Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. The discussion in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this report should be read as applying to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” as well as those discussed elsewhere. You should read “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to:
Our acquisition of Sprint Communications (as defined below), including difficulties integrating our business with the Sprint Business, which may result in the combined company not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected; transition services required to support the Sprint Business and the related costs continuing for a period longer than expected, government policies worldwide; vaccination and in-office requirements, delays in the delivery of network equipment or optical fiber, loss of key right-of-way agreements, future economic instability in the global economy, including the risk of economic recession and recent bank failures and liquidity concerns at certain other banks, which could affect spending on Internet services; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to US dollar and Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rates) on the translation of our non-US dollar denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities into US dollars; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; our ability to maintain our regulatory licenses that are required in the markets in which we operate; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including rules regarding data protection, cyber security and net neutrality; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering and right-of-way arrangements on favorable terms; our ability to renew our long-term leases of optical fiber and right-of-way agreements that comprise our network; our reliance on a limited number of equipment vendors, and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; tariffs imposed on equipment we purchase for our network or other similar government-imposed fees and charges; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber and right-of-way providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due and outcomes in litigation, risks associated with variable interest rates under our Swap Agreement as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Acquisition of Sprint Communications
On May 1, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), Cogent Infrastructure, Inc. (now Cogent Infrastructure, LLC), a Delaware corporation and our direct wholly owned subsidiary (the “Buyer” or “Cogent Infrastructure”, “we” or “us”), closed on its acquisition of the U.S. long-haul fiber network (including the non-U.S. extensions thereof) of Sprint Communications and its subsidiaries (the “Sprint Business”) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”), dated September 6, 2022, by and among us, Sprint Communications LLC, a Kansas limited liability company (“Sprint Communications”) and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile US, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“T-Mobile”), and Sprint LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile (the “Seller”). On the Closing Date, we purchased from the Seller all of the issued and outstanding membership interests (the “Purchased Interests”) of Wireline Network Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company that, following an internal restructuring and divisive merger, held Sprint Communications’ assets and liabilities relating to the Sprint Business (such transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, collectively, the “Transaction”).
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Purchase Price
On the Closing Date, we consummated the Transaction pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, providing a purchase price of $1 payable to the Seller for the Purchased Interests, subject to customary adjustments, including working capital (the “Working Capital Adjustment”), as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. As consideration for the Purchased Interests, the Working Capital Adjustment (primarily related to acquired cash and cash equivalents of an estimated $43.4 million at the Closing Date in order to fund the international operations of the Sprint Business) resulted in us making a payment to the Seller of $61.1 million on the Closing Date. In April 2024, an additional Working Capital Adjustment of $5.0 million was paid to the Seller.
Short-term Lease Payment
The Purchase Agreement provides for a payment of $28.1 million ($19.8 million net of discount) from the Seller to us related to acquired short - term operating lease obligations (the “Short - term Lease Payment”). The Short - term Lease Payment will be paid from the Seller to us in four equal payments in months 55 to 58 after the Closing Date. The final determination of the Short - term Lease Payment was completed in April 2024. The Short - term Lease Payment was recorded at its present value resulting in a discount of $8.4 million. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, among other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment. During the third quarter of 2023, the Short - term Lease Payment was reduced by $4.8 million and in the first quarter of 2024 the Short - term Lease Payment, net of discount, was reduced by an additional $17.0 million.
IP Transit Services Agreement
On the Closing Date, we entered into an agreement for IP transit services (“IP Transit Services Agreement”), pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. Under the IP Transit Services Agreement. TMUSA paid us $25.0 million and $87.5 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
We accounted for the Transaction as a business combination under ASC Topic 805 Business Combinations (“ASC 805”). We evaluated what elements are part of the business combination and the consideration exchanged to complete the acquisition. Under ASC 805, we concluded that the $700.0 million of payments to be made represent consideration received from T-Mobile to complete the acquisition of a distressed business. We also evaluated whether the IP Transit Services Agreement was in the scope of ASU No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”). We concluded that T-Mobile did not represent a “customer” as defined by ASC 606, the stated contract price did not represent consideration for services to be delivered, and the transaction did not satisfy the definition of revenue, which excluded this arrangement from the scope of ASC 606. As a result, and considering statements made by T-Mobile, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount of $79.6 million. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, among other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment.
Transition Services Agreement
On the Closing Date, the Buyer entered into a transition services agreement (the “TSA”) with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller provides to the Buyer, and the Buyer provides to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, certain specified services (the “Transition Services”) to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. The services provided by the Seller to the Buyer include, among others, information technology support, back office and finance, real estate and facilities, vendor and supply chain management, including the payment and processing of vendor invoices for the Company and human resources services. The services provided by the Buyer to the Seller include, among others, information technology and network support, finance and back office and other wireless business support.
The Transition Services are generally intended to be provided for a period of up to two years following the Closing Date, although such period may be extended for an additional one-year term by either party upon 30 days’ prior written notice. The fees for the Transition Services are calculated using either a per service monthly fee or an hourly rate for the employees allocated to provide such services. Any third-party costs incurred in providing the Transition Services are passed on to the party receiving such services at cost for the two-year period. Amounts paid for the Sprint Business by T-Mobile are reimbursed at cost.
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Either party to the TSA may terminate the agreement with respect to any individual service in full for convenience upon 30 days’ prior written notice for certain services and reduced for other services after a 90-day period. The TSA may be terminated in its entirety if the other party has failed to perform any of its material obligations and such failure is not cured within 30 days. The TSA provides for customary indemnification and limits on liability. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. Amounts billed to us under the TSA are primarily for reimbursement at cost of payments to vendors of the Sprint Business until these vendors are fully transitioned to us.
Severance Reimbursements
The Purchase Agreement also provided for reimbursement from the Seller to us for qualifying severance expenses incurred. Total qualifying severance expenses were $28.6 million of which $4.3 million were recorded in the three months ended March 31, 2024. These severance payments ended in the second quarter of 2024.
Other Services Provided to the Seller
In addition, on the Closing Date, we entered into a commercial agreement (the “Commercial Agreement”) with TMUSA for colocation and connectivity services, pursuant to which we will provide such services to TMUSA for a per service monthly fee plus certain third-party costs incurred in providing the services. Under the Commercial Agreement, we recorded revenue of $0.7 million and $3.2 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, TMUSA owed $0.1 million and $2.6 million, respectively, to us under the Commercial Agreement.
