Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is John, and I'll be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the TDS and U.S. Cellular Second Quarter 2024 Operating Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Colleen Thompson, Vice President, Corporate Relations. Please go ahead.

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 in offering prepared comments are from TDS, Vicki Villacres, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From U.S. Cellular, LT Theravold, 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. TDS 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 contain 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 Villacruz. Vicki?

Okay. Thank you, Colleen, and good morning, everyone. This quarter reflects the culmination of a number of initiatives that will position the company for the future. Over the past year, there has been an incredible amount of work performed by our teams across the entire enterprise. Most notably, in late May, we announced a transaction arising from our strategic review of alternatives for U.S. Cellular. We are excited about the transaction, which is pending regulatory approval, as it would unlock value for our shareholders and provides clear benefits to our customers. U.S. Cellular is retaining its nearly 4,400 owned towers, its equity partnership investments, and approximately 70% of Spectrum assets, which the company is currently working on monetizing. Also in the quarter, we announced that we entered into a definitive agreement to sell our One Neck IT Solutions operations. We expect the transaction to close later this quarter, and we intend to use the proceeds to support our planned spend in TDS Telecom's current fiber program. Turning to financial results, I'm very pleased that both business units delivered double-digit year-over-year improvements in adjusted EBITDA while making important investments in their networks in order to keep up with our customers' needs for increasing usage and speed. Improved profitability drove increased TDS free cash flow up year-over-year and sequentially. We will continue to take a measured approach, prioritizing and funding the investments in our businesses while maintaining a focus on cost efficiencies across the enterprise. Our management of the balance sheet has resulted in an improvement in leverage ratios, which are down year-over-year and sequentially. We ended the quarter in a good cash and liquidity position. U.S. Cellular continues to generate free cash flow through adjusted EBITDA growth and prudent management of capital. They also paid down approximately $140 million in debt in the quarter. TDS Telecom is maintaining its focus on free cash flow by sizing and pacing the timing of capital expenditures, commensurate with EBITDA generation. And at TDS Parent, we have an undrawn revolver and term long capacity coupled with pending divestitures that puts us in place to continue supporting our fiber program as we move into the back half of the year and into 2025. I will also like to thank all of the associates for their hard work and these dynamic times. And now I will turn it over to LT for further comments.