Anterix Inc. (NASDAQ:ATEX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ryan Gerbrandt: Yes, Mike, let me just add, it’s Ryan here. I mean we categorize, when you hear about the evolution of this utility networking. Obviously, there’s a lot of legacy systems out there. And a big part of that legacy portfolio are what we describe as narrowband. And narrowband, leveraging 700 megahertz is one example, the mesh networks or the dedicated SCADA networks or other examples but they all fit into that category. And absolutely, I see them as actually opportunity creating as utilities have experienced what the limitations are of those systems in terms of what they can do and how do they drive future growth of digitization of assets over time and definitely continue to see kind of how broadband then becomes a complement and/or a life cycle replacement to those technologies as we start looking to higher end, more broadband intensive or lower latency demanding applications starts really driving the conversation towards where broadband LTE comes into play.

Michael Crawford: Okay. And then I have one final question. So given that NextNav has pivoted from transmitting its tariff point timing signal from over GPS to over LTE using its 900 megahertz spectrum, which it has 8 megahertz what percent of your customers do you think would benefit from considering a 5×5 LTE solution if that was available versus just the 3×3 that you’re offering?

Robert Schwartz: Yes. So Mike, I know we’ve talked about this before. You should assume that we actively follow all other spectrum opportunities and are always seeking opportunities for expansion of our business model. Specifically, our understanding is there’s some technical and encumbrance challenges that, that band doesn’t — can’t really be used for the same sort of unencumbered private broadband systems on LTE, 4G, 5G but I know we’ve had a conversation about that before and happy to take any more of that off-line, if you’d like.

Christopher Guttman-McCabe: Yes, Rob, I’ll just — I mean I’ll jump in, it’s Chris. And as we look at spectrum opportunities, and that’s the core of who we are. If we see opportunities to enhance our spectrum position, we look at it, we investigated, Mike, the one you’re referencing, it’s not in our band. It wouldn’t roll up to 5×5. So we appreciate the team at NextNAV, but that’s not an opportunity that we see gives us additional value. And — but we do look at — we’re open mind and we look at all sorts of potential opportunities to expand our spectrum portfolio.

Operator: . Your next question is coming from Walter Piecyk from LightShed.

Walter Piecyk: I think Ryan may have answered this, under Simon’s question, but the words didn’t quite penetrate my brain. So let me try and ask it a different way. When will your spectrum or the spectrum you used to own or you’re currently leasing be used in a radio by any of those of your existing customers, if that’s not already happening?

Robert Schwartz: Yes. So well, I got to start a conversation with sharing my sympathies on the Eagle. I know Chris feel that well.

Walter Piecyk: And my sympathy is on your conference call, maybe you guys should switch to Zoom. Is this like some formal Microsoft teams.

Robert Schwartz: I think so. But just to answer your question, our spectrum is already in use in radios, if that’s what you’re asking. I mean several of our customers have already deployed, ran and are already operating sites. Am I understanding your question correctly?

Walter Piecyk: Yes, that’s perfect. So then you have this opportunity to show these other utility companies that it’s in use in a network or what further development is required of the existing customers, to provide an adequate use case to get people off the hump, if that’s part of the issue of why they’re not moving forward with whatever next step you needed to move forward on.