Acquisition-Related Costs
In connection with the Transaction and negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred a total of $13.6 million of professional fees and other acquisition-related costs (not including severance costs) since the acquisition date. Acquisition-related costs (not including severance costs) were $9.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. There were no acquisition-related costs incurred in the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Competitive Advantages
We believe we address many of the data communications needs of businesses large and small, communications service providers and other bandwidth-intensive organizations by offering them high-quality, high-speed Internet access, optical transport and optical wave services, and private network services at attractive prices. After our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we began offering services to larger enterprise customers. We believe that our organization has the following competitive advantages:
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Low Cost of Operation: We believe that the wireline telecom industry is undergoing, and will continue to face, significant price deflation for its applications and services. This price deflation is a result of a variety of factors including increased competition, enhanced substitutability of certain products and services and the continued impact of Moore’s Law, which has driven down the cost of technology, particularly for fiber optic Wavelength Division Multiplexing equipment and optically interfaced routers. Faced with the backdrop of continued price deflation in our industry, we have made a series of discreet choices around our network design, operating strategy and product offerings that are consistent with our objective of becoming the low-cost operator in our industry. Since our initiation of operations, this strategy has resulted in a rapid decline in our cost to transmit bits, which has increased our margins and decreased our capital intensity as measured by our capital expenditures per total revenues. Important components of our low-cost operating strategy include:
● One Network Protocol . Upon our founding, we selected to operate our network solely using Ethernet protocol. We made this selection in order to take advantage of the significantly greater installed base and lower cost of Ethernet network equipment versus other protocols, the substantially lower costs associated with operating and maintaining one network protocol and the continued benefits of the rapid price performance ratio improvements of Ethernet-related equipment. Our single network protocol allows us to avoid many of the costs that our competitors who operate circuit-switched, time-division multiplexing (“TDM”) and hybrid fiber coaxial networks incur related to provisioning, monitoring and maintaining multiple transport protocols. Selecting one operating protocol has positively impacted our operating overhead and the simplicity of our organization. We believe the vast majority of our competitors currently operate their networks with multiple protocols and we believe that attempts to upgrade their networks to one protocol would be operationally challenging and costly.
● Our IP Network . We have acquired a large portfolio of dark fiber leases from 377 dark fiber vendors from around the world sourced from the excess inventory of existing networks. The nature of this portfolio and the individual leases provide us long-term access to dark fiber at attractive rates and, in many cases, the opportunity to extend these leases for multiple terms. On average, a modest number of our dark fiber leases come up for renewal each year. In addition, with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we now own a nationwide domestic fiber network (the “Sprint Network”). Acquiring the Sprint Network allows us to capitalize on the benefits of owning network without significant upfront capital investment. The Sprint Network is mostly complementary to our existing leased dark fiber network, offers unique geographic routes and will allow us to reduce our reliance on leased dark fiber. This strategic combination of owned and leased dark fiber will help to ensure a robust and reliable network and enables us to connect via dark fiber to virtually any geographic route or facility we require on a long-term, cost-effective basis.
● Optical Wave Network - Acquiring the Sprint Network has also allowed us to construct a wavelength network using the predominantly owned fiber. This enables us to expand our product offerings to include optical wavelength and optical transport services. We are selling these services to our existing customers, customers acquired with the Sprint Business and to new customers who require dedicated optical transport connectivity without the capital and ongoing expenses associated with owning and operating network infrastructure. As of March 31, 2025, we offered this service in 883 data centers in the United States, Mexico and Canada. We believe our wavelength service has the advantages of unique routes, ubiquitous service locations, faster provisioning times and lower prices.
● Narrow and Focused Product Set . Since our founding, we have strategically focused on delivering a very narrow product set to our customers. The vast majority of our revenue is driven by or related to our high-capacity, bi-directional, symmetric Internet access services which can be accessed on-net in multi-tenant office buildings (“MTOBs”) and carrier neutral data centers (“CNDCs”) or off-net through other carriers’ “last mile” connections to customer facilities. The addition of optical wave and optical transport services, our direct, VPN connection to cloud providers services and our decision to continue to support MPLS virtual private network (“VPN”) services for our acquired customers are consistent with this strategy. Consistent with this strategy, we have pared, and continue to pare, non-core services acquired with the Sprint Business. There are significant cost advantages because of this narrow product set. We believe that the relative size of our salesforce training, support and overhead is lower than comparable telecom providers that tend to offer a broader, one-stop shop product set to their client base.
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● Scalable Network Equipment and Hub Configurations . We have begun the process of optimizing our network for historical IP-based Internet services and optical wave (optical transport services). This process has not altered our primary reliance on two sets of equipment for operation, nor has the addition of optical waves (optical transport services) to our product set altered this equipment configuration. In order to further scale our operating leverage, we have systematically reused older equipment in less dense portions of our network. Due to interoperability between the generations of products, we are able to transfer older equipment from our core, high-traffic areas to less congested portions of our network. The result of this dynamic grooming process is that we are able to utilize our equipment for materially longer periods than our competitors, thereby reducing our capital investment in our network. We design and build all of our network hubs, points of presence, and data centers to the same standards and configurations. This replication strategy provides us scale benefits in equipment purchases, training, and maintenance.
Greater Control and Superior Delivery . Our on-net service does not rely on circuits that must be provisioned by a third-party carrier. In our on-net MTOBs, we provide our customers the entire network, including the “last mile” and the in-building fiber optic connections to our customer’s suite. In our CNDCs, we are collocated with our customers. As a result, only a cross-connection within the data center is required to provide our services to our customers, including our newer optical wave and optical transport offerings. The structure of our on-net service provides us with more control over our service, quality and pricing. It also allows us to provision services more quickly and efficiently than provisioning services on a third-party carrier network. The vast majority of our on-net Internet and VPN services can be installed in less than two weeks, which is materially faster than the installation times for some of our incumbent competitors.
High-Quality, Reliable Service. We are able to offer high-quality Internet service due to our network design and composition. We believe that we deliver a high level of technical performance because our network is optimized for packet routed traffic. Its design increases the speed and throughput of our network and reduces the number of data packets dropped during transmission compared to traditional circuit-switched networks. We believe that our network is more reliable and carries traffic at lower cost than networks built as overlays to traditional circuit-switched, or TDM networks.
Large Addressable Market. We have systematically evaluated and chosen our network extensions to buildings, data centers and markets based upon a rigorous set of criteria to evaluate the economic opportunity of network locations. Additional factors relevant to our pursuit of new buildings include the willingness of building owners to grant us access rights, the availability of optical fiber networks to serve those buildings, the costs to connect buildings to our network and equipment availability. We have also begun to evaluate the sustainability of new locations by evaluating the LEED Green Rating of Buildings, the potential to source renewable energy at locations and the potential impact of climate change on a location including proximity to water and the risk of flooding. Our network is connected to a total of 3,500 buildings that are located in 292 metropolitan markets globally. These buildings include 1,867 large MTOBs (totaling over 1.0 billion square feet of office space) 1,668 CNDCs located in 1,453 buildings, 101 of our own Cogent data centers and 79 of our smaller Cogent edge data centers.
