“We continue to expect that our net leverage ratio will increase to approximately 3.2x following our transaction with EchoStar, then declined to approximately 3x by the end of 2026, and return to a level consistent with our target in the 2.5x range within approximately 3 years following the transaction.”

In context

“ne footprint, and we now have approval to discontinue legacy services in more than 30% of our [indiscernible]. We're actively working with customers in these areas and helping them upgrade to more advanced services like Internet Air and [ Phone Advance ]. There is a lag between when customers migrate to more advanced services and when we are able to discontinue operations [indiscernible] infrastructure. This is the primary reason why the decline in legacy EBITDA of about 40% was greater than the decline in revenue. And we expect this dynamic will persist for the next several quarters. We ended the first quarter with net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.71x, which is up from 2.53x at the end of the fourth quarter last year. This was primarily due to the close of the transaction with [ Lumen ]. We continue to expect that our net leverage ratio will increase to approximately 3.2x following our transaction with EchoStar, then declined to approximately 3x by the end of 2026, and return to a level consistent with our target in the 2.5x range within approximately 3 years following the transaction. We ended the first quarter with $12 billion in cash and with $19 billion available to draw under term loans. So we are in a strong liquidity position as we prepare to close our transaction with EchoStar. We also continue to expect that we will close the transaction with an equity investor for the acquired Lumen fiber assets during the second half of the year. We returned $4.3 billion to shareholders in the first quarter through dividends and share repurchases. We continue to expect to repurchase approximately of stock this year and to maintain a consistent pace of buybacks through 2028 as we execute against our plans to return $45 billion plus to shareholders over this time period. I'm really proud of the team's ability to successfully balance our investment in fiber and 5G, while maintai”