Telesat Corporation

This conference is being recorded. All participants, please stand by. Your conference is ready to begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the conference call to report the third quarter 2023 financial results for TELESEP. Our speakers today will be Dan Goldberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of TELESEP, and Andrew Brown, Chief Financial Officer of TELESEP. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Michael Bolaito, Director of Treasury and Risk Management. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you and good morning. This morning, we filed our quarterly report on Form 6K with the SEC and on CDAR. Our remarks today may contain forward-looking statements. There are risks that tell us that actual results may differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of known risks, see Telesat's annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Telesat assumes no responsibility to update or revise these forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Dan Goldberg, Telesat's president and chief executive officer.

Okay, thank you, Michael. This morning, I'll share some thoughts on our financial results and give an update on the business. I'll then hand over to Andrew. We'll speak to the numbers in detail, and then we'll open the call up to questions. We've been executing well so far this year and are on track with the key financial, strategic, and operational objectives we've been focused on. We're tracking our guidance, received the final roughly U.S. $260 million of U.S. CBAN clearing proceeds, and completed some meaningful additional debt repurchases in the quarter that we think will strengthen our financial position and create value for shareholders. Obviously, a huge focus for us is executing on Telesat Lightspeed, our advanced broadband LEO network, and I'll give some updates on that. Since sharing on our Q2 call that we selected MDA as our prime contractor and are fully funded for the program, we've done a significant amount of work with MDA to advance the program, including further engagement with the supply chain. Both Telesat and MDA are ramping up their teams to execute Lightspeed, And I've been really pleased, though not surprised, by the extraordinarily capable people we're bringing on board and the really strong interest we're seeing from professionals throughout the industry to join us to work on this flagship program. We also announced in the quarter another key Lightspeed contract, this one with SpaceX for 14 Falcon 9 rockets to launch the advanced satellites making up the Lightspeed network. I believe it's SpaceX's largest commercial launch contract. Falcon 9 is the most reliable rocket out there, and SpaceX has a demonstrated high launch cadence that will go a long way toward ensuring that we bring Lightspeed to market consistent with our schedule. They've been a great partner for Telesat on a number of our prior programs, and we're very pleased to be working with them on Lightspeed. Our other key focus is concluding our funding arrangements with our Canadian, federal, and provincial partners. We're fully engaged with them at this time and remain optimistic that we'll be able to reach financial close consistent with the timeframe we shared previously, which is to say later this year or early next year. The Telesat Lightspeed program advances a wide range of important public policy goals, including bridging the digital divide, spurring advanced manufacturing, IP development, exports, and high-quality jobs, as well as important climate and national security objectives. Our federal and provincial partners in Canada have been strong and consistent supporters of the Lightspeed program and we're grateful for that. We remain hugely bullish about Telesat Lightspeed and are looking forward to sharing more detailed information with investors about our business plan and expectations. To that end, Andrew and I plan to get on the road to meet with investors in both the US and Canada over the next couple of weeks. We're looking forward to it. With that, I'll hand over to Andrew and then look forward to addressing any questions you may have.

Thank you, Dan. Good morning, everyone. I would now like to focus on highlights from this morning's press release and filings. In the third quarter of 2023, Telesat reported revenues of $175 million, adjusted EBITDA of $133 million, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, we generated cash from operations of $156 million, and we held $1.8 billion of cash on the balance sheet. In the third quarter of 2023, and compared to the same period in 2022, revenues decreased by $5 million to $175 million, operating expenses decreased by $6 million to $50 million, and adjusted EBITDA decreased by $4 million to $133 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 75.9%, compared to 76% in 2022. Between 2022 and 2023, changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rate had a positive impact of $3 million on revenues, a negative impact of $1 million on operating expenses, and a positive impact of $2 million on adjusted EBITDA. When adjusted for changes in foreign exchange rates, revenues decreased by $8 million, operating expenses decreased by $7 million, and adjusted EBITDA decreased by $7 million. The revenue decrease for the quarter was mainly due to lower revenue from certain South American customers. OPEX, the decrease in operating expenses, is primarily due to lower non-cash share-based comp, partially offset by higher costs associated with the procurement of third-party satellite capacity required to support certain customer networks that could no longer be supported on ANIC S2 once it commenced in client operations. Interest expense increased by $11 million during the third quarter, when compared to the same period in 2022. The change was due to an increase in interest rates on the U.S. Term Loan B facility, combined with the foreign exchange impact and U.S. dollar denominated interest expense. This was partially offset by the impact of the repurchase of notes in 2023, combined with the impact of the maturity of one of the interest rate swaps in September of 2022. In the third quarter, we recorded a loss in foreign exchange of $77 million, as compared to a loss of $99 million. in the second quarter of 2022. The loss of the three months ended September the 30th, 2023, was mainly the result of a stronger U.S. dollar to Canadian dollar, with the resulting unfavorable impact on the translation of our U.S. dollar denominated debt. Our net loss for the third quarter of 2023 was 3.3 million, compared to net loss at 228.7 million in the prior year. The variation was principally due to the positive impact on the conversion of a U.S. dollar debt into Canadian dollars, and the gain on the repurchase of our debt. Also to mention, for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, our net income was $545 million. The significant net income was primarily due to the U.S. Seabank clearing proceeds recognized in the second quarter of 2023, combined with the year-to-date gain on the repurchase of our debt. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the cash inflows from operating activities are $156 million. The cash flows generated from the investing activities were $264 million. The cash flows generated from our investing activities was due to the proceeds received from Phase 2 CBI and Clery, as we mentioned, and partially offset by capital expenditures. In terms of capital expenditures incurred, they were primarily related to a lower orbit constellation, Telesat Lightspeed, and the newly acquired ANACF4 satellite. Turning to guidance, as you will also have noted in our earnings release this morning, We've maintained our previously provided revenue and adjusted EBITDA 2023 guidance. The guidance assumes a Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rate of Canadian 1.35. Telesat continues to expect its full year 2022 revenues to be between 690 million and 710 million. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, Telesat continues to expect between 500 million to 515 million. In respect to capital expenditures, we continue to expect our 2023 cash flows used in investing activities to be in the range of $175 million to $225 million. To meet our expected cash requirements for the next 12 months, including interest payments and capital expenditures, we have approximately $1.8 billion of cash in short-term investments at the end of March, as well as approximately $200 million of borrowings available under our revolving credit facility. Approximately $1.3 billion in cash was held in our unrestricted subsidiaries, In addition, we continue to generate a significant amount of cash from our ongoing operating activities. At the end of the third quarter, leverage as calculated under the terms of the amended senior secure credit facilities was 5.46 times to one. Teleset has complied with all the covenants in our credit agreement and indenture. As Dan has indicated, in the third quarter and including the subsequent period, we've repurchased debt with a principal aggregate amount of 195.3% at a cost of US$137.4 million. Combining these repurchases with repurchases done in 2022, we repurchased a total amount of US$587 million at an aggregate cost of US$332.7 million. In addition, this also results in interest savings of approximately US$40 million annually. Further, since the end of 2020, when Telesat repaid approximately US$340 million U.S. dollars of its term loan B, or overall red debt, has been reduced by approximately 28%. A reconciliation between our financial statements and financial covenant calculations is provided in the report we filed this morning. Our 6K provides the inaudited interim condensed consolidated financial information in the MD&A. The non-guarantor subsidiaries shown are essentially unrestricted subsidiaries with minor differences. So that concludes our prepared remarks for the call, and I will be very happy to answer any questions you may have. And with that, we'll now turn back to the operator.