Our MTOB’s are in major North American cities where we offer our services to a diverse set of high-quality corporate customers within close physical proximity of each other. Our CNDCs are located in North America, Europe, South America, Oceania and Africa where our net-centric customers directly interconnect with our network. Our Cogent data centers operate across the United States and in Europe, comprise over 1.9 million square feet of floor space, offer 183 MW of power and are directly connected to our network. We believe that these network points of presence strategically position our network to attract high levels of Internet traffic and maximize our revenue opportunities and profitability.
Balanced, High-Traffic IP Network. Since its inception, our network has grown significantly in terms of its geographic reach, customer connections, and traffic. We currently serve 8,240 access networks as well as numerous large and small content providers and 45,295 corporate customer connections and 13,641 enterprise customer connections. Because of these bases of customers who distribute (content providers) and receive (access networks) content on our network, we believe that the majority of all the traffic remains “on-net” by both originating and terminating on our network. This control of traffic is an important differentiator as it increases our service reliability and speed of traffic delivery. The increasing share of traffic delivered from content providers to access networks also enhances our margins as we are compensated by both the originating customer and the terminating customer. The breadth of our network, extensive size of our customer base, and the volume of our traffic enables us to be one of a handful of Tier 1 networks that are interconnected on a settlement-free basis. This Tier 1 network peering status broadens our geographic delivery capability and materially reduces our network costs.
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Proven and Experienced Management Team . Our senior management team is composed of seasoned executives with extensive expertise in the telecommunications industry as well as knowledge of the markets in which we operate. The members of our senior management team have an average of over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and many have been working together at the Company for several years. Several members of the senior management team have been working together at the Company since 2000. Our senior management team has designed and built our network and, during our formative years, led the integration of network assets we acquired through 13 significant acquisitions prior to our acquisition of the Sprint Business and managed the expansion and growth of our business. A number of the members of senior management who joined us as part of our acquisition of the Sprint Business have similar experience and tenure in both the telecommunications industry and at the Sprint Business. We anticipate that our management team will successfully manage the integration of the Sprint Business into our current operations.
Our Strategy
We intend to remain a leading provider of high-quality, high-speed Internet access and private network services and to continue to improve our profitability and cash flow. The principal elements of our strategy include:
Grow our Corporate Customer Base. Our on-net corporate customers are typically small to medium-sized businesses connected to our network through MTOBs or connected to our network through one of our on-net CNDCs. We generally sell two types of services to our corporate customers: dedicated internet access and private network services. We typically sell dedicated internet access at the same price per connection as our competitors, but our customers benefit from our significantly faster speeds and rapid installation times. These customers are increasingly integrating off-site data centers and cloud services into their IT infrastructure in order to take advantage of the safety, security and redundancy that is offered by locating company processing power, storage and software at a data center. An important part of this new infrastructure is a high-speed, dedicated internet connection from the corporate premises to the data center and the Internet and from one corporate premises to other corporate premises. We believe that the importance of data centers will increasingly lead tenants to reconfigure their communications infrastructure to include dedicated internet access across their locations.
Expand our Business with Enterprise Customers . With our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we acquired a number of larger enterprise customers. While we are in the process of terminating certain non-core services to these customers at the end of their current term, we have continued to provide our core services to enterprise customers and elected to provide MPLS based VPN as well as VPLS services, a new service for the Company, as well. We have not previously focused our sales efforts on larger enterprise customers. Since the acquisition of the Sprint Business, we have formed dedicated sales teams who are tasked with preserving existing business with and seeking new sales from enterprise customers.
Increase our Share of the Net-Centric Market . We are currently one of the leading providers of high-speed internet access to a variety of content providers and access networks across the world. We intend to further load our high-capacity network as a result of the growing demand for high-speed Internet access generated by these types of bandwidth-intensive applications such as over-the-top media services, online gaming, video, Internet of Things, voice over IP, remote data storage, and other services. We expect that we will continue to grow our shares of these segments by offering our customers a series of attractive features including:
● Geographic breadth – We have one of the broadest CNDC footprints in the industry and currently offer network services in 57 countries – as net-centric customers seek a more international audience this footprint is a significant advantage;
● High capacity and reliability – We offer 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps ports in all of the CNDCs and 400 Gbps in selected locations on our network, which differentiates the capacity choices we provide our net-centric clients;
● Balanced customer base for IP services – Our leading share of content providers and access networks increases the amount of traffic that originates and terminates on our network thereby reducing latency and enhancing reliability;
● Large and dedicated salesforce – Our team of net-centric sales professionals is one of the largest salesforces in this industry segment and enables us to better serve this customer segment while also identifying new sales opportunities and gaining new business and customers; and
● Wave (optical transport services) - We began offering wave (optical transport services) to our net - centric customers who require these high bandwidth dedicated point - to - point services.
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Pursue On-net Customer Growth. Our high-capacity network provides us with the ability to add a significant number of customers to our network with minimal direct incremental costs. We intend to increase usage of our network and operational infrastructure by adding customers in our existing on-net buildings, as well as developing additional markets and connecting more MTOBs and CNDCs to our network. We are also upgrading our network and operational infrastructure to provide wave and optical transport services in more of our on - net buildings. We emphasize our on-net services because they generate greater profit margins and we have more control over service levels, quality and pricing, and our on-net services are provisioned in considerably less time than our off-net services. Our fiber network connects directly to our on-net customers’ premises and we pay no local access (“last mile”) charges to other carriers to provide our on-net services.
Continue to Improve our Sales Efforts and Productivity. A critical factor in our success has been our investment and focus on our sales and marketing efforts. We seek to maintain a consistent level of sales productivity as measured by the number of connections sold per salesperson per month, considering adjustments to the changing mix of products sold and installed. In order to gain market share in our targeted businesses, we expect to continue our sales efforts including introducing strategies and tools to optimize and improve our sales productivity. We also intend to leverage the skills and relationships of our sales force to sell new service offerings, in particular, optical wavelength and optical transport services. We have developed several training programs that are directed toward increasing our sales representative tenure and increasing our sales representative productivity. In addition, we have required all of our employees to work in the office on a full-time basis, thereby providing additional opportunities for management coaching and oversight in order to increase productivity.
Expand our Off-net Corporate and Enterprise Internet Access and VPN Business . We have agreements with over 725 national and international carriers providing us last mile network access to over 6 million commercial buildings that are lit by fiber optic cable in the countries we serve and that are not currently served by our network. We believe these agreements broaden our addressable market for corporate dedicated Internet access and private network services and enhances our competitive position through the ability to provide enterprise-wide connectivity for corporate customers. In order to take advantage of this large set of commercial buildings, we have developed an automated process to enable our salesforce to identify opportunities in the off-net market for dedicated Internet access and private network services and to quickly offer pricing proposals to potential customers. We continue to negotiate reduced pricing under our numerous carrier agreements that enable us to reduce our cost of off-net services, which enhances our competitive position in the marketplace.
