United States Cellular Corporation

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference call over to your speaker today. Jane McCann, please go ahead.

Thank you, Kenzie. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. We do want to send out our very best wishes that you and your families are well. I 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 section of the TDS and U.S. Cellular websites. With me today and offering prepared comments are from TDS, Pete Zaretta, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From U.S. Cellular, L.T. Theraval, President and Chief Executive Officer. Doug Chambers, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From TDS Telecom, Vicki Villacrez, 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 OIVDA, 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-K, including the press releases, and Forms 10-Q yesterday. 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 versions included in our SEC filings. In terms of our upcoming IR schedule, slide three, we will be virtually attending the Raymond James mid-cap company showcase virtually on November 12 and 13, and we are attending the UBS Global TMT Conference virtually on December 8. And our open door policy is now more of an open phone or open video policy, so please reach out to us if we can arrange something. Before turning the call over, I do want to remind everyone that due to the FCC's anti-collusion rules, related to the RDOF auction and Auction 107. We will not be responding to any questions related to FCC auctions. And now, I'll turn the call over to Pete Cereda. Pete?

Pete Cereda Thanks, Jane, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to make some brief comments about the balance sheet and our liquidity position. But before doing so, I'd like to recognize the impressive operational and financial results of both businesses during the quarter. As we've discussed on past calls, maintaining financial flexibility is one of the pillars of our corporate strategy. Over the years, we have worked to retain relatively low leverage levels, long-dated debt maturities, sufficient under- and revolving credit facilities, and significant cash balances, while at the same time making sure that we have the financial resources we need to fund our businesses. As you can see on slide four, at September 30, TDS continued to have a strong financial position, including $2.2 billion in immediately available funding sources consisting of cash and cash equivalents, available credit facilities, undrawn term loans, and undrawn portions of our EIP securitization facility. In the quarter, U.S. Cellular took advantage of favorable market conditions and issued $500 million of 6.25 percent retail senior notes due in 2069. It is very typical for us to opportunistically tap the market for funding when conditions are favorable, as they certainly were in August. As highlighted on the slide, we have a number of potential funding sources. In this instance, given market conditions, we judged that the retail debt market was relatively favorable, taking into account all factors including term, callability, ease of execution, lack of impact on the business operations, lack of meaningful covenants, and of course the all-in cost of financing. relative to our other potential alternatives. In October, U.S. Cellular upsized its EIP securitization agreement from $200 million to $300 million. While shorter in term than some of our other financings, this is our lowest cost financing facility and we have a solid pool of receivables against which we can raise funds. In sum, we are in a very strong position to invest in the growth opportunities identified by both of our businesses. I will now turn the call over to LT. LT?