Thank you. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and you are using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before making your selection. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your device's keypad. You may control your question at any time by pressing star 2. Please press star one at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause while participants register for questions. We thank you for your patience. Our first question is from Walter Pisick from LightShed. Please go ahead.

Thanks. I just wanted to focus on the reaffirmation of guidance. I think as it relates to CAPEX, that would require obviously a pretty big step up in the fourth quarter. And then I also connect that question to OPEX. If I look at your SG&A and things like that, it didn't really move much sequentially. So I guess the question is, is fourth quarter the quarter when we're going to start seeing some of these LEO project costs kick in? I think on a prior call I asked if anything, like if things, OPEX costs are capitalized until the satellites are launched, I think the answer was no. But if you could just kind of refresh us on when those expenses are going to start to ramp up, and if they aren't, why would CAPEX guidance be maintained at, I think your guidance is 175 to 225, which would imply a pretty big step up in the fourth quarter.

Well, Walter, yeah, this is Andrew. I think implicit in that is the timing when we will commence our program. And so we've made assumptions that we will commence in quarter four, and hence we will see the additional CapEx being spent in the quarter. And in terms of SG&A and OpEx, you know, as you know, given our high margins, we really control that very, very closely. But also we are preparing, as you will imagine, you know, in terms of headcount and other resources getting ready for the commencement of the program. That's why, historically, if you look at our SG&A, it's pretty well flat and very well contained. And in terms of the capitalization of the OPEX, in our previous calls, we said that that's not the case. There is some to do with engineering people involved. But once we get going, and we're very excited to get going, and hopefully that will be Q4, I think a lot of this will be... more apparent.

Got it. Can you give us any sense, at least on the OpEx side of things, because obviously CapEx you've already guided to, how long it takes, how many quarters it takes to really get that engine going in terms of expenses? How much of a vertical ramp are we going to see in SG&A in the upcoming quarters?

And what I would say there, Walter, that when we give our full year numbers, I think we will give pretty comprehensive guidance, I think, around LEO and about the steps in LEO and what our ramp will be in OPEX in addition to GEO. So I think we'll make it very clear, so it will be very obvious looking at both of our companies.

Maybe I'll just... Hey, Walter, it's Dan. Maybe I'll just add that... A couple things. One, we're ramping up now. I mean, I think I mentioned in my remarks, we're out there staffing up, as is MDA, so we're out there right now hiring a lot of people. Not everyone's on board at this point in time, but we've certainly had a lot of our offers accepted, so the team's ramping up really nicely. And as Andrew said earlier, we'll give detailed guidance for 2024. A lot of the spending that we're doing, though, a lot of that's gonna be capitalized, right? So a lot of the engineers that we're hiring, and Andrew will go over all that, I know, when we give our guidance, but that's our expectation. Yep, sorry.

What is the, since the last earnings call, has there been any alteration in kind of how you're planning out the constellation itself, and then similarly, have you seen any initial traction in getting additional capacity commitments ahead of the launch? And if not, what quarter do you think, or how much before the actual first sats go up in the air would you start to see additional revenue, or excuse me, capacity commitments?

So on the first one, since we announced the deal with MDA two months ago, Everything's, I mean, we've kicked off. We're working hand in glove with MDA as we move the program forward. I mentioned that we're spending, and MDA is spending a lot of time in the supply chain right now. That all seems to be going well. So there hasn't been, I think you would ask, has there been any alterations or something in the plan? And the answer there is no. And look, we've been working on this for a long time, so things are, I'd say, pretty well set in terms of what the program looks like. And so that's all kicked off and going well. And then as far as sort of backlog, I mean, I think we've said we've already got order of magnitude around 500 million U.S. and kind of committed backlog to the program. Our first launch is mid-2026, and we do expect to be ramping backlog between now and then. I think that, look, we're engaged with the customer community right now. There's a huge amount of interest in Lightspeed, and it's been gratifying to see that now that we've announced the program. I think that there will be things that – over the course of next year. We're not sort of giving any guidance about exactly what that looks like, but based on the discussions that we're having with folks, my expectation is that we'll be signing additional customer backlog commitments throughout the course of next year. And we'll update on that as we go through.

Right, which you've said before. So when you think about those conversations, You know, are the verticals, the business verticals, the applications different, you know, at all from what you were thinking about when, you know, when you size this market initially and you looked at the kind of the low hanging fruit, you know, what do you think, you know, in terms of enterprise applications or otherwise that people are going to gravitate to your constellation, you know, in terms of some of these commitments that we may see next year?

No, I'd say, look, I mean, these are markets that we're active in like every day, right? It's backhaul connectivity with mobile network operators and ISPs. It's providing capacity for maritime and aeronautical services. It's engaging with governments. Those are exactly the verticals that we've always expected Lightspeed to have a real competitive edge in, and so nothing's changed there. That continues to be our expectation. And so, yeah, when we're, you know, announcing things between now and being in service, and again, my expectation is we'll have some commitments over the course of next year. We'll talk about, you know, where those are coming from, but those are the verticals. that we expect to get really good traction in.

And the last question.

Hey, Walter, you're monopolizing our call.

All right, I'll let you go to the next one, then I'll circle back in.

Thank you.

Appreciate the answers.

All right, man. See you. Excellent.

Thank you. Our following question is from Caleb Henry from Quality Space. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys, a couple of questions, one about launch. So notice there's 14 rockets from SpaceX, and each can carry up to 18 satellites each. Just kind of quick math there, kind of equals 252 satellites, which is more than what's been ordered or currently planned. So I was wondering if you can walk through the logic. I know it's up to 18 per mission, but what's the reason for kind of having so many launches planned there?

Caleb, thanks. So, listen, we've worked with SpaceX for a long time. We've got a good relationship with SpaceX by committing to the number of launches that we did. We think that we've been able to get kind of an overall compelling case in terms of just the overall value proposition for the launch capacity that we've lined up. And as you know... Our expectation, we have rights from MDA to add more satellites over time. We've said that, you know, to the extent that we do that, it's all going to be demand-driven. SpaceX, you know, has been very constructive in terms of working with us to position the timing of the rockets kind of, you know, when we think we need them. So that's really what it is. It was... a function of the good commercial terms that we have with SpaceX to provide those rockets, wanting the certainty in terms of our ability to expand the constellation over time, and then having a constructive launch partner that allows us to line up those rockets kind of consistent with what we're seeing in the market in our commercial plans.