Expand our Product Offerings to Include Wavelength - Optical Transport Services . In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we expanded our offerings of optical wavelength - optical transport services over our fiber network. We are selling these services to our existing customers, customers acquired with the Sprint Business and to new customers who require dedicated optical transport connectivity without the capital and ongoing expenses associated with owning and operating network infrastructure. We currently offer wavelength services in 883data centers in the United States, Mexico and Canada. We believe our wavelength service has the advantages of unique routes, ubiquitous service locations, faster provisioning times and lower prices.
Expand our Data Center Footprint . We currently operate a total of 180 Cogent data centers across the United States and Europe. These include 101 larger Cogent “classic” data centers and 79 smaller Cogent edge data centers As part of our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we acquired multiple Sprint facilities that previously housed Sprint equipment. We evaluated the suitability of these facilities for conversion to commercial data center space and began repurposing suitable facilities. Repurposing these facilities included removing unused, obsolete equipment and racks, and upgrading or installing new HVAC systems, uninterruptable power supplies (“UPS”), backup generators and fire suppression systems as well as other structural changes. By March 31, 2025, we had converted the former Sprint facilities into 52 Cogent data centers and 79 Cogent edge data centers. In connection with this conversion process, we are decommissioning certain legacy Cogent data centers.
Increase our Leasing of IPv4 Address Space . We lease IPv4 address space to our customers, both on a standalone basis and as a complement to a customer’s Internet access services with us. We provide a small number of free IPv4 addresses to our dedicated Internet access customers as well. We currently own approximately 38 million IPv4 addresses, of which 9.9 million were recently acquired at the closing of the Sprint Business acquisition. We currently lease 12.9 million of our IPv4 addresses to our customers on contracts with service terms ranging from one month to five years. We intend to continue to lease IPv4 addresses to our customers as well as explore alternatives for monetizing our IPv4 address inventory.
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Results of Operations
Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to the Three Months Ended March 31, 2024
Our management reviews and analyzes several key financial measures in order to manage our business and assess the quality and variability of our service revenue, operating results and cash flows. The following summary tables present a comparison of our results of operations with respect to certain key financial measures. The comparisons illustrated in the tables are discussed in greater detail below.
Three Months Ended
March 31,
Percent
2025
2024
Change
(in thousands)
Service revenue
$
247,048
$
266,168
(7.2)
%
Network operations expenses (1)
137,439
168,933
(18.6)
%
Selling, general, and administrative (“SG&A) expenses (2)
73,863
76,696
(3.7)
%
Sprint acquisition costs
—
9,037
NM
%
Depreciation and amortization expenses
76,038
70,891
(1.1)
%
Reduction to gain on bargain purchase – Sprint Business
—
5,470
NM
Interest income – IP Transit Services Agreement
4,686
7,330
(36.1)
%
Interest expense, including change in valuation interest rate swap agreement
34,216
29,162
17.3
%
Income tax benefit
18,220
19,127
(4.7)
%
(1) Includes non-cash equity-based compensation expenses of $490 and $385 in the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
(2) Includes non-cash equity-based compensation expenses of $7,523 and $6,565 in the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
NM – not meaningful
Service Revenue . We continually work to grow our total service revenue by increasing the number of potential customers that we can reach on our network. We do this by investing capital to expand the geographic footprint of our network, increasing the number of buildings that we are connected to, including CNDCs and MTOBs, and increasing our penetration rate into our existing buildings. These efforts broaden the global reach of our network and increase the size of our potential addressable market. We also seek to grow our service revenue by investing in our sales and marketing team. We typically sell corporate connections at similar pricing to our competitors, but our customers benefit from our significantly faster speeds, greater aggregate throughput, enhanced service level agreements and rapid installation times. In the net-centric market, we offer comparable services in terms of capacity but typically at significantly lower prices.
Our service revenue decreased by 7.2% from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025. Exchange rates positively impacted our service revenue by $0.2 million. All foreign currency comparisons herein reflect results for the three months ended March 31, 2025 translated at the average foreign currency exchange rates for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Our total service revenue decreased from the cancellation of low margin and non-core customers we acquired with the Sprint Business, and a reduction in revenue under the Commercial Agreement with TMUSA, partially offset by the growth in customers from expanding our network, adding additional buildings to our network, increasing our penetration into the buildings connected to our network and gaining market share by offering our services at lower prices than our competitors.
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Revenue recognition standards include guidance relating to any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer and may include, but is not limited to, gross receipts taxes, Universal Service Fund fees and certain state regulatory fees. We record these taxes billed to our customers on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) in our condensed consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The impact of these taxes including the Universal Service Fund resulted in a decrease to our revenues of $0.3 million from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Three Months Ended
March 31,
Percent
2025
2024
Change
Other Operating Data
Revenue by Customer Type – (thousands)
Corporate
$
110,686
$
124,864
(11.4)
%
Net-centric
92,615
91,979
0.7
%
Enterprise
43,747
49,325
(11.3)
%
Customer Connections by Customer Type - end of period
Corporate
45,295
51,821
(12.6)
%
Net-centric
61,795
61,599
0.3
%
Enterprise
13,641
19,463
(29.9)
%
Revenue – by Network Connection Type – (thousands)
On-net
$
129,628
$
138,624
(6.5)
%
Off-net
107,274
118,178
(9.2)
%
Wavelength
7,119
3,327
114.0
%
Non-core
3,027
6,039
(49.9)
%
Customer Connections – by Network Connection Type - end of period
On-net
86,781
87,574
(0.9)
%
Off-net
27,508
34,579
(20.4)
%
Wavelength
1,322
693
90.8
%
Non-core
5,120
10,037
(49.0)
%
Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU)
ARPU on-net
$
496
$
525
(5.6)
%
ARPU off-net
1,266
1,106
14.5
%
ARPU wavelength
1,945
1,638
18.7
%
Average Price per Megabit installed base
0.20
0.26
(25.1)
%
Revenue and customer connections by customer type . Our corporate customers generally purchase their services on a price per connection basis. Our net-centric customers generally purchase their services on a price per megabit-metered basis. We began to serve enterprise customers in connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business. We define “enterprise” customers as large corporations (typically, Fortune 500 companies with greater than $5 billion in annual revenue) running Wide Area Networks (“WAN”) with several dozen to several hundred sites. Our enterprise customers generally purchase our services on a price per location basis.
On the Closing Date, we acquired 17,823 corporate customer connections, 5,711 net-centric customer connections and 23,209 enterprise customer connections with the Sprint Business. We classified the $39.5 million of May 2023 Sprint Business revenue as $20.1 million of monthly recurring revenue as enterprise revenue, $12.9 million of monthly recurring revenue as corporate revenue and $6.5 million of monthly recurring revenue as net-centric revenue.
