NextNav Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 8, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Sheryl, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the NextNav Q3 'twenty three Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Erica Barsh. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to NextNas' Q3 2023 earnings conference call. Participating on today's call are Gary Parsons, NextNash's Chairman Ganesh Patibiraman, NextNash Co Founder and CEO and Chris Gates, NxNav's Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, please note that during today's presentation, the company may make forward looking statements either in our prepared remarks or in the associated question and answer session. In particular, such forward looking statements may include statements about NextNow's business and expansion of its next generation GPS platform to maximize the value of its IP portfolio and spectrum, its international business As well as NextNab's partnerships and the potential success thereof, NextNab's estimated and future business strategies, competitive position, industry environment and other potential growth opportunities. These statements are based on current expectations or beliefs.

Speaker 1

However, such forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside NEXNAD's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements. These statements may relate to, but are not limited to, expectations regarding our strategies and future financial performance, including future business plans or objectives, expected functionality of our geolocation services, anticipated timing and level of deployment of our services, Anticipated demand and acceptance of our services prospective performance and commercial opportunities and competitors The timing of obtaining regulatory approvals, commercial partnership acquisition and retention, products and services, pricing, marketing plans, Our ability to realize the anticipated technical and business benefits associated acquisitions and any subsequent mergers, acquisitions or other similar transactions Factors relating to our future operations, projected capital resources and financial position, estimated revenue and losses, Projected costs and capital expenditures and expectations about international markets projections of market growth and size, including the level of market acceptance for our services, our ability to adequately protect key intellectual property rights or property technology, Our ability to maintain our location monitoring service licenses and obtain additional LMS licenses as necessary Our ability to maintain adequate operational financial resources, including for research and development or raise additional capital or generate sufficient cash flows Our ability to develop and maintain effective internal controls our success in recruiting and or retaining officers, key employees or directors, expansion plans and opportunities, costs related to being a public company, our ability to maintain the listing of our securities on NASDAQ, Macroeconomic factors and their effects on our operations and the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings, as well as assumptions relating to the foregoing.

Speaker 1

Accordingly, forward looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Following our prepared remarks, the company will host an operator live question and answer session. In addition, at the conclusion of today's call, A replay of our discussion will be posted to the company's Investor Relations website. With that, I'll turn the call over to NxNest Chairman, Gary Parsons. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thanks very much, Erica, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to NextNav's 3rd quarter call. As Erica mentioned, joining me on today's call is Ganesh Patharaman, NextNeb's Co Founder and CEO and Chris Gates, NextNeb's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This past quarter saw significant progress on a number of our key initiatives, both on the spectrum front And with continued public safety and GPS resiliency efforts. Ganesh will provide more detail on like Individual contracts and government agency activities, but from an overall strategic perspective, I'm frankly pleased with the ongoing traction of our government public safety efforts, both on the E911, three-dimensional geolocation front and with the growing consensus On GPS vulnerabilities and the true need for PNT or GPS resiliency to protect critical infrastructure.

Speaker 2

NextNav is the acknowledged leader in this area. And we see growing opportunities to expand that leadership position, both here in the United States as Wellness around the world. A number of these resilient GPS or position navigation and timing P and T initiatives Are either demonstration programs or initial implementations that are expected to lead to expanded deployment in future phases. Chris will get into that in more detail in his section. Additionally, as we've shared in prior quarters, the specifics of some of these programs, Including the contracting agencies, all remain confidential at this stage due to national security issues, But we will try to share as much insight as we can consistent with those non disclosure responsibilities.

Speaker 2

As the team will discuss in more detail, several These opportunities involve partnerships, either with state and federal agencies or leading research universities, Responding to RFPs or RFIs in advance of Executive Order 13,905, finalization. From a purely political standpoint, it probably is worth reiterating. The substantial bipartisan support Support that continues to exist for the securing the nation's critical infrastructure and providing a resilient layer to GPS. Regardless of the continuing uncertainty in the federal government's overall budgeting process, there is clear support for current and even growing funding for these initiatives. We expect substantial revenue growth from this sector as we go through 2024.