Okay, thanks. I appreciate it. I didn't see segment numbers from you guys this quarter. If that's something you're still sharing, can you kind of break out revenue in terms of broadcast, enterprise, anything else?

Yeah, I mean, for sure it's in the 6K. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, order of magnitude, it's like, you know, I'm looking at my colleagues, it's like 48%. broadcast, you know, order magnitude, 48% broadcast, 48% enterprise, and sort of 2% other. But I'm staring at my colleagues. Did I nail that? Yep. Okay. So there you go. But it'll be in the 6K as well.

Okay. Thanks. And then it looks like Telus have reported better than expected gross margins for this quarter. I'm just wondering if that's something that you expect to see sustained or if that's going to change on the assumption that more third-party capacity will be needed to bridge the gap between now and light speed?

Maybe I'll take the first crack at that and then Andrew can talk about it. We are, as always, really focused on managing our cost structure as tightly as we can. I think as a result, We've always sort of had industry-leading operating margins, but there are headwinds for the business. And, you know, we renewed with Bell on NMIC 4. That would have been in early October. But as we've said, it was at a lower rate than what the old rate was. And so, you know, there will be some kind of revenue headwinds as we head into 2024. You know, and the beauty of a fixed-cost business is when you're ramping revenues up, you know, you can grow your operating margins nicely. Sadly, the, you know, converse is true as well. When you're facing some of these revenue headwinds and you're facing revenue declines, you can't really reduce your cost structure kind of in a, proportionate ways. So I'd say on balance, heading into next year, there's definitely going to be some downward pressure on operating margins, and we'll just do the best job we can, as we always do, in trying to manage through that in terms of being as disciplined as we can around the cost structure.

Now, that's right, Dan. And just to add that, indeed, our margins are probably one of the highest in the industry. And our previous comments around OpEx and CapEx investments into LEO, obviously when we start full blast with our program next year, then of course we will see that investment coming through in both CapEx and indeed in our operating expenses.

Okay. Thanks so much, guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Our following question is from Arun Sheshadri from BNP Paribus. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Thanks for my questions. First, I just wanted to confirm the cash balances. I think you said $1.8 billion total with $1.5 in the restricted group. The assumption there is that the C-band cash inflow just went into the unrestricted group. Do you expect to fund more in the near term from the restricted group into the unrestricted entities?

Okay, so it's Michael Beloyed. Yeah, the CBAN proceeds, we said we had $1.3 billion in cash in the unrestricted entities. The CBAN proceeds went to the unrestricted entities, and we've been fairly consistent, certainly in our discussions with investors. There is still a little bit of money to be funded to the unrestricted entities from the restricted group, the general basket of 150 million U.S. is available to fund that.

Got it. Thank you, Michael. And then as far as the additional funding, the vendor financing and the government contributions, is there any update in terms of the terms of the Canada and the Quebec funding? And any updates in terms of the vendor financing and the smaller bits of additional financing that were required?

We don't have any updates on the terms yet. When that's all nailed down, we'll share more information about it. We are, as we said at the outset of the call, making good progress, I think, with the government partners, kind of federal and provincial, to move the funding forward. We had said before that, you know, funding was subject to the government completing confirmatory diligence and putting definitive agreements in place. And from, you know, where I sit, that all seems to be going well and moving in the right direction. So our expectation is that we'll reach financial close either late this year or sometime early next year. And at that point, we'll be able to share more information about the funding terms and whatnot. But I'd note also, and it's probably a sign of our confidence that we're going to get there in the near term, we're moving out on the program. And that's why CapEx is ramping in Q4. That's why we've been ramping the hiring of all the people that we've been doing. Like, we're moving out. But again, we'll share more specifics about the financing once it's all wrapped up.

Got it. Thanks, Dan. And then as far as the buybacks, nice to see them continue this quarter and after the quarter. Just two questions there. Do you expect to continue to do buybacks with the cash that sits in the restricted group? In other words, have you any thoughts around other uses of cash, number one? And then number two, I assume, as usual, that the choices on what you bought back were primarily governed by liquidity in the appropriate instruments. If you could confirm that as well.

Yeah, I mean, Andrew, if you want, I'll take the first shot at it. So, I mean, consistent with things we've said before, there is cash that has been building up in the restricted group. And we, you know... always try to make use of that cash in a way that we think strengthens the business. And so over the past few quarters, we have used a considerable amount of it to repurchase our debt, and we think that's been the right thing to do. But equally, we're open-minded about other uses for that cash if it would strengthen the business, including looking at other satellite programs, particularly geo programs that would be accretive to the business. We've looked at a number of opportunities to do that. To date, we haven't closed a business case. We've always said we're never going to invest a nickel in CapEx if we're not persuaded that we have a compelling business plan and can achieve the kinds of returns that our shareholders expect. And so... So I guess, you know, a long way to say that we will be open-minded about additional debt repurchases going forward, but equally, you know, we'll evaluate other ways to use that cash that can strengthen the business. And then as far as, you know, what we've bought, it's a range of different considerations. You mentioned liquidity. That's certainly one. We noted that, you know, we bought some of the term loan be back over the last quarter. Certainly, because that floats, that's sort of a more expensive part of the outstanding debt that's out there right now. So that's obviously a consideration. So it's a range of different variables that we think about when we do engage in those debt repurchases. And I'd say we're just kind of pragmatic about all that.

Yeah, absolutely, Dan. I mean, just to add a couple of comments, you know, as Dan had said, our business, you know, our margins are so high, which means we generate, you know, very, very good amounts of cash and we will do going forward. And we assess our liquidity needs, cash balances and requirements. And indeed, as you see, we've bought back 587 million face value of bonds, which is pretty attractive and it's a good use of cash. And I simply would add that You know, since December 2020, we've reduced our overall debt by about 28% that we kind of mentioned. But, indeed, we're very focused.

Got it. Thank you. Last question for me is just really in terms of capacity deals in the works. Are there any new deals that you're kind of working on, either from a geographic standpoint or a specific business standpoint, to sort of add to the capacity commitments that you already have on Lightspeed? Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks for the question. I wouldn't note anything in particular, but just suffice to say we're engaged with customers in each of the verticals that we're focused on in pretty much every region of the world. The benefit of being an existing operator is that we're already doing business in virtually every country in the world. We're have regular engagement with the key satellite users in all those different verticals. And so there's no one that I would highlight. And, again, as we sign material deals, we'll announce them, and then we'll talk about them on the calls that we do. So folks will have good visibility into that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our following question is from Brendan Karsh from Kennedy Lewis. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. Just turning back to guidance here, if I back up the implied Q4 revenue from what you've done year to date, it looks like a pretty steep decline here. And I know there's some noise in Q4 last year from some non-recurring equipment sales. Is the rest of the delta just the Bell Canada renewal, or is there anything else I'm missing, or should I view this guidance as conservative at this point? It just looks like a pretty big step down, even from the recent run, right?