Revenues from our corporate, net-centric and enterprise customers represented 44.8%, 37.5% and 17.7% of total service revenue, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and represented 46.9%, 34.6% and 18.5% of total service revenue, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
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Our revenue from our corporate customers decreased primarily due to cancellations of low margin and non-core corporate customers acquired with the Sprint Business. Our corporate customers take advantage of our superior speeds, greater aggregate throughput, service levels and installation times versus our competitors During the three months ended March 31, 2025, we continued to see declining vacancy rates compared to their peak during the COVID-19 pandemic and rising office occupancy rates in certain markets in which we operate continuing a trend that began following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other markets, particularly those in California, Washington D.C. and the Pacific Northwest, continue to see markedly higher vacancy rates. These higher vacancy rates may represent a long-term change in office attendance and occupancy rates in these markets. Despite this overall environment, we are seeing some positive trends in our corporate business. As the option to fully or partially work from home becomes permanently established at many companies, our corporate customers are integrating some of the new applications that became part of the remote work environment, which benefits our corporate business as these customers upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections. Further, if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which we operate, we believe it will present an opportunity for increased sales. However, the exact timing and path of these positive trends remains uncertain.
Our revenue from our net-centric customers increased, primarily due to growth in network traffic from our legacy net-centric customers partly offset by a reduction in revenue under the Commercial Agreement with TMUSA and from net-centric customers acquired with the Sprint Business. Our net-centric customers purchase our services on a price per megabit basis. The net-centric market exhibits significant pricing pressure due to the continued introduction of new technology, which lowers the marginal cost of transmission and routing, and the commodity nature of the service where price is typically the only differentiating factor for these customers. Our average price per megabit of our installed base of customers decreased by 25.1% from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025. The impact of foreign exchange rates has a more significant impact on our net-centric revenues.
Our revenue from our enterprise customers decreased primarily due to a reduction in revenue from low-margin and non-core enterprise customers acquired with the Sprint Business. Service revenue classified as on-net revenue and enterprise revenue from a low margin resale customer acquired in connection with the Sprint Business was $5.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The resale customer cancelled its service on July 31, 2024.
Revenue and customer connections by network connection type. On the Closing Date, we classified the total $39.5 million of monthly Sprint Business revenue as $2.5 million of on-net revenue, $32.3 million of off-net revenue and $4.7 million of non-core revenue. Additionally, on the Closing Date, we classified the total 46,743 Sprint Business customer connections as 1,560 on-net customer connections, 24,667 off-net customer connections and 20,516 non-core customer connections.
Revenues from our on-net, off-net, wavelength and non-core customers represented 52.5%, 43.4%, 2.9% and 1.2% of total service revenue, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and represented 52.1%, 44.4%, 1.2% and 2.3% of total service revenue, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
Our on-net revenues increased from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025, primarily from customers acquired with the Sprint Business and an increase in revenues from our legacy Cogent customers, partially offset by cancellation of service from one customer. Service revenue classified as on-net revenue and enterprise revenue from a low margin resale customer acquired in connection with the Sprint Business was $5.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The resale customer cancelled its service on July 31, 2024.
Our off-net revenues decreased from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025 primarily from cancellations of low-margin off-net customers and off-net customers in unlicensed markets that we acquired with the Sprint Business.
In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we expanded our offerings of optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network. Wavelength revenue was $7.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $3.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
Our non-core revenues decreased from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025 from the cancellation of non-core revenues acquired in the Sprint Business. Non-core services are services, which we acquired and continue to support but do not actively sell.
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Network Operations Expenses. Network operations expenses include the costs of personnel associated with service delivery, network management and customer support, network facilities costs, right-of-way fees, fiber and equipment maintenance fees, leased circuit costs, access and facilities fees paid to building owners and excise taxes billed to our customers and recorded on a gross basis. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in network operations expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. Our 18.6% decrease in network operations expense is primarily attributable to our efforts to reduce the network operations costs related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business. These costs primarily include leased circuit costs, including the reduction of the related “tail-circuit” costs for the reduction in off-net revenue and facilities costs.
Selling, General, and Administrative (“SG&A”) Expenses. Our SG&A expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, decreased by 3.7% from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025. Our decrease in SG&A operations expense is primarily attributable to our efforts to reduce SG&A costs related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business. These costs primarily include compensation and related costs and third-party services costs. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in SG&A expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation.
Acquisition-Related Costs. In connection with the Transaction and negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred cumulative professional fees, other acquisition related costs totaling $42.1 million, including $28.6 million of reimbursed severance costs. Such fees totaled $9.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. There were no acquisition related costs recorded in the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Depreciation and Amortization Expenses. Our depreciation and amortization expense increased by 7.3% primarily due to the depreciation expense associated assets acquired with the Sprint Business and an increase in deployed fixed assets.
Reduction to Gain on Bargain Purchase. We accounted for the Transaction as a business combination. The identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed were recorded at their fair values as of the acquisition date. Assigning fair market values to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the date of an acquisition requires the use of significant judgment regarding estimates and assumptions. In the three months ended March 31, 2024 we reduced the gain on bargain purchase by $5.5 million. The total bargain purchase gain from the Transaction was $1.4 billion.
Interest Income - IP Transit Services Agreement . Under the IP Transit Services Agreement TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months. The IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount of $79.6 million. The amortization of the discount resulted in interest income of $4.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $7.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
Interest Expense. Our interest expense resulted from interest incurred on our $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 3.50% Senior Secured Notes due 2026 that we issued in May 2021 (the “2026 Notes”), interest incurred on our $450.0 million aggregate principal amount of 7.00% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2027 that we issued in June 2022 (the “2027 Notes”), interest incurred on $206.0 million aggregate principal amount of 7.924% IPv4 secured notes that we issued in May 2024 (the “IPv4 Notes”), interest incurred on our $300.0 million aggregate principal amount of 7.00% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2027 that we issued in June 2024 (the “2027 Mirror Notes”) and interest on our Swap Agreement and interest incurred on our finance lease obligations.
As of March 31, 2025, the fair value of our Swap Agreement was a net liability of $22.5 million Changes in the valuation of the Swap Agreement are related changes in interest rates and are included in interest expense. Our interest expense increased by 17.3% from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025, primarily due to the issuance of our IPv4 Notes in May 2024 and the issuance of our 2027 Mirror Notes in June 2024.
Income Tax Benefit. Our income tax benefit was $18.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $19.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The change in our income tax benefit is primarily related to projected operating results related to the Sprint Business acquisition and the reversal of deferred tax liabilities acquired with the Sprint Business.
