“Looking beyond 2025, we expect total capital spending in dollar terms to be on a meaningful downward trajectory, even inclusive of BEAD spending.”

In context

“e early stages of bidding, and we have a lower appetite to bid due to regulatory conditions. Our current multiyear CapEx outlook is largely unchanged in total versus our prior outlook, with retiming across years and slight changes across categories. We expect total line extension capital expenditures to decline after 2025 even inclusive of BEAD, which we wouldn't expect to be more than a few hundred million dollars per year for the four years starting in 2026. And our RDOF build is still expected to be completed by the end of 2026, two years ahead of schedule. We now expect our total network evolution initiative capital to reach $5.4 billion over the period 2024 to 2027 versus $4.6 billion previously, given our [full plant walkout] (ph) and the finalization of more detailed project plans. Looking beyond 2025, we expect total capital spending in dollar terms to be on a meaningful downward trajectory, even inclusive of BEAD spending. And after our evolution and expansion capital initiatives conclude, our run rate capital expenditures should be below $8 billion per year. Just to highlight, that reduction in capital expenditures on its own from approximately $12 billion in 2025 to less than $8 billion in 2028 is equivalent to $25 of annual free cash flow per share based on today's share count. And while we always prioritize our free cash flow for organic opportunities first and then accretive M&A and buybacks, there are currently no organic capital expenditure opportunities on the horizon that give us concern with that capital expenditures outlook. Fourth quarter free cash flow totaled $984 million, a decrease of approximately $80 million compared to last year's fourth quarter. The decline was primarily driven by higher”