Yeah, I'm trying to, I mean, the decline was what, you know, year over year, it's 4% on the quarter, and Year to date, it's 5% top line adjusted for FX. So certainly, you know, declines would be driven by the renewal with Dell. So, you know, there was that. And we noted that there was some softness in Latin America that we experienced over the quarter. And I would say kind of, you know, throughout the first three quarters of this year. But anyway, those would be the things that, you know, have acted as a headwind and that I think, as I mentioned, will, you know, carry on in the next year given the timing of the bell renewal and the like.

I would just add in terms of the OPEX in quarter four, as there were earlier comments, that as we continue to ramp, we will anticipate sort of a higher run rate of OPEX coming in in quarter four. So hence, that's part of the equation also.

Yeah, and then maybe one other colleague has just flagged for me. I guess in Q4 last year, we recognized sort of a one-time with DARPA. This is the U.S. government sort of research lab that we've been you know, winning different projects for LEO-related activities. And so I think we had said at the time we had called it out that that's sort of – there's other work that we're doing with DARPA, but that kind of revenue opportunity is lumpier in nature. And I think we even called out the exact amount because I think we're required to. It was –

25 million.

Yeah, I mean, it's significant. It's 25 million in the quarter. So certainly that would be a big contributor if you're trying to do the math on the guidance and extrapolate from that.

Yeah, I had been adjusting that out of my number, and it still looked like a somewhat meaningful decline, which is why I was asking. But I think you answered my question there. Yeah.

Yeah, then it would be mostly the Bell renewal. And as we said, the provision for OpEx as well, as we said.

Okay, and then on the enterprise side, could you provide a little bit more color on some of that softness in Latin America as well as just general update on the geo side for enterprise?

Yeah, I mean, LATAM, it's been, I mean, you know, like all these things, it's sort of, you know, contract by contract that comes up for renewal. I think the The biggest softness that we had in LATAM over the quarter was one particular contract in Peru, if memory serves. It had been a long-standing contract of ours that came up for renewal. Some of that moved to one of our competitors, something that we expected would be coming. It was a customer that had already made a commitment to a new satellite that was coming on the market. And once that new satellite came online, they migrated traffic off of us over to them. So there was that. And then beyond that, I'd say just kind of taking a step back more broadly, the market's competitive. I mean, for sure, it's been competitive for some years now. But it continues to... be a competitive market in the enterprise segment. And we're certainly starting to see the impact of Starlink coming into the market. I mean, the reality is enterprise users like the value proposition and the performance advantages that you get from low Earth orbit satellite constellations, which is why we're so bullish around our light speed constellation. But I'd say that Yeah, the enterprise segment remains competitive, and I'd say increasingly Starlink is featuring into that.

Okay, that's helpful. And then just one last one following up on that on Starlink. Previously, that had been more of a consumer use case, but we've been impressed about them moving more into the enterprise space. Have you seen a meaningful pickup in competitive intensity just from their pivot into more of the enterprise use cases?

I'd say we see it mostly at this point in time in the maritime space. They've been pretty successful in attracting some of the cruise lines. requirements and some of the other sort of maritime shipping requirements. So I'd say it's most evident there. We knew and we know that we'll be competing with Starlink for some of the enterprise activities. But I'd say if I had to highlight any particular area, it's been more there. And we've said before, for Lightspeed, our focus is on enterprise and government services A lot of what Starlink's doing right now is on the consumer side, and I think that they're getting good traction on the consumer side, but that's not an area that we're focusing on with Lightspeed or really that we focus on with our existing business.

Thank you for all that.

Thank you. The following question is from David McFadgen from Comrock Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, thank you. So just a question on Lightspeed and the funding. So when I read the press release, it says that it's fully funded, however, subject to concluding definitive funding agreements through global service delivery. Is this just nailing down your contract funding with the Canadian provincial governments, or does this also entail someone else?

It is in the main of the funding arrangements with the federal and provincial partners here in Canada. Okay. I mean, we've said, you know, that in the aggregate is about $2 billion in U.S. dollars worth of funding. We've got, you know, $1.6 billion that Telesat's contributing. So that's exactly what it is. And we had flagged that. back in August when we announced the contract with MDA.

Right. So when you're talking about through global service delivery, is this meaning your commitment to provide connectivity in areas that they want? Is that what that means?

I think what we're – I don't know exactly the words that you're focused on, but I think what we've said is with the – $1.6 billion that Telesat's contributing, the $2 billion U.S. in federal and provincial government funding, that gives us sufficient capital to launch the first 156 satellites plus all the other CapEx in terms of the rockets, the ground infrastructure, and the other capital investments that we need to make. That gives us full global coverage and a very capable system. And then we've noted that we'll be launching another 42 satellites to bring us to 198 satellites. Those final 42 satellites will get funded with the cash flows that the Constellation is generating. That's the plan.

So when you talked about closing with the government maybe later this year or early next year, what does closing mean? Does that mean that they've entered into a commitment to find that certain dates based on certain milestones? Does that mean they're actually going to give you the cash right away?

Yeah, I mean, that all, once we're closed off of the government, we'll provide more details about exactly all the mechanics around the But, yeah, I mean, what that means is that the government of, you know, the federal and our provincial partners will have committed to the funding that we need so that we can pay MDA, that we can pay SpaceX and our other vendors. It'll be, yeah, I mean, we'll close our financing. Those funds will be available for us to make the payments that we need to make.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Once again, please press star 1 at this time for any questions or comments. Our following question is from Matt Lapidus from Avery Partners. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for all the color here. A couple clarifying ones for me. So the C-band proceeds which went into the unrestricted group, can you just clarify whether or not that used any of the $150 million general basket that's available in the credit agreement? Or is the $150 million that's available, what's available today after those proceeds were moved to the unrestricted entity?

No, Matt. The CBAN assets were in an unrestricted sub and have been for a couple of years. So the $150 million, it didn't have anything to do with the $150 million. The $150 million is available.

Got it. I appreciate the clarification. And then can you just remind us, you mentioned some interest rate hedges rolling off last year. What the current hedge position both on interest rates and FX looks like for the business?

I mean, sure, effectively, Matt, you know, with that balance of cash, the cash balances, which obviously the rates you earn on that flow at a spread, a negative spread to the base rate, but they float. So effectively, from a floating interest rate exposure viewpoint, we're hedged or close enough to it that we don't need any hedges in place. and we have not hedged the foreign exchange in a number of years.

And there again, there's kind of a natural hedge with our business because we receive a mix of U.S. and Canadian dollars.

That's right. And then the last thing I would add there is we hold most of our cash balances in U.S. dollars, not Canadian.

Got it. Okay. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the clarifications. That's it for me.

Thank you. We have no further questions registered at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting back over to Mr. Goldberg.

Okay, operator, thank you, and thank you all for joining us this morning, and we look forward to speaking again when we release our Q4 and full year numbers. So thank you very much.

