Array Digital Infrastructure, Inc. (AD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Third item of business is the proposal to approve the compensation plan for 9 employee directors. This proposal will be voted on by the holders of Series A common shares and common shares voting as one group present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting. The proposal will be approved if it receives the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by such persons. Board of Directors unanimously recommends a vote for this proposal. [Voting]

The fourth item of business is the proposal to approve, on an advisory basis, compensation of our named executive officers. This item of business was proposed by the Board of Directors pursuant to the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This proposal will be voted on by the holders of Series A common shares and common shares voting as one group, present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting. This proposal will be approved if it receives the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by such persons. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends a vote for this proposal. [Voting]

The fifth item of business is the proposal to approve on an advisory basis whether to hold future advisory votes on executive compensation according to one of the following frequencies: every year, every 2 years or every 3 years. This item of business was proposed by the Board of Directors pursuant to the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This proposal will be voted on by the holders of Series A common shares and common shares voting as one group present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting. The frequency receiving the affirmative vote of a plurality of the votes cast by such persons shall be considered to be the shareholders' recommendation as to the frequency of future Say-on-Pay votes. Board of Directors unanimously recommends a vote for every year on this proposal. Those who have not yet completed delivery of your proxies or ballots, please do so now since we will be closing the polls for voting at this time. [Voting]

It is now 8:45 a.m. on May 16, 2023, and the polls are closed for voting. Since the inspectors have not informed me of any changes in outcome on any of the proposals, we will proceed with the announcement of the voting results at this time. With respect to the election of the directors, each of them received a substantial majority of the votes of the class of stock voting for such director. Accordingly, each of such persons has been elected as a Director of United States Cellular Corporation for a term expiring at the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until his or her successor shall have been elected and qualified. Proposal to ratify the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accountants for 2023 has received the affirmative vote of holders of a substantial majority of the combined voting power of the Series A common shares and common shares. This proposal is therefore also approved. Proposal to approve the United States Secular Corporation compensation plan for nonemployee directors has received the affirmative vote of holders of a substantial majority of the combined voting power of the Series A common shares and common shares. This proposal is therefore also approved. Proposal to approve on an advisory basis, compensation of our named executive officers has received the affirmative vote of holders of a substantial majority of the combined voting power of the Series A common shares and common shares. This proposal is therefore, also approved. With respect to the proposal to approve on an advisory basis, the frequency of future advisory votes on executive compensation, every year has received a substantial majority of the votes, exceeding the requisite vote of a plurality of the votes of the combined voting power of the Series A common shares and common shares. Accordingly, the shareholders will be considered to have recommended that the advisory vote on executive compensation should be held every year. The inspectors will tally any additional votes received after the commencement of this meeting and prior to the closing of the polls and furnish a written report of the final vote count with respect to the matters voted on today, which will be included in the minutes of the meeting. These voting results will be reported on a Form 8-K that will be filed within 4 business days of today. Since there is no further business to come before this meeting, this meeting is adjourned. I would now like to ask LT Therivel, President and CEO of UScellular, to provide a brief business update. After that, we will open the floor for any questions that you may have. In addition, after we have concluded here today, Colleen Thompson, TDS' Vice President of Corporate Relations, will be available if you would like to discuss other matters of interest or if you have further questions. LT?

Thanks, Ted. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Turn to Slide 2. My comments today include forward-looking information. Therefore, I ask you review the safe harbor statement. You can find the slides for this presentation on our Investor Relations website, along with related SEC filings, which include a description of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ from forward-looking statements. Turning to Slide 3. the At UScellular, our mission is to connect our customers to what matters most. As we begin our 40th year, we are committed to advancing that mission while achieving long-term sustainability by focusing on our customers and the network experiences that we provide for them. Slide 4. Wireless industry remains as competitive as ever. And in 2022, our subscriber results were challenged by extensive competition. We took several bold actions to support our customers and improve our growth trajectory. We're committing to not increasing the price of rate plans through at least 2024, offering generous device promotions for both new and current customers, launching flat rate pricing. In 2023, we continue to prioritize our efforts to stabilize our customer base. Despite the competitive wireless environment, UScellular had one of the highest ARPU growth rates in the industry last year, notable achievement, evidence of how much our customers value the services and the products that we provide. Two of our growth investment areas, fixed wireless and our tower business saw double-digit increases in gross additions and revenues, respectively. We also made significant progress on our multiyear network modernization program and our nationwide rollout of 5G, now is available on towers carrying 80% of our traffic. Turning to Slide 5. In 2023, our plan to win continues to be supported by a strategy to drive revenue growth and increase return on capital over time. We're focused on the following priorities: First, we remain focused on growth. UScellular is focused on generating momentum in several areas of our business. First, we will look to continue to improve momentum in our postpaid and prepaid businesses for effective pricing strategies, a strong value proposition and targeted customer life cycle management. We'll continue to emphasize and raise awareness of our high-speed Internet products as we rollout 5G fixed wireless access to more communities to grow our existing 4G LTE products. Opportunities for Internet of Things and emerging technologies such as private networking continue to materialize, focus on driving stronger relationships with business and government customers. We further strengthened our tower tenancy rate and revenue growth in 2022, as our towers remain a key strategic asset and area of opportunity for growth. We expect continued tower revenue growth in 2024. Lastly, we'll seek to provide an enhanced digital experience to unlock efficiencies that will allow us to be more agile in reaching our customers while promoting greater brand awareness across our markets. Advancing our network is another critical priority for us. Our investments in 5G will continue in 2023 as we will further modernize and enhance our outstanding network. We will focus on the build-out of our mid-band spectrum and plan to roll out mid-band service in targeted areas throughout 2023. And then across our footprint in 2024, our C-band spectrum is cleared. As part of our ongoing government advocacy activities, we will advocate for further -- for funding opportunities, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. We continue to invest in our people, culture. At UScellular, our culture is focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for everyone, including our people. Beyond the foundation of competitive benefits, fair and equitable wages and a safe place to work, we're creating an environment where associates feel engaged, included and have a sense of belonging. Our strong culture survey results and numerous recognitions of the Great Place to Work underscore our achievements in this area. In 2023, you can expect a continued focus on our people and further integration of diversity, equity and inclusion into our processes. To improve return on capital, we will maintain financial discipline while focusing on revenue growth. A multiyear cost optimization program in place to seek and realize efficiencies in both operating costs and capital expenditures. The program has provided numerous improvements over time, and we expect that to continue. Finally, we remain focused on bridging the digital divide. UScellular was built on the foundation of bringing connectivity to the un and the underserved. We're proud of the contributions we make to local communities across the United States. In 2023, we're extending our commitment to close the connectivity gap with up to $13 million in new funding to provide hotspots and service for youth through our After School Access Project. In 2021, we have donated more than 9,000 hotspots to over 100 youth-serving organizations. In closing on Slide 6, we are grateful of the associates of UScellular for their dedication and innovation in providing outstanding services, products and experiences to our customers. Thank you also to our shareholders, our debt holders, for support of our long-term strategies. That concludes my presentation. Are there any questions from the audience? Ted, I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you, LT. So that concludes our presentation and question period. Again, I thank all of you for your attendance at this 2023 Annual Meeting. We look forward to seeing you again next year with substantial additional progress to report.