Buildings On-net. As of March 31, 2025 and 2024, we had a total of 3,500 and 3,321 on-net buildings connected to our network, respectively. The increase in our on-net buildings was a result of our disciplined network expansion program. We anticipate adding a similar number of buildings to our network for the next several years.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Acquisition of Sprint Communications – Cash Flow
The Sprint Business’s cash flow was negative at the time of negotiations and during its recent history. Due to the dire financial condition of the Sprint Business, it was understood that a payment from T-Mobile to any potential buyer would be required to execute a transaction to give a buyer sufficient cash inflow to offset losses that would be expected until a buyer could optimize the business. Based on management’s internal modeling at the culmination of the due diligence process, management determined this cash payment to be $700.0 million. Management intends to reduce the negative cash flow of the Sprint Business through the payments from the IP Transit Services Agreement, reducing operating costs and increasing revenue primarily by providing optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network, including the owned network we acquired with the Sprint Business. We are selling these services to our existing customers, customers we acquired with the Sprint Business and to new customers who require dedicated optical transport connectivity without the capital and ongoing expenses associated with owning and operating network infrastructure. As part of the Transaction, we began incurring costs associated with the TSA. The amount of these costs will be dependent upon our ability to integrate the operations of the Sprint Business into our operations. Our cash flow requirements related to the acquisition of the Sprint Business will be dependent upon our ability to reduce the acquired operating costs, our success in retaining the acquired customers and our ability to sell optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network.
Under the IP Transit Services Agreement, TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. Through March 31, 2025, we received monthly payments totaling $433.3 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement, reflected as cash flows from investing activities in our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows. As our business has grown as a result of an increasing customer base, the Transaction, broader geographic coverage and increased traffic on our network, we have historically produced a growing level of cash provided by operating activities. Since we closed the Transaction we have experienced a reduction of cash provided by operating activities from the impact of the Transaction. The cash received from the IP Transit Services Agreement was designed to offset operating losses associated with the Sprint Business. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities is, in part, dependent upon our ability to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its revenue, expanding our geographic footprint and increasing our network capacity.
During the first three months of 2025, we have received a total of $25.0 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement. During the remainder of 2025 we expect to receive a total of $75.0 million under the monthly payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement. This includes nine monthly payments of $8.3 million each. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities is, in part, dependent upon our ability to continue to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its profitable revenue.
Issuance of $174.4 Million New IPv4 Notes
On April 11, 2025 (the “Closing Date”), Cogent IPv4 LLC (the “IPv4 Issuer”), a special-purpose, bankruptcy remote, indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, completed the issuance of $174.4 million aggregate principal amount of 6.646% secured IPv4 address revenue notes, Series 2025-1 Class A-2 (collectively, the “New IPv4 Notes”), with an anticipated term ending in April 2030 (such anticipated repayment date, the “ARD”), in an offering exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The New IPv4 Notes were issued pursuant to an indenture, dated as of May 2, 2024 (as amended and supplemented to date, the “Base Indenture”), entered into by and between the IPv4 Issuer and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as the indenture trustee (the “Trustee”), as supplemented by the Series 2025-1 Supplement thereto, dated as of the Closing Date (the “Series 2025-1 Supplement”), by and between the IPv4 Issuer and the Trustee, and as acknowledged by the Guarantor (as defined below). The Base Indenture allows the IPv4 Issuer to issue additional series of notes subject to certain conditions set forth therein, and the Base Indenture, together with the Series 2024-1 Supplement thereto, dated as of May 2, 2024, and the Series 2025-1 Supplement, and any other series supplements to the Base Indenture, is referred to as the “Indenture.”
While the New IPv4 Notes are outstanding, scheduled payments of interest are required to be made on a monthly basis. From and after the ARD, principal payments will also be required to be made on the New IPv4 Notes on a monthly basis. No principal payments will be due on the New IPv4 Notes prior to the ARD, unless certain rapid amortization or acceleration triggers are activated.
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The legal final maturity date of the New IPv4 Notes is in April of 2055. If the IPv4 Issuer has not repaid or refinanced any New IPv4 Note prior to the monthly payment date in April of 2030, additional interest will accrue thereon in an amount equal to the greater of (i) 5.0% per annum and (ii) the excess amount, if any, by which the sum of the following exceeds the interest rate for such New IPv4 Note: (A) the yield to maturity (adjusted to a “mortgage-equivalent basis” pursuant to the standards and practices of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) on the ARD for such New IPv4 Note of the United States Treasury Security having a remaining term closest to 10 years; plus (B) 5.0%; plus (C) the post-ARD note spread of 3.00% applicable to such New IPv4 Note.
Collateral and Guarantee
The New IPv4 Notes are obligations only of the IPv4 Issuer pursuant to the Indenture, and are secured by a security interest in substantially all of the Internet Protocol version 4 (“IPv4”) addresses (the “Contributed IP Addresses”), customer IPv4 address leases, customer accounts receivable and other IPv4 address assets (collectively, “IPv4 Address Assets”) pursuant to the Indenture. The New IPv4 Notes are guaranteed by Cogent IPv4 Holdco LLC, a special-purpose entity and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Guarantor”), pursuant to a guaranty, dated as of May 2, 2024 (the “Guaranty”) by the Guarantor in favor of the Trustee, pursuant to which the Guarantor has granted a security interest in the equity interests of the IPv4 Issuer as collateral security for its obligations under the Guaranty. Except as described below, neither the Company nor any subsidiary of the Company, other than the IPv4 Issuer and the Guarantor, will guarantee or in any way be liable for the obligations of the IPv4 Issuer under the Indenture or the New IPv4 Notes.
Covenants and Restrictions
The New IPv4 Notes are subject to a series of covenants and restrictions customary for transactions of this type. These covenants and restrictions include (i) that the IPv4 Issuer maintains a liquidity reserve account to be used to make required payments in respect of the New IPv4 Notes, (ii) provisions relating to optional and mandatory prepayments, including specified make-whole payments in the case of certain optional prepayments of the New IPv4 Notes prior to the monthly payment date in May of 2028, (iii) certain indemnification payments in the event, among other things, that the transfers of the assets pledged as collateral for the New IPv4 Notes are in stated ways defective or ineffective and (iv) covenants relating to recordkeeping, access to information and similar matters. As provided in the Base Indenture, the New IPv4 Notes are also subject to rapid amortization in the event of a failure to maintain a stated debt service coverage ratio. A rapid amortization may be cured if the debt service coverage ratio exceeds a certain threshold for a certain period of time, upon which cure, regular amortization, if any, will resume. In addition, if certain utilization thresholds are not met (i.e., the proportion of IPv4 addresses that are leased to the total number of IPv4 addresses owned by the IPv4 Issuer falls below certain thresholds), the IPv4 Issuer will be required to apply collections to the repayment of the New IPv4 Notes and, in certain circumstances, the noteholders will have the ability to direct a sale of the IPv4 Address Assets, in whole or in part, pursuant to the terms set forth in the Indenture. The New IPv4 Notes are also subject to certain customary events of default, including events relating to non-payment of required interest, principal or other amounts due on or with respect to the New IPv4 Notes, failure to comply with covenants within certain time frames, certain bankruptcy events, breaches of specified representations and warranties, failure of security interests to be effective and certain judgments.