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation. Hello. Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the conference call to report the third quarter 2023 financial results for Telesat. Our speakers today will be Dan Goldberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Telesat, and Andrew Brown, Chief Financial Officer of Telesat. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Michael Bolaito, Director of Treasury and Risk Management. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and good morning. This morning, we filed our quarterly report on Form 6K with the SEC and on CDAR. Our remarks today may contain forward-looking statements. There are risks that Telesat's actual results may differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of known risks, see Telesat's annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC Telesat assumes no responsibility to update or revise these forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Dan Goldberg, Telesat's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Okay, thank you, Michael. This morning, I'll share some thoughts on our financial results and give an update on the business. I'll then hand over to Andrew. We'll speak to the numbers in detail, and then we'll open the call up to questions. We've been executing well so far this year and are on track with the key financial, strategic, and operational objectives we've been focused on. We're tracking our guidance, received the final roughly U.S. $260 million of U.S. CBAN clearing proceeds, and completed some meaningful additional debt repurchases in the quarter that we think will strengthen our financial position and create value for shareholders. Obviously, a huge focus for us is executing on Telesat Lightspeed, our advanced broadband LEO network, and I'll give some updates on that. Since sharing on our Q2 call that we selected MDA as our prime contractor and are fully funded for the program, we've done a significant amount of work with MDA to advance the program, including further engagement with the supply chain. Both Telesat and MDA are ramping up their teams to execute Lightspeed, And I've been really pleased, though not surprised, by the extraordinarily capable people we're bringing on board and the really strong interest we're seeing from professionals throughout the industry to join us to work on this flagship program. We also announced in the quarter another key Lightspeed contract, this one with SpaceX for 14 Falcon 9 rockets to launch the advanced satellites making up the Lightspeed network. I believe it's SpaceX's largest commercial launch contract. Falcon 9 is the most reliable rocket out there, and SpaceX has a demonstrated high launch cadence that will go a long way toward ensuring that we bring Lightspeed to market consistent with our schedule. They've been a great partner for Telesat on a number of our prior programs, and we're very pleased to be working with them on Lightspeed. Our other key focus is concluding our funding arrangements with our Canadian, federal, and provincial partners. We're fully engaged with them at this time and remain optimistic that we'll be able to reach financial close consistent with the timeframe we shared previously, which is to say later this year or early next year. The Telesat Lightspeed program advances a wide range of important public policy goals, including bridging the digital divide, spurring advanced manufacturing, IP development, exports, and high-quality jobs, as well as important climate and national security objectives. Our federal and provincial partners in Canada have been strong and consistent supporters of the Lightspeed program and we're grateful for that. We remain hugely bullish about Telesat Lightspeed and are looking forward to sharing more detailed information with investors about our business plan and expectations. To that end, Andrew and I plan to get on the road to meet with investors in both the US and Canada over the next couple of weeks. We're looking forward to it. With that, I'll hand over to Andrew and then look forward to addressing any questions you may have.

Thank you, Dan. Good morning, everyone. I would now like to focus on highlights from this morning's press release and filings. In the third quarter of 2023, Telesat reported revenues of $175 million, adjusted EBITDA of $133 million, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, we generated cash from operations of $156 million, and we held $1.8 billion of cash on the balance sheet. In the third quarter of 2023, and compared to the same period in 2022, revenues decreased by $5 million to $175 million, operating expenses decreased by $6 million to $50 million, and adjusted EBITDA decreased by $4 million to $133 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 75.9%, compared to 76% in 2022. Between 2022 and 2023, changes in the US dollar exchange rate had a positive impact of $3 million on revenues, a negative impact of $1 million on operating expenses, and a positive impact of $2 million on adjusted EBITDA. When adjusted for changes in foreign exchange rates, revenues decreased by $8 million, operating expenses decreased by $7 million, and adjusted EBITDA decreased by $7 million. The revenue decrease for the quarter was mainly due to lower revenue from certain South American customers. OPEX, the decrease in operating expenses, is primarily due to lower non-cash share-based comp, partially offset by higher costs associated with the procurement of third-party satellite capacity, required to support certain customer networks that could no longer be supported on ANIC S2 once it commenced in client operations. Interest expense increased by $11 million during the third quarter, when compared to the same period in 2022. The change was due to an increase in interest rates on the U.S. Term Loan B facility, combined with the foreign exchange impact and U.S. dollar denominated interest expense. This was partially offset by the impact of the repurchase of notes in 2023, combined with the impact of the maturity of one of the interest rate swaps in September of 2022. In the third quarter, we recorded a loss in foreign exchange of $77 million, as compared to a loss of $99 million. in the second quarter of 2022. The loss of the three months ended September the 30th, 2023 was mainly the result of a stronger U.S. dollar to Canadian dollar with the resulting unfavorable impact on the translation of our U.S. dollar denominated debt. Our net loss for the third quarter of 2023 was 3.3 million compared to net loss at 228.7 million in the prior year. The variation was principally due to the positive impact on the conversion of a U.S. dollar debt into Canadian dollars and the gain on the repurchase of our debt. Also to mention, for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, our net income was $545 million. The significant net income was primarily due to the U.S. Seat Mount clearing proceeds recognized in the second quarter of 2023, combined with the year-to-date gain on the repurchase of our debt. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the cash inflows from operating activities are $156 million. The cash flows generated from investing activities were $264 million. The cash flows generated from our investing activities was due to the proceeds received from Phase 2 C-VAN clearing, as we mentioned, and partially offset by capital expenditures. In terms of capital expenditures incurred, they were primarily related to a lower orbit constellation, Telesat Lightspeed, and the newly acquired ANAKF-4 satellite. Turning to guidance, as you will also have noted in our earnings release this morning, We've maintained our previously provided revenue and adjusted EBITDA 2023 guidance. The guidance assumes a Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rate of Canadian 1.35. Telesat continues to expect its full year 2022 revenues to be between 690 million and 710 million. In terms of adjusted EBITDA, Telesat continues to expect between 500 million to 515 million. In respect to capital expenditures, we continue to expect our 2023 cash flows used in investing activities to be in the range of $175 million to $225 million. To meet our expected cash requirements for the next 12 months, including interest payments and capital expenditures, we have approximately $1.8 billion of cash in short-term investments at the end of March, as well as approximately $200 million of borrowings available under our revolving credit facility. Approximately $1.3 billion in cash was held in our unrestricted subsidiaries, In addition, we continue to generate a significant amount of cash from our ongoing operating activities. At the end of the third quarter, leverage as calculated under the terms of the amended senior secure credit facilities was 5.46 times to one. Teleset has complied with all the covenants in our credit agreement and indenture. As Dan has indicated, in the third quarter and including the subsequent period, we've repurchased debt with a principal aggregate amount of $195.3 million at a cost of $137.4 million. Combining these repurchases with repurchases done in 2022, we repurchased a total amount of US $587 million at an aggregate cost of $332.7 million. In addition, this also results in interest savings of approximately $40 million annually. Further, since the end of 2020, when Telesat repaid approximately $340 million of its term loan B, our overall red debt has been reduced by approximately 28%. A reconciliation between our financial statements and financial covenant calculations is provided in the report we filed this morning. Our 6K provides the inaudited interim condensed consolidated financial information in the MD&A. The non-guarantor subsidiaries shown are essentially unrestricted subsidiaries with minor differences. So that concludes our prepared remarks for the call, and I will be very happy to answer any questions you may have. And with that, we'll now turn back to the operator.