Speaker 2

Next, on the spectrum front, on last quarter's call, you remember we announced the granting of an FCC experimental license And disclose that we would design and deploy a 5 gs TeraPoint network in the Bay Area. We have now in fact now deployed a network in Palo Alto, California capable of numerous 5 gs carrier bandwidth and power levels and have begun a formal testing program. We expect that those testing results will validate our ability to provide I believe reliable 3 d geolocation and resilient P and T capabilities using the 5 gs waveform, program to be largely complete by the end of this year, following which we would expect to file for appropriate license waivers with the FCC to provide commercial service using these configurations. Overall, a solid quarter of progress towards our key strategic priorities. And with that, let me go ahead and turn it over to Ganesh to go into more depth on the recent contract awards and our operational performance on government and public safety efforts, Both with Pinnacle and TerraPoint Services.

Speaker 2

Dinesh?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Gary, and good afternoon, everyone. It's been another productive quarter and we're seeing growing momentum out of key partners and federal and state government agencies As the need for solutions tied to P and T resilience grows in importance. Notably in September, we participated at ION for the Institute of Navigation Conference in Denver, where we demonstrated our TerraPoint Hybrid Systems' timing and 3 d positioning capabilities, Leveraging LTE signals from cellular operators. While at the conference, we were able to meet with government officials from the Department of Transportation, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy and other partners and held very productive conversations. This reinforced our belief that the government is now actively moving from discussion towards tangible action phase.

Speaker 3

At the same conference, the Department of Transportation announced its complementary P and T action plan. The plan lays out the key milestones, timelines And the establishment of a P and T Services Clearing House or P and T Marketplace. As part of this framework, we see DOT issuing RFPs in the coming months that will sponsor several initial implementations of resilient P and T systems like TerraPoint in critical infrastructure providers equipment. This is to establish a framework for complementary PNT systems to operate in conjunction with GPS and GNSS systems that may be in operation today. A good example of this is in the telecommunication systems, we could see both GPS and complementary P and T systems Based timing to be integrated as part of the core infrastructure of the operator and to ensure that the two systems can function in a seamless manner.

Speaker 3

The DOT also plans to establish a clear designated clearinghouse for federal users and critical infrastructure operators. This would be a place to find a list of vetted and qualified complementary P and T providers like Nexnive to help advance their resilient P and T needs and procure services to be in compliance with Executive Order 13,905 beginning in 2025. This is very similar to the federal acquisitions process, right? A pre vetted list of technologies is made available for different federal government agencies to procure against. Here the intent is broader to not only affect federal government acquisitions, but also critical infrastructure operators and eventually commercial entities too.

Speaker 3

In essence, what we see in 2020 4 and the early part of 2025, our funded initial implementations in various critical infrastructure Use cases that paved the way for wider adoption across the sectors. These timelines and frameworks are captured in our investor deck on Slide 5. As we noted last quarter, we're starting to see many state and federal agencies begin to take proactive steps towards building P and T resilience. As part of that strategy, I'm happy to report that we recently signed a contract to support the federal government in their P and T strategy. While we can't speak to the specifics of the contract due to the sensitive nature of our work, we can say that the project would leverage our existing infrastructure to provide persistent P and T characterization initially in select markets around the country.

Speaker 3

And upon successful completion of this phase, we expect to expand our capabilities nationwide. And this would likely represent our largest contract to date. In addition, many state and federal agencies and critical infrastructure providers are taking steps Towards commercial implementation of resilient P and T systems. Using federally funded test beds and in some cases Plans around commercial enablement in anticipation of procurement language for Executive Order 13,905. For instance, we have submitted multiple proposals in partnership with state and local agencies, as well as research universities In areas as diverse as timing for LAN mobile radio systems with Texas and automotive use cases with Ohio.

Speaker 3

As part of smart and cybersecurity grants sponsored by Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security respectively. We expect to be notified of the status of many of these opportunities over the coming months and in the first half of twenty twenty four. I must add here that although the process of implementing the complementary P and T strategy is going smoothly within the departments and agencies, We do see a short term impact from the current stalemate in Congress, including the release of procurement language in in support of EO Executive Order 13,905. We now anticipate this order will be released in Q1 of 2024. However, we currently don't see that impacting either the overall 2025 implementation timeline or the grants to be issued in 2024.

Speaker 3

Turning now to our Pinnacle technology, we continue to see ongoing progress in the E911 and public safety domain. Notably, we recently announced an agreement with the Iris flip phone, which will be sold on Consumer Cellular, one of the largest MVNOs or mobile virtual network operators in the country. This is our first device with this carrier. Beyond this agreement, Verizon is continuing to expand its integration of Pinnacle Services across devices on their portfolio And we expect to reach double digit device models with them in the coming months. With these arrangements, we are now contracted to be on 5 wireless carriers across including the top 4 nationwide carriers.

