“With the conclusion of the program, we would expect a step down in the pacing of overall CapEx throughout the remainder of the year and continue to expect 2023 capital spending to be within our guidance of $18.25 billion to $19.25 billion.”

In context

“m reduced upgrade volume which helped to offset an increase in bad debt of approximately $200 million. Similar to involuntary churn rates, bad debt expense reflects the return of collections to pre-pandemic levels. While up year-over-year, bad debt expense is relatively consistent with the prior quarter. Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter totaled $8.3 billion, compared to $6.8 billion in the prior year. This increase was primarily due to working capital improvements, driven by lower inventory levels, coupled with fewer upgrades and a modest improvement in customer payment patterns, despite the current macroeconomic conditions. CapEx for the quarter came in at $6.0 billion, which includes most of the remaining $1.75 billion of C-band-related spending in our guidance. With the conclusion of the program, we would expect a step down in the pacing of overall CapEx throughout the remainder of the year and continue to expect 2023 capital spending to be within our guidance of $18.25 billion to $19.25 billion. The net result of cash flow from operations and capital spending is free cash flow for the quarter of $2.3 billion, up $1.3 billion versus last year. Total unsecured debt for the quarter was $132.0 billion, an increase of $1.4 billion compared to the end of 2022 and $5.3 billion lower year-over-year. This resulted in net unsecured debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.7 times as of the end of the first quarter. A 0.1 times improvement compared to the first quarter of 2022 and flat from the prior quarter. We continue to have very low near-term unsecured debt maturities with the only maturity remaining in 2023 and being approximately $600 million due in the second quarter. I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that this will be my last earnings call as Verizon's CFO. It has been a fulfillin”