Thank you. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and you are using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before making your selection. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your device's keypad. You may control your question at any time by pressing star 2. Please press star 1 at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause while participants register for questions. We thank you for your patience. Our first question is from Walter Pysik from LightShed. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Just wanted to focus on the reaffirmation of guidance. I think as it relates to CAPEX, that would require obviously a pretty big step up in the fourth quarter. And then I also connect that question to OPEX. If I look at your SG&A and things like that, it didn't really move much sequentially. So I guess the question is, is fourth quarter the quarter when we're going to start seeing some of these LEO project costs kick in I think on a prior call I asked if anything like if things OPEX costs are capitalized until the satellites are launched I think the answer was no but if you just kind of refresh us on when those expenses are going to start to ramp up and if they aren't why would capex guidance be maintained at I think I think that your guidance is 175 to 225 which would imply a pretty big step up in the fourth quarter

Well, Walter, yeah, this is Andrew. I think implicit in that is the timing when we will commence our program. And so we've made assumptions that we will commence in quarter four, and hence we will see the additional CapEx being spent in the quarter. And in terms of SG&A and OpEx, you know, as you know, given our high margins, we really control that very, very closely. But also we are preparing, as you will imagine, you know, in terms of headcount and other resources getting ready for the commencement of the program. That's why historically, if you look at our SG&A, it's pretty well sort of flat and very well contained. And in terms of sort of the capitalization of the OPEX, in our previous calls, we said that that's not the case. There is some to do with sort of engineering people involved. But once we get going, we're very excited to get going, and hopefully that will be Q4. I think a lot of this will be... more apparent.

Got it. Can you give us any sense, at least on the OpEx side of things, because obviously CapEx you've already guided to, how long it takes, how many quarters it takes to really get that engine going in terms of expenses? How much of a vertical ramp are we going to see in SG&A in the upcoming quarters?

But what I would say there, Walter, that when we give our full year numbers, I think we will give pretty comprehensive guidance, I think, around LEO and about the steps in LEO and what our ramp will be in OPEX in addition to GEO. So I think we'll make it very clear, so it will be very obvious looking at both of our companies.

Maybe I'll just... Hey, Walter, it's Dan. Maybe I'll just add that... A couple things. One, we're ramping up now. I mean, I think I mentioned in my remarks, we're out there staffing up, as is MDA, so we're out there right now hiring a lot of people. Not everyone's on board at this point in time, but we've certainly had a lot of our offers accepted, so the team's ramping up really nicely. And as Andrew said earlier, will give detailed guidance for 2024. A lot of the spending that we're doing, though, a lot of that's gonna be capitalized, right? So a lot of the engineers that we're hiring, and Andrew will go over all that, I know, when we give our guidance, but that's our expectation. Yep, sorry.

What is the, since the last earnings call, has there been any alteration in kind of how you're planning out the constellation itself, and then similarly, have you seen any initial traction in getting additional capacity commitments ahead of the launch? And if not, what quarter do you think, or how much before the actual first sats go up in the air would you start to see additional revenue, or excuse me, capacity commitments?

So on the first one, since we announced the deal with MDA two months ago, Everything's, I mean, we've kicked off. We're working hand in glove with MDA as we move the program forward. I mentioned that we're spending, and MDA is spending a lot of time in the supply chain right now. That all seems to be going well. So there hasn't been, I think you would ask, has there been any alterations or something in the plan? And the answer there is no. And look, we've been working on this for a long time, so things are, I'd say, pretty well set in terms of what the program looks like. And so that's all kicked off and going well. And then as far as sort of backlog, I mean, I think we've said we've already got order of magnitude around 500 million U.S. and kind of committed backlog to the program. Our first launch is mid-2026, and we do expect to be ramping backlog between now and then. I think that, look, we're engaged with the customer community right now. There's a huge amount of interest in Lightspeed, and it's been gratifying to see that now that we've announced the program. I think that there will be things that – over the course of next year. We're not sort of giving any guidance about exactly what that looks like, but based on the discussions that we're having with folks, my expectation is that we'll be signing additional customer backlog commitments throughout the course of next year. And we'll update on that as we go through.

Right, which you've said before. So when you think about those conversations... You know, are the verticals, the business verticals, the applications different, you know, at all from what you were thinking about when, you know, when you size this market initially and you looked at the kind of the low hanging fruit, you know, what do you think, you know, in terms of enterprise applications or otherwise that people are going to gravitate to your constellation, you know, in terms of some of these commitments that we may see next year?

No, I'd say, look, I mean, these are markets that we're active in like every day, right? It's backhaul connectivity with mobile network operators and ISPs. It's providing capacity for maritime and aeronautical services. It's engaging with governments. Those are exactly the verticals that we've always expected Lightspeed to have a real competitive edge in, and so nothing's changed there. That continues to be our expectation. And so, yeah, when we're, you know, announcing things between now and being in service, and again, my expectation is we'll have some commitments over the course of next year. We'll talk about, you know, where those are coming from, but those are the verticals that we expect to get really good traction in.

And the last question.

Hey, Walter, you're monopolizing our call.

All right, I'll let you go to the next one, then I'll circle back in. All right.

Thank you.

Appreciate the answers.

All right, man. See you. Excellent.

Thank you. Our following question is from Caleb Henry from Quilty Space. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys, a couple of questions, one about launch. So notice there's 14 rockets from SpaceX, and each can carry up to 18 satellites each. Just kind of quick math there, kind of equals 252 satellites, which is more than what's been ordered or currently planned. So I was wondering if you can walk through the logic. I know it's up to 18 per mission, but what's the reason for kind of having so many launches planned there?

Caleb, thanks. So, listen, we've worked with SpaceX for a long time. We've got a good relationship with SpaceX by committing to the number of launches that we did. We think that we've been able to get kind of an overall compelling case in terms of just the overall value proposition for the launch capacity that we've lined up. And as you know, Our expectation, we have rights from MDA to add more satellites over time. We've said that to the extent that we do that, it's all going to be demand driven. SpaceX has been very constructive in terms of working with us to position the timing of the rockets kind of when we think we need them. So that's really what it is. It was a function of the good commercial terms that we have with SpaceX to provide those rockets, wanting the certainty in terms of our ability to expand the constellation over time, and then having a constructive launch partner that allows us to line up those rockets kind of consistent with what we're seeing in the market in our commercial plans.