Supplement to Base Indenture
In connection with the issuance of the New IPv4 Notes, the IPv4 Issuer obtained consents from noteholders representing more than 50% of the Voting Rights (as defined in the Base Indenture) of the secured IPv4 address revenue term notes, Series 2024-1 Class A-2, to adopt amendments to the Base Indenture to, among other things, permit the IPv4 Issuer to (i) issue additional Class A Notes (as defined in the Base Indenture) (provided that the Class A Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Base Indenture) is less than or equal to 7.25 to 1.00) (as opposed to 6.10 to 1.00 under the Base Indenture as previously in effect), (ii) dispose of IPv4 addresses owned by the IPv4 Issuer (provided that the pro forma Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Base Indenture) is less than or equal to 7.25 to 1.00) (as opposed to the greater of (x) 7.10 to 1.00 and (y) the Leverage Ratio as of the date of the most recent issuance of Additional Notes (as defined in the Base Indenture) (after giving effect to the issuance of such Additional Notes) under the Base Indenture as previously in effect) and (iii) substitute new IPv4 addresses (including Non-Contributed IP Addresses (as defined in the Base Indenture)) to be owned by the IPv4 Issuer for the Contributed IP Addresses then owned by the IPv4 Issuer (provided that the pro forma Leverage Ratio is not greater than 7.25 to 1.00) (as opposed to 6.10 to 1.00 under the Base Indenture as previously in effect), in each case, among other applicable requirements (collectively, the “Amendments”). Accordingly, on the Closing Date, prior to the issuance of the New IPv4 Notes, the IPv4 Issuer entered into a second amendment to the Base Indenture (the “Second Amendment”) with the Trustee giving effect to the Amendments.
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Liquidity and cash obligations
In assessing our liquidity, management reviews and analyzes our current cash balances, payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, capital expenditure commitments, and required finance lease and debt payments and other obligations.
We have had increasing success in raising capital by issuing notes and arranging financing and entering into leases that have had a lower cost and more flexible terms. The combination of our operating performance and access to capital has enhanced our financial flexibility and increased our ability to make distributions to stockholders in the form of cash dividends or through share repurchases. Since our initial public offering, we have returned $1.6 billion to our stockholders through share repurchases and dividends. We will continue to assess our capital and liquidity needs and, where appropriate, return capital to stockholders.
Over the next several years, we have significant contractual and anticipated cash outlays including our indicative dividend payments on our common stock, our maturing debt obligations, interest payments on our debt obligations and Swap Agreement and our projected capital expenditure requirements in order to help execute our business plan including the integration of Sprint Business. Based upon the historical growth rate of our dividend, we expect that we would have to provide approximately $397 million in order to meet our expected quarterly dividend payments over the next two years. Our $500.0 million of 2026 Notes accrue interest at 3.50%, mature in May 2026 and include annual interest payments of $17.5 million until maturity. Our $450.0 million of 2027 Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $31.5 million until maturity. Our $300.0 million of 2027 Mirror Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $21.0 million until maturity. Our $206.0 million of IPv4 Notes effectively mature in May 2029 and include annual interest payments of $16.3 million until maturity (which amount increases if the IPv4 Notes are not repaid prior to May 2029). Our $174.4 million of New IPv4 Notes effectively mature in April 2030 and include annual interest payments of $11.6 million until maturity (which amount increases if the New IPv4 Notes are not repaid prior to April 2030).
Under our Swap Agreement, we pay the counterparty a semi-annual payment based upon overnight SOFR plus a contractual interest rate spread, and the counterparty pays us a semi-annual fixed 3.50% interest payment. These settlement payments are made in November and May of each year until the Swap Agreement expires in February 2026. As of March 31, 2025, $22.5 million of our cash and cash equivalents are restricted for use under our Swap Agreement. We have made a $23.6 million deposit with the counterparty to the Swap Agreement. If the fair value of the Swap Agreement exceeds a net liability of $23.6 million, we will be required to deposit additional funds with the counterparty equal to the net liability fair value. As of March 31, 2025, $22.5 million of the deposit was restricted and $1.1 million was unrestricted.
In June 2024, we elected to exercise a contractual option to prepay in full at a 12.0% discounted rate an IRU finance lease agreement between us and a vendor we assumed with the Sprint Business for $114.6 million. At the payment date, the present value of the IRU finance lease liability was $117.9 million and the remaining thirty-one $4.2 million monthly principal payments totaled $130.2 million. The prepayment resulted in a gain on lease termination of $3.3 million related to the difference between the book value of $117.9 million and the cash payment of $114.6 million. We are continuing to use the related IRU asset.
We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into interest rate swap agreements, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material. We or our affiliates may, at any time and from time to time, seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through cash purchases and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases or exchanges, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.
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In light of the economic uncertainties associated with the global economy, including due to the impact from tariffs and trade restrictions, the cash flow requirements of the Sprint Business, the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent bank failures and liquidity concerns at certain other banks, our executive officers and Board of Directors have continued to carefully monitor our liquidity and cash requirements. Based on current circumstances, we currently plan to continue our current dividend policy. Given uncertainties regarding the potential impact of tariffs and trade restrictions, the global economy, lingering business impact of the pandemic, and the cash flow requirements of the Sprint Business, we will continue to monitor our capital spending. As we do each year, we will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will adjust our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors.
As of March 31, 2025, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $184.0 million. The net proceeds, of the New IPv4 Notes, after offering expenses were $170.5 million. At the Closing Date $72.6 million of the $170.5 million net proceeds were restricted and $97.9 million of the net proceeds were unrestricted. The restricted net proceeds will become available based upon improvements in our monthly leverage ratio and our debt service coverage ratio (as defined in the Base Indenture) under our combined $380.4 million of IPv4 notes.
We believe we are able to timely service our debt obligations and will not require any concessions to do so. We believe we will have access to additional capital from a variety of sources and the public capital markets for debt and equity.
Continued Impact of Changing Office Occupancy Rates
While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in the markets in which they are located, and that most employers will eventually require their employees to return to their offices on at least a hybrid basis, the timing and scope of a return to office, particularly in a number of key markets we serve, remains uncertain. In some markets, office occupancy rates may never return to pre-2020 levels. As a result, we may continue to experience increased customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities. These trends may negatively impact our revenue growth, cash flows and profitability.
