COGENT COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS, INC. (CCOI)

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. The discussion in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this report should be read as applying to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” as well as those discussed elsewhere. You should read “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to:

Our acquisition of Sprint Communications (as defined below), including difficulties integrating our business with the Sprint Business, which may result in the combined company not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected; transition services required to support the Sprint Business and the related costs continuing for a period longer than expected, the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying government policies worldwide; vaccination and in-office requirements, delays in the delivery of network equipment or optical fiber, loss of key right-of-way agreements, future economic instability in the global economy, including the risk of economic recession and recent bank failures and liquidity concerns at certain other banks, which could affect spending on Internet services; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to US dollar and Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rates) on the translation of our non-US dollar denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities into US dollars; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including rules regarding data protection, cyber security and net neutrality; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering and right-of-way arrangements on favorable terms; our ability to renew our long-term leases of optical fiber and right-of-way agreements that comprise our network; our reliance on a limited number of equipment vendors, and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; tariffs imposed on equipment we purchase for our network; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber and right-of-way providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due and outcomes in litigation, risks associated with variable interest rates under our Swap Agreement as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Acquisition of Sprint Communications

On May 1, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), Cogent Infrastructure, Inc. (now Cogent Infrastructure, LLC), a Delaware corporation and our direct wholly owned subsidiary (the “Buyer” or “Cogent Infrastructure”), closed on its acquisition of the U.S. long-haul fiber network (including the non-U.S. extensions thereof) of Sprint Communications and its subsidiaries (the “Sprint Business”) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”), dated September 6, 2022, by and among us, Sprint Communications LLC, a Kansas limited liability company (“Sprint Communications”) and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile US, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“T-Mobile”), and Sprint LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile (the “Seller”). On the Closing Date, we purchased from the Seller all of the issued and outstanding membership interests (the “Purchased Interests”) of Wireline Network Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company that, following an internal restructuring and divisive merger, held Sprint Communications’ assets and liabilities relating to the Sprint Business (such transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, collectively, the “Transaction”).

Purchase Price

On the Closing Date, we consummated the Transaction pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, providing a purchase price of $1 payable to the Seller for the Purchased Interests, subject to customary adjustments, including working capital (the “Working Capital Adjustment”), as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. As consideration for the Purchased Interests, the Working Capital Adjustment (primarily related to acquired cash and cash equivalents of an estimated $43.4 million at the Closing Date in order to fund the international operations of the Sprint Business) resulted in us making a payment to the Seller of $61.1 million on the Closing Date. In April 2024, an additional Working Capital Adjustment of $5.0 million was paid to the Seller.

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Short-term Lease Payment

The Purchase Agreement provides for a payment of $28.1 million ($19.8 million net of discount) from the Seller to us related to acquired short - term operating lease obligations (the “Short - term Lease Payment”). The Short - term Lease Payment will be paid from the Seller to us in four equal payments in months 55 to 58 after the Closing Date. The final determination of the Short - term Lease Payment was completed in April 2024. The Short - term Lease Payment was recorded at its present value resulting in a discount of $8.4 million. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, among other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment. During the third quarter of 2023, the Short - term Lease Payment was reduced by $4.8 million and in the first quarter of 2024 the Short - term Lease Payment, net of discount, was reduced by an additional $17.0 million.

IP Transit Services Agreement

On the Closing Date, we entered into an agreement for IP transit services (“IP Transit Services Agreement”), pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. Under the IP Transit Services Agreement., TMUSA paid us $204.2 million and $204.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

We accounted for the Transaction as a business combination under ASC Topic 805 Business Combinations (“ASC 805”). We evaluated what elements are part of the business combination and the consideration exchanged to complete the acquisition. Under ASC 805, we concluded that the $700.0 million of payments to be made represent consideration received from T-Mobile to complete the acquisition of a distressed business. We also evaluated whether the IP Transit Services Agreement was in the scope of ASU No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”). We concluded that T-Mobile did not represent a “customer” as defined by ASC 606, the stated contract price did not represent consideration for services to be delivered, and the transaction did not satisfy the definition of revenue, which excluded this arrangement from the scope of ASC 606. As a result, and considering statements made by T-Mobile, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount of $79.6 million. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, amongst other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment.

Transition Services Agreement

On the Closing Date, the Buyer entered into a transition services agreement (the “TSA”) with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller provides to the Buyer, and the Buyer provides to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, certain specified services (the “Transition Services”) to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. The services provided by the Seller to the Buyer include, among others, information technology support, back office and finance, real estate and facilities, vendor and supply chain management, including the payment and processing of vendor invoices for the Company and human resources. The services provided by the Buyer to the Seller include, among others, information technology and network support, finance and back office and other wireless business support.

The Transition Services are generally intended to be provided for a period of up to two years following the Closing Date, although such period may be extended for an additional one-year term by either party upon 30 days’ prior written notice. The fees for the Transition Services are calculated using either a per service monthly fee or an hourly rate for the employees allocated to provide such services. Any third-party costs incurred in providing the Transition Services are passed on to the party receiving such services at cost for the two-year period. Amounts paid for the Sprint Business by T-Mobile are reimbursed at cost.

Either party to the TSA may terminate the agreement with respect to any individual service in full for convenience upon 30 days’ prior written notice for certain services and reduced for other services after a 90-day period. The TSA may be terminated in its entirety if the other party has failed to perform any of its material obligations and such failure is not cured within 30 days. The TSA provides for customary indemnification and limits on liability. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. Amounts billed to us under the TSA are primarily for reimbursement at cost of payments to vendors of the Sprint Business until these vendors are fully transitioned to us.

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During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we were billed $27.2 million and $284.1 million, respectively, as due to the Seller under the TSA. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we paid to the Seller $93.8 million and $217.2 million, respectively, under the TSA. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. As of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, we owed $0.5 million and $66.9 million, respectively, to the Seller under the TSA. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we billed the Seller $1.1 million and $6.2 million, respectively, as due from the Seller under the TSA. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Seller paid us $1.3 million and $6.0 million, respectively, under the TSA. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Seller owed us $0.1 million and $4.5 million, respectively, under the TSA.

Severance reimbursement

The Purchase Agreement also provides for reimbursement from the Seller to the Buyer for qualifying severance expenses incurred. Total qualifying severance expenses were $28.6 million of which $12.3 million and $16.2 million were recorded during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and fully reimbursed by the Seller.

Acquisition-Related Costs

In connection with the Transaction and negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred a total of $13.6 million of professional fees and other acquisition related costs (not including severance costs). Acquisition related costs (not including severance costs) were $9.1 million, $2.3 million and $2.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Other Services Provided to the Seller

In addition, on the Closing Date, we entered into a commercial agreement (the “CSA”) with TMUSA for colocation and connectivity services, pursuant to which we provide such services to TMUSA for a per service monthly fee plus certain third-party costs incurred in providing the services. Under the CSA, we recorded service revenue of $14.7 million and $23.9 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2023

In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Our management reviews and analyzes several key financial measures in order to manage our business and assess the quality and variability of our service revenue, operating results and cash flows. The following summary tables present a comparison of our results of operations with respect to certain key financial measures. The comparisons illustrated in the tables are discussed in greater detail below.

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Service Revenue. We continually work to grow our total service revenue by increasing the number of potential customers that we can reach on our network. We do this by investing capital to expand the geographic footprint of our network, increasing the number of buildings that we are connected to, including CNDCs and MTOBs, and increasing our penetration rate into our existing buildings. These efforts broaden the global reach of our network and increase the size of our potential addressable market. We also seek to grow our service revenue by investing in our sales and marketing team. We typically sell corporate connections at similar pricing to our competitors, but our customers benefit from our significantly faster speeds, greater aggregate throughput, enhanced service level agreements and rapid installation times. In the net-centric market, we offer comparable services in terms of capacity but typically at significantly lower prices.

Our service revenue increased by 10.1% from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024. Exchange rates negatively impacted our service revenue by $0.3 million. All foreign currency comparisons herein reflect results for the year ended December 31, 2024 translated at the average foreign currency exchange rates for the year ended December 31, 2023. Our total service revenue increased primarily due to the revenue acquired in May 2023 with the Sprint Business and the growth in customers from expanding our network, adding additional buildings to our network, increasing our penetration into the buildings connected to our network and gaining market share by offering our services at lower prices than our competitors. These increases were partially offset by the cancellation of low margin and non-core customers we acquired with the Sprint Business, and a reduction in revenue under our CSA agreement with TMUSA.

Revenue recognition standards include guidance relating to any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer and may include, but is not limited to, gross receipts taxes, Universal Service Fund fees and certain state regulatory fees. We record these taxes billed to our customers on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The impact of these taxes including the Universal Service Fund resulted in an increase to our revenues of $30.2 million from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024.

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Revenue and customer connections by customer type. Our corporate customers generally purchase their services on a price per connection basis. Our net-centric customers generally purchase their services on a price per megabit-metered basis. Our enterprise customers generally purchase our services on a price per location basis. We began to serve enterprise customers in connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business. We define “enterprise” customers as large corporations (typically, Fortune 500 companies with greater than $5 billion in annual revenue) running Wide Area Networks (“WAN”) with several dozen to several hundred sites.

We believe that we are in a unique position to monetize the Sprint Business and its network and management expects to achieve significant cost reduction synergies and revenue synergies from the Transaction. Revenue and pre-tax loss for the Sprint Business included in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income for the year ended December 31, 2023 were $283.3 million and $234.5 million, respectively.

On the Closing Date, we acquired 17,823 corporate customer connections, 5,711 net-centric customer connections and 23,209 enterprise customer connections with the Sprint Business. We classified the total $39.4 million of May 2023 Sprint Business monthly recurring revenue as $20.0 million of enterprise revenue, $12.9 million of corporate revenue and $6.5 million of net-centric revenue.

Revenues from our corporate, net-centric and enterprise customers represented 45.7%, 35.6% and 18.7% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024 and represented 47.2%, 36.5% and 16.3% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Our revenue from our corporate customers increased primarily due to customers acquired with the Sprint Business. Our corporate customers take advantage of our superior speeds, greater aggregate throughput, service levels and installation times versus our competitors. The growing trend of customers installing second lines for redundancy in order to construct virtual private networks (“VPNs”) has also led to our ability to increase our corporate revenues. Beginning with and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service in central business districts in North America. Because of the rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers, which negatively affected our corporate revenue results. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we continued to see gradual declines in vacancy rates and rising office occupancy rates. As the option to fully or partially work from home becomes permanently established at many companies, our corporate customers are integrating some of the new applications that became part of the remote work environment, which benefits our corporate business as these customers upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections. Further, if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which we operate, we believe it will present an opportunity for increased sales. However, the exact timing and path of these positive trends remains uncertain.

Our revenue from our net-centric customers increased primarily due to growth in network traffic from our legacy net-centric customers and from net-centric customers acquired with the Sprint Business. Our net-centric customers purchase our services on a price per megabit basis. The net-centric market exhibits significant pricing pressure due to the continued introduction of new technology, which lowers the marginal cost of transmission and routing, and the commodity nature of the service where price is typically the only differentiating factor for these customers. Our average price per megabit of our installed base of customers decreased by 14.2% from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024. The impact of foreign exchange rates has a more significant impact on our net-centric revenues. Under our CSA with TMUSA, we recorded net-centric service revenue of $14.7 million and $23.9 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Our revenue from our enterprise customers increased primarily due to customers acquired with the Sprint Business.

Revenue and customer connections by network connection type. On the Closing Date, we classified the total $39.4 million of monthly Sprint Business revenue as $2.5 million of on-net revenue, $32.2 million of off-net revenue and $4.7 million of non-core revenue. Additionally, on the Closing Date, we classified the total 46,743 Sprint Business customer connections as 1,560 on-net customer connections, 24,667 off-net customer connections and 20,516 non-core customer connections.

Revenues from our on-net, off-net, wavelength and non-core customers represented 52.6%, 43.8%, 1.9% and 1.7% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024 and represented 54.5%, 41.8%, 0.6% and 3.1% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023.

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Our on-net revenues increased from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily from customers acquired with the Sprint Business and an increase in revenues from our legacy Cogent customers. Under the CSA with TMUSA, we recorded on-net service revenue of $14.0 million and $21.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Our off-net revenues increased from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily from customers acquired with the Sprint Business and an increase in revenues from our legacy Cogent customers.

In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we expanded our offerings of optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network. Our wavelength revenue was $19.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 and was $5.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Our non-core revenues decreased from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily due to the cancellation of non-core revenues acquired in the Sprint Business. Non-core services are services, that we acquired and continue to support but do not actively sell.

Network Operations Expenses. Network operations expenses include the costs of personnel associated with service delivery, network management and customer support, network facilities costs, right-of-way fees, fiber and equipment maintenance fees, leased circuit costs, access and facilities fees paid to building owners and excise taxes billed to our customers and recorded on a gross basis. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in network operations expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salaries and other compensation. Our 17.9% increase in network operations expense was primarily attributable to an increase in network operations expense from our acquisition of the Sprint Business and an increase in costs related to our network and facilities expansion activities.

Selling, General, and Administrative (“SG&A”) Expenses. Our SG&A expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 0.2% from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in SG&A expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. SG&A expenses increased primarily from an increase in salaries and benefits from 942 employees added to our headcount from our acquisition of the Sprint Business on the Closing Date and costs associated with the Sprint acquisition including TSA costs. Our total headcount was 1,916 at December 31, 2024 and 1,947 at December 31, 2023.

Acquisition-Related Costs. In connection with the Transaction and negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred professional fees, and other acquisition related costs totaling $42.1 million, including $28.6 million of reimbursed severance costs. Such fees totaled $21.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 and $18.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Depreciation and Amortization Expenses. Our depreciation and amortization expense increased by 28.3% primarily due to the depreciation expense associated with assets acquired with the Sprint Business and an increase in deployed fixed assets, partly offset by the impact of an increase in the estimated useful life for our owned fiber acquired with the Sprint Business. Effective July 1, 2024, we changed our estimate of the useful life of our owned fiber to better reflect the estimated periods during which these assets will remain in service. The estimated useful life of the owned fiber that previously averaged 14 years was increased to an average of 40 years. The effect of this change in estimate on the year ended December 31, 2024 was to reduce depreciation expense by $8.7 million.

Gain on Lease Termination. In June 2024, we elected to exercise a contractual option to prepay in full at a 12.0% discounted rate an IRU finance lease agreement between us and a vendor we assumed with the Sprint Business for $114.6 million. At the payment date, the present value of the IRU finance lease liability was $117.9 million and the remaining thirty-one $4.2 million monthly principal payments totaled $130.2 million. The prepayment resulted in a gain on lease termination of $3.3 million related to the difference between the book value of $117.9 million and the cash payment of $114.6 million. We are continuing to use the related IRU asset.

Gain on Bargain Purchase. We accounted for our acquisition of the Sprint Business as a business combination. The identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed were recorded at their fair values as of the acquisition date. Assigning fair market values to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the date of an acquisition requires the use of significant judgment regarding estimates and assumptions. As of December 31, 2023, the fair value of the identifiable assets acquired was $1.9 billion (including amounts due under the IP Transit Services Agreement) and was in excess of the $0.9 billion liabilities assumed and the $0.6 billion net consideration to be received from the Seller resulting in a gain on bargain purchase of $1.4 billion. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we made certain adjustments to our estimates of the fair market value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed resulting in an increase to the gain on bargain purchase of $22.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The total bargain purchase gain from the Transaction was $1.4 billion.

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Interest Income - IP Transit Services Agreement. Under the IP Transit Services Agreement, TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months. The IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount of $79.6 million. The amortization of the discount is recorded as interest income.

Interest Expense - Including Change in Valuation of Swap Agreement. Our interest expense resulted from interest incurred on our 2026 Notes, 2027 Notes, 2027 Mirror Notes, IPv4 Notes, Swap Agreement and finance lease obligations.

As of December 31, 2024, the fair value of our Swap Agreement was a net liability of $22.3 million. Changes in the valuation of the Swap Agreement are related to semi-annual interest payments in May and November and changes in interest rates, and are included in interest expense. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payments made in May 2023 and November 2023, we paid a total of $21.5 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $21.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payments made in May 2024 and November 2024, we paid a total of $24.2 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $24.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. Our interest expense increased by 32.1% primarily due to the issuance of our IPv4 Notes in May 2024, the issuance of our 2027 Mirror Notes in June 2024 and the increase in payments under our Swap Agreement.

Income Tax Benefit. Our income tax benefit was $55.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 and $54.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The change in our income tax benefit was primarily related to projected operating results related to the Sprint Business acquisition and the reversal of deferred tax liabilities acquired with the Sprint Business.