Okay, thanks. I appreciate it. I didn't see segment numbers from you guys this quarter. If that's something you're still sharing, can you kind of break out revenue in terms of broadcast, enterprise, anything else?

Yeah, I mean, for sure it's in the 6K. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, order of magnitude, it's like, you know, I'm looking at my colleagues, it's like 48%. broadcast, you know, order of magnitude, 48% broadcast, 48% enterprise, and sort of 2% other. But I'm staring at my colleagues. Did I nail that? Yep. Okay. So there you go. But it'll be in the 6K as well.

Okay. Thanks. And then it looks like Telus have reported better than expected gross margins for this quarter. I'm just wondering if that's something that you expect to see sustained or if that's going to change on the assumption that more third-party capacity will be needed to bridge the gap between now and light speed?

Maybe I'll take the first crack at that and then Andrew can talk about it. We are, as always, really focused on managing our cost structure as tightly as we can. I think as a result, We've always sort of had industry-leading operating margins. But there are headwinds for the business. And, you know, we renewed with Bell on NMIC 4. That would have been in early October. But as we've said, it was at a lower rate than what the old rate was. And so, you know, there will be some kind of revenue headwinds as we head into 2024. You know, and the beauty of a fixed cost business is when you're ramping revenues up, you know, you can grow your operating margins nicely. Sadly, the, you know, converse is true as well when you're facing some of these revenue headwinds and you're facing revenue declines, you can't really reduce your cost structure kind of in a, proportionate ways. So I'd say on balance, heading into next year, there's definitely going to be some downward pressure on operating margins. And we'll just do the best job we can, as we always do, in trying to manage through that in terms of being as disciplined as we can around the cost structure.

Now, that's right, Dan. And just to add that, indeed, our margins are probably one of the highest in the industry. And our previous comments around OpEx and CapEx investments into LEO, obviously when we start full blast with our program next year, then of course we will see that investment coming through in both CapEx and indeed in our operating expenses.

Okay. Thanks so much, guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Our following question is from Arun Sheshadri from BNP Paribus. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Thanks for my questions. First, I just wanted to confirm the cash balances. I think you said $1.8 billion total with $1.5 in the restricted group. The assumption there is that the C-band cash inflow just went into the unrestricted group. Do you expect to... Do you expect to fund more in the near term from the restricted group into the unrestricted entities?

Okay, so it's Michael Beloyed. Yeah, the CBAN proceeds, we said we had $1.3 billion in cash in the unrestricted entities. The CBAN proceeds went to the unrestricted entities, and we've been fairly consistent, certainly in our discussions with investors. There is still a little bit of money to be funded to the unrestricted entities from the restricted group, the general basket of 150 million U.S. is available to fund that.

Got it. Thank you, Michael. And then as far as the additional funding, the vendor financing and the government contributions, is there any update in terms of the terms of the Canada and the Quebec funding? And any updates in terms of the vendor financing and the smaller bits of additional financing that were required?

We don't have any updates on the terms yet. When that's all nailed down, we'll share more information about it. We are, as we said at the outset of the call, making good progress, I think, with the government partners, kind of federal and provincial, to move the funding forward. We had said before that, you know, funding was subject to the government completing confirmatory diligence and putting definitive agreements in place. And from, you know, where I sit, that all seems to be going well and moving in the right direction. So our expectation is that we'll reach financial close either late this year or sometime early next year. And at that point, we'll be able to share more information about the funding terms and whatnot. But I'd note also, and it's probably a sign of our confidence that we're going to get there in the near term, we're moving out on the program. And that's why CapEx is ramping in Q4. That's why we've been ramping the hiring of all the people that we've been doing. We're moving out on the program. But again, we'll share more specifics about the financing once it's all wrapped up.

Got it. Thanks, Dan. And then as far as the buybacks, nice to see them continue this quarter and after the quarter. Just two questions there. Do you expect to continue to do buybacks with the cash that sits in the restricted group? In other words, have you any thoughts around other uses of cash, number one? And then number two, I assume, as usual, that the choices on what you bought back were primarily governed by liquidity in the appropriate instruments. If you could confirm that as well.

Yeah, I mean, Andrew, if you want, I'll take the first shot at it. So, I mean, consistent with things we've said before, there is cash that has been building up in the restricted group. And we, you know... always try to make use of that cash in a way that we think strengthens the business. And so over the past few quarters, we have used a considerable amount of it to repurchase our debt, and we think that's been the right thing to do. But equally, we're open-minded about other uses for that cash if it would strengthen the business, including looking at other satellite programs, particularly geo programs that would be accretive to the business. We've looked at a number of opportunities to do that. To date, we haven't closed a business case. We've always said we're never going to invest a nickel in CapEx if we're not persuaded that we have a compelling business plan and can achieve the kinds of returns that our shareholders expect. And so... So I guess, you know, a long way to say that we will be open-minded about additional debt repurchases going forward, but equally, you know, we'll evaluate other ways to use that cash that can strengthen the business. And then as far as, you know, what we've bought, it's a range of different considerations. You mentioned liquidity. That's certainly one. We noted that, you know, we bought some of the term loan be back over the last quarter. Certainly, you know, because that floats, that's sort of, you know, a more expensive part of the outstanding debt that's out there right now. So that's obviously a consideration. So it's a range of different variables that we think about when we do engage in those debt repurchases. And I'd say we're just, yeah, just kind of pragmatic about all that.

Yeah, absolutely, Dan. I mean, just to add a couple of comments, you know, as Dan had said, our business, you know, our margins are so high, which means we generate, you know, very, very good amounts of cash and we will do that going forward. And we assess our liquidity needs, cash balances and requirements. And then, indeed, as you see, we've bought back 587 million face value of bonds, which is pretty attractive and it's a good use of cash. And I simply would add that you know, since December 2020, we've reduced our overall debt by about 28% that we kind of mentioned. But indeed, we're very focused.

Got it. Thank you. Last question for me is, is this really in terms of capacity deals in the works? Are there any new deals that you're kind of working on, either from a geographic standpoint or a specific business standpoint, to sort of add to the capacity commitments that you already have on Lightspeed? Thanks.

Yeah, thanks for the question. I wouldn't note anything in particular, but just suffice to say we're engaged with customers in each of the verticals that we're focused on in pretty much every region of the world. The benefit of being an existing operator is that we're already doing business in virtually every country in the world. We're have regular engagement with the key satellite users in all those different verticals. And so there's no one that I would highlight. And, again, as we sign material deals, we'll announce them, and then we'll talk about them on the calls that we do. So folks will have good visibility into that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our following question is from Brendan Karsh from Kennedy Lewis. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. Just turning back to guidance here, if I back up the implied Q4 revenue from what you've done year to date, it looks like a pretty steep decline here. And I know there's some noise in Q4 last year from some non-recurring equipment sales. Is the rest of the delta just the Bell Canada renewal, or is there anything else I'm missing, or should I view this guidance as conservative at this point? It just looks like a pretty big step down even from the recent run, right?

