2024 guidance reaffirmed CHICAGO, May 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As previously announced, UScellular will hold a teleconference on May 3, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. CDT. Listen to the call live via the Events & Presentations page of investors.uscellular.com. United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE:USM) reported total operating revenues of $950 million for the first quarter of 2024, versus $986 million for the same period one year ago. Service revenues totaled $754 million, versus $767 million for the same period one year ago. Net income attributable to UScellular shareholders and related diluted earnings per share were $18 million and $0.20, respectively, for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $13 million and $0.15, respectively, in the same period one year ago. 1Q 2024 Highlights* Financial results Service revenues decreased 2% Postpaid ARPU grew 3% Net income, Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted EBITDA up significantly Postpaid churn rate reduced 4% Fixed wireless customers grew 42% to 124,000 * Comparisons are 1Q'23 to 1Q'24 unless otherwise noted "We delivered strong bottom-line results during the quarter, driven by postpaid ARPU growth and our ongoing focus on expense discipline. We also drove year-over-year improvements in postpaid churn, and fixed wireless continued its strong customer growth trajectory," said Laurent C. Therivel, UScellular President and CEO. "Although we experienced some month-to-month improvement in postpaid net additions in the first quarter, postpaid handset gross additions continue to be a challenge, and this drove the postpaid net addition decline in the quarter. We have made recent promotional changes in order to drive improvement in postpaid handset subscriber momentum, while keeping us financially disciplined." Exploration of Strategic Alternatives for UScellularOn August 4, 2023, Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) and UScellular announced that the Boards of Directors of both companies decided to initiate a process to explore a range of strategic alternatives for UScellular. The review remains active and on-going. 2024 Estimated ResultsUScellular's current estimates of full-year 2024 results are shown below. Such estimates represent management's view as of May 3, 2024 and should not be assumed to be current as of any future date. UScellular undertakes no duty to update such estimates, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that final results will not differ materially from estimated results. 2024 Estimated Results Previous Current (Dollars in millions) Service revenues $2,950-$3,050 Unchanged Adjusted OIBDA1, 2 $750-$850 Unchanged Adjusted EBITDA1, 2 $920-$1,020 Unchanged Capital expenditures $550-$650 Unchanged The following table reconciles EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA to the corresponding GAAP measures, Net income or Income before income taxes. In providing 2024 estimated results, UScellular has not completed the below reconciliation to Net income because it does not provide guidance for income taxes. Although potentially significant, UScellular believes that the impact of income taxes cannot be reasonably predicted; therefore, UScellular is unable to provide such guidance. Actual Results 2024 EstimatedResults2 Three Months Ended March 31, 2024 Year EndedDecember 31, 2023 (Dollars in millions) Net income (GAAP) N/A $24 $58 Add back: Income tax expense N/A 28 53 Income before income taxes (GAAP) $60-$160 $52 $111 Add back: Interest expense 185 43 196 Depreciation, amortization and accretion expense 660 165 656 EBITDA (Non-GAAP)1 $905-$1,005 $260 $963 Add back or deduct: Expenses related to strategic alternatives review — 7 8 (Gain) loss on asset disposals, net 15 6 17 (Gain) loss on license sales and exchanges, net — (1) (2) Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP)1 $920-$1,020 $272 $986 Deduct: Equity in earnings of unconsolidated entities 155 42 158 Interest and dividend income 15 2 10 Adjusted OIBDA (Non-GAAP)1 $750-$850 $228 $818 1 EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are defined as net income adjusted for the items set forth in the reconciliation above. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are not measures of financial performance under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (GAAP) and should not be considered as alternatives to Net income or Cash flows from operating activities, as indicators of cash flows or as measures of liquidity. UScellular does not intend to imply that any such items set forth in the reconciliation above are infrequent or unusual; such items may occur in the future. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA as measurements of profitability, and therefore reconciliations to Net income are deemed appropriate. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are useful measures of UScellular's operating results before significant recurring non-cash charges, nonrecurring expenses, gains and losses, and other items as presented above as they provide additional relevant and useful information to investors and other users of UScellular's financial data in evaluating the effectiveness of its operations and underlying business trends in a manner that is consistent with management's evaluation of business performance. Adjusted EBITDA shows adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and accretion, gains and losses, and expenses related to the strategic alternatives review of UScellular while Adjusted OIBDA reduces this measure further to exclude Equity in earnings of unconsolidated entities and Interest and dividend income in order to more effectively show the performance of operating activities excluding investment activities. The table above reconciles EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA to the corresponding GAAP measure, Net income or Income before income taxes. Additional information and reconciliations related to Non-GAAP financial measures for March 31, 2024, can be found on UScellular's website at investors.uscellular.com. 2 2024 Estimated Results do not reflect any anticipated costs, expenses or results of the strategic alternatives review referenced above. Conference Call InformationUScellular will hold a conference call on May 3, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time. Access the live call on the Events & Presentations page of investors.uscellular.com or at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/316610586 Access the call by phone at (888)330-2384 conference ID: 1328528. Before the call, certain financial and statistical information to be discussed during the call will be posted to investors.uscellular.com. The call will be archived on the Events & Presentations page of investors.uscellular.com. About UScellularUnited States Cellular Corporation provides a comprehensive range of wireless products and services, excellent customer support, and a high-quality network to customers with 4.5 million retail connections in 21 states. The Chicago-based company had 4,300 full- and part-time associates as of March 31, 2024. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. owned approximately 83 percent of UScellular. For more information about UScellular, visit uscellular.com. Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forward-looking statements. This includes all statements about the company's plans, beliefs, estimates, and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates, projections, and assumptions, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that may affect these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: whether any strategic alternatives for UScellular will be successfully identified or completed; whether any such strategic alternative will result in additional value for UScellular and its shareholders and whether the process will have an adverse impact on UScellular's business; intense competition; the ability to attract people of outstanding talent throughout all levels of the organization; UScellular's smaller scale relative to larger competitors; the ability to obtain or maintain roaming arrangements with other carriers on acceptable terms and changes in roaming practices; the ability to obtain access to adequate radio spectrum to meet current or anticipated future needs, including participation in FCC auctions; changes in demand, consumer preferences and perceptions, price competition, or churn rates; advances in technology; impacts of costs, integration problems or other factors associated with acquisitions, divestitures or exchanges of properties or wireless spectrum licenses and/or expansion of UScellular's businesses; the ability of the company to successfully construct and manage its networks; difficulties involving third parties with which UScellular does business; uncertainties in UScellular's future cash flows and liquidity and access to the capital markets; the ability to make payments on UScellular indebtedness or comply with the terms of debt covenants; conditions in the U.S. telecommunications industry; the value of assets and investments; the state and federal regulatory environment; pending and future litigation; cyber-attacks or other breaches of network or information technology security; potential conflicts of interests between TDS and UScellular; disruption in credit or other financial markets; deterioration of U.S. or global economic conditions; and the impact, duration and severity of public health emergencies. Investors are encouraged to consider these and other risks and uncertainties that are more fully described under "Risk Factors" in the most recent filing of UScellular's Form 10-K, as updated by any UScellular Form 10-Q filed subsequent to such Form 10-K. For more information about UScellular, visit: www.uscellular.com United States Cellular Corporation Summary Operating Data (Unaudited) As of or for the Quarter Ended 3/31/2024 12/31/2023 9/30/2023 6/30/2023 3/31/2023 Retail Connections Postpaid Total at end of period1 4,051,000 4,106,000 4,159,000 4,194,000 4,223,000 Gross additions 106,000 129,000 128,000 125,000 137,000 Handsets 63,000 80,000 84,000 83,000 93,000 Connected devices 43,000 49,000 44,000 42,000 44,000 Net additions (losses)1 (44,000) (50,000) (35,000) (28,000) (24,000) Handsets (47,000) (53,000) (38,000) (29,000) (25,000) Connected devices 3,000 3,000 3,000 1,000 1,000 ARPU2 $        51.96 $        51.61 $        51.11 $         50.64 $         50.66 ARPA3 $      132.00 $      131.63 $      130.91 $       130.19 $       130.77 Handset upgrade rate4 4.5 % 5.8 % 4.5 % 4.8 % 4.9 % Churn rate5 1.22 %