Title: JP Morgan
1Scott Ford President Chief Executive Officer
- JP Morgan
- 32nd Annual Technology Telecom Conference
- San Francisco, CA
- May 4, 2004
2Safe Harbor Statement
- This presentation includes certain estimates and
other forward-looking statements, including
statements with respect to anticipated operating
and financial performance, growth opportunities
and growth rates, acquisition and divestiture
opportunities, and other statements of
expectation. Words such as expects,
anticipates, intends, plans, believes,
assumes, seeks, estimates, and should,
and variations of these words and similar
expressions, are intended to identify these
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are subject to uncertainties that
could cause actual future performance, outcomes
and results to differ materially. These
statements by the Company and its management are
based on estimates, projections, beliefs and
assumptions of management and are not guarantees
of future performance. The company disclaims any
obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statement based on the occurrence
of future events, the receipt of new information,
or otherwise.
3Regulation G Disclaimer
- Todays presentation will include certain
non-GAAP financial measures. I refer you to the
Investor Relations section of ALLTELs Web site
where the company has posted additional
information regarding these non-GAAP financial
measures, including a reconciliation of each such
measure to the most directly comparable GAAP
measure. The companys Web site is located at
www.alltel.com.
4Agenda
- Industry Perspective
- Strategic Model
- Track Record of Financial Performance
- Track Record of Shareholder Returns
- Wireless Business 1Q 04 Results
- Wireline Business 1Q 04 Results
- Summary Why Invest in ALLTEL
5Industry PerspectiveWireless and Broadband are
the Growth Drivers in Telecom
Customer Lines (M)
Sources FCC, CTIA, NCTA, Telecomweb, UBS,
Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch.
6Strategic Model Access is KeyPositions ALLTEL
for Telecom Industry Evolution and Shareholder
Value
- OPERATIONAL FOCUS
- Point of Sale Experience
- Customer Service Experience
- Network Quality Experience
- FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE
- Invest in Businesses Not Products
- Best Customer/Best Price
- Stay Relevant
- OPPORTUNISTIC GROWTH
- Focus on Free Cash Flow
- Operational Fit
- Think Long-Term (5 years)
7Strategic ModelDisciplined Approach to
Transactions to Better Position the Business
- 1998 360 Communications - 6.1B
- Added 2.6M wireless customers
- 1999 Aliant Communications and Liberty Cellular
- 2.4B - Added 300K access lines and 440K wireless
customers - 2000 Verizon Property Swap and Roaming Deal -
600M - Added 700K net wireless customers
- 2002 Verizon Kentucky Wireline - 1.9B
- Added 600K access lines
- 2002 CenturyTel Wireless Business - 1.6B
- Added 700K wireless customers
- 2003 Sale of Information Services business to
Fidelity National - 1.05B
Transaction Strategy Has Improved the Business Mix
8Strong Balance SheetALLTEL Has One of the
Strongest Credit Profiles in the Telecom Industry
- Well capitalized balance sheet
- A1 / Prime-1 / F1 Commercial Paper ratings
- A / A2 / A long-term credit ratings
- Net Debt / OIBDA 1.3X(1)
- Net Debt / Total Cap 34
Source Wall Street equity research and company
filings. Note Assumes 80 equity credit for AT,
CZN and CTL Equity Units SP / Moodys / Fitch,
respectively. (1) From current businesses as of
4Q03 OIBDA defined as operating income before
depreciation and amortization.
9Track Record of Results Strategic Model Driving
Consistent Growth
Operating Income Before Depreciation and
Amortization (bn)1
Revenue (bn)1
CAGR 8.6
CAGR 9.3
Dividends per Share
Earnings per Share1
CAGR 3.4
CAGR 7.0
1 From Current Businesses
10Track Record of Results Strategic Model Driving
Strong and Growing Equity Free Cash Flow
Over 1B in Equity Free Cash Flow in 2003
Millions
of Revenues
CAGR 17.6
1
1 From Current Businesses
11Track Record of Results Strategic Model
Generating Leading Total Returns(1)
Rank
5 Year
3 Year
1 Year
1 3 5 4 2
1 4 5 3 2
3 2 5 1 4
ALLTEL BellSouth SBC Sprint Verizon
Note (1) Total return based on stock price
appreciation and dividends Source FactSet
database
12Track Record of Results Disciplined Approach to
Return of Capital
- Quarterly dividends have been raised for 43
consecutive years - 3 yield
- Recently announced 750MM share buyback program
- 5 of shares outstanding
- Authorizes repurchase over period ending 12/31/05
- As of March 31, 2004
- Repurchased 4.8M shares 243M
- Completed 1/3 of the Repurchase Plan
13Increased the Mix to 59 WirelessAn Integrated
Telecom Company With the Highest Wireless
Contribution
2003 ALLTEL
Integrated Telecom Companies
2003 Wireless Rev as of Total Rev
(1) 58 48 36 33 32
1Q 04 Wireless Rev as of Total Rev
(1) 59 51 39 36 32
Revenue
OIBDA
Company Name ALLTEL Sprint BellSouth(2) Ve
rizon SBC(2)
2003 OIBDA 3.2B
2003 Revenue 8.0B
Business is well positioned for growth and free
cash flow
(1) Source Analyst and company reports (2)
Includes prorata share of AWE 2003 revenue
assuming no divestitures.