Yeah, I'm trying to, I mean, the decline was what, you know, year over year it's 4% on the quarter. Year to date, it's 5% top line adjusted for FX. So certainly, you know, declines would be driven by the renewal with Bell. So, you know, there was that. And we noted that there was some softness in Latin America that we experienced over the quarter. And I would say kind of, you know, throughout the first three quarters of this year. But anyway, those would be the things that, you know, have acted as a headwind and that I think, as I mentioned, will, you know, carry on in the next year given the timing of the bell renewal and the like.

I would just add in terms of the OPEX, in quarter four, as there were earlier comments, that... as we continue to ramp, we will anticipate sort of a higher run rate of OPEX coming in in quarter four. So hence, that's part of the equation also.

Yeah, and then maybe one other colleague has just flagged for me. I guess in Q4 last year, we recognized sort of a one-time with DARPA. This is the U.S. government sort of research lab that we've been you know, winning different projects for LEO-related activities. And so I think we had said at the time we had called it out that that's sort of – there's other work that we're doing with DARPA, but that kind of revenue opportunity is lumpier in nature. And I think we even called out the exact amount because I think we're required to. It was – 25 million. Yeah, I mean, it's significant. It's 25 million in the quarter. So certainly that would be a big contributor if you're trying to do the math on the guidance and extrapolate from that.

Yeah, I had been adjusting that out of my number, and it still looked like a somewhat meaningful decline, which is why I was asking. But I think you've answered my question there. Yeah.

Yeah, then it would be mostly the Bell renewal. And as we said, the provision for OpEx as well, as we said, would like to.

Okay, and then on the enterprise side, could you provide a little bit more color on some of that softness in Latin America as well as just general update on the geo side for enterprise?

Yeah, I mean, Latin Am, it's been, I mean, you know, like all these things, it's sort of, you know, contract by contract that comes up for renewal. I think the The biggest softness that we had in LATAM over the quarter was one particular contract in Peru, if memory serves. It had been a long-standing contract of ours that came up for renewal. Some of that moved to one of our competitors, something that we expected would be coming. It was a customer that had already made a commitment to a new satellite that was coming on the market. And once that new satellite came online, they migrated traffic off of us over to them. So there was that. And then beyond that, I'd say just kind of taking a step back more broadly, the market's competitive. I mean, for sure, it's been competitive for some years now. But it continues to... be a competitive market in the enterprise segment. And we're certainly starting to see the impact of Starlink coming into the market. I mean, the reality is enterprise users like the value proposition and the performance advantages that you get from low Earth orbit satellite constellations, which is why we're so bullish around our light speed constellation. But I'd say that Yeah, the enterprise segment remains competitive, and I'd say increasingly Starlink is featuring into that.

Okay, that's helpful. And then just one last one following up on that on Starlink. previously that it would be more of a consumer use case, but we've been impressed about them moving more into the enterprise space. Have you seen a meaningful pickup in competitive intensity just from their pivot into more of the enterprise use cases?

I'd say we see it mostly at this point in time in the maritime space. They've been pretty successful in attracting some of the cruise lines. requirements and some of the other sort of maritime shipping requirements. So I'd say it's most evident there. We knew and we know that we'll be competing with Starlink for some of the enterprise activities. But I'd say if I had to highlight any particular area, it's been more there. And we've said before, for Lightspeed, our focus is on enterprise and government services A lot of what Starlink's doing right now is on the consumer side, and I think that they're getting good traction on the consumer side, but that's not an area that we're focusing on with Lightspeed or really that we focus on with our existing business.

Thank you for all that.

Thank you. The following question is from David McFadgen from Comrock Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you. So just a question on Lightspeed and the funding. So when I read the press release, it says that it's fully funded, however, subject to concluding definitive funding agreements through global service delivery. Is this just nailing down your contract funding with the Canadian provincial governments, or does this also entail someone else?

It is in the main of the funding arrangements with the federal and provincial partners here in Canada. Okay. I mean, we've said, you know, that in the aggregate is about $2 billion in U.S. dollars worth of funding. We've got, you know, $1.6 billion that Telesat's contributing. So that's exactly what it is. And we have flagged that. you know, back in August when we announced the contract with MDA.

Right. So when you're talking about through global service delivery, is this meaning your commitment to provide connectivity in areas that they want? Is that what that means?

I think what we're, you know, I don't know exactly the words that you're focused on, but I think what we've said is with the $1.6 billion that Telesat's contributing, the $2 billion U.S. in federal and provincial government funding, that gives us sufficient capital to launch the first 156 satellites plus all the other CapEx in terms of the rockets, the ground infrastructure, and the other capital investments that we need to make. That gives us full global coverage and a very capable system. And then we've noted that we'll be launching another 42 satellites to bring us to 198 satellites. Those final 42 satellites will get funded with the cash flows that the Constellation is generating. That's the plan.

Yeah. So when you talked about closing with the government maybe later this year or early next year, what does closing mean? Does that mean that they've entered into a commitment to find that certain dates based on certain milestones? Does that mean they're actually going to give you the cash right away?

Yeah, I mean, that all, once we're closed off of the government, we'll provide more details about exactly all the mechanics around the But, yeah, I mean, what that means is that the government of, you know, the federal and our provincial partners will have committed to the funding that we need so that we can pay MDA, that we can pay SpaceX and our other vendors. It'll be, yeah, I mean, we'll close our financing. Those funds will be available for us to make the payments that we need to make.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Once again, please press star 1 at this time for any questions or comments. Our following question is from Matt Lapidus from ABRI Partners. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for all the color here. A couple clarifying ones for me. So the C-band proceeds which went into the unrestricted group, can you just clarify whether or not that used any of the $150 million general basket that's available in the credit agreement? Or is the $150 million that's available, what's available today after those proceeds were moved to the unrestricted entity?

No, Matt. The CBAN assets were in an unrestricted sub and have been for a couple of years. So the $150 million, it didn't have anything to do with the $150 million. The $150 million is available.

Got it. I appreciate the clarification. And then can you just remind us, you mentioned some interest rate hedges rolling off last year. What the current hedge position both on interest rates and FX looks like for the business?

I mean, sure, effectively, Matt, you know, with that balance of cash, the cash balances, which obviously the rates you earn on that flow at a spread, a negative spread to the base rate, but they float. So effectively, from a floating interest rate exposure viewpoint, we're hedged or close enough to it that we don't need any hedges in place. and we have not hedged the foreign exchange in a number of years.

And there again, there's kind of a natural hedge with our business because we receive a mix of U.S. and Canadian dollars.

That's right. And then the last thing I would add there is we hold most of our cash balances in U.S. dollars, not Canadian.

Got it. Okay. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the clarifications. That's it for me.

Thank you. We have no further questions registered at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting back over to Mr. Goldberg.

Okay, operator, thank you. And thank you all for joining us this morning. And we look forward to speaking again when we release our Q4 and full year numbers. So thank you very much.

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time. And we thank you for your participation.