Buildings On-net. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had a total of 3,453 and 3,277 on-net buildings connected to our network, respectively. The increase in our on-net buildings was a result of our disciplined network expansion program. We anticipate adding a similar number of buildings to our network for the next several years.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Acquisition of Sprint Communications

The Sprint Business’s cash flow was negative at the time of negotiations and during its recent history. Due to the dire financial condition of the Sprint Business, it was understood that a payment from T-Mobile to any potential buyer would be required to execute a transaction to give a buyer sufficient cash inflow to offset losses that would be expected until a buyer could optimize the business. Based on management’s internal modeling at the culmination of the due diligence process, management determined this cash payment to be $700.0 million. Management is reducing the negative cash flow of the Sprint Business through the payments from the IP Transit Services Agreement, reducing operating costs and increasing revenue primarily by providing optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network, including the owned network we acquired with the Sprint Business. We are selling these services to our existing customers, customers we acquired with the Sprint Business and to new customers who require dedicated optical transport connectivity without the capital and ongoing expenses associated with owning and operating network infrastructure. As part of the Transaction, we began incurring costs associated with the TSA. The amount of these costs will be dependent upon our ability to integrate the operations of the Sprint Business into our operations. Our cash flow requirements related to the acquisition of the Sprint Business will be dependent upon our ability to reduce the acquired operating costs, our success in retaining the acquired customers and our ability to sell optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network.

Under the IP Transit Services Agreement, TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. Through December 31, 2024, we received monthly payments totaling $408.3 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement, reflected as cash flows from investing activities in our consolidated statements of cash flows. As our business has grown as a result of an increasing customer base, the Transaction, broader geographic coverage and increased traffic on our network, we have historically produced a growing level of cash provided by operating activities. Since we closed the Transaction, we experienced a reduction of cash provided by operating activities from the impact of the Transaction. The cash received from the IP Transit Services Agreement was designed to offset operating losses associated with the Sprint Business. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities is, in part, dependent upon our ability to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its profitable revenue, expanding our geographic footprint and increasing our network capacity.

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During 2025, we expect to receive a total of $100.0 million under the monthly payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement. This includes 12 monthly payments of $8.3 million each. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities, is in part, dependent upon our ability to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its profitable revenue.

In assessing our liquidity, management reviews and analyzes our current cash balances, payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, capital expenditure commitments, and required finance lease and debt payments and other obligations. Because of the operating leverage of our network, our annual capital expenditures measured as a percentage of revenues has fallen over the last decade but increased in 2024 to 18.8% from 13.8% for 2023, primarily due to capital expenditures related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business, costs associated with providing wave services, conversion costs related to acquired data centers and adding buildings to our network.

To date, we have been able to raise capital by issuing notes and arranging financing and leases that have had more flexible terms at reasonable cost. Through our issuance of the IPv4 Notes, we have also been able to access new markets for raising capital. The combination of this improved operating performance and access to capital has preserved our financial flexibility and buttressed our ability to make distributions to stockholders in the form of cash dividends or through share repurchases. We have returned $1.6 billion to our stockholders through share repurchases and dividends. We will continue to assess our capital and liquidity needs and, where appropriate, return capital to stockholders.

Over the next several years, we have significant contractual and anticipated cash outlays, including our indicative dividend payments on our common stock, our maturing debt obligations, interest payments on our debt obligations and Swap Agreement and our projected capital expenditure requirements in order to help execute our business plan, including the integration of Sprint Business. Based upon the historical growth rate of our dividend, we expect that we would have to provide approximately $399 million in order to meet our expected quarterly dividend payments over the next two years. Our $500.0 million of 2026 Notes accrue interest at 3.50%, mature in May 2026 and include annual interest payments of $17.5 million until maturity. Our $450.0 million of 2027 Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $31.5 million until maturity. Our $300.0 million of 2027 Mirror Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $21.0 million until maturity. Our $206.0 million of IPv4 Notes effectively mature in May 2029 and include annual interest payments of $16.3 million until maturity (which amount increases if the IPv4 Notes are not repaid prior to May 2029).

Under our Swap Agreement, we pay the counterparty a semi-annual payment based upon overnight SOFR plus a contractual interest rate spread, and the counterparty pays us a semi-annual fixed 3.50% interest payment. These settlement payments are made in November and May of each year until the Swap Agreement expires in February 2026. As of December 31, 2024, $22.3 million of our cash and cash equivalents are restricted for use under our Swap Agreement. We have made a $23.4 million deposit with the counterparty to the Swap Agreement. If the fair value of the Swap Agreement exceeds a net liability of $23.4 million, we will be required to deposit additional funds with the counterparty equal to the liability fair value.

In June 2024, we elected to exercise a contractual option to prepay in full at a 12.0% discount rate an IRU finance lease agreement between us and a vendor we assumed with the Sprint Business for $114.6 million. At the payment date, the present value of the IRU finance lease liability was $117.9 million and the remaining thirty-one $4.2 million monthly principal payments totaled $130.2 million. The prepayment resulted in a gain on lease termination of $3.3 million related to the difference between the book value of $117.9 million and the cash payment of $114.6 million. We are continuing to use the related IRU asset.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity, and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into interest rate swap agreements, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material. We or our affiliates may, at any time and from time to time, seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through cash purchases and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases or exchanges, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.

In light of the economic uncertainties associated with the global economy, evolving hybrid work arrangements, the cash flow requirements of the Sprint Business, and the uncertain impact of proposed changes to economic and fiscal policies in the United States and other countries, our executive officers and Board of Directors have continued to carefully monitor our liquidity and cash

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requirements as well as our capital spending. After consideration of these circumstances, we currently plan to continue our current dividend policy. As we do each year, we will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will adjust our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors.

As of December 31, 2024, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $227.9 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted our credit rating to date, nor do we believe that it has materially changed our cost of capital. We believe we are able to timely service our debt obligations and will not require any concessions to do so. We believe we will have access to additional capital from a variety of sources and the public capital markets for debt and equity.

Continued Impact of Changing Office Occupancy Rates

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we have experienced certain corporate customers taking a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the remote work environment that resulted initially from the pandemic. We also witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals, which resulted in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce and a reduction in VPN opportunities. As a result, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers, which negatively impacted our corporate revenue growth.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, we continued to see declining vacancy rates compared to their peak during the pandemic and rising office occupancy rates in certain markets in which we operate continuing a trend that began following the end of the pandemic. Other markets, particularly those in California, Washington D.C. and the Pacific Northwest, continue to see markedly higher vacancy rates. These higher vacancy rates may represent a long-term change in office attendance and occupancy rates in these markets. Despite this overall environment, we are seeing some positive trends in our corporate business. This was partially due to the increase in office occupancy rates and leasing activity in some markets but also due to new demands for services from corporate customers. As the option to fully or partially work from home becomes permanently established at many companies, our corporate customers are integrating certain new applications that became part of the remote work environment, which benefits our corporate business as these customers upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections, and mitigates the overall impact of remote work policies on our corporate business. Further, if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which we operate, whether as existing or new tenants, we believe it will present an opportunity for increased sales.

While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in the markets in which they are located, and that most employers will eventually require their employees to return to their offices on at least a hybrid basis, the timing and scope of a return to office, particularly in a number of key markets we serve, remains uncertain. In some markets, office occupancy rates may never return to pre-2020 levels. As a result, we may continue to experience increased customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities. These trends may negatively impact our revenue growth, cash flows and profitability.

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth our consolidated cash flows.

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Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Operating Activities. Our primary source of operating cash is receipts from our customers who are billed on a monthly basis for our services. Our primary uses of operating cash are payments made to our vendors, payments made under the TSA, payments to employees and interest payments made to our finance lease vendors and our note holders. Our changes in cash provided by operating activities are primarily due to changes in net payments under the TSA, changes in our operating profit and changes in our interest payments.

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On the Closing Date, we entered into a TSA with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller provides to us, and we provide to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, Transition Services to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. During 2024 and 2023, we were billed $27.2 million and $284.1 million, respectively, under the TSA, primarily for reimbursement at cost of payments to vendors of the Sprint Business. During 2024 and 2023 we paid $93.8 million and $217.2 million to the Seller under the TSA, respectively. Amounts recorded and paid as due to the Seller under the TSA resulted in a use of cash in operating activities of $66.4 million for 2024 and contributed $66.9 million to net cash provided by operating activities for 2023.

Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities. Our primary use of cash for investing activities is for purchases of property and equipment. Purchases of property and equipment were $195.0 million, $129.6 million and $79.0 million for 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The changes in purchases of property and equipment were primarily due to the timing and scope of our network expansion activities including geographic expansion, purchases related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business, costs associated with providing wave services, conversion costs related to acquired data centers and adding buildings to our network.

Our primary source of cash provided by investing activities is our IP Transit Services Agreement with TMUSA. On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months. During 2024 and 2023 we were paid $204.2 million and $204.2 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement, respectively. In May 2023 we paid $61.1 million and acquired $47.1 million of cash and in 2023 we paid $5.0 million related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business. In 2024 and 2023 we received $12.3 million and $16.2 million of reimbursed severance payments, respectively, related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business. We received a combined net total of $14.5 million of cash received (including reimbursed severance payments) related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business.

Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities. Our primary uses of cash for financing activities are for dividend payments, principal payments under our finance lease obligations and purchases of our common stock. Our primary sources of cash for financing activities are issuances of note obligations. During 2024, 2023 and 2022, we paid $189.4 million, $181.7 million and $169.9 million, respectively, for our quarterly dividend payments. Our quarterly dividend payments have increased due to increases in our quarterly dividend per share amounts. Principal payments under our finance lease obligations were $74.6 million, $77.4 million and $45.5 million, respectively, In June 2024, we elected to exercise a contractual option to prepay in full at a 12.0% discount rate an IRU finance lease agreement between us and a vendor we assumed with the Sprint Business for $114.6 million. The other changes in our principal payments under our finance lease obligations were primarily due to the timing and extent of our network expansion activities including geographic expansion, purchases related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business, purchases associated with providing wave services and adding buildings to our network. During 2024, we purchased 153,322 shares of our common stock for $8.0 million. There were no purchases of our common stock in 2023 or 2022.

We completed a series of debt issuances and redemptions in 2024 and 2022.

On May 2, 2024, we issued $206.0 million aggregate principal amount of our IPv4 Notes, with an anticipated term ending in May 2029. The net proceeds from the offering, after debt offering costs, were $198.4 million. Interest on the IPv4 Notes is paid on a monthly basis. From and after May 2029, principal payments will also be required to be made on the IPv4 Notes on a monthly basis. No principal payments will be due on the IPv4 Notes prior to May 2029, unless certain rapid amortization or acceleration triggers are activated.

On June 11, 2024, Cogent Communications Group, LLC (“Group”) and Cogent Finance, Inc. (the “Co-Issuer” and, together with Group, the “Issuers”), two wholly owned subsidiaries of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (“Holdings”), completed an offering of $300.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2027 Mirror Notes. The 2027 Mirror Notes were issued at a price equal to 98.50% of their face value. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $291.9 million after deducting the discount and offering expenses. The 2027 Mirror Notes bear interest at a rate of 7.00% per annum. Interest began to accrue on the 2027 Mirror Notes on June 11, 2024 and will be paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year, commencing on December 15, 2024. Unless earlier redeemed or repurchased, the 2027 Mirror Notes will mature on June 15, 2027.

In June 2022, we paid $375.4 million to redeem and extinguish our 2024 Notes at 101.094% of par value, and we issued $450.0 million of our 2027 Notes for net proceeds of $446.0 million.

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Indebtedness

Our total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at December 31, 2024 were $227.9 million and our net accounts receivable were $96.9 million. We believe this level of liquidity reduces our exposure to refinancing risk, potential underperformance of the business or other unforeseen challenges and enhances our ability to pursue acquisitions or operating opportunities. We intend to hold levels of cash and cash equivalents sufficient to maintain our ability to fund operations and make dividend payments to our stockholders.

Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2024, at par value, was $2.0 billion. Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2024 includes $538.4 million of finance lease obligations for dark fiber under long-term IRU agreements.

Issuance of $300.0 Million Principal Amount of 2027 Mirror Notes

On June 11, 2024, the Issuers completed the offering of our 2027 Mirror Notes for issuance in a private placement not registered under the Securities Act. The 2027 Mirror Notes were offered and sold only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in an unregistered offering pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act and to certain non - U.S. persons in transactions outside the United States in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. The 2027 Mirror Notes have the same maturity date and call protection, bear interest at the same rate and otherwise have substantially the same terms as our 2027 Notes; however, the 2027 Mirror Notes are not fungible (from a trading or tax perspective) with the 2027 Notes and are a separate series of notes from the 2027 Notes.

The 2027 Mirror Notes were issued at a price equal to 98.50% of their face value. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $291.9 million after deducting the discount and offering expenses. We used $114.6 million of the net proceeds from the offering to exercise a contractual option to prepay in full in June 2024 an existing IRU agreement consisting of 31 remaining monthly recurring payments of $4.2 million, at a 12.0% discount rate. We expect to use the remainder of the net proceeds for general corporate purposes and/or to make special or recurring dividends to Holdings.

The 2027 Mirror Notes were issued pursuant to, and are governed by, an indenture, dated June 11, 2024 (the “2027 Mirror Notes Indenture”), among the Issuers, Holdings, the other guarantors named therein and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee (the “2027 Notes Trustee”). The 2027 Mirror Notes are jointly and severally guaranteed (the “Guarantees”) on a senior unsecured basis by each of Group’s existing and future material domestic subsidiaries (other than the Co-Issuer), subject to certain exceptions (collectively, the “Subsidiary Guarantors”), and by Holdings (together with the Subsidiary Guarantors, the “Guarantors”). However, the Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture. Under certain circumstances, the Guarantors may be released from these Guarantees without the consent of the holders of the 2027 Mirror Notes.

The 2027 Mirror Notes and the Guarantees are the Issuers’ and the Guarantors’ senior unsecured obligations. The 2027 Mirror Notes and the Guarantees are effectively subordinated to all of the Issuers’ and the Guarantors’ existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the collateral securing such indebtedness, and are structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities of subsidiaries that are not Subsidiary Guarantors. Without giving effect to collateral arrangements, the 2027 Mirror Notes and the Guarantees rank pari passu in right of payment with all of the Issuers’ and the Guarantors’ existing and future senior indebtedness, including the 2026 Notes and the 2027 Notes. The 2027 Mirror Notes and the Guarantees rank contractually senior in right of payment to all of the Issuers’ and the Guarantors’ subordinated indebtedness and are structurally subordinated to any existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities of the Issuers’ non-guarantor subsidiaries.

The 2027 Mirror Notes bear interest at a rate of 7.00% per annum. Interest began to accrue on the 2027 Mirror Notes on June 11, 2024 is paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year, which commenced on December 15, 2024. Unless earlier redeemed or repurchased, the 2027 Mirror Notes will mature on June 15, 2027. After June 15, 2024, the Issuers may redeem the 2027 Mirror Notes, in whole or in part, at a redemption price ranging from 103.5% of the aggregate principal amount of the 2027 Mirror Notes redeemed to par (depending on the year), in each case, as set forth in the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but not including, the date of redemption.

If Group undergoes specific kinds of change in control accompanied by certain ratings events, the Issuers will be required to offer to repurchase the 2027 Mirror Notes from holders at a price equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but not including, the date of repurchase. Additionally, if Group or any of its restricted subsidiaries sells assets and does not apply the proceeds from such sale in a certain manner or certain other events have not occurred, under certain circumstances, we will be required to use the net proceeds to make an offer to purchase the 2027 Mirror Notes at an offer price in cash equal to 100% of the principal amount of the 2027 Mirror Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but not including, the

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repurchase date. In connection with any offer to purchase all or any of the 2027 Mirror Notes (including a change of control offer, asset sale offer or any tender offer), if holders of no less than 90% of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding 2027 Mirror Notes validly tender their 2027 Mirror Notes, the Issuers, or a third party, are entitled to redeem any remaining 2027 Mirror Notes at the price paid to each holder.

The 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture includes covenants that restrict Group and its restricted subsidiaries’ (including the Co-Issuer’s) ability to, among other things: incur indebtedness; issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; pay dividends or make other distributions in respect of, or repurchase or redeem, capital stock; make certain investments and other restricted payments, such as prepayment, redemption or repurchase of certain indebtedness; create liens; consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of the properties and assets of Group and its restricted subsidiaries taken as a whole; incur restrictions on the ability of a subsidiary to pay dividends or make other payments; or enter into transactions with affiliates. The covenants provide for certain exceptions to these restrictions, and Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture. Certain covenants will cease to apply to the 2027 Mirror Notes if, and for so long as, the 2027 Mirror Notes have investment grade ratings from any two of Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., Fitch Ratings, Inc. and S&P Global Ratings, and so long as no default or event of default under the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture has occurred and is continuing. Upon suspension of the covenants, the Guarantees will be released until such time as the covenants are no longer suspended.

The principal amount of the 2027 Mirror Notes would become immediately due and payable upon the occurrence of certain bankruptcy or insolvency events and may be declared immediately due and payable by the 2027 Notes Trustee or the holders of at least 25% of the aggregate principal amount of the then-outstanding 2027 Mirror Notes upon the occurrence of certain events of default under the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture. Events of default include the following with respect to the Issuers’ and Group’s significant subsidiaries: (i) failure to pay principal, premium or interest at required times; (ii) failure to comply with any other agreements in the 2027 Mirror Notes Indenture; (iii) default on certain material indebtedness that is caused by a failure to make a payment within any applicable grace period when due at maturity or results in the acceleration of such indebtedness prior to its express maturity; (iv) failure to pay certain material judgments; (v) a Guarantee being held unenforceable or invalid or ceasing for any reason to be in full force and effect or a Guarantor denying or disaffirming its obligations under its Guarantee; and (vi) certain events of bankruptcy or insolvency.

