Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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And we’re able to forecast at this juncture when and how much the return on that investment might be and on what programs. So, the good news is we’re moving ahead on that and the team is very excited about it. Secondly, I’ll say that we’ve launched a number of crucial initiatives. One of those is the launch of the Innovation Foundry, our technical incubator, if you will, that’s being led by our Chief Growth Officer. I’m really excited about that Joe because we’ve identified already some initial partners who can bring exciting and relevant technologies into that technology incubator so that we can assess and blend them with our own capabilities to demonstrate how they improve customer value and how they improve customer outcomes. And in this kind of a controlled environment, we can’t even quantify what we think that customer value might be.

That’s really significant. So, one of the things is I’m really excited and enthusiastic about the Innovation Foundry and how that provides a lens through which we can up here our capabilities to the systems and services level and measure the performance that that brings our customers.

Joe Gomes: Okay, great. Thank you for that. And pardon me, maybe you could talk a little bit more on the Terrestrial business. It was down sequentially, maybe a little more color detail, how is it the 911 market opportunities out there, the deployments, in Pennsylvania, Arizona, some of the other states that you want, are we making any move there, getting those deployments up and running? Any color there on the Terrestrial business will be great. Thank you,

Ken Peterman: Sure. Joe, thanks. I’m going to let Mike jump in on that.

Michael Bondi: Sure. Joe on the Terrestrial and Wireless business background again in early part of fiscal 2021, we announced winning several large 5G location-based services contracts. Those software contracts definitely contributed to a favorable sales mix that we disclosed last year in Q2 and Q3. Also coming in fiscal 2022 and especially in Q2, just to remind everybody, we did have a $2.5 million benefit to cost of sales that were the result of reducing the warranty approval due to lower than expected warranty claims in that 911 product area. So, certainly, we had some favorable headwinds last year. When you look at the sales and the adjusted EBITDA contribution net in Q1 of fiscal 2023, as we stated before, we’re subject to mix changes and the recently awarded statewide NG 911 contracts, as we disclose generally have lower upfront margins, lower than our 911 Wireless Call Routing Services.

And that’s generally because the legacy 911 Call Routing Services are based on advanced and mature software. Whereas you have to keep in mind the new contracts that were winning in the 911 area, the NG 911 area, those contracts were recently won, we’re installing the infrastructure, and it’s going to take some time, as we turn on the PSAPs to absorb that upfront cost. And in terms of improving margins over time, the more PSAPs apps we light up on the recurring service, our expectations are to have a better bottom-line. So, to answer your question, in terms of the progress on Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Arizona, those big contracts that we won, I think we are very happy with the progress on all three of those contracts. We’re getting towards the tail end of the deployment, portions of those contracts, where we’re spending the CapEx, and we have been lining up the PSAPs. And so we’re very encouraged by that progress.

And as we move into 2023, we’ll likely to see more of those PSAPs go live.

Joe Gomes: Great. Thanks for the insight there, guys. I’ll get back in queue. Thanks again.

Ken Peterman: Thanks Joe.

Michael Bondi: Thanks Joe.

Operator: And we’ll take our next question from George Notter with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

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