Cash Flows
The following table sets forth our consolidated cash flows.
Three Months Ended March 31,
(in thousands)
2025
2024
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
36,351
$
19,219
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities
(33,088)
50,951
Net cash used in financing activities
(57,015)
(23,549)
Effect of exchange rates changes on cash
9,806
2,872
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash
$
(43,946)
$
49,493
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities. Our primary source of operating cash is receipts from our customers who are billed on a monthly basis for our services. Our primary uses of operating cash are payments made to our vendors, payments under the TSA, payments to employees and interest payments made to our finance lease vendors and our note holders. Our changes in cash provided by operating activities are primarily due to changes in our operating profit and changes in our interest payments. On the Closing Date, we entered into a TSA with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller will provide to us, and we will provide to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, Transition Services to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice.
During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, we were billed $0.4 million and $16.7 million as due to the Seller under the TSA, respectively. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, we paid $0.7 million and $78.5 million to the Seller under the TSA, respectively. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, we billed the Seller $15,126 and $0.5 million as due from the Seller under the TSA, respectively. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, the Seller paid us $76,870 and $0.5 million under the TSA, respectively. As of March 31, 2025, we owed $0.2 million to the Seller under the TSA. As of December 31, 2024, we owed $0.5 million to the Seller and the Seller owed $0.1 million to us under the TSA. Amounts recorded and paid as due to the Seller under the TSA resulted in a use of cash in operating activities of $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $61.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024.
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Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Investing Activities. Our primary use of cash for investing activities is for purchases of property and equipment. Purchases of property and equipment were $58.1 million and $40.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The changes in purchases of property and equipment were primarily due to the timing and scope of our network expansion and reconfiguration activities including geographic expansion, purchases related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business, costs associated with providing wave services, conversion costs related to acquired data centers and adding buildings to our network.
On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 we were paid $25.0 million and $87.5 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement, respectively.
Net Cash Used in Financing Activities. Our primary uses of cash for financing activities are for dividend payments, purchases of our common stock and principal payments under our finance lease obligations. Our primary sources of cash for financing activities are issuances of note obligations. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 we paid $0.5 million and $49.1 million for our quarterly dividend payments, respectively. Our first quarter 2024 dividend payment totaling $45.8 million was paid in April 2024 and accrued at March 31, 2024. Our quarterly dividends payments have increased due to increases in our quarterly dividend per share amounts. Principal payments under our finance lease obligations were $8.0 million and $23.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Changes in our principal payments under our finance lease obligations were primarily due to the timing and extent of our network expansion and reconfiguration activities including geographic expansion, purchases related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business associated with providing wave services and adding buildings to our network.
Cash Position and Indebtedness
At March 31, 2025, our total indebtedness, at par, was $2.0 billion and our total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash ($30.2 million) was $184.0 million. Our total indebtedness at March 31, 2025 includes $568.5 million of finance lease obligations for dark fiber under long-term IRU agreements.
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Summarized Financial Information of Holdings
Neither Holdings nor any of its subsidiaries that is not also a subsidiary of Group is a “Restricted Subsidiary” as defined under the indentures governing our 2026 Notes, our 2027 Notes or our 2027 Mirror Notes (the “Indentures”). Holdings is a guarantor under these notes, but none of its subsidiaries that is not also a subsidiary of Group is a guarantor under these notes. Under the Indentures, we are required to disclose certain reasonably related information of Holdings and its subsidiaries that is not attributable to Group and its subsidiaries, relating to Holdings’ assets, liabilities and operating results (“Holdings Financial Information”). The Holdings Financial Information as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2025 is detailed below (in thousands):
As of March 31, 2025
Cash and cash equivalents
$
20,616
Restricted cash
7,651
Accounts receivable, net
6,197
Other current assets
11,892
Total current assets
46,356
Property and equipment, net
256,702
Right-of-use leased assets
28,332
Intangible assets, net
17,886
Deposits and other assets
8,817
Due from T-Mobile - Purchase Agreement
22,785
Total assets
$
380,878
Accounts payable
$
16,104
Accrued and other liabilities
34,498
Due to T-Mobile – TSA
218
Operating lease liabilities, current maturities
43,004
Total current liabilities
93,824
Operating lease liabilities
206,726
Due to Cogent Communications LLC
603,875
Senior secured IPv4 Notes
199,619
Deferred income tax liabilities
428,972
Other long-term liabilities
18,611
Total liabilities
1,551,627
Total stockholders’ deficit
(1,170,749)
Total liabilities and stockholders’ deficit
$
380,878
Three Months Ended
March 31, 2025
Service revenue
$
12,478
Operating expenses:
Network operations
18,289
Selling, general, and administrative
17,818
Equity-based compensation expense
9,297
Depreciation and amortization
35,626
Total operating expenses
81,030
Operating loss
(68,552)
Interest expense
(4,402)
Interest income - Purchase Agreement
425
Interest income and other, net
(2,619)
Net loss
$
(75,148)
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Common Stock Buyback Program
Our Board of Directors has approved purchases of shares of our common stock under a buyback program (the “Buyback Program”). There were no purchases of our common stock in the three months ended March 31, 2025 or March 31, 2024. As of March 31, 2025, there was a total of $22.4 million available under the Buyback Program that is authorized to continue through December 31, 2025.
In April 2025, we purchased 94,856 shares of our common stock for $5.0 million at an average price of $53.07 per share under the Buyback Program.
Dividends on Common Stock and Return of Capital Program
On May 7, 2025, our Board of Directors approved the payment of our quarterly dividend of $1.01 per common share. This estimated $48.2 million dividend payment is expected to be made on June 6, 2025.
The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital, including stock buybacks, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon our financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under our debt indentures and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We are a Delaware corporation and under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, distributions may be restricted including a restriction that distributions, including stock purchases and dividends, do not result in an impairment of a corporation’s capital, as defined under Delaware law. The indentures governing our notes limit our ability to return cash to our stockholders. See Note 3 of our interim condensed consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of limitations on distributions.
Future Capital Requirements
We believe that our cash on hand and cash generated from our operating activities and cash from the IP Transit Services Agreement will be adequate to meet our working capital, capital expenditure, debt service, dividend payments and other cash requirements for the next 12 months and beyond the next 12 months if we execute our business plan.
Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. In addition, our 2026 Notes will mature in May 2026. At that time or earlier, we may elect to refinance or repay our 2026 Notes which may require us to issue additional indebtedness. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, reduce our planned dividend payments, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.
We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. As such, we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.
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Critical Accounting Estimates
Management believes that as of March 31, 2025, there have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and significant estimates from those listed in Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Management believes that as of March 31, 2025, there have been no material changes to our exposures to market risk from those disclosed in Item 7A “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.