Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

Please stand by. We're about to begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the TDS and U.S. Cellular Third Quarter 2023 Operating Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and please be advised that this call is being recorded. After the speaker's prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star 1 on your telephone. And if you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Now at this time, I'll turn things over to Ms. Colleen Thompson, Vice President, Corporate Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We want to make you all aware of the presentation we have prepared to accompany our comments this morning, which you can find on the investor relations sections of the TDS and U.S. cellular websites. With me today and offering prepared comments, are from TDS, Vicky Villacres, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From U.S. Cellular, LT Theraville, President and Chief Executive Officer. Doug Chambers, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. And from TDS Telecom, Michelle Brokwicki, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. This call is being simultaneously webcast on the TDS and U.S. Cellular Investor Relations websites. Please see the websites for slides referred to on this call including non-GAAP reconciliations. We provide guidance for both adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, to highlight the contributions of U.S. Cellular's wireless partnerships. PDS and U.S. Cellular filed their SEC Forms 8 , including the press releases, and our 10Qs earlier this morning. As shown on slide two, The information set forth in the presentation and discussed during this call contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Please review the Safe Harbor paragraphs in our press releases and the extended version included in our SEC filings. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Vicki Villaprez.

Vicki? Okay. Thank you, Colleen, and good morning, everyone. Before we get into the details for the quarter, I want to reiterate that, as we announced, in connection with last quarter's earnings call, the Board of Directors of TDS and U.S. Cellular have each decided to initiate a process to explore strategic alternatives for U.S. Cellular. We are not going to comment on that process at this time, however, to say that it is active and ongoing. With that, let's get into the details for the quarter. I am pleased that both business units delivered year-over-year improvements in adjusted EBITDA due to cost optimization programs and efforts to streamline expenses across almost every part of the enterprise. At the same time, we continue to make key network investments in order to take advantage of growth opportunities that can enhance our competitive positions. Year to date through September, U.S. Cellular made steady progress de-levering, reducing short and long-term debt by approximately $340 million while generating free cash flow. We also renewed the EIP facility for another two years at a very attractive rate. TDS was also opportunistic and entered into a $300 million secured term loan in order to fund our fiber expansion program. And while investing back into both our businesses is a priority, the current interest rate environment and access to capital remain a challenge. Going forward, we will pace and size our capital expenditures in order to remain within our funding capacity and leverage ratio threshold, even if it means moderating our spend in the near term. As you can see on slide three, at the end of the quarter, TDS and U.S. Cellular combined have available sources of liquidity, including cash and other sources. We have long-dated debt extending any sizable maturities until well into the future. This helps us to manage the balance sheet effectively by keeping short-term maturities to a minimum while we are investing to deploy fiber in new communities and continuing our multi-year mid-band deployment. With that, I'll now turn it over to LT.