Speaker 3

As we have shared before, we operate through different business models depending on the In some cases, we have agreements at the carrier level for all devices within their portfolio, or we just have a licensing model for each device for the life of that specific device. Either way, these relationships put us in a clear leadership position in E911 and public safety domains. And as we move forward, we look forward to bringing more adoption and integration of Pinnacle technology to additional devices. On the international front with the U. S.

Speaker 3

Government moving forward with initial test beds, we expect to see similar actions from foreign governments as well. In Japan, the Japanese Ministry of Information and Communication or Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication is going through a public comment period on the spectrum, Which is likely to be followed by an ICC or Information and Communications Council process. In Europe, The European Commission as part of its recommendation on critical technology ADS for EU's economic security included PNT as a critical technology. This now leads to a consultation phase with a number of states before moving to the EU legislation phase. And in the UK, the British government recently released a P and T policy framework and a plan around P and T resilience.

Speaker 3

In all, we feel very energized by the activities we're seeing across the U. S. Government and globally as the importance of P and T resilience gains traction. We believe we have a real opportunity to be a leader in this area and the growing roster of partnerships and agreements is a testament to this fact. With that, I'll turn over the call to Chris.

Speaker 3

Chris?

Speaker 4

Thanks, Ganesh, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our Q3 earnings call. As both Gary and Ganesh highlighted, we made important progress in our efforts to expand the utilization of our spectrum licenses in the Q3 and are starting to see tangible results from the P and T resiliency programs underway in the federal government. With respect to our financial results, 3rd quarter revenue increased 104 percent to $1,000,000 compared to $500,000 in the prior year period, Primarily due to an increase in recurring revenue from technology and services contracts with commercial customers. Sequentially revenue was up 200,000.

Speaker 4

Year to date revenue decreased 15 percent to $2,700,000 versus the prior year period, driven by decreased integration revenue, partially offset by an increase in recurring service revenue from technology and services contracts with commercial customers. Our operating expenses were $15,600,000 Down from $18,400,000 in the same period last year, with much of the difference due to lower stock based compensation expense, partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization. Excluding stock based compensation and depreciation and amortization, operating expenses were $10,000,000 compared to $10,900,000 in the prior period And $10,300,000 in the Q2 of 2023. Year to date, operating expenses were $46,300,000 Down from $54,100,000 in the prior year with the reduction driven by the same drivers. Excluding stock based compensation and depreciation and amortization, Year to date operating expenses were essentially flat at $30,100,000 in the current period and $30,900,000 in the prior year.

Speaker 4

3rd quarter net loss was $23,200,000 compared to a loss of $18,700,000 in the prior year. The primary drivers for the increase were net interest expense of $1,700,000 and a change in the fair value of our warrant liability of $6,700,000 compared to net interest income of $300,000 and a change in the fair value of warrant liability of $1,000,000 in the prior year. Year to date, net loss was $55,300,000 as compared to a loss of $27,600,000 in the prior year period. Here again, the primary drivers were net interest expense of $1,600,000 and a loss associated with the change in fair value of our warrant liability of $9,800,000 Compared to net interest income of $400,000 and a gain associated with the change in fair value of our warrant liability of $23,200,000 in the prior year. Touching on our balance sheet, we've previously covered the $20,000,000 of additional senior secured notes.

Speaker 4

And I note that we finished the quarter with 97,100,000 in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments. Also included in that amount is $882,000 warrants strike price exercise. As you may recall, the warrants we issued as part of our debt financing are only exercisable for cash and partially callable beginning in 2025. Whether called or exercised otherwise, these warrants may provide a source of additional liquidity as they did in the current quarter. As we've stated in the past, we continue to closely manage and refine our cost base as we build value in our assets and bring new customers into service.

Speaker 4

I'd also like to provide some additional insight into the revenue side of the federal and state government activities and process highlighted by Gary and Ganesh. The first contract discussed by Ganesh is in implementation with an initial phase covering a limited number of metropolitan markets With the potential to approach $500,000 through 2024 starting in the Q4 of this year. If the second phase is contracted, It would be expected to encompass a broader geographic area and could be our largest single contract to date, approximately an order of magnitude greater than the initial phase. While complementary P and T remains in the earliest stages of adoption, we are pursuing additional state and federal grant programs for 2024. Under these programs and in partnership with federal or state entities, we will begin implementation of our complementary PMT services in support of different applications and use cases, As Ganesh highlighted previously, we expect per contract per grant values in this phase to range from 100 of 1000 to low 1,000,000 with durations between 1 2 years.

