“The slightly higher operating cash flows fund the increased CapEx resulting in strong free cash flow of $13.2 billion to $13.6 billion, which includes payments for merger-related costs.”

In context

“nergy target provided at our Analyst Day a year ahead of schedule as we build towards the full run rate synergies of $8 billion in 2024. We continue to expect merger related costs, which are not included in adjusted or core adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $1 billion before taxes. And we now expect cash merger related costs of $1.6 billion to $2 billion for 2023 as they have underrun the P&L recognition to date. Net cash provided by operating activities, which include payments for merger related costs is now expected to be in the range of $18 billion to $18.3 billion and we now expect cash CapEx to be between $9.5 billion and $9.7 billion delivering a capital efficiency unmatched in our industry, unlocked by our network leadership. We expect CapEx to taper in Q3 and then further in Q4. The slightly higher operating cash flows fund the increased CapEx resulting in strong free cash flow of $13.2 billion to $13.6 billion, which includes payments for merger-related costs. This is up approximately 75% over last year, thanks to our margin expansion and capital efficiency and does not assume any material net cash inflows from securitization. This also represents a free cash flow to service revenue margin, which is multiple percentage points higher than peers with further expansion expected next year. We continue to expect our full year effective tax rate to be between 24% and 26%. And finally, we now expect full year postpaid ARPA to increase slightly more than the 1% we had previously guided for 2023 as we continue to expand our account relationships across products and services as part of our land and expand account strategy to grow service revenue. Before I wrap up, I want to remind folks that we closed the sale of our wireline assets to Cogent on May 1, w”