Issuance of $206.0 Million Principal Amount of IPv4 Notes

On May 2, 2024, the IPv4 Issuer, our special-purpose, bankruptcy remote, indirect wholly owned subsidiary, issued $206.0 million aggregate principal amount of IPv4 Notes, with an anticipated term ending in May 2029 (such anticipated repayment date, the “ARD”), in an offering exempt from registration under the Securities Act. The net proceeds from the offering, after debt offering costs, were $198.4 million and are expected to be used for general corporate purposes.

The IPv4 Notes were issued pursuant to an indenture, dated as of May 2, 2024 (the “IPv4 Base Indenture”), as supplemented by the Series 2024-1 Supplement thereto, dated as of May 2, 2024 (the “Series 2024-1 Supplement”), in each case entered into by and between the IPv4 Issuer and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as the trustee for the IPv4 Notes (the “IPv4 Trustee”). The IPv4 Base Indenture allows the IPv4 Issuer to issue additional series of notes subject to certain conditions set forth therein, and the IPv4 Base Indenture, together with the Series 2024-1 Supplement, and any other series supplements to the IPv4 Base Indenture, is referred to herein as the “IPv4 Indenture.”

The IPv4 Notes were issued as part of a securitization transaction, pursuant to which certain Internet Protocol version 4 (“IPv4”) addresses, customer IPv4 address leases, customer accounts receivables and other IPv4 address assets (collectively, “IPv4 Address Assets”) were contributed or sold to the IPv4 Issuer and are included as collateral for the IPv4 Notes.

While the IPv4 Notes are outstanding, scheduled payments of interest are required to be made on a monthly basis. From and after the ARD, principal payments will also be required to be made on the IPv4 Notes on a monthly basis. No principal payments will be due on the IPv4 Notes prior to the ARD, unless certain rapid amortization or acceleration triggers are activated.

Cogent Communications LLC (in such capacity, the “Manager”) performs certain monthly services related to the IPv4 Address Assets and IPv4 Notes including billing customers, collecting amounts paid by customers, forwarding payments to the IPv4 Trustee related to the IPv4 Address Assets and other administrative services. Amounts paid by the Manager to the IPv4 Trustee are reconciled on a monthly basis and the IPv4 Trustee pays the monthly interest on the IPv4 Notes and other expenses from the accumulated customer payments on the IPv4 Address Assets. Amounts held by the IPv4 Trustee before the monthly reconciliation is completed are considered restricted cash. After the IPv4 Trustee pays the monthly interest and other IPv4 Address Asset related costs, including monthly fees paid to the Manager for its services, the residual cash is paid to us and is unrestricted.

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The legal final maturity date of the IPv4 Notes is in May of 2054. If the IPv4 Issuer has not repaid or refinanced the IPv4 Notes prior to the monthly payment date in May of 2029, additional interest will accrue thereon in an amount equal to the greater of (i) 5.0% per annum and (ii) the excess amount, if any, by which the sum of the following exceeds the interest rate for such IPv4 Note: (A) the yield to maturity (adjusted to a “mortgage-equivalent basis” pursuant to the standards and practices of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) on the ARD for such IPv4 Note of the United States Treasury Security having a remaining term closest to 10 years; plus (B) 5.0%; plus (C) the post-ARD note spread of 3.400% applicable to such Note.

The IPv4 Notes are obligations only of the IPv4 Issuer pursuant to the IPv4 Indenture, and are secured by a security interest in substantially all of the IPv4 Address Assets pursuant to the IPv4 Indenture. The IPv4 Notes are guaranteed by Cogent IPv4 Holdco LLC, a special-purpose entity and our indirect wholly owned subsidiary, as the guarantor (the “IPv4 Guarantor”), pursuant to a guaranty dated as of May 2, 2024 (the “Guaranty”), by the IPv4 Guarantor in favor of the IPv4 Trustee, pursuant to which the IPv4 Guarantor has granted a security interest in the equity interests of the IPv4 Issuer as collateral security for its obligations under the Guaranty. Except as described below, neither we nor any of our subsidiaries, other than the IPv4 Issuer and the IPv4 Guarantor, will guarantee or in any way be liable for the obligations of the IPv4 Issuer under the IPv4 Indenture or the IPv4 Notes.

The IPv4 Notes are subject to a series of covenants and restrictions customary for transactions of this type. These covenants and restrictions include (i) that the IPv4 Issuer maintains a liquidity reserve account to be used to make required payments in respect of the IPv4 Notes such amount considered restricted cash, (ii) provisions relating to optional and mandatory prepayments, including specified make - whole payments in the case of certain optional prepayments of the IPv4 Notes prior to the monthly payment date in May of 2028, (iii) certain indemnification payments in the event, among other things, that the transfers of the assets pledged as collateral for the IPv4 Notes are in stated ways defective or ineffective and (iv) covenants relating to recordkeeping, access to information and similar matters. As provided in the IPv4 Base Indenture, the IPv4 Notes are also subject to rapid amortization in the event of a failure to maintain a stated debt service coverage ratio as defined in the IPv4 Indenture. A rapid amortization may be cured if the debt service coverage ratio exceeds a certain threshold for a certain period of time, upon which cure, regular amortization, if any, will resume. In addition, if certain utilization thresholds are not met (i.e., the proportion of IP addresses that are leased to the total number of IP addresses owned by the IPv4 Issuer falls below certain thresholds), the IPv4 Issuer will be required to apply collections to the repayment of the IPv4 Notes, and in certain circumstances, the noteholders will have the ability to direct a sale of the IP Address Assets, in whole or in part, pursuant to the terms set forth in the IPv4 Indenture. The IPv4 Notes are also subject to certain customary events of default, including events relating to non - payment of required interest, principal or other amounts due on or with respect to the IPv4 Notes, failure to comply with covenants within certain time frames, certain bankruptcy events, breaches of specified representations and warranties, failure of security interests to be effective and certain judgments.

Senior Unsecured 2027 Notes—$450.0 Million

In June 2022, Group issued $450.0 million of 2027 Notes. The 2027 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on June 15, 2027. Interest accrues at 7.00% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2027 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior Secured 2026 Notes—$500.0 Million

In May 2021, Group issued $500.0 million of 2026 Notes. The 2026 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on May 1, 2026. Interest accrues at 3.50% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on May 1 and November 1 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2026 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior Unsecured 2024 Notes—€350.0 Million

In June 2019, Group completed an offering of €135.0 million of 2024 Notes. In June 2020, Group completed an offering of €215.0 million of 2024 Notes. The 2024 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and were scheduled to mature on June 30, 2024. Interest accrued at 4.375% and was paid semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 30 of each year. In June 2022, the 2024 Notes were redeemed with the proceeds from our 2027 Notes.

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Limitations Under the Indentures

The indentures governing the 2026 Notes, the 2027 Notes and the 2027 Mirror Notes (the “Indentures”), among other things, limit the ability of Group and its restricted subsidiaries to incur indebtedness; to pay dividends or make other distributions; to make certain investments and other restricted payments; to create liens; to consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets; to incur restrictions on the ability of a subsidiary to pay dividends or make other payments; and to enter into certain transactions with its affiliates. There are certain exceptions to the limitations on the ability to incur indebtedness under the Indentures, including IRU agreements incurred in the normal course of business and any additional indebtedness if Group’s consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or Group’s fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater. Group and its subsidiaries can also incur unlimited liens (which can be used, together with capacity under the debt covenant, to incur additional secured indebtedness) if Group’s consolidated secured leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 4.0 to 1.0. Under the Indentures, Group and its restricted subsidiaries can pay dividends, make other distributions, make certain investments and make other restricted payments under certain circumstances, including if, after giving pro forma effect to such restricted payment, Group could still incur $1 of “Ratio Debt,”, as defined (i.e., either its consolidated leverage ratio is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or its fixed charge coverage ratio is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater). As of December 31, 2024, Group’s consolidated leverage ratio was below 6.0, Group’s consolidated secured leverage ratio was below 4.0 and Group’s fixed charge coverage ratio was above 2.0. As of December 31, 2024, a total of $303.6 million was unrestricted and permitted for restricted payments, including dividends and stock purchases.

Summarized Financial Information of Holdings

Neither Holdings nor any of its subsidiaries that is not also a subsidiary of Group is a “Restricted Subsidiary” as defined under the Indentures. Holdings is a guarantor under these notes, but none of its subsidiaries that is not also a subsidiary of Group is a guarantor under these notes. Under the Indentures, we are required to disclose certain reasonably related information of Holdings and its subsidiaries that is not attributable to Group and its subsidiaries, relating to Holdings’ assets, liabilities and operating results (“Holdings Financial Information”). The Holdings Financial Information as of and for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024 is detailed below (in thousands):

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Common Stock Buyback Program

Our Board of Directors has approved purchases of our common stock under a buyback program (the “Buyback Program”) through December 31, 2025. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we purchased 153,322 shares of our common stock for $8.0 million. There were no purchases of our common stock during the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2024, there was a total of $22.4 million available under the Buyback Program.

Dividends on Common Stock

Dividends are recorded as a reduction to retained earnings. Dividends on unvested restricted shares of common stock are paid as the awards vest. Our initial quarterly dividend payment was made in the third quarter of 2012. On February 26, 2025, our Board of Directors approved the payment of our quarterly dividend of $1.005 per common share. The dividend for the first quarter of 2025 will be paid to holders of record on March 13, 2025. This estimated $47.8 million dividend payment is expected to be made on March 28, 2025. The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital, including stock buybacks, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon our financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under our debt indentures and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We are a Delaware Corporation and under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware distributions may be restricted including a restriction that distributions, including stock purchases and dividends, do not result in an impairment of a corporation’s capital, as defined under Delaware Law. The Indentures limit our ability to return cash to our stockholders. See Note 4 “Long-term Debt” to our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of limitations on distributions.

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Future Capital Requirements

We believe that our cash on hand and cash generated from our operating activities and cash from the IP Transit Services Agreement will be adequate to meet our working capital, capital expenditure, debt service, dividend payments and other cash requirements for the next 12 months and beyond the next 12 months if we execute our business plan.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. In addition, our 2026 Notes will mature in May 2026. At that time we will need to repay our 2026 Notes which may require us to issue additional indebtedness. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, reduce our planned dividend payments, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. As such, we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.

Income Taxes

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code in the United States limits the utilization of net operating losses when ownership changes, as defined by that section, occur. We have performed an analysis of our Section 382 ownership changes and have determined that the utilization of certain of our net operating loss carryforwards in the United States is limited.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The accounting policies we believe to be most critical to understanding our financial results and condition or that require complex, significant and subjective management judgments are discussed below.

Acquisition accounting

In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business we made the following significant changes to our critical accounting policies and significant estimates. For the fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, we used the cost, income and market approaches, including market participant assumptions.

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In connection with the Transaction, the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed were recorded at their fair values as of the acquisition date. Assigning fair market values to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the date of an acquisition requires the use of significant judgment regarding estimates and assumptions. We acquired property and equipment comprised of the legacy Sprint network and consists of optical fiber, related equipment, and owned real estate. Management valued these assets using factors that represent an orderly liquidation value, to approximate the highest and best use of assets acquired in a distressed business.

The valuation of the optical fiber requires the estimation of the total replacement cost per mile of fiber and a factor to reflect the orderly liquidation value. There is not active market data for these assumptions and these assumptions are inherently subjective. Market participants could have differing views on these assumptions, which could result in a materially different fair value of the optical fiber.

On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement. We evaluated what elements were part of the business combination and the consideration exchanged to complete the Transaction. We concluded that the payments to be made represent consideration received from T-Mobile to complete the acquisition of a distressed business. We concluded that T-Mobile did not represent a customer, the stated contract price did not represent consideration for services to be delivered, and the transaction did not satisfy the definition of revenue. We also considered whether the IP Transit Services Agreement would be considered separable from the business combination. We concluded that the cash consideration was not separately identifiable from the business combination and was therefore not meant to be in exchange for a distinct good or service. As a result, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, among other market factors. The determination of the discount rate and the conclusions reached related to the IP Transit Services Agreement required significant judgment.

The Purchase Agreement includes an estimated payment from Seller to Buyer related to short-term lease obligations. This amount was recorded at its present value resulting in a discount. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, among other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment.

In connection with the Transaction, we recorded an intangible asset totaling $458.0 million for acquired IPv4 addresses. This asset was recorded once management determined both the quantity of IPv4 addresses for which title was transferred and the valuation approach. Because of the novel nature of this asset and that the Transaction has resulted in a material bargain purchase gain, management recorded the asset after appropriate consideration of the valuation approach, in the context of a distressed business. The fair value measurement of the IPv4 addresses was based on recent auction prices and a factor to incorporate the uncertainty for how the market for IPv4 addresses will function in the future. We believe that these IPv4 addresses have an indefinite useful life and are not being amortized. We evaluate the IPv4 intangible asset for impairment on the first day of the fourth quarter, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. In performing our impairment assessment, we first evaluated qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. The factors we evaluated include market data for sales and leases of IPv4 addresses and cash flows associated with the asset. Upon consideration of these factors we determined that it was not more-likely-than-not that the asset was impaired, and that a quantitative impairment assessment was not required.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. The discussion in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this report should be read as applying to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” as well as those discussed elsewhere. You should read “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to:

Our acquisition of Sprint Communications (as defined below), including difficulties integrating our business with the Sprint Business, which may result in the combined company not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected; transition services required to support the Sprint Business and the related costs continuing for a period longer than expected, the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying government policies worldwide; vaccination and in-office requirements, delays in the delivery of network equipment or optical fiber, loss of key right-of-way agreements, future economic instability in the global economy, including the risk of economic recession and recent bank failures and liquidity concerns at certain other banks, which could affect spending on Internet services; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to US dollar and Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rates) on the translation of our non-US dollar denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities into US dollars; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including rules regarding data protection, cyber security and net neutrality; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering and right-of-way arrangements on favorable terms; our ability to renew our long-term leases of optical fiber and right-of-way agreements that comprise our network; our reliance on a limited number of equipment vendors, and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber and right-of-way providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due and outcomes in litigation, risks associated with variable interest rates under our Swap Agreement as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Acquisition of Sprint Communications

On May 1, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), Cogent Infrastructure, Inc., a Delaware corporation and our direct wholly owned subsidiary, closed on its acquisition of the U.S. long-haul fiber network (including the non-U.S. extensions thereof) of Sprint Communications and its Subsidiaries (the “Sprint Business”) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”), dated September 6, 2022, by and among us, Sprint Communications LLC, a Kansas limited liability company (“Sprint Communications”) and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile US, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“T-Mobile”), and Sprint LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile (the “Seller”). On the Closing Date, we purchased from the Seller all of the issued and outstanding membership interests (the “Purchased Interests”) of Wireline Network Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company that, following an internal restructuring and divisive merger, holds Sprint Communications’ assets and liabilities relating to the Sprint Business (such transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, collectively, the “Transaction”).

Purchase Price

The Transaction closed on May 1, 2023 (the “Closing Date”). On the Closing Date, we consummated the Transaction pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, providing a purchase price of $1 payable to the Seller for the Purchased Interests, subject to customary adjustments, including working capital (the “Working Capital Adjustment”), as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. As consideration for the Purchased Interests, the Working Capital Adjustment (primarily related to acquired cash and cash equivalents of an estimated $43.4 million at the Closing Date in order to fund the international operations of the Sprint Business) was $66.1 million, of which $61.1 million was paid to the Seller on the Closing Date. During the third quarter of 2023, an additional Working Capital Adjustment of $5.0 million was accrued due to the Seller.

The Purchase Agreement also includes an estimated payment of $52.3 million as of December 31, 2023, from Seller to Buyer related to acquired short-term lease obligations (the “Short-term Lease Payment”). The Short-term Lease Payment will be paid from the Seller to the Company in four equal payments in months 55 to 58 after the Closing Date. The Short-term Lease Payment was

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recorded at its present value resulting in a discount of $15.6 million. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, amongst other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment. The amortization of the discount resulted in interest income of $26.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Seller is disputing approximately $24.2 million of the Short-term Lease Payment amount. The Purchase Agreement also includes reimbursement from Seller to Buyer for qualifying severance expenses incurred, which were $16.2 million in 2023. A final determination of the Working Capital Adjustment and the Short-term Lease Payment is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

IP Transit Services Agreement

On the Closing Date, Cogent Communications, Inc. and T-Mobile USA, Inc., a Delaware corporation and direct subsidiary of T-Mobile (“TMUSA”), entered into an agreement for IP transit services (“IP Transit Services Agreement”), pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. We concluded that the $700.0 million cash consideration was not separately identifiable from the business combination. As a result, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction. During the year ended December 31, 2023, TMUSA paid us $204.2 million under the IP Transit Agreement.