Speaker 4

This will set the foundation for service provision over longer durations, broader geographic areas, substantially larger grant or contract amounts starting in late 2024 2025. Finally, we anticipate incorporation into DOT's Complimentary P&T Clearing House, which as Ganesh highlighted should result in streamlined procurement of our services at the federal level beginning in 2025 and broader based integration of our resilient P and T capabilities across federal, state and critical infrastructure sectors in 2025 and beyond. Thank you. And with that, I'll hand the call back over to the operator for questions.

Operator

Our first question comes from the line of Griffin Baugh with B. Riley Securities. Griffin, your line is open.

Speaker 5

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. So, just first, can you give a little bit more color on where you're at with regards to The testing and collecting the requisite data for the FCC, I know you said you hope to finish This testing by the end of the year, but I guess what could happen that would push the testing process into 2024? Or what's your level of confidence that you can gather The appropriate data by then?

Speaker 2

Thanks for the question, Griffin. Obviously, that's the results of that testing, we won't Prematurely announced. I mean, we'll announce it when we essentially include the results of that with the filings we'll make with the SEC. So at least from your own planning purposes and when we'll be public about that, that's when we would do that. I quite frankly, am very pleased with how quickly we were able to both secure approval from the For the changes that we requested for the experimental license.

Speaker 2

And then also, I mean, I know you guys have been around telecom operators turning up networks Our ability to actually design it, procure the equipment and get it in place there in the Palo Alto area Over literally a 3 or 4 month process, I'm very pleased with. So the network itself It has only turned up and we're in the process of testing. That testing And you can if you reviewed our experimental license approvals from the SEC, you'll see that we're actually I'm going to be testing a number of different configurations, including 8 contiguous, as we've talked about before, which Could be used to say a supplemental downlink configuration or 5 megahertz band at the lower end of our band, the middle and the upper In the bar band, we'll be looking at different power levels, including the existing power levels that were authorized for as well as higher Power levels that we believe we can still do without creating undue interference to neighbors. So it is a pretty good combination of testing programs. I don't want to that's why I said largely complete by the end of the year.

Speaker 2

That's what we're hoping to do. If we see results from that that cause us to To change power levels, duty cycles, whatever else it may be, then it could trickle over a little bit more than that. But It's going on at a pretty good pace and we're pleased with where it stands right now. Again, I won't comment on the results Of that testing until it's complete and we do make the necessary filings with the FCC.

Speaker 5

Sure. Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And so would there be a delay, let's say, like in terms of the whenever you Complete testing, are you would you expect to file those filings with the FCC immediately?

Speaker 5

Are you working on those concurrently? Or Is it going to take some time in order to put that together?

Speaker 2

Let's see. As immediately as possible. Clearly, we are working on those filings already. So we are doing that on a parallel Basis is what we would expect to file. But as you can imagine, some of the actual finalization of What we would request and how we would best like it configured is going to depend on the results of the testing.

Speaker 2

So we will have to wait To get the final look of that into place before we finalize the thing. But candidly, I think it's something that would not take too much longer beyond The completion of testing before we actually put in and also likely to be a license waiver. I know some people have talked about doing petitions for rulemaking and going through a notice of proposed rulemaking. That may be required. The FCC may require us to do that Depending upon how expensive the waiver request might be.

Speaker 2

But we also think it's not a major lift to have some of the changes that we're looking to have and some of those may well be able to be done at bureau level through a waiver process. So Those are not things I can give you a hard and fast and firm answer to right now. But I don't think, for example, it's multiple months of writing up an FCC request following The testing, I think it would happen pretty quickly after the testing completion.

Speaker 5

Got it. Okay, understood. Thanks, Gary. And then so shifting gears, it's nice to see the DOT's action plan. I guess, were there any surprises With that plan that you saw whether that'd be timing of milestones or just general outline, was it consistent with what you would have expected?

Speaker 2

Ganesh, you want to take that? Yes, I can take a stab at that.

Speaker 3

No, I think the timelines, I think we as we had described in the previous call, we did expect once the implementation guidelines released, They would go through the sort of the broader federal regulatory of FAR approval process and which could take You know, 12 to 18 months. And so it does line up with the 2025 timeframe. So I don't think that was much of a surprise there. I think we were Happy to see that the DOT actually is implementing or encouraging industry to Adopt resilient P and T solutions and do tests in the 2024 timeframe. So when the implementation Guidelines are more broadly adopted, then you have some baselines to go with.