14Wireless BusinessA Closer Look at the Business
and 1Q 04 Highlights
- As of 3/31/04
- 61 million POPs
- 8.2 million customers
- Customer Mix
- Tier 1 - 36
- Tier 2 - 34
- Tier 3 - 30
- 1Q 04 Highlights
- 1Q 04 YOY
- Service revenue 1.12B 7
- Retail service rev. 1.03B 8
- ARPU 45.96 1
- RRPU 42.56 2
- Gross adds 737K 12
- Post-pay churn 1.93 (11)
- Net Adds 158K 226
Wireless
15Wireless BusinessNational Plans and MOU Growth
Driving RRPU
of Gross Adds on Total/National Freedom Rate
Plans
Strong National plan sales and MOU growth driving
RRPU
16Wireless BusinessData Usage Continues to Grow
- Data Revenue Being Driven By
- Application Downloads
- Ringtones
- Text Messaging
Wireless Data Revenue as of ARPU
163 Increase YOY
- 2004 Plans
- Further expand 1X data footprint
- Launch EV-DO in several markets by year-end
17Wireless BusinessQuantity and Quality of Gross
Adds are Improving
Gross Adds Quarter Over Quarter in thousands
Best Gross Add quarter in company history
On a relative basis ALLTEL is capturing its fair
share of gross adds
12 Increase YOY
1Q04 Gross Adds Per 1K Pops (1)
Post Pay as Percentage of Total Gross
13 Increase YOY
The quantity and quality of gross adds continues
to improve
(1) Source Analyst and company reports
18Wireless BusinessRecord Gross Adds and Improving
Churn Driving Customer Growth
Net Adds
Gross Adds Quarter Over Quarter in thousands
226 Increase
12 Increase YOY
Post Pay / Total Churn
26 bp Decline
- Improving service levels
- Competitive pricing plans
- Proactive retention efforts
23 bp Decline
Record Gross Adds and Improving Churn Driving
Customer Growth
19Wireless BusinessIndustry Leading Cost Structure
Cash Costs per Customer
- OIBDA Margins1
- Gross Adds up 12 yoy putting pressure on margins
- Increased retention spending also putting
pressure on margins, but significantly improving
post pay churn
Quality customer growth and retention putting
near-term pressure on margins, but we are still
industry leaders in cash costs per customer
Excludes acquisition costsSource Analyst and
company reports
1OIBDA defined as operating income before
depreciation and amortization (measured on
service revenues).
202003 Comparison to Wireless PeersRevenue and
Income Metrics Per Customer
Monthly Op. Income Per Customer 6 9 4 1 16
11
Penetration of covered PoPs 16.7 13.6 8.3 5.9
6.5 13.3
Customers (In Millions)(c) 46.0 37.5 17.5 13.1 12.
9 8.0
Market Share (c) 30 24 11 8 8 5
ARPU (Service Rev) 54 49 61 53 69 48
CCPU (Exc Acq Costs) 28 21 31 26 26 21
Acq Cost Per Customer 10 9 12 16 14 9
Depr/Amor Per Customer 10 10 14 10 13 8
- Cingular/AWE(a)
- Verizon
- Sprint(b)
- T-Mobile
- Nextel
- ALLTEL
SCALE IS LOCAL
Source Analyst and company reports 1 Estimates
for Cingular/AWE assuming no divestitures 2
Excludes affiliates 3 Customers as of 12/31/03
Note Expense categories exclude one-time
charges.
21Wireless Business ALLTEL Launched Touch2Talk A
Very Competitive Push-to-Talk Offering
- Launched in two stages
- Half of our markets in late January
- Half of our markets in late March
- Added over 50,000 customers in 1Q 04
- Most were existing customers
- Most purchased 20 unlimited plan
Pricing 5/month 100 minutes private
T2T 10/month 500 minutes private T2T 20/month
unlimited minutes private T2T
- Benefits/Initial Customer Reaction
- Broad Coverage (Available on IS-95 Digital
Network) - Minimal Latency
- Call setup in 2 to 3 seconds
- Intra-call in as low as 150 milliseconds
- Robust Functionality
- Use handset to set up group and add users to
group - Easily toggle between T2T call and wireless call
22Wireline BusinessA Closer Look at the Business
and 1Q 04 Highlights
- As of 3/31/03
- Approximately 3.1 million customer lines
- Approximately 50 of wireline access lines
overlap wireless service areas
- 1Q 04 Highlights
- 1Q 04 YOY
- ARPU 64.62 1
- Segment income 228M 2
- DSL net adds 21K 22
Wireless Wireline National Calling Areas Cover
All 50 States
23Wireline BusinessAccess Lines Decline Slightly,
But ARPU Increases
Access Lines
DSL Customers
2 Decline YOY
99 Increase YOY
- 9 penetration of addressable lines
- Almost 90 have ALLTEL Internet Service
- Almost 70 of ILEC lines DSL capable
- Primary reasons for decline
- Wireless substitution
- Broadband
242003 Comparison to Wireline PeersRevenue and
Income Metrics Per Customer
Monthly Op. Income Per Customer
ARPU
CCPU
Customers (In Millions)
Verizon 56.8 58 34 11 SBC 55.9 54 37 6 BellS
outh 21.7 71 38 19 Qwest 16.6 68 39 18 Sprin
t 8.0 64 34 19 ALLTEL 3.1 65 27 23 CenturyTe
l 2.4 72 32 24
SCALE IS LOCAL
Source Analyst and company reports
25Summary - Why Invest in ALLTEL?
- Integrated telecom with highest relative
contribution from wireless in the industry - Solid balance sheet
- Strong equity free cash flow
- Over 1B in 2003 25 increase yoy
- 328M in 1Q 04 13 increase yoy
- 3 dividend yield, 750M share repurchase plan
ongoing (1/3 completed) - Wireless Business improving quality/ quantity
of customer growth, significantly improving
retention, and industry leading cash cost per
user - Wireline Business higher DSL penetration,
growing feature revenues, and industry leading
cash cost per user
26Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, 2001,
2000 and 1999
27Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, 2001,
2000 and 1999
28Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003
29Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003
30Other Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial
Measures
31