementary subsea and terrestrial fiber routes, our extensive rural microwave network, deep operational expertise, and long-term investment under one operating model. It will enhance the scale, resilience, and reach of GCI's statewide network to benefit all Alaskans. We expect the transaction to be accreted to free cash flow in the first year after closing. We announced yesterday that GCI Liberty has invested approximately $107 million to acquire Searchlight Capital Partners' equity interest in Liberty Latin America. We are also in discussions with Dr. John Malone, Chairman of the Board of GCI Liberty and Director Emeritus of Liberty Latin America and certain affiliates to acquire additional shares in Liberty Latin America. We are pleased to begin GCI Liberty's next chapter of growth with this opportunistic investment in Liberty Latin America and are keenly interested in acquiring a more significant equity and voting stake in the company from Dr. Malone and others. Balan Nair and his team have done an impressive job of developing LLA into a leading integrated connectivity provider across Latin America and the Caribbean, and we look forward to participating in the growth potential that lies ahead. As part of this evolution, we intend to change our name from GCI Liberty to Liberty Capital Corporation in the coming weeks, with no change to our ticker. We are changing our name to reflect our expanded focus at the parent level as we start making investments outside of our core Alaska operating subsidiary. Our Alaska operations will continue under the GCI name and brand. These first steps of strategic change at GCI Liberty represent our focus on augmenting the ways we create value for our shareholders and our progression as Liberty Capital. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. Turning now to our operating highlights, We grew consumer wireless subscribers 2% year over year, ending the quarter with 200,000 consumer wireless lines. We had a total of 207,700 wireless lines at quarter end, including 7,700 business lines. We added 1,000 consumer wireless lines during the quarter, including 500 postpaid lines, largely from our GCI Plus wireless free-for-a-year promotions. On the data side, we saw a 3% decline year-over-year, ending the quarter with 150,500 data subscribers. We lost 700 data subscribers during the quarter due to continued competitive pressure from wireless substitution and limited competition from Starlink. Encouragingly, we note the pace of our broadband losses is decreasing, indicating a stabilizing broadband base. We believe the stabilization is due to the success of our new GCI Plus promotional offer and the improvements we are making to speed and reliability throughout our network. As we look forward, we expect the business to remain stable. At GCI, our operating priorities are, first, to invest in our network infrastructure, including closing our acquisition of Quintilian, second, to complete our build-out commitments under the Alaska plan, third, to drive value and the benefits of convergence for our customers, and finally, to bridge the digital divide through our rural expansion. Starting with network infrastructure, our planned acquisition of Quintilian creates value for both the Alaska community and our shareholders and is expected to be accretive to free cash flow within the first year of closing. The transaction will bring together complementary fiber routes, and we expect to enhance network resilience, routing diversity, and overall reliability through a more robust architecture comprised of multiple rings and subrings. This expanded fiber footprint positions us to compete more effectively against LEO satellite broadband alternatives, bringing a more competitive connectivity environment to Alaska. Importantly, this transaction also strengthens critical communications infrastructure that supports Alaska's communities, government operations, and national security priorities. Next, on driving convergence and maximizing value and quality for our consumers. We remain encouraged by our promotional offers in the market, which provide value for our consumers. Last year, we concluded our unlimited test drive promotion. The retention of up sales from that promotion was exceptionally high, in the low 90% range. This quarter, we launched free-for-a-year wireless promotion that continues to support our consumer post-paid wireless growth and drives convergence. Our converged customer base continues to grow. More than 40% of our broadband customers have one or more wireless lines, and more than 60% of our post-paid wireless lines are sold as part of a package. Lastly, I'm bridging the digital divide in Alaska through rural expansion and completing our commitments on the Alaska plan. We are nearing completion of our buildup for the Alaska plan, increasing wireless speeds across the communities we serve. we will continue to focus on providing 5G wireless service to all cover the last things over the coming years. We still expect CapEx, including Quintillion, to peak this year and to step down over the coming years as it returns to our historical range of 15% to 20% of revenue. The planned Quintillion acquisitions should support substantial cash generation as we look ahead. In summary, we are encouraged by our steady financial and operational performance this quarter. At GCI Liberty, we remain focused on our continued evolution as Liberty Capital as we look to create value for our shareholders from our existing business and new investments. With that, I'll turn it to Brian to discuss the financials in more detail.