Speaker 3

And this concept of the clearinghouse certainly was I think it's a positive addition to the process because it creates a framework for more expeditious And wider adoption once you're part of that framework. So I think overall, It wasn't the timelines weren't too much of a surprise, but certainly some of these Features that they added as part of the implementation plan were positive.

Speaker 5

Understood. Thanks for that Ganesh. Appreciate it. I'll jump back in the queue. Thanks for taking

Operator

Your final question comes from the line of Timothy Horan with Oppenheimer. Tim, your line is open.

Speaker 6

Thanks a lot. It sounds like you're making a lot of progress. Can you just talk about what's the government's Ultimate goal here, are they looking to create like a GPS type system that's free that they fund that anyone can use or is it And would it be nationwide or are they just looking for maybe just government users and first responders to use? What do you think they're ultimately looking

Speaker 2

I'll let Ganesh get into it because that is essentially a part of the business that he is very, very intimately involved in. But just on an overarching way, I don't think that they're wanting for example, I mean They fly their own GPS satellite constellations and they provide GPS for free. Okay. And that's used by critical Structure for timing and certainly by consumers, the location and other things of that nature. I don't think they're looking to provide a secondary Terrestrial One that they would own and they would provide that hasn't been in the past.

Speaker 2

I think that they want to do everything that they can Possibly to make it to encourage industry to do it and for government users to be able to be the Initial users of it to start that process, but eventually they want critical infrastructure to hold them responsible for Having a resilient enough systems that if GPS were to have problems, Their overall critical infrastructure would continue to perform. And one of the key wedges that they have in order to achieve that Is by requiring people that are bidding on government services to prove that they can do that, that they have adopted the technologies to make it happen. I never say never when it comes to the government, but I don't envision a situation where they contract with us To stand up a terrestrial P and T system, I think they do recognize and the DOT testing back a couple of years ago showed There are places that different technologies provide a different or better Service or capability. We talk sometimes about the eLORAN, the old LORAN networks that were principally used by Mariners and that's great for all over the oceans. I mean, we don't have beacons out there.

Speaker 2

And the same thing with satellites Like the tele system, that's great more for rural areas or even some suburban areas, but it doesn't get deep inside buildings. So I think the DOT testing and the government writ large For them to provide their own complementary P and T capability, It would require deployment of a variety of different technologies and a terrestrial build out. I don't think that's in the cards. I think that they may encourage it. They may build out certain ones.

Speaker 2

And here I think Ganesh can maybe kick in to start talking about some of the sandboxes or Initial trials and pilots they're doing, they will be funding those deployments.

Speaker 3

Yes. So I think Tim, as Gary mentioned, I mean, I don't think there's an appetite in the government to stand up another system That's back up to GPS, simply because there isn't really one answer that fits all, right? I think GPS And from that perspective, it was somewhat unique. And I think we're at a point where there is Different applications have different needs. And as Gary mentioned, eLORAN is perfect for the maritime and Ocean types of applications, but it's not going to fit into your cell phone and certainly doesn't won't work in urban areas as well.

Speaker 3

And I think there's also a growing recognition that going from one point of failure to another would be a bad System choice. So I think the government wants to have multiple technologies providing P and T resilience and that was Part of the recommendation from the Department of Transportation. And I think ultimately what the government is trying to do right now is really Be the 1st customer for resilient TNT systems across the entire federal government enterprise. And It's not specific sectors, etcetera. They want this across the board.

Speaker 3

The government does recognize that they're not a large purchaser of these types of Systems. And so the hope is that by being that first adopter, they can encourage Other critical infrastructure providers, wireless operators, electrical grid suppliers, etcetera, to also adopt these resilient PNT systems, because it's very clear from what's happening around from around the world, Be it the Ukraine conflict or the Israel Hamas situation, GPS jamming is a standard feature now across the board. I think we saw it in the beginning of October 6, and we've continuously seen more activities around that. And so there's a level of urgency to make every industry more resilient to it. And that's where these test beds come into place, where they want to see the end systems being implemented in The ultimate application be it in a mobile phone or in an automotive or an aviation use case Or the Electrical Grids and Telecom Systems.