Transition Services Agreement

On the Closing Date, we entered into a transition services agreement (the “TSA”) with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller will provide to us, and we will provide to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, certain specified services (the “Transition Services”) to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. The services to be provided by the Seller to us include, among others, information technology support, back office and finance, real estate and facilities, vendor and supply chain management including payments to vendors of the Sprint Business for us reimbursed at cost and human resources. The services to be provided by us to the Seller include, among others, information technology and network support, finance and back office and other wireless business support.

The Transition Services are generally intended to be provided for a period of up to two years following the Closing Date, although such period may be extended for an additional one-year term by either party upon 30 days’ prior written notice. The fees for the Transition Services are calculated using either a per service monthly fee or an hourly rate for the employees allocated to provide such services. Any third-party costs incurred in providing the Transition Services are passed on to the party receiving such services at cost for the two-year period.

Either party to the TSA may terminate the agreement (i) with respect to any individual service in full for convenience upon 30 days’ prior written notice for certain services and reduced for other services after a 90-day period. The TSA may be terminated in its entirety if the other party has failed to perform any of its material obligations and such failure is not cured within 30 days. The TSA provides for customary indemnification and limits on liability. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we were billed $284.1 million under the TSA primarily for reimbursement at cost of payment to vendors of the Sprint Business. During the year ended December 31, 2023 we paid $217.2 million to the Seller under the TSA. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. As of December 31, 2023, we owed $66.9 million to the Seller and the Seller owed $4.5 million to us under the TSA. The amounts due from the Seller are primarily reimbursements for severance costs related to Sprint Business employees and services provided by us for the Seller.

Other Services Provided to Seller

In addition, on the Closing Date, we entered into a commercial agreement with TMUSA (“Commercial Agreement”) for colocation and connectivity services, pursuant to which we will provide such services to TMUSA for a per service monthly fee plus certain third-party costs incurred in providing the services. During the year ended December 31, 2023 we recorded $23.9 million from TMUSA under the Commercial Agreement. As of December 31, 2023, TMUSA owed $1.6 million to us under the Commercial Agreement.

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Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2022

In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Our management reviews and analyzes several key financial measures in order to manage our business and assess the quality and variability of our service revenue, operating results and cash flows. The following summary tables present a comparison of our results of operations with respect to certain key financial measures. The comparisons illustrated in the tables are discussed in greater detail below.

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Service Revenue. We continually work to grow our total service revenue by increasing the number of potential customers that we can reach on our network. We do this by investing capital to expand the geographic footprint of our network, increasing the number of buildings that we are connected to, including CNDC’s and MTOB’s, and increasing our penetration rate into our existing buildings.

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These efforts broaden the global reach of our network and increase the size of our potential addressable market. We also seek to grow our service revenue by investing in our sales and marketing team. We typically sell corporate connections at similar pricing to our competitors, but our customers benefit from our significantly faster speeds, greater aggregate throughput, enhanced service level agreements and rapid installation times. In the net-centric market, we offer comparable services in terms of capacity but typically at significantly lower prices.

Our service revenue increased by 56.9% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, on the Closing Date, we acquired $39.4 million of monthly Sprint Business revenue. In November 2023, we fully integrated billing for the acquired Sprint Business customer contracts into our billing platform. Exchange rates positively affected our increase in service revenue by $2.1 million. All foreign currency comparisons herein reflect results for the year ended December 31, 2023 translated at the average foreign currency exchange rates for the year ended December 31, 2022. We increased our total service revenue by our acquisition of the Sprint Business, expanding our network, adding additional buildings to our network, increasing our penetration into the buildings connected to our network and gaining market share by offering our services at lower prices than our competitors.

Revenue recognition standards include guidance relating to any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer and may include, but is not limited to, gross receipts taxes, Universal Service Fund fees and certain state regulatory fees. We record these taxes billed to our customers on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The impact of these taxes including the Universal Service Fund resulted in an increase to our revenues of $34.8 million from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023.

Revenue and customer connections by customer type

In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, on the Closing Date, we classified $39.4 million of monthly Sprint Business revenue as $20.0 million of enterprise revenue, $12.9 million of corporate revenue and $6.5 million of net-centric revenue.

Our corporate customers generally purchase their services on a price per connection basis. Our net-centric customers generally purchase their services on a price per megabit-metered basis. We began to serve enterprise customers in connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business. We define “enterprise” customers as large corporations (typically, Fortune 500 companies with greater than $5 billion in annual revenue) running Wide Area Networks (“WAN”) with several dozen to several hundred sites. Our enterprise customers generally purchase our services on a price per location basis. Revenues from our corporate, net-centric customers and enterprise customers represented 47.2%, 36.5% and 16.3% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023. Revenues from our corporate and net-centric customers represented 57.1% and 42.9% of total service revenue, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2022. Revenues from corporate customers increased by 29.5% to $443.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. Revenues from our net-centric customers increased by 33.7% to $343.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. Revenues from our enterprise customers were $153.6 million, from May 1, 2023 (the Closing Date) to December 31, 2023. Certain of our historical corporate and net-centric customers (in total approximately 400 customers representing approximately $0.3 million in monthly recurring revenue) have been reclassified from our legacy net-centric and corporate revenue and customer connections to enterprise revenue and customer connections. Certain of the customer connections we acquired in the Sprint Business were classified as corporate and net-centric revenue and customer connections. We acquired a total of 46,743 customer connections with the Sprint Business that we classified as 17,823 corporate customer connections, 5,711 net-centric customer connections and 23,209 enterprise customer connections.

Our revenue from our corporate customers increased primarily due to an increase in our number of corporate customers and from corporate customer connections acquired with the Sprint Business. Our corporate customers take advantage of our superior speeds, greater aggregate throughput, service levels and installation times versus our competitors. The growing trend of customers installing second lines for redundancy in order to construct virtual private networks (“VPNs”) has also led to our ability to increase our corporate revenues. Beginning with and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service in central business districts in North America. Because of the rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers, which negatively affected our corporate revenue results. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we slowly began to see declining vacancy rates and rising office occupancy rates. In addition, we began to see positive trends in our corporate business. As the option to fully or partially work from home becomes permanently established at many companies, our corporate customers are integrating some of the new applications that became part of the remote work environment, which benefits our corporate business as these customers upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections and mitigates the overall impact of remote work policies on our corporate business.

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Further, if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which we operate, we believe it will present an opportunity for increased sales. However, the exact timing and path of these positive trends remains uncertain, and as the after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic linger, we may continue to see increased corporate customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing corporate customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities, which would negatively affect our corporate revenue growth.

Our revenue from our net-centric customers increased primarily due to an increase in our number of net-centric customers and growth in network traffic from these customers and from net-centric customer connections acquired with the Sprint Business. Our net-centric customers purchase our services on a price per megabit basis. The net-centric market exhibits significant pricing pressure due to the continued introduction of new technology, which lowers the marginal cost of transmission and routing, and the commodity nature of the service where price is typically the only differentiating factor for these customers. Our average price per megabit of our installed base of customers decreased by 3.6% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. The impact of foreign exchange rates has a more significant impact on our net-centric revenues.

Revenue and customer connections by network connection type

In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, on the Closing Date, we classified $39.4 million of monthly Sprint Business revenue as $2.5 million of on-net revenue, $32.2 million of off-net revenue and $4.7 million of non-core revenue. Additionally, in connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, on the Closing Date, we classified 46,743 of Sprint Business customer connections as 1,560 on-net customer connections, 24,667 off-net customer connections and 20,516 non-core customer connections.

Our on-net revenues increased by 14.5% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. Our on-net revenues increased as we increased the number of our on-net customer connections by 7.4% at December 31, 2023 from December 31, 2022. On-net customer revenues increased at a greater rate than on-net customer connections due to an increase in our on-net ARPU from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023 and from on-net revenue acquired with the Sprint Business. On-net ARPU is determined by dividing on-net revenue for the period by the average on-net customer connections for that period. In connection with our acquisition of the Sprint Business, we expanded our offering of optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network, classified as on-net revenue.

Our off-net revenues increased by 169.2% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. Our off-net revenues increased primarily from the increase in the number of our off-net customer connections from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023 including off-net customer connections acquired with the Sprint Business. Off-net customer revenues increased at a greater rate than off-net customer connections primarily due to an increase in our off-net ARPU from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. Off-net ARPU is determined by dividing off-net revenue for the period by the average off-net customer connections for that period.

Our non-core revenues increased from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023 from the acquisition of non-core revenues from customers acquired in the Sprint Business.

Network Operations Expenses. Network operations expenses include the costs of personnel associated with service delivery, network management and customer support, network facilities costs, right-of-way fees, fiber and equipment maintenance fees, leased circuit costs, access and facilities fees paid to building owners and excise taxes billed to our customers and recorded on a gross basis. Our network operations expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 138.5% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in network operations expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. The increase in network operations expense is primarily attributable to an increase in costs related to our acquisition of the Sprint Business primarily leased circuits to provide off-net revenue services, network right-of-way costs and facilities costs.

Selling, General, and Administrative (“SG&A”) Expenses. Our SG&A expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 68.9% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in SG&A expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. SG&A expenses increased primarily from an increase in salaries and benefits from an 80.9% increase in our total headcount, including 942 employees added to our headcount from our acquisition of the Sprint Business on the Closing Date. Our sales force headcount, inclusive of sales management, was 847 at December 31, 2023 and 698 at December 31, 2022, and our total headcount was 1,947 at December 31, 2023 and 1,076 at December 31, 2022. The Sprint Business added 114 employees to our sales force headcount on the Closing Date.

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Acquisition-Related Costs

In connection with the Transaction and negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred professional fees and $16.2 million of reimbursed severance costs, in the year ended December 31, 2023, with such professional fees and reimbursed severance costs totaling $18.5 million and $2.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Depreciation and Amortization Expenses. Our depreciation and amortization expense increased by 151.8% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase is primarily due to the depreciation expense associated with the increase in deployed fixed assets and depreciation and amortization expense from assets, including a finance lease totaling $160.9 million being amortized over forty-four months, acquired with the Sprint Business.

Gain on Bargain Purchase

We accounted for our acquisition of the Sprint Business as a business combination. The identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed were recorded at their fair values as of the acquisition date. Assigning fair market values to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the date of an acquisition requires the use of significant judgment regarding estimates and assumptions. The fair value of the identifiable assets acquired was $1.9 billion (including amounts due under the IP Transit Services Agreement) and was in excess of the $0.9 billion liabilities assumed and the $0.6 billion net consideration to be received from the Seller resulting in a gain on bargain purchase of $1.4 billion.

Interest Income - IP Transit Services Agreement

On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement with TMUSA, pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months.

We accounted for the Transaction as a business combination under ASC Topic 805 Business Combinations (“ASC 805”). Under ASC 805, we concluded that the $700.0 million of payments to be made represent consideration received to complete the acquisition of a distressed business. We also evaluated whether the IP Transit Services Agreement was in the scope of ASU No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”). We concluded that TMUSA did not represent a “customer” as defined by ASC 606, the stated contract price did not represent consideration for services to be delivered, and the transaction did not satisfy the definition of revenue, which excluded this arrangement from the scope of ASC 606. As a result, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount of $79.6 million. The amortization of the discount resulted in interest income of $26.8 million from May 1, 2023 (the Closing Date) to December 31, 2023.

Foreign Exchange Gain 2024 Notes. Our 2024 Notes were issued in Euros and were reported in our reporting currency – US Dollars until they were fully extinguished in June 2022. The gain on foreign exchange on our 2024 Notes from converting our 2024 Notes into USD was $31.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Interest Expense and Loss on Debt Extinguishment and Redemption. Our interest expense resulted from interest incurred on our 2024 Notes until these notes were fully extinguished in June 2022, interest incurred on our $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2026 Notes, interest incurred on our $450.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2027 Notes and interest incurred on our finance lease obligations. Our interest expense increased by 58.0% from the year ended December 31, 2022 to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily due to the increase in interest rates on our 2027 Notes as compared to the 2024 Notes, $21.5 million of interest expense paid in May 2023 and November 2023 associated with our Swap Agreement and the impact of the finance lease acquired with the Sprint Business. Our finance leases include a lease totaling $160.9 million being amortized over forty-four months, acquired with the Sprint Business. In June 2022, we extinguished our 2024 Notes at 101.094% of par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $11.9 million.

Change in Valuation - Interest Rate Swap Agreement. As of December 31, 2023, the fair value of our Swap Agreement was a net liability of $38.7 million. We recorded an unrealized gain for the non-cash change in the valuation of the Swap Agreement of $13.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2023 and an unrealized loss of $43.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2022.

Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2021, we received $0.6 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $0.6 million for the period from August 9, 2021 (the Swap Agreement inception date) to October 31, 2021, in May 2022, we received $1.2 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $1.2 million for the period from November 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2022, we paid $3.4 million to the counterparty for

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a net cash interest cost of $3.4 million for the period from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in May 2023, we paid $9.5 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $9.5 million for the period from November 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2023, we paid $12.0 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $12.0 million for the period from May 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023. The valuation of the Swap Agreement changes from payments made and changes in interest rates.

Income Tax (Benefit) Expense. Our income tax benefit was $54.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and our income tax expense was $21.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in our income tax expense is related to operating results related to the Sprint Business acquisition, the reversal of deferred tax liabilities acquired with the Sprint Business and the reversal of a valuation allowance on our business interest expense deferred tax asset.

Buildings On-net. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had a total of 3,277 and 3,155 on-net buildings connected to our network, respectively. The increase in our on-net buildings was a result of our disciplined network expansion program. We anticipate adding a similar number of buildings to our network for the next several years.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Acquisition of Sprint Communications

The Sprint Business’s cash flow was negative at the time of negotiations and during its recent history. Due to the dire financial condition of the Sprint Business, it was understood that a payment from T-Mobile to any potential buyer would be required to execute a transaction to give a buyer sufficient cash inflows to offset losses that would be expected until a buyer could optimize the business. Based on management’s internal modeling at the culmination of the due diligence process, management determined this cash payment to be $700.0 million. Management intends to reduce the negative cash flow of the Sprint Business through the payments from the IP Transit Services Agreement, reducing operating costs and increasing revenue primarily by providing optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network, including the owned network we acquired with the Sprint Business. We are selling these services to our existing customers, customers we acquired with the Sprint Business and to new customers who require dedicated optical transport connectivity without the capital and ongoing expenses associated with owning and operating network infrastructure. As part of the Transaction, we began incurring costs associated with the TSA. The amount of these costs will be dependent upon our ability to integrate the operations of the Sprint Business into our operations. Our cash flow requirements related to the acquisition of the Sprint Business will be dependent upon our ability to reduce the acquired operating costs, our success in retaining the acquired customers and our ability to sell optical wavelength and optical transport services over our fiber network.

Under the IP Transit Services Agreement, TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $29.2 million per month during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments of $8.3 million per month over the subsequent 42 months. During 2023, we received seven monthly payments totaling $204.2 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement, reflected as cash from investing activities in our consolidated statement of cash flows. As our business has grown as a result of an increasing customer base, the Transaction, broader geographic coverage and increased traffic on our network, we have historically produced a growing level of cash provided by operating activities. During 2023, we experienced a $140.1 million reduction of cash provided by operating activities from the impact of the Transaction. Combining the $204.2 million cash received from the IP Transit Services Agreement in 2023, which was designed to offset operating losses associated with the Sprint Business, with our $33.6 million of cash provided by operating activities for 2023, totals $237.7 million. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities is, in part, dependent upon our ability to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its revenue, expanding our geographic footprint and increasing our network capacity.

During 2024, we expect to receive a total of $204.2 million under the monthly payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement. This includes an additional five monthly payments of $29.2 million each, totaling $145.8 million, and seven monthly payments of $8.3 million each, totaling $58.3 million. Increasing our combined cash provided by operating activities and cash provided by the IP Transit Service Agreement is, in part, dependent upon our ability to reduce the operating costs of the Sprint Business while retaining its revenue.

In assessing our liquidity, management reviews and analyzes our current cash balances, payments under the IP Transit Services Agreement, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, capital expenditure commitments, and required finance lease and debt payments and other obligations. Because of the operating leverage of our network, our annual capital expenditures measured as a percentage of revenues has fallen over the last decade but increased in 2023 to 13.8% from 13.2% for 2022, from capital expenditures associated with the Transaction.

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We have also had increasing success in raising capital by issuing notes and arranging financing and leases that have had a lower cost and more flexible terms. The combination of this improved operating performance and access to capital has enhanced our financial flexibility and increased our ability to make distributions to stockholders in the form of cash dividends or through share repurchases. Since our initial public offering, we have returned $1.4 billion to our stockholders through share repurchases and dividends. We will continue to assess our capital and liquidity needs and, where appropriate, return capital to stockholders.

Over the next several years, we have significant contractual and anticipated cash outlays including our indicative dividend payments on our common stock, our maturing debt obligations, interest payments on our debt obligations and Swap Agreement and our projected capital expenditure requirements in order to help execute our business plan including the integration of Sprint Business. Based upon the historical growth rate of our dividend, we expect that we would have to provide approximately $379 million in order to meet our expected quarterly dividend payments over the next two years. Our $500.0 million of 2026 Notes accrue interest at 3.50%, mature in May 2026 and include annual interest payments of $17.5 million until maturity. In June 2022, we redeemed our 2024 Notes with the proceeds from our issuance of $450.0 million of our 2027 Notes. Our 2024 Notes accrued interest at 4.375% and our 2027 Notes accrue interest at 7.00%. Our $450.0 million of 2027 Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $31.5 million until maturity.