Speaker 3

And that's what really the focus of the next 12 to 18 months is going to be. And beyond that, the hope is once the Executive Order 13,905 is in place That it will get adopted across the federal government enterprise and then it will also spread into the critical infrastructure sectors. And from there, the hope is it gets to the mass market commercial applications also. And The important thing is the government through the various funding sources made available through the infrastructure bill and now maybe more directly through the Executive Order is willing to fund those end user implementations, both at the trial phase The initial implementation phase and to some extent at the more wider Adoption phase, because they do recognize that, in the absence of that funding, it is difficult for Critical infrastructure vendors and others who adopt a system when they have a free system that GPS under the provide. So I think there is a recognition of that and that is where some of these grant programs come into place is they are being used to Grease the skids to facilitate and enable quicker and faster adoptions.

Speaker 3

So

Speaker 6

let's say everything goes really, really well. I mean how large of a customer can the government be in 4 or 5 years As this is built out, how much money could you receive annually from the government do you think?

Speaker 3

I mean that's not clear right now. I mean, but I think we can certainly say that With the intention where we're seeing that it be across the federal enterprise, I mean, it Right from the FAA procuring systems to the health and Human services for emergency services, then getting into all the critical infrastructure providers, the telecom operators, The electrical grid folks, all of those users, If they have a need for either timing or position or navigation would be required to have resiliency And that obviously can go to be a very large order of magnitude revenue source for us. I mean, we've already seen initial elements of that with our government contract that we just signed. In this current phase, it's relatively a nominal amount. But if this phase goes to the 2nd phase, That could be our largest contract just in the matter of 12 months and that can start dominating more broadly as 2025 kicks in.

Speaker 6

Got it. And sorry, just last question.

Speaker 3

The

Speaker 6

any David, thinking on the highest best use of the spectrum and technology, I mean, do you think you would build out this network yourself and charge for usage on it? Or does it make sense to sell?

Speaker 2

And I'll go ahead and take that one. I'm Always reluctant to just speculate too widely, because depending upon who it is that you may partner with on it, There are different configurations which may be more desirable to one player versus another. Now I have mentioned the supplemental downlink is a very Important one, but also if you're able to get two way capabilities, it opens up other potential partners. My own guess at this point and I always hate the caveat as being a guess is that we wouldn't build it out. I think there's enough Particularly if we're dealing with 1 of the major carriers, it's far more likely that you would lease them the spectrum and have them build it out.

Speaker 2

We would still be responsible obviously for providing the full P and T and E911 services because that's an essential part of The function that the government wants us to do. It's why we think that the government will be very favorably looking at what we will want to do because We are providing a very critical national security service. But I think because of that, the most efficient way would be either Leasing or even if

Speaker 4

it was for an

Speaker 2

upfront one time payment for a multiyear lease, that may be the best way it would be done. I don't see it's not that you couldn't envision scenarios whereby we would build it out. But I don't think there's any chance we would do that without a contracted party that was going to use it. I mean, We don't see ourselves right now as trying to create another nationwide carrier or something like that. Yes.

Speaker 2

No, that's a

Speaker 3

great point. Do you have

Speaker 6

a sense of how easy it would be for a carrier to add this on to their existing infrastructure? I mean, they seem to be doing Carrier aggregation and a lot more software.

Speaker 2

Absolutely. And carrier aggregation is absolutely the element Why I mentioned that either a supplemental downlink or even a supplemental uplink keyed with other existing spectrum is more of your likely implementation. Yes, it is a lot more of that being done today. And what configurations we are able to Create and what power levels we're able to create will have a direct bearing on how easily it can be incorporated And to say an existing carrier's rollout plan. So probably not much more I can say on it at this point in time.

Speaker 2

Likely when we do make our filings with the FCC, you'll get a far greater granular Visibility into what we think we'll be able to pull off. But, yes, I mean, We think there's undeniable spectrum value there if utilized as a 5 gs data carrier, But exactly what configuration and what other spectrum it might be paired with in a network are things that We probably won't opine on today.

Speaker 6

Yes, got it. But that's really, really helpful. Thanks a lot guys. Good luck.

Operator

At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Tim.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you very much, operator, and we certainly appreciate everybody dialing in today. And hopefully you see, I know we normally kick off these All saying, hey, here are 3 strategic priorities to solidify our leadership position in 3 d geolocation And P&T Resiliency to develop fully our spectrum assets to their highest and best use and commercial potential on that and to expand our global reach. I think hopefully you'll see out of today's call, We made significant progress on all of those this quarter. And once we complete our Testing program and are able to file the BSCC. Hopefully, you'll see far more progress on that front as well too.

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