Under our Swap Agreement, we pay the counterparty a semi-annual payment based upon overnight SOFR plus a contractual interest rate spread, and the counterparty pays us a semi-annual fixed 3.50% interest payment. These settlement payments are made in November and May of each year until the Swap Agreement expires in February 2026. As of December 31, 2023, $38.7 million of our cash and cash equivalents are restricted for use under our Swap Agreement. We have made a $38.8 million deposit with the counterparty to the Swap Agreement. If the fair value of the Swap Agreement exceeds a net liability of $38.8 million, we will be required to deposit additional funds with the counterparty equal to the net liability fair value. As of December 31, 2023, $38.7 million of the deposit was restricted and $0.1 million was unrestricted.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into interest rate swap agreements, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material. We or our affiliates may, at any time and from time to time, seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through cash purchases and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases or exchanges, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.

In light of the economic uncertainties associated with the global recessionary economy, the cash flow requirements of the Sprint Business, the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent bank failures and liquidity concerns at certain other banks, our executive officers and Board of Directors have continued to carefully monitor our liquidity and cash requirements. Based on current circumstances, we currently plan to continue our current dividend policy. Given uncertainties regarding the lingering business impact of the pandemic, the cash flow requirements of the Sprint Business and the timing for economic recovery, we will continue to monitor our capital spending. As we do each year, we will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will make adjustments to our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors.

Impact of COVID-19 on Our Liquidity and Operating Performance

As of December 31, 2023, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $113.8 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted our credit rating to date, nor do we believe that it has materially changed our cost of capital. We believe we are able to timely service our debt obligations and will not require any concessions to do so. We believe we will have access to additional capital from a variety of sources and the public capital markets for debt and equity.

In late March 2020, we adopted a mandatory policy through which we required all employees to work from home and follow shelter in place guidelines issued by state and local authorities. In July 2021, we allowed all employees to return voluntarily to all offices in the United States. In August 2021, we notified our employees that they would be required to return to the office on a full-time basis in the United States beginning in September 2021 and that they would be required to attest that they were fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus to do so. Employees had until October 11, 2021 to provide their vaccine self-attestation. Fully vaccinated

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employees in the United States returned to our offices on a full-time basis in early September 2021. In October 2021, we opened most of our non-US offices for employees to return on a voluntary basis and, where permitted, on a mandatory basis in November 2021.

The spread of the Omicron variant around the world in December 2021 caused us to modify further our office environment. First, we mandated that all U.S. employees receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine no later than six weeks after first becoming eligible for such vaccine. Second, we mandated that all U.S. employees provide proof of vaccination to us. Third, for offices around the world that had not been closed by government order, we shifted much of our workforce to fully remote status on a temporary basis at the end of 2021 in order to reduce the density of our offices. Sales representatives with less than 12 months tenure, sales representatives on performance improvement plans and their managers remained working in our offices on a full-time basis, as we believe that the training and coaching required by new and underperforming sales representatives is significantly more effective when provided in an in-office environment. In March 2022, all of our US employees returned to our offices on a full-time basis, and our employees around the world have returned to the office as and when permitted by local regulations.

Our employees have largely complied with our vaccine mandate in the United States. However, we experienced an increase in both voluntary and involuntary employee departures, particularly within our sales department, beginning in the second half of 2021 and continuing into 2022. We believe this rise in departures is attributable both to an increased focus on managing underperforming sales representatives and to the unwillingness of some employees to be vaccinated and/or to return to a full-time, in-office environment. As a result of our decisions to mandate COVID vaccination and to require employees to return to our offices on a full-time basis, we may find it difficult to retain existing employees or hire new employees. Further, a resurgence of COVID-19 due to immunity-resistant variants may cause employees to be more reluctant to continue in, or make new employees more reluctant to accept, a full-time, in-office position due to concerns about COVID-19. If this occurs, we may experience lower sales, revenue and profitability.

We have experienced certain corporate customers taking a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the remote work environment that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals which resulted in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce and a reduction in VPN opportunities. As a result, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers which negatively impacted our corporate revenue growth.

Following the end of the pandemic, during the year ended December 31, 2023, we slowly began to see declining vacancy rates and rising office occupancy rates in certain markets in which we operate. Other markets, particularly those in California and the Pacific Northwest, continue to see markedly higher vacancy rates. In addition, we began to see positive trends in our corporate business. This was due partially to the increase in office occupancy rates and leasing activity in some markets but also to new demands for services from corporate customers. As the option to fully or partially work from home becomes permanently established at many companies, our corporate customers are integrating some of the new applications that became part of the remote work environment, which benefits our corporate business as these customers upgrade their Internet access infrastructure to higher capacity connections, and mitigates the overall impact of remote work policies on our corporate business. Further, if and when companies eventually return to the buildings in which we operate, we believe it will present an opportunity for increased sales.

While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in the markets in which they are located, and that most employers will eventually require their employees to return to their offices on at least a hybrid basis, the timing and scope of a return to office, particularly in a number of key markets we serve, remains uncertain. In some markets, office occupancy rates may never return to pre-pandemic levels. As a result, we may continue to experience increased customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities. A potential resurgence of COVID-19 due to new immunity-resistant variants could cause companies to continue to delay the return of their employees to the office, to cause companies to shift workers in the office back to remote work and to delay further opening new offices. These trends may negatively impact our revenue growth, cash flows and profitability.

We cannot predict whether new COVID-19 variants will arise and spread widely, the impact of the spread of new COVID-19 variants on the global economy, how national and local governments may react to the spread of new variants nor predict the impact the variants and any measures taken in response may have on our operations, employee retention, revenue growth, cash flows and our profitability.

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Cash Flows

The following table sets forth our consolidated cash flows.

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Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities. Our primary source of operating cash is receipts from our customers who are billed on a monthly basis for our services. Our primary uses of operating cash are payments made to our vendors, payments under the TSA, payments to employees and interest payments made to our finance lease vendors and our note holders. Our changes in cash provided by operating activities are primarily due to changes in our operating profit and changes in our interest payments. On the Closing Date, we entered into a TSA with the Seller, pursuant to which the Seller will provide to us, and we will provide to the Seller on an interim basis following the Closing Date, Transition Services to ensure an orderly transition following the separation of the Sprint Business from Sprint Communications. Amounts billed under the TSA are due 30 days from receipt of the related invoice. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we were billed $284.1 million under the TSA primarily for reimbursement at cost of payment to vendors of the Sprint Business. During the year ended December 31, 2023 we paid $217.2 million to the Seller under the TSA. As of December 31, 2023, we owed $66.9 million to the Seller and the Seller owed $4.5 million to us under the TSA agreement. Cash provided by operating activities for the years ending December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 included interest payments on our note obligations of $49.0 million, $40.6 million and $50.1 million, respectively. Cash provided by operating activities for 2023, 2022 and 2021 included interest payments (receipts) related to our Swap Agreement of $21.5 million, $2.2 million and $(0.6) million, respectively.

Net Cash Provided by (Used In) Investing Activities. Our primary use of investing cash is for purchases of property and equipment. These amounts were $129.6 million, $79.0 million and $69.9 million for 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The annual changes in purchases of property and equipment are primarily due to the timing and scope of our network expansion activities, including geographic expansion and adding buildings to our network and purchases in anticipation of the closing of our acquisition of the Sprint Business. We paid $61.1 million, net of $47.1 million of cash acquired, and received $16.2 million in reimbursed severance payments for a net total of $2.1 million received for our acquisition of the Sprint Business. On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement pursuant to which TMUSA will pay us an aggregate of $700.0 million, consisting of (i) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments during the first year after the Closing Date and (ii) $350.0 million in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 42 months. During the year ended December 31, 2023 we were paid $204.2 million under the IP Transit Services Agreement.

Net Cash Used In Financing Activities. Our primary uses of cash for financing activities are for payments to redeem and extinguish our debt, dividend payments and principal payments under our debt and finance lease obligations. During the years ending December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we paid $181.7 million, $169.9 million and $150.3 million, respectively, for our quarterly dividend payments. Our quarterly dividend payments have increased due to regular increases in our quarterly dividend per share amounts. Principal payments under our finance lease obligations were $77.4 million, $45.5 million and $23.1 million for the years ending December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and are impacted by the timing and extent of our network expansion activities, including geographic expansion and adding buildings to our network and purchases in anticipation of the closing of our acquisition of the Sprint Business.

We completed a series of debt redemptions and issuances in 2022 and 2021. In June 2022, we paid $375.4 million to redeem and extinguish our 2024 Notes at 101.094% of par value, and we issued $450.0 million of our 2027 Notes for net proceeds of $446.0 million. In March 2021, we paid $119.7 million to redeem and extinguish $115.9 million of our 2022 Notes at 103.24% of par value. In May 2021, we redeemed and extinguished the remaining $329.1 million of our 2022 Notes at par value and deposited funds with the trustee to pay $11.5 million of interest through December 1, 2021. The total payments to redeem our 2022 Notes were $459.3 million. In May 2021, we issued $500.0 million of our 2026 Notes for net proceeds of $496.9 million.

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Indebtedness

Our total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at December 31, 2023 were $113.8 million and our net accounts receivable were $135.5 million. In November 2023, we converted all Sprint Business customers from the Sellers billing platform to our billing platform and processes. This conversion resulted in a temporary delay in cash collections from the Sprint Business customers at year-end. Customer collections resumed to a typical pattern in the first quarter of 2024.

We believe this level of liquidity reduces our exposure to refinancing risk, potential underperformance of the business or other unforeseen challenges and enhances our ability to pursue acquisitions or operating opportunities. We intend to hold levels of cash and cash equivalents sufficient to maintain our ability to fund operations, refinance indebtedness and make dividend payments to our stockholders.

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Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2023, at par value, was $1.5 billion. Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2023 includes $484.5 million of finance lease obligations for dark fiber under long-term IRU agreements.

On May 15, 2014, pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (“Group”), a Delaware corporation, Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Holdings”) and Cogent Communications Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), Group adopted a new holding company organizational structure whereby Group is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings. Holdings is a “successor issuer” to Group pursuant to Rule 12g-3(a) under the Exchange Act.

Senior unsecured 2027 notes—$450.0 million

In June 2022, Group issued $500.0 million of 2027 Notes. The 2027 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on June 15, 2027. Interest accrues at 7.00% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2027 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior secured 2026 notes—$500.0 million

In May 2021, Group issued $500.0 million of 2026 Notes. The 2026 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on May 1, 2026. Interest accrues at 3.50% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on May 1 and November 1 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2026 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior unsecured 2024 notes—€350.0 million

In June 2019, Group completed an offering of €135.0 million of 2024 Notes. In June 2020, Group completed an offering of €215.0 million of 2024 Notes. The 2024 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and were scheduled to mature on June 30, 2024. Interest accrued at 4.375% and was paid semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 30 of each year. In June 2022, the 2024 Notes were redeemed with the proceeds from our 2027 Notes.

Limitations under the Indentures

The 2027 Notes Indenture and the 2026 Notes Indenture (the “Indentures”), among other things, limit the Company’s ability to incur indebtedness; to pay dividends or make other distributions; to make certain investments and other restricted payments; to create liens; to consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets; to incur restrictions on the ability of a subsidiary to pay dividends or make other payments; and to enter into certain transactions with its affiliates. There are certain exceptions to the limitations on the Company’s ability to incur indebtedness under the Indentures, including IRU agreements incurred in the normal course of business and any additional indebtedness if the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or the Company’s fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater. The Company can also incur unlimited liens (which can be used, together with capacity under the debt covenant, to incur additional secured indebtedness) if the Company’s consolidated secured leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 4.0 to 1.0. Under the Indentures, the Company can pay dividends, make other distributions, make certain investments and make other restricted payments under certain circumstances, including if, after giving pro forma effect to such restricted payment, the Company could still incur $1 of indebtedness, as defined (i.e., either its consolidated leverage ratio is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or its fixed charge coverage ratio is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater). As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio was below 6.0, the Company’s

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consolidated secured leverage ratio was below 4.0, and the Company’s fixed charge coverage ratio was above 2.0. As of December 31, 2023, a total of $511.3 million (inclusive of a $250.0 general basket) was unrestricted and permitted for restricted payments, including dividends and stock purchases.

Summarized Financial Information of Holdings

Holdings is a guarantor under the 2027 and 2026 Notes. Under the Indentures, we are required to disclose financial information of Holdings including its assets, liabilities and its operating results (“Holdings Financial Information”). The Holdings Financial Information as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023 is detailed below (in thousands).

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Common Stock Buyback Program

Our Board of Directors has approved through December 31, 2024, purchases of our common stock under a buyback program (the “Buyback Program”). There were no purchases of common stock during the years ended December 31, 2023, December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2023, there was a total of $30.4 million available under the Buyback Program.

Dividends on Common Stock

Dividends are recorded as a reduction to retained earnings. Dividends on unvested restricted shares of common stock are paid as the awards vest. Our initial quarterly dividend payment was made in the third quarter of 2012. On February 28, 2024, our Board of Directors approved the payment of our quarterly dividend of $0.965 per common share. The dividend for the first quarter of 2024 will be paid to holders of record on March 15, 2024. This estimated $45.7 million dividend payment is expected to be made on April 9, 2024. The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital, including stock buybacks, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon our financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under our debt indentures and other factors deemed relevant by the our Board of Directors. We are a Delaware Corporation and under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware distributions may be restricted including a restriction that distributions, including stock purchases and dividends, do not result in an impairment of a corporation’s capital, as defined under Delaware Law. The indentures governing our notes limit our ability to return cash to our stockholders. See Note 4 “Long-term Debt” to our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of limitations on distributions.

Future Capital Requirements

We believe that our cash on hand and cash generated from our operating activities and cash from the IP Transit Services Agreement will be adequate to meet our working capital, capital expenditure, debt service, dividend payments and other cash requirements for the next twelve months and beyond the next twelve months if we execute our business plan.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be

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available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, reduce our planned dividend payments, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. As such, we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.

Income Taxes

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code in the United States limits the utilization of net operating losses when ownership changes, as defined by that section, occur. We have performed an analysis of our Section 382 ownership changes and have determined that the utilization of certain of our net operating loss carryforwards in the United States is limited.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The accounting policies we believe to be most critical to understanding our financial results and condition or that require complex, significant and subjective management judgments are discussed below.

Acquisition accounting

In connection with our acquisition of the Wireline Business we made the following significant changes to our critical accounting policies and significant estimates. For the fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, we used the cost, income and market approaches, including market participant assumptions.

In connection with the Transaction, the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed were recorded at their fair values as of the acquisition date. Assigning fair market values to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the date of an acquisition requires the use of significant judgment regarding estimates and assumptions. We acquired property and equipment comprised of the legacy Sprint network and consists of optical fiber, related equipment, and owned real estate. Management valued these assets using factors which represent an orderly liquidation value, to approximate the highest and best use of assets acquired in a distressed business.

The valuation of the optical fiber requires the estimation of the total replacement cost per mile of fiber and a factor to reflect the orderly liquidation value. There is not active market data for these assumptions and these assumptions are inherently subjective. Market participants could have differing views on these assumptions, which could result in a materially different fair value of the optical fiber.

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On the Closing Date, we entered into the IP Transit Services Agreement. We evaluated what elements were part of the business combination and the consideration exchanged to complete the Transaction. We concluded that the payments to be made represent consideration received from T-Mobile to complete the acquisition of a distressed business. We concluded that T-Mobile did not represent a customer, the stated contract price did not represent consideration for services to be delivered, and the transaction did not satisfy the definition of revenue. We also considered whether the IP Transit Services Agreement would be considered separable from the business combination. We concluded that the cash consideration was not separately identifiable from the business combination and was therefore not meant to be in exchange for a distinct good or service. As a result, the IP Transit Services Agreement was recorded in connection with the Transaction at its discounted present value resulting in a discount. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, amongst other market factors. The determination of the discount rate and the conclusions reached related to the IP Transit Services Agreement required significant judgment.

The Purchase Agreement includes an estimated payment from Seller to Buyer related to short-term lease obligations. This amount was recorded at its present value resulting in a discount. The interest rate used in determining the present value was derived considering rates on similar issued debt instruments with comparable durations, amongst other market factors. The determination of the discount rate requires some judgment.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. The discussion in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this report should be read as applying to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” as well as those discussed elsewhere. You should read “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to:

Our pending acquisition of the Wireline Business of Sprint Communications, including delays in or conditions on obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, our failure to close the Transaction or difficulties integrating our business with the acquired Sprint Communications business; the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying government policies worldwide; vaccination and in-office requirements, delays in the delivery of network equipment and optical fiber; future economic instability in the global economy, including the risk of economic recession, which could affect spending on Internet services; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to US dollar and Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rates) on the translation of our non-US dollar denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities into US dollars; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including rules regarding data protection, cyber security and net neutrality; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering arrangements on favorable terms; our ability to renew our long-term leases of optical fiber that comprise our network; our reliance on an equipment vendor, Cisco Systems Inc., and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due and outcomes in litigation, risks associated with variable interest rates under our Swap Agreement, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Ukraine & Russia

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, we terminated services to customers based in Russia and customer linked to the Russian government. These customers represented less than 0.3% of our consolidated revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2022. We do not provide services within Russia but we do provide services in Ukraine via our Ukrainian subsidiary, TOV Cogent Communications Ukraine (“Cogent Ukraine”). As a result of the damage to facilities caused by the war, our services in Ukraine have experienced periodic outages which our third-party fiber provider repairs for us. We have taken steps to enhance our network security, provide financial flexibility to our Ukrainian customers and assist our Ukrainian employees. We do not believe that the termination of services to certain Russian customers or the impact of the war on our ability to provide services in Ukraine will have, taken together, a material impact on our network, financial statements or operating results. Cogent Ukraine represented less than 0.3% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022 and less than 0.6% of our consolidated assets as of December 31, 2022.

Sprint Acquisition

On September 6, 2022, Cogent Infrastructure, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Buyer”) and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Sprint Communications LLC, a Kansas limited liability company (“Sprint Communications”) and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile US, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“T-Mobile”), and Sprint LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile (the “Seller”), pursuant to which the Company will acquire the U.S. long-haul fiber network (including the non-U.S. extensions thereof) of Sprint Communications and its subsidiaries (the “Wireline Business”). The Purchase Agreement provides that, upon the terms and conditions set forth therein, the Company will purchase from the Seller all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of a Delaware limited liability company that holds Sprint Communications’ assets and liabilities relating to the Wireline Business (such transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, collectively, the “Transaction”).

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Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2021

In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Our management reviews and analyzes several key financial measures in order to manage our business and assess the quality and variability of our service revenue, operating results and cash flows. The following summary tables present a comparison of our results of operations with respect to certain key financial measures. The comparisons illustrated in the tables are discussed in greater detail below.

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Service Revenue. We continually work to grow our total service revenue by increasing the number of potential customers that we can reach on our network. We do this by investing capital to expand the geographic footprint of our network, increasing the number of buildings that we are connected to, including CNDCs and MTOBs, and increasing our penetration rate into our existing buildings. These efforts broaden the global reach of our network and increase the size of our potential addressable market. We also seek to grow our service revenue by investing in our sales and marketing team. We typically sell corporate connections at similar pricing to our competitors, but our clients benefit from our significantly faster speeds, enhanced service level agreements and rapid installation times. In the net-centric market, we offer comparable services in terms of capacity but typically at significantly lower prices.

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Our service revenue increased by 1.7% from 2021 to 2022. Exchange rates negatively impacted our increase in service revenue by $13.1 million. All foreign currency comparisons herein reflect results for 2022 translated at the average foreign currency exchange rates for 2021. We increased our total service revenue by expanding our network, by adding additional buildings to our network, by increasing our penetration into the buildings connected to our network and by gaining market share by offering our services at lower prices than our competitors.

Revenue recognition standards include guidance relating to any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer and may include, but is not limited to, gross receipts taxes, Universal Service Fund fees and certain state regulatory fees. We record these taxes billed to our customers on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The impact of these taxes including the Universal Service Fund resulted in a decrease to our revenues from 2021 to 2022 of $3.1 million.

Our corporate customers generally purchase their services on a price per connection basis. Our net-centric customers generally purchase their services on a price per megabit basis. Revenues from our corporate and net-centric customers represented 57.1% and 42.9% of total service revenue, respectively, for 2022 and represented 60.8% and 39.2% of total service revenue, respectively, for 2021. Revenues from corporate customers decreased by 4.4% to $342.6 million for 2022 from 2021. Revenues from our net-centric customers increased by 11.1% to $257.0 million for 2022 from 2021. Exchange rates negatively impacted our increase in our net-centric service revenue by approximately $13.1 million.

Our corporate customers take advantage of our superior speeds, service levels and installation times versus our competitors. The growing trend of customers installing second lines for redundancy in order to construct virtual private networks (“VPNs”) has also led to our ability to increase our corporate revenues. However, beginning in the second quarter of 2020, we saw corporate customers take a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service, with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals resulting in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce. As a result, we have experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers which negatively impacted our corporate revenue results. While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in our markets, we may experience increased corporate customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing corporate customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities which would negatively impact our corporate revenue growth.

Our revenue from our net-centric customers increased primarily due to an increase in our number of net-centric customers and growth in network traffic from these customers partly offset by a decline in our average price per megabit. Our net-centric customers purchase our services on a price per megabit basis. The net-centric market exhibits significant pricing pressure due to the continued introduction of new technology which lowers the marginal cost of transmission and routing, and the commodity nature of the service where price is typically the only differentiating factor for these customers. Our average price per megabit of our installed base of customers declined by 19.4% from 2021 to 2022. We expect that our average price per megabit will continue to decline at similar rates. The impact of foreign exchange rates has a more significant impact on our net-centric revenues.

Our on-net revenues increased by 2.2% from 2021 to 2022. Our on-net revenues increased as we increased the number of our on-net customer connections. On-net customers increased at a greater rate than on-net revenues primarily due to a decrease in our on-net ARPU from 2021 to 2022 and the negative impact of foreign exchange. ARPU is determined by dividing revenue for the period by the average customer connections for that period.

Our off-net revenues decreased by 0.2% from 2021 to 2022. Our off-net revenues decreased primarily from the decrease in our off-net ARPU from 2021 to 2022, partly offset by the increase in the number of our off-net customer connections.

Network Operations Expenses. Network operations expenses include the costs of personnel associated with service delivery, network management and customer support, network facilities costs, fiber and equipment maintenance fees, leased circuit costs, access and facilities fees paid to building owners and excise taxes billed to our customers and recorded on a gross basis. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in network operations expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. Our network operations expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 0.8% from 2021 to 2022. The increase in network operations expense is primarily attributable to an increase in costs related to our network and facilities international expansion activities, partly offset by a reduction in taxes billed to our customers recorded on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) and price reductions obtained in certain of our domestic leased circuit costs.

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Selling, General, and Administrative (“SG&A”) Expenses. Our SG&A expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 0.4% for 2022 from 2021. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in SG&A expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. SG&A expenses increased primarily from an increase in salaries and related costs required to support our expansion and increases in our sales efforts, partly offset by a reduction in bad debt expense. Our sales force headcount was 633 at December 31, 2021 and 698 at December 31, 2022, and our total headcount was 1,001 at December 31, 2021 and 1,076 at December 31, 2022.

Acquisition Costs – Sprint (T-Mobile Wireline). In connection with the Transaction and the negotiation of the Purchase Agreement, we incurred $2.2 million of professional fees in 2022. Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions and the other terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement, the Transaction is expected to close in 2023.

Depreciation and Amortization Expenses. Our depreciation and amortization expense increased by 3.3% for 2022 from 2021. The increase is primarily due to the depreciation expense associated with the increase in deployed fixed assets.

Interest Expense and Losses on Debt Extinguishment and Redemption. Our interest expense resulted from interest incurred on our $445.0 million of 5.375% 2022 Notes until these notes were fully extinguished in May 2021, interest incurred on our €350.0 million of 4.375% 2024 Notes until these notes were fully extinguished in June 2022, interest incurred on our $500.0 million of 3.50% 2026 Notes that we issued in May 2021, interest incurred on our $450.0 million of 7.00% 2027 Notes that we issued in June 2022, interest incurred on our finance lease obligations and net interest paid on our Swap Agreement. Our interest expense increased by 16.4% from 2021 to 2022. The increase was primarily due to the increase in interest rates on our 7.00% 2027 Notes as compared to our 4.375% 2024 Notes, net interest paid in 2022 under our Swap Agreement, partially offset by the reduction in interest expense from the lower interest rate on our 3.50% 2026 Notes as compared to our 5.375% 2022 Notes.

In March 2021, we redeemed and extinguished $115.9 million of our 5.375% 2022 Notes at 103.24% of par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $3.9 million and reduced the par value from $445.0 million to $329.1 million. In May 2021, we extinguished the remaining $329.1 million of our 2022 Notes at par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $10.8 million. In June 2022, we extinguished our 4.375% 2024 Notes at 101.094% of par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $11.9 million.

Change in Valuation – Interest Rate Swap Agreement. As of December 31, 2022, the fair value of our Swap Agreement was a net liability of $52.1 million, and we recorded an unrealized loss for the non-cash change in the valuation of the Swap Agreement of $43.1 million in 2022 and $9.0 million in 2021.

Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2021, we received $0.6 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $0.6 million for the period from August 9, 2021 (the Swap Agreement inception date) to October 31, 2021, in May 2022, we received $1.2 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $1.2 million for the period from November 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2022, we paid $3.4 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $3.4 million for the period from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022.

Gains on Foreign Exchange – 2024 Notes. Our 2024 Notes were issued in Euros and were reported in our reporting currency, US dollars, until they were extinguished and redeemed in June 2022. Our 2024 Notes were issued in June 2019 and June 2020 when the Euro to USD exchange rate was approximately $1.13 and they were extinguished in June 2022 at a Euro to USD exchange rate of $1.06. Our gains on foreign exchange on our 2024 Notes from converting Euros into US dollars was $31.6 million for 2022 and was $32.5 million for 2021. We have not entered into hedging arrangements for our foreign currency obligations.

Income Tax Expense. Our income tax expense was $23.2 million for 2021 and $21.2 million for 2022 that includes deferred income taxes of $18.2 million for 2021 and $16.5 million for 2022. The decrease in our income tax expense is primarily related to the decrease in our income before income taxes.

Buildings On-net. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had a total of 3,155 and 3,035 on-net buildings connected to our network, respectively. The increase in our on-net buildings was a result of our disciplined network expansion program. We anticipate adding a similar number of buildings to our network for the next several years.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

In assessing our liquidity, management reviews and analyzes our current cash balances, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, capital expenditure commitments, and required finance lease and debt payments and other obligations. As our business has grown as a result of an increasing customer base, broader geographic coverage and increased traffic on our network, we have produced a growing level of cash provided by operating activities. As a result of the operating leverage of our network, our annual capital expenditures as measured as a percentage of revenues has fallen over the last decade. Increasing our cash provided by operating activities is, in part, dependent upon expanding our geographic footprint and increasing our network capacity. Recent supply chain issues may adversely impact our ability to grow our network and revenue.

We have also had increasing success in raising capital by issuing notes and arranging financing and leases that have had a lower cost and more flexible terms. The combination of this improved operating performance and access to capital has enhanced our financial flexibility and increased our ability to make distributions to stockholders in the form of cash dividends or through share repurchases. Since our initial public offering, we have returned over $1.2 billion to our stockholders through share repurchases and dividends. We will continue to assess our capital and liquidity needs and, where appropriate, return capital to stockholders.

Over the next several years, we have significant contractual and anticipated cash outlays including our indicative dividend payments on our common stock, our maturing debt obligations, interest payments on our debt obligations and our projected capital expenditure requirements in order to help execute our business plan. Based upon our historical growth rate of our dividend, we expect that we would have to provide approximately $363 million in order to meet our expected quarterly dividend payments over the next two years. In March 2021, we redeemed and extinguished $115.9 million of our 2022 Notes. In April 2021, we redeemed $45.0 million of our 2022 Notes, and in May 2021, we redeemed the remaining $284.1 million of our 2022 Notes with the proceeds from our issuance of $500.0 million of our 2026 Notes. Our 2022 Notes accrued interest at 5.375% and our 2026 Notes accrue interest at 3.50%. Our $500.0 million of 2026 Notes mature in May 2026 and include annual interest payments of $17.5 million until maturity. In June 2022, we redeemed our 2024 Notes with the proceeds from our issuance of $450.0 million of our 2027 Notes. Our 2024 Notes accrued interest at 4.375% and our 2027 Notes accrue interest at 7.00%. Our $450.0 million of 2027 Notes mature in June 2027 and include annual interest payments of $31.5 million until maturity.

Under our Swap Agreement, we pay the counterparty a semi-annual payment based upon overnight SOFR plus a contractual interest rate spread, and the counterparty pays us a semi-annual fixed 3.50% interest payment. These settlement payments are made in November and May of each year until the Swap Agreement expires in February 2026. Under the first Swap Agreement settlement payment made in November 2021, we received $0.6 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $0.6 million for the period from August 9, 2021 (the Swap Agreement inception date) to October 31, 2021. Under the Swap Agreement settlement payment made in May 2022, we received $1.2 million from the counterparty for a net cash savings of $1.2 million for the period from November 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022. Under the Swap Agreement the settlement payment made in November 2022, the Company paid $3.4 million to the counterparty for a net cash interest cost of $3.4 million for the period from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the fair value of the Swap Agreement was a liability of $52.1 million. We have made a $61.7 million deposit with the counterparty to our Swap Agreement. If the fair value of our Swap Agreement exceeds a liability of $61.7 million we will be required to deposit additional funds with the counterparty equal to the liability fair value. As of December 31, 2022, $52.1 million of our deposit was restricted and $9.6 million was unrestricted.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into interest rate swap agreements, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

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We or our affiliates may, at any time and from time to time, seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through cash purchases and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases or exchanges, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

In light of the economic uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, our executive officers and Board have continued to carefully monitor our liquidity and cash requirements. Based on current circumstances, we plan to continue our current dividend policy. Given uncertainties regarding the duration of the pandemic and timing for economic recovery, we will continue to monitor our capital spending. As we do each year, we will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will make adjustments to our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors.

Impact of COVID-19 on Our Liquidity and Operating Performance

We continue to operate with a high level of liquidity, and as of December 31, 2022, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $275.9 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted our credit rating to date, nor do we believe that it has materially changed our cost of capital. We believe we are able to timely service our debt obligations and will not require any concessions to do so. We believe we will have access to additional capital from a variety of sources and the public capital markets for debt and equity.

In late March 2020, we adopted a mandatory policy through which we required all employees to work from home and follow shelter in place guidelines issued by state and local authorities. In July 2021, we allowed all employees to return voluntarily to all offices in the United States. In August 2021, we notified our employees that they would be required to return to the office on a full-time basis in the United States beginning in September 2021 and that they would be required to attest that they were fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus to do so. Employees had until October 11, 2021 to provide their vaccine self-attestation. Fully vaccinated employees in the United States returned to our offices on a full-time basis in early September 2021. In October 2021, we opened most of our non-US offices for employees to return on a voluntary basis and, where permitted, on a mandatory basis in November 2021.

The spread of the Omicron variant around the world in December 2021 caused us to modify further our office environment. First, we mandated that all U.S. employees receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine no later than six weeks after first becoming eligible for such vaccine. Second, we mandated that all U.S. employees provide proof of vaccination to us. Third, for offices around the world that had not been closed by government order, we shifted much of our workforce to fully remote status on a temporary basis at the end of 2021 in order to reduce the density of our offices. Sales representatives with less than 12 months tenure, sales representatives on performance improvement plans and their managers remained working in our offices on a full-time basis, as we believe that the training and coaching required by new and underperforming sales representatives is significantly more effective when provided in an in-office environment. In March 2022, all of our US employees returned to our offices on a full-time basis, and our employees around the world have returned to the office as and when permitted by local regulations.

Our employees have largely complied with our vaccine mandate in the United States. However, we experienced an increase in both voluntary and involuntary employee departures, particularly within our sales department, beginning in the second half of 2021 and continuing into 2022. We believe this rise in departures is attributable both to an increased focus on managing underperforming sales representatives and to the unwillingness of some employees to be vaccinated and/or to return to a full-time, in-office environment. As a result of our decisions to mandate COVID vaccination and to require employees to return to our offices on a full-time basis, we may find it difficult to retain existing employees or hire new employees. Further, a resurgence of COVID-19 due to immunity-resistant variants may cause employees to be more reluctant to continue in, or make new employees more reluctant to accept, a full-time, in-office position due to concerns about COVID-19. If this occurs, we may experience lower sales, revenue and profitability.

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We have experienced certain corporate customers taking a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals which resulted in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce and a reduction in VPN opportunities. As a result, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers which negatively impacted our corporate revenue growth. Moreover, with the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the summer of 2021 and then the Omicron variant in December of 2021, we believe many companies delayed the return of their employees to in-office work. As the pandemic has continued, and the return of employees to their offices has been delayed, a greater number of corporate customers with contracts that reached their termination date have elected not to renew their service with us. As such, we began to see increased corporate customer turnover. We also experienced a reduction in new sales to corporate customers. While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in our markets, and that most employers will eventually require their employees to return to their offices, the timing and scope of a return to office, particularly in a number of key markets we serve, remains uncertain. As a result, we may experience increased customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities. A potential resurgence of COVID-19 due to new immunity-resistant variants could cause companies to continue to delay the return of their employees to the office, to cause companies to shift workers in the office back to remote work and to delay further opening new offices. These trends may negatively impact our revenue growth, cash flows and profitability. We continue to experience a slowdown in the availability and delivery of networking equipment and optical fiber. While we believe we can adequately manage the operation, maintenance, upgrading and growth of our network, a worsening or prolonged slowdown may impact our ability to expand and augment our network.

Shortly after COVID-19 began its rapid spread around the world, domestic and worldwide capital markets ceased normal operations for a short period. While worldwide capital markets have remained unstable or unpredictable since then, particularly for non-investment grade issuers, legislative bodies and reserve banks have taken various actions in response to the pandemic that have impacted the capital markets, and we expect that these efforts may continue. We cannot predict whether new COVID-19 variants will arise and spread widely, the impact of the spread of new COVID-19 variants on the global economy, how national and local governments may react to the spread of new variants nor predict the impact the variants and any measures taken in response may have on our operations, employee retention, revenue growth, cash flows and our profitability.

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth our consolidated cash flows.

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Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities. Our primary source of operating cash is receipts from our customers who are billed on a monthly basis for our services. Our primary uses of operating cash are payments made to our vendors and employees and interest payments made to our finance lease vendors and our note holders. Our changes in cash provided by operating activities are primarily due to changes in our operating profit and changes in our interest payments. Cash provided by operating activities for 2022, 2021 and 2020 included interest payments on our note obligations of $40.6 million, $50.1 million and $48.8 million, respectively.

Net Cash Used In Investing Activities. Our primary use of investing cash is for purchases of property and equipment. These amounts were $79.0 million, $69.9 million and $56.0 million for 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The annual changes in purchases of property and equipment are primarily due to the timing and scope of our network expansion activities, including geographic expansion and adding buildings to our network.

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Net Cash Used In Financing Activities. Our primary uses of cash for financing activities are for payments to redeem and extinguish our debt, dividend payments, stock purchases and principal payments under our debt and finance lease obligations. During 2022, 2021 and 2020, we paid $169.9 million, $150.3 million and $129.4 million, respectively, for our quarterly dividend payments. Our quarterly dividend payments have increased due to regular increases in our quarterly dividend per share amounts. Amounts paid under our stock buyback program were $4.5 million for 2020. There were no stock purchases during 2022 or 2021. Principal payments under our finance lease obligations were $45.5 million, $23.1 million and $24.0 million for 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and are impacted by the timing and extent of our network expansion activities, including geographic expansion and adding buildings to our network. Total installment payment agreement principal payments were $0.8 million, $6.9 million and $10.5 million for 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

We completed a series of debt redemptions and issuances in 2022, 2021 and 2020. In June 2022, we paid $375.4 million to redeem and extinguish our 2024 Notes at 101.094% of par value, and we issued $450.0 million of our 2027 Notes for net proceeds of $446.0 million. In March 2021, we paid $119.7 million to redeem and extinguish $115.9 million of our 2022 Notes at 103.24% of par value. In May 2021, we redeemed and extinguished the remaining $329.1 million of our 2022 Notes at par value and deposited funds with the trustee to pay $11.5 million of interest through December 1, 2021. The total payments to redeem our 2022 Notes were $459.3 million. In May 2021, we issued $500.0 million of our 2026 Notes for net proceeds of $496.9 million. In June 2020, we redeemed our $189.2 million of our 2021 Notes at par value and completed an offering of €215.0 million of our 2024 Notes for net proceeds of $240.3 million.

Indebtedness

Our total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at December 31, 2022 were $275.9 million. We believe this level of liquidity reduces our exposure to refinancing risk, potential underperformance of the business or other unforeseen challenges and enhances our ability to pursue acquisitions or operating opportunities. We intend to hold levels of cash and cash equivalents sufficient to maintain our ability to fund operations, refinance indebtedness and make dividend payments to our stockholders.

Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2022, at par value, was $1.3 billion. Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2022 includes $304.2 million of finance lease obligations for dark fiber under long-term IRU agreements.

On May 15, 2014, pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (“Group”), a Delaware corporation, Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Holdings”) and Cogent Communications Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), Group adopted a new holding company organizational structure whereby Group is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings. Holdings is a “successor issuer” to Group pursuant to Rule 12g-3(a) under the Exchange Act.

Senior unsecured 2027 notes—$450.0 million

In June 2022, Group issued $500.0 million of 2027 Notes. The 2027 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on June 15, 2027. Interest accrues at 7.00% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on June 15 and December 15 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2027 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior secured 2026 notes—$500.0 million

In May 2021, Group issued $500.0 million of 2026 Notes. The 2026 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on May 1, 2026. Interest accrues at 3.50% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on May 1 and November 1 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2026 Notes, but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior unsecured 2024 notes—€350.0 million

In June 2019, Group completed an offering of €135.0 million of 2024 Notes. In June 2020, Group completed an offering of €215.0 million of 2024 Notes. The 2024 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and were scheduled to mature on June 30, 2024. Interest accrued at 4.375% and was paid semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 30 of each year. In June 2022, the 2024 Notes were redeemed with the proceeds from our 2027 Notes.

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Limitations under the Indentures

The 2027 Notes Indenture and the 2026 Notes Indenture (the “Indentures”), among other things, limit the Company’s ability to incur indebtedness; to pay dividends or make other distributions; to make certain investments and other restricted payments; to create liens; to consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets; to incur restrictions on the ability of a subsidiary to pay dividends or make other payments; and to enter into certain transactions with its affiliates. There are certain exceptions to the limitations on the Company’s ability to incur indebtedness under the Indentures, including IRU agreements incurred in the normal course of business and any additional indebtedness if the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or the Company’s fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater. The Company can also incur unlimited liens (which can be used, together with capacity under the debt covenant, to incur additional secured indebtedness) if the Company’s consolidated secured leverage ratio, as defined in the Indentures, is less than 4.0 to 1.0. Under the Indentures, the Company can pay dividends, make other distributions, make certain investments and make other restricted payments under certain circumstances, including if, after giving pro forma effect to such restricted payment, the Company could still incur $1 of indebtedness, as defined (i.e., either its consolidated leverage ratio is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or its fixed charge coverage ratio is 2.0 to 1.0 or greater). As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s consolidated leverage ratio was below 6.0, the Company’s consolidated secured leverage ratio was below 4.0, and the Company’s fixed charge coverage ratio was above 2.0. As of December 31, 2022, a total of $442.2 million (inclusive of a $250.0 general basket) was unrestricted and permitted for restricted payments, including dividends and stock purchases.

Summarized Financial Information of Holdings

Holdings is a guarantor under the 2027 and 2026 Notes. Under the Indentures, we are required to disclose financial information of Holdings including its assets, liabilities and its operating results (“Holdings Financial Information”). The Holdings Financial Information as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 is detailed below (in thousands).

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Common Stock Buyback Program

Our Board of Directors has approved through December 31, 2023, purchases of our common stock under a buyback program (the “Buyback Program”). We purchased 79,056 shares of our common stock for $4.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 at an average price per share of $56.85. There were no purchases of common stock during the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, there was a total of $30.4 million available under the Buyback Program.

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Dividends on Common Stock

Dividends are recorded as a reduction to retained earnings. Dividends on unvested restricted shares of common stock are paid as the awards vest. Our initial quarterly dividend payment was made in the third quarter of 2012. On February 22, 2023, our Board of Directors approved the payment of our quarterly dividend of $0.925 per common share. The dividend for the first quarter of 2023 will be paid to holders of record on March 10, 2023. This estimated $43.3 million dividend payment is expected to be made on March 24, 2023. The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital, including stock buybacks, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon our financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under our debt indentures and other factors deemed relevant by the our Board of Directors. We are a Delaware Corporation and under the General Corporate Law of the State of Delaware distributions may be restricted including a restriction that distributions, including stock purchases and dividends, do not result in an impairment of a corporation’s capital, as defined under Delaware Law. The indentures governing our notes limit our ability to return cash to our stockholders. See Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of limitations on distributions.

Future Capital Requirements

We believe that our cash on hand and cash generated from our operating activities will be adequate to meet our working capital, capital expenditure, debt service, dividend payments and other cash requirements for the next twelve months if we execute our business plan.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

We may need to, or elect to, refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. As such, we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.

Income Taxes

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code in the United States limits the utilization of net operating losses when ownership changes, as defined by that section, occur. We have performed an analysis of our Section 382 ownership changes and have determined that the utilization of certain of our net operating loss carryforwards in the United States is limited.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The accounting policies we believe to be most critical to understanding our financial results and condition or that require complex, significant and subjective management judgments are discussed below.

Finance Lease Obligations

We record assets and liabilities under finance leases at the lesser of the present value of the aggregate future minimum lease payments or the fair value of the assets under lease. We establish the number of renewal option periods used in determining the lease term, if any, based upon our assessment at the inception of the lease of the number of option periods for which failure to renew the lease imposes a penalty on us in such amount that renewal appears to be reasonably certain. Useful lives are determined based on historical usage with consideration given to technological changes and trends in the industry that could impact the asset utilization. We estimate the fair value of leased assets primarily using estimated replacement cost data for similar assets. We determine the incremental borrowing rate for each lease using our current borrowing rate adjusted for various factors including the level of collateralization and term to align with the term of the lease.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this report. The discussion in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The cautionary statements made in this report should be read as applying to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” as well as those discussed elsewhere. You should read “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to:

The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying government policies worldwide; vaccination and in-office requirements, delays in the delivery of network equipment and optical fiber, future economic instability in the global economy, which could affect spending on Internet services; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to US dollar and Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rates) on the translation of our non-US dollar denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities into US dollars; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including rules regarding data protection, cyber security and net neutrality; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering arrangements on favorable terms; our ability to renew our long-term leases of optical fiber that comprise our network; our reliance on an equipment vendor, Cisco Systems Inc., and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as they become due and outcomes in litigation, risks associated with variable interest rates under our interest rate Swap Agreement as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2020

In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Our management reviews and analyzes several key financial measures in order to manage our business and assess the quality and variability of our service revenue, operating results and cash flows. The following summary tables present a comparison of our results of operations with respect to certain key financial measures. The comparisons illustrated in the tables are discussed in greater detail below.

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(1)Includes non-cash equity-based compensation expense of $2,521 and $1,219 for 2021 and 2020, respectively.

(2)Includes non-cash equity-based compensation expense of $24,301 and $22,306 for 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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NM - not meaningful

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Service Revenue. We continually work to grow our total service revenue by increasing the number of potential customers that we can reach on our network. We do this by investing capital to expand the geographic footprint of our network, by increasing the number of buildings that we are connected to, including carrier neutral data centers and multi-tenant office buildings, and by increasing our penetration rate into our existing buildings. These efforts broaden the global reach of our network and increase the size of our potential addressable market. We also seek to grow our service revenue by investing in our sales and marketing team. We typically sell corporate connections at similar pricing to our competitors, but our clients benefit from our significantly faster speeds, enhanced service level agreements and rapid installation times. In the net-centric market, we offer comparable services in terms of capacity but typically at significantly lower prices.

Our service revenue increased by 3.8% from 2020 to 2021. Exchange rates positively impacted our increase in service revenue by $5.3 million. All foreign currency comparisons herein reflect results for 2021 translated at the average foreign currency exchange rates for 2020. We increased our total service revenue by expanding our network, by adding additional buildings to our network, by increasing our penetration into the buildings connected to our network and by gaining market share by offering our services at lower prices than our competitors.

Revenue recognition standards include guidance relating to any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer and may include, but is not limited to, gross receipts taxes, Universal Service Fund fees and certain state regulatory fees. We record these taxes billed to our customers on a gross basis (as service revenue and network operations expense) in our consolidated statements of operations. The impact of these taxes including the Universal Service Fund resulted in an increase to our revenues from 2020 to 2021 of $3.4 million.

Our corporate customers generally purchase their services on a price per connection basis. Our net-centric customers generally purchase their services on a price per megabit basis. Revenues from our corporate and net-centric customers represented 60.8% and 39.2% of total service revenue, respectively, for 2021 and represented 67.5% and 32.5% of total service revenue, respectively, for 2020. Revenues from corporate customers decreased by 6.5% to $358.4 million for 2021 from 2020. Revenues from our net-centric customers increased by 25.3% to $231.4 million for 2021 from 2020.

Our corporate customers take advantage of our superior speeds, service levels and installation times versus our competitors. The growing trend of customers installing second lines for redundancy in order to construct VPNs has also led to our ability to increase our corporate revenues. However, beginning in the second quarter of 2020, we saw corporate customers take a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service, with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals resulting in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce. As a result, we have experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers which negatively impacted our corporate revenue results. While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in our markets, we may experience increased corporate customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing corporate customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities which would negatively impact our corporate revenue growth.

Our revenue from our net-centric customers increased primarily due to an increase in our number of net-centric customers and growth in network traffic from these customers partly offset by a decline in our average price per megabit. Our net-centric customers purchase our services on a price per megabit basis. The net-centric market exhibits significant pricing pressure due to the continued introduction of new technology which lowers the marginal cost of transmission and routing, and the commodity nature of the service where price is typically the only differentiating factor for these customers. Our average price per megabit of our installed base of customers declined by 24.2% from 2020 to 2021. We expect that our average price per megabit will continue to decline at similar rates. The impact of foreign exchange rates has a more significant impact on our net-centric revenues.

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Our on-net revenues increased by 5.6% from 2020 to 2021. Our on-net revenues increased as we increased the number of our on-net customer connections by 4.4% at December 31, 2021 from December 31, 2020. On-net revenues increased at a greater rate than on-net customer connections primarily due to an increase in our on-net ARPU from 2020 to 2021 and the positive impact of foreign exchange. ARPU is determined by dividing revenue for the period by the average customer connections for that period.

Our off-net revenues decreased by 1.2% from 2020 to 2021. Our off-net revenues decreased primarily from the 5.2% decrease in our off-net ARPU from 2020 to 2021 offsetting the 5.8% increase in the number of our off-net customer connections from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

Network Operations Expenses. Network operations expenses include the costs of personnel associated with service delivery, network management and customer support, network facilities costs, fiber and equipment maintenance fees, leased circuit costs, access and facilities fees paid to building owners and excise taxes billed to our customers and recorded on a gross basis. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in network operations expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. Our network operations expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 3.3% for 2021 from 2020. The increase in network operations expense is primarily attributable to an increase in costs related to our network and facilities expansion activities and an increase in equity-based compensation expense from the vesting of restricted employee shares, partly offset by price reductions obtained in certain of our leased circuit costs and the impact of a renewal of an IRU fiber lease agreement in the second quarter of 2020. When we adopted ASU 2016-02, we elected to apply certain practical expedients under ASU 2016-02 including not separating the lease and non-lease components of our finance and operating leases. As a result of accounting for this IRU renewal under ASU 2016-02, the present value of $1.8 million of quarterly maintenance and co-location fees (non-lease components) that were previously accounted for as network operations expenses prior to the second quarter of 2020, were capitalized as a finance lease liability and right-of-use leased asset totaling $34.0 million. Amortization of the right-of-use asset is recorded as depreciation and amortization expense and the payments that are made toward the finance lease liability are recorded as a reduction of the finance lease liability and interest expense.

Selling, General, and Administrative (“SG&A”) Expenses. Our SG&A expenses, including non-cash equity-based compensation expense, increased by 2.5% for 2021 from 2020. Non-cash equity-based compensation expense is included in SG&A expenses consistent with the classification of the employee’s salary and other compensation. SG&A expenses increased primarily from an increase in salaries and related costs required to support our expansion and increases in our sales efforts, partly offset by a reduction in sales meeting and travel costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic and a reduction in bad debt expense. Our sales force headcount was 712 at December 31, 2020 and 633 at December 31, 2021, and our total headcount was 1,083 at December 31, 2020 and 1,001 at December 31, 2021. We experienced an increase in both voluntary and involuntary employee departures, particularly within our sales department, in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. We believe that this rise in departures was attributable both to an increased focus on monitoring sales productivity and to the unwillingness of some employees to be vaccinated and/or to return to a full-time, in-office environment.

Depreciation and Amortization Expenses. Our depreciation and amortization expense increased by 6.9% for 2021 from 2020. The increase is primarily due to the depreciation expense associated with the increase in deployed fixed assets and the impact of a renewal of an IRU fiber lease agreement in the second quarter of 2020. As a result of accounting for this IRU renewal under ASU 2016-02, the present value of $1.8 million of quarterly maintenance and co-location fees (non-lease components) that were previously accounted for as network operations expenses prior to the second quarter of 2020, were capitalized as a finance lease liability and right-of-use leased asset totaling $34.0 million. Amortization of the right-of-use asset is recorded as depreciation and amortization expense and the payments that are made toward the finance lease liability are recorded as a reduction of the finance lease liability and interest expense.

Interest Expense and Losses on Debt Extinguishment and Redemptions. Our interest expense resulted from interest incurred on our $445.0 million of our 2022 Notes until these notes were fully extinguished in May 2021, interest incurred on our €350.0 million of 2024 Notes, interest incurred on our $500.0 million of 2026 Notes that we issued in May 2021, interest incurred on our installment payment agreement and interest incurred on our finance lease obligations. We issued €215.0 million of our 2024 Notes in June 2020 and €135.0 million of our 2024 Notes were issued in June 2019. In June 2020, we redeemed and extinguished our $189.2 million of 2021 Notes at par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. In March 2021, we redeemed and extinguished $115.9 million of our 2022 Notes at 103.24% of par value resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $3.9 million and reduced the par value from $445.0 million to $329.1 million. In May 2021, we extinguished the remaining $329.1 million of our 2022 Notes at par value and deposited funds with the trustee to pay $11.5 million of interest through December 1, 2021 resulting in a loss on debt extinguishment and redemption of $10.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

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In August 2021 we entered into our Swap Agreement that has the economic effect of modifying the fixed interest rate obligation associated with our 2026 Notes to a variable interest rate obligation based on SOFR so that the interest payable on the 2026 Notes effectively became variable based on overnight SOFR. The Swap Agreement is recorded at its fair value at each reporting period, and we incurs gains and losses due to changes in market interest rates. The values that we report for the Swap Agreement as of each reporting date are recognized as non-cash interest expense with the corresponding amounts included in assets or liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2021 the fair value of our Swap Agreement was a net liability of $9.0 million and we recorded an unrealized loss as interest expense related to our Swap Agreement of $9.0 million in 2021. We did not elect hedge accounting for our Swap Agreement. Our interest expense increased by 7.3% from 2020 to 2021. This increase was primarily due to the reduction in interest expense from the lower interest rate on our new 2026 Notes as compared to our extinguished 2022 Notes being offset by the additional $9.0 million of additional non-cash interest expense we recorded related to our Swap Agreement.

Realized Gain and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Foreign Exchange – 2024 Notes. In June 2020, our €215.0 million of 2024 Notes were issued at a Euro to USD rate of $1.112. We received proceeds in USD on the 2024 Notes on June 9, 2020 at a Euro to USD rate of $1.133 resulting in a realized gain on foreign exchange of $2.5 million. Our 2024 Notes were issued in Euros and are reported in our reporting currency – US Dollars. As of December 31, 2021, our 2024 Notes were valued at $397.0 million. Our unrealized gain (loss) on foreign exchange on our 2024 Notes from converting our 2024 Notes into USD was $32.5 million for 2021 and $(37.0) million for 2020. We have not entered into hedging arrangements for our foreign currency obligations.

Income Tax Expense. Our income tax expense was $23.2 million for 2021 and $4.1 million for 2020. The increase in our income tax expense is primarily related to an increase in certain non-deductible expenses and the increase in our income before income taxes.

Buildings On-net. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had a total of 3,035 and 2,914 on-net buildings connected to our network, respectively. The increase in our on-net buildings was a result of our disciplined network expansion program. We anticipate adding a similar number of buildings to our network for the next several years.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

In assessing our liquidity, management reviews and analyzes our current cash balances, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, capital expenditure commitments, and required finance lease and debt payments and other obligations. As our business has grown as a result of an increasing customer base, broader geographic coverage and increased traffic on our network, we have produced a growing level of operating cash flow. As a result of the operating leverage of our network, our annual capital expenditures as measured as a percentage of revenues has fallen over the last decade. Increasing our operating cash flow is in part dependent upon expanding our geographic footprint and increasing our network capacity. Recent supply chain issues may adversely impact our ability to grow our network and revenue.

We have also had increasing success in raising capital by issuing notes and arranging financing and leases that have had a lower cost and more flexible terms. The combination of this improved operating performance and access to capital has enhanced our financial flexibility and increased our ability to make distributions to shareholders in the form of cash dividends or through share repurchases. Since our initial public offering, we have returned over $1.0 billion to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. We will continue to assess our capital and liquidity needs and, where appropriate, return capital to shareholders.

Over the next several years we have significant contractual and anticipated cash outlays including our indicative dividend payments on our common stock, our maturing debt obligations, interest payments on our debt obligations and our projected capital expenditure requirements in order to help execute our business plan. Based upon our historical growth rate of our dividend, we expect that we would have to provide approximately $353 million in order to meet our quarterly dividend payments over the next two years. Our $500.0 million of Senior Secured Notes mature in May 2026 and include annual interest payments of $17.5 million until maturity. Our €350 million of Senior Unsecured Euro Notes mature in June 2024 and include annual interest payments €15.3 million until maturity. Our €350 million of Senior Unsecured Euro Notes are denominated in Euros and expose us to potentially unfavorable adverse movements in foreign currency rate changes. Our overseas operations provides us access to Euros, however these amounts may be insufficient to fund our obligations under our Senior Unsecured Euro Notes. Additionally, we have not entered into foreign currency hedging arrangements which would seek to reduce our risks related to foreign exchange volatility.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

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We may need to or elect to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into interest rate swap agreements, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

We or our affiliates may, at any time and from time to time, seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through cash purchases and/or exchanges for equity or debt, in open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases or exchanges, if any, will be upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine, and will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.

In light of the economic uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, our executive officers and Board have continued to carefully monitor our liquidity and cash requirements. Based on current circumstances, we plan to continue our current dividend policy. Given uncertainties regarding the duration of the pandemic and timing for economic recovery, we will continue to monitor our capital spending. As we do each year, we will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will make adjustments to our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors.

Impact of COVID-19 on Our Liquidity and Operating Performance

We continue to operate with a high level of liquidity, and as of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $328.6 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted our credit rating to date, nor do we believe that it has materially changed our cost of capital. We believe we are able to timely service our debt obligations and will not require any concessions to do so. We believe we will have access to additional capital from a variety of sources and the public capital markets for debt and equity.

In late March 2020, we adopted a mandatory policy through which we required all employees to work from home and follow shelter in place guidelines issued by state and local authorities. In July 2021, we allowed all employees to return voluntarily to all offices in the United States. In August 2021, we notified our employees that they would be required to return to the office on a full time basis in the United States beginning in September 2021 and that they would be required to attest that they were fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus to do so. Employees had until October 11, 2021 to provide their vaccine self-attestation. Fully vaccinated employees in the United States returned to our offices on a full-time basis in early September 2021. In October 2021, we opened most of our non-US offices for employees to return on a voluntary basis and, where permitted, on a mandatory basis in November 2021.

The spread of the Omicron variant around the world in December 2021 caused us to modify further our office environment. First, we mandated that all U.S. employees receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine no later than six weeks after first becoming eligible for such vaccine. Second, we mandated that all U.S. employees provide proof of vaccination to us. Third, for offices around the world that had not been closed by government order, we shifted much of our workforce to fully remote status on a temporary basis at the end of 2021 in order to reduce the density of our offices. Sales representatives with less than 12 months tenure, sales representative on performance improvement plans and their managers are currently still working in our offices on a full-time basis, as we believe that the training and coaching required by new and underperforming sales representatives is significantly more effective when provided in an in-office environment.

Our employees have largely complied with our vaccine mandate in the United States. However, we experienced an increase in both voluntary and involuntary employee departures, particularly within our sales department, in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. We believe this rise in departures is attributable both to an increased focus on managing underperforming sales representatives and to the unwillingness of some employees to be vaccinated and/or to return to a full time, in office environment. As a result of our decisions to mandate COVID vaccination and to require employees to return to our offices on a full time basis, we may find it difficult to retain existing employees or hire new employees. If this occurs, we may experience lower sales, revenue and profitability.

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We have experienced certain corporate customers taking a more cautious approach to new configurations and upgrades as well as a reduction in demand for connecting smaller satellite offices as a result of the challenges and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have witnessed a deteriorating real estate market in and around the buildings we service with rising vacancy levels and falling lease initiations or renewals which resulted in fewer sales opportunities for our salesforce and a reduction in VPN opportunities. As a result, we experienced a slowdown in new sales to our corporate customers which negatively impacted our corporate revenue growth. Moreover, with the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the summer of 2021 and then the Omicron variant in December of 2021, we believe many companies delayed the return of their employees to in-office work. As the pandemic has continued, and the return of employees to their offices has been delayed, a greater number of corporate customers with contracts that reached their termination date have elected not to renew their service with us. As such, we began to see increased corporate customer turnover. We also experienced a reduction in new sales to corporate customers. While we believe that demand for office space in the buildings in which we operate will remain among the strongest in our markets, and that most employers will eventually require their employees to return to their offices, we may experience increased customer turnover, fewer upgrades of existing customer configurations and fewer new tenant opportunities. These trends may negatively impact our revenue growth, cash flows and profitability.

We have seen a slight slowdown in the availability and delivery of networking equipment and optical fiber. While we believe we can adequately manage the operation, maintenance, upgrading and growth of our network, a worsening or prolonged slowdown may impact our ability to expand and augment our network.

Shortly after COVID-19 began its rapid spread around the world, domestic and worldwide capital markets ceased normal operations for a short period. While worldwide capital markets have remained unstable or unpredictable since then, particularly for non-investment grade issuers, legislative bodies and reserve banks have taken various actions in response to the pandemic that have impacted the capital markets, and we expect that these efforts may continue. We cannot predict whether new COVID-19 variants will arise and spread widely, the impact of the spread of new COVID-19 variants on the global economy, how national and local governments may react to the spread of new variants nor predict the impact the variants and any measures taken in response may have on our operations, employee retention, revenue growth, cash flows and our profitability.

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth our consolidated cash flows.

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Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities. Our primary source of operating cash is receipts from our customers who are billed on a monthly basis for our services. Our primary uses of operating cash are payments made to our vendors, employees and interest payments made to our finance lease vendors and our note holders. Our changes in cash provided by operating activities are primarily due to changes in our operating profit and changes in our interest payments. Cash provided by operating activities for 2021, 2020 and 2019 included interest payments on our note obligations of $50.1 million, $48.8 million and $38.0 million, respectively.

Net Cash Used In Investing Activities. Our primary use of investing cash is for purchases of property and equipment. These amounts were $69.9 million, $56.0 million and $47.0 million for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The annual changes in purchases of property and equipment are primarily due to the timing and scope of our network expansion activities including geographic expansion and adding buildings to our network. In 2020 and 2019 we obtained $5.8 million and $11.3 million, respectively, of network equipment and software in non-cash exchanges for notes payable under an installment payment agreement. There was no network equipment and software obtained under the installment payment agreement in 2021.

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Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Financing Activities. Our primary uses of cash for financing activities are for dividend payments, stock purchases and principal payments under our debt and finance lease obligations. During 2021, 2020 and 2019 we paid $150.3 million, $129.4 million and $112.6 million, respectively, for our quarterly dividend payments. Our quarterly dividend payments have increased due to regular quarterly increases in our quarterly dividend per share amounts. Amounts paid under our stock buyback program were $4.5 million for 2020. There were no stock purchases during 2021 or 2019. Principal payments under our finance lease obligations were $23.1 million, $24.0 million and $9.1 million for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and are impacted by the timing and extent of our network expansion activities. Total installment payment agreement principal payments were $6.9 million, $10.5 million and $10.0 million for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

We completed a series of debt redemptions and issuances in 2021, 2020 and 2019. In March 2021, we paid $119.7 million to redeem and extinguish $115.9 million of our 2022 Notes at 103.24% of par value. In May 2021, we redeemed and extinguished the remaining $329.1 million of our 2022 Notes at par value and deposited funds with the trustee to pay $11.5 million of interest through December 1, 2021. The total payments to redeem our 2022 Notes were $459.3 million. In May 2021, we issued $500.0 million of our 2026 Notes for net proceeds of $496.9 million. In June 2020, we redeemed our $189.2 million of our 2021 Notes at par value and completed an offering of €215.0 million of our 2024 Notes for net proceeds of $240.3 million. In June 2019 we received net proceeds of $152.1 million from the issuance of €135.0 million of our 2024 Notes.

Indebtedness

Our total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at December 31, 2021 were $328.6 million. We believe this level of liquidity reduces our exposure to refinancing risk, potential underperformance of the business or other unforeseen challenges and enhances our ability to pursue acquisitions or operating opportunities. We intend upon holding levels of cash and cash equivalents sufficient to maintain our ability to fund operations, refinance indebtedness and make dividend payments to our shareholders.

Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2021, at par value, was $1.1 billion. Our total indebtedness at December 31, 2021 includes $245.9 million of finance lease obligations for dark fiber under long-term IRU agreements.

On May 15, 2014, pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (“Group”), a Delaware corporation, Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Holdings”) and Cogent Communications Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), Group adopted a new holding company organizational structure whereby Group is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings. Holdings is a “successor issuer” to Group pursuant to Rule 12g-3(a) under the Exchange Act.

Senior secured notes—$500.0 million

In May 2021, Group issued $500.0 million of 2026 Notes. The 2026 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on May 1, 2026. Interest accrues at 3.50% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on May 1 and November 1 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2026 Notes but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

Senior unsecured notes—€350.0 million

In June 2019, Group completed an offering of €135.0 million of 2024 Notes. In June 2020, Group completed an offering of €215.0 million of 2024 Notes. The 2024 Notes were sold in private offerings for resale to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to SEC Rule 144A and mature on June 30, 2024. Interest accrues at 4.375% and is paid semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 30 of each year. Holdings provided a guarantee of the 2024 Notes but Holdings is not subject to the covenants under the indenture.

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Limitations under the indentures

The indenture governing the 2024 Notes (the “2024 Notes Indenture”) and the 2026 Notes (the “2026 Notes Indenture”), among other things, limit the Company’s ability to incur indebtedness; to pay dividends or make other distributions; to make certain investments and other restricted payments; to create liens; to consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets; to incur restrictions on the ability of a subsidiary to pay dividends or make other payments; and to enter into certain transactions with its affiliates. There are certain exceptions to the limitations on our ability to incur indebtedness under the 2024 Notes Indenture and the 2026 Notes Indenture, including IRU agreements incurred in the normal course of business and any additional indebtedness if (i) under the 2024 Notes Indenture, our consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in 2024 Notes Indenture, is less than 6.0 to 1.0 and (ii) under the 2026 Notes Indenture, either our consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in 2026 Notes Indenture, is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or our fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the 2026 Notes Indenture, is greater than 2.0 to 1.0. We can also incur unlimited liens (which can be used, together with capacity under the debt covenant, to incur additional secured indebtedness) if our consolidated secured leverage ratio, as defined in each of the 2024 Notes Indenture and the 2026 Notes Indenture, is less than 4.0 to 1.0. The 2024 Notes Indenture permits restricted payments, such as dividends and stock purchases, using accumulated consolidated cash flow, as defined in the 2024 Notes indenture, when our consolidated leverage ratio, as defined by the 2024 Notes Indenture, is less than 4.25 to 1.00. Under the 2026 Notes Indenture, such accumulated consolidated cash flow, as defined therein, can be used to make such restricted payments if we are able to incur $1 of debt, as defined (i.e., either its consolidated leverage ratio is less than 6.0 to 1.0 or our fixed charge coverage ratio is greater than 2.0 to 1.0). Our consolidated leverage ratio was above 4.25 as of December 31, 2021, and our fixed charge coverage ratio was above 2.0 as of December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, a total of $185.5 million was unrestricted and permitted for restricted payments including dividends and stock purchases.

Summarized Financial Information of Holdings

Holdings is a guarantor under the 2024 and 2026 Notes. Under the indentures we are required to disclose financial information of Holdings including its assets, liabilities and its operating results (“Holdings Financial Information”). The Holdings Financial Information as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021 is detailed below (in thousands).

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Common Stock Buyback Program

Our Board of Directors has approved through December 31, 2022, purchases of our common stock under a buyback program (the “Buyback Program”). We purchased 79,056 shares of our common stock for $4.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 at an average price per share of $56.85. There were no purchases of common stock during the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2019. As of December 31, 2021 there was a total of $30.4 million available under the Buyback Program.

Dividends on Common Stock

Dividends are recorded as a reduction to retained earnings. Dividends on unvested restricted shares of common stock are paid as the awards vest. Our initial quarterly dividend payment was made in the third quarter of 2012. On February 23, 2022, our Board of Directors approved the payment of our quarterly dividend of $0.855 per common share. The dividend for the first quarter of 2022 will be paid to holders of record on March 11, 2022. This estimated $39.7 million dividend payment is expected to be made on March 25, 2022.

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The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital, including stock buybacks, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon our financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under our debt indentures and other factors deemed relevant by the our Board of Directors. We are a Delaware Corporation and under the General Corporate Law of the State of Delaware distributions may be restricted including a restriction that distributions, including stock purchases and dividends, do not result in an impairment of a corporation’s capital, as defined under Delaware Law. The indentures governing our notes limit our ability to return cash to our stockholders. See Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of limitations on distributions.

Future Capital Requirements

We believe that our cash on hand and cash generated from our operating activities will be adequate to meet our working capital, capital expenditure, debt service, dividend payments and other cash requirements for the next twelve months if we execute our business plan.

Any future acquisitions or other significant unplanned costs or cash requirements in excess of amounts we currently hold may require that we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on terms acceptable to us or our stockholders, or at all. Insufficient funds may require us to delay or scale back the number of buildings and markets that we add to our network, reduce our planned increase in our sales and marketing efforts, or require us to otherwise alter our business plan or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If issuing equity securities raises additional funds, substantial dilution to existing stockholders may result.

We may need to or elect to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness at or before maturity and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to refinance any such indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may elect to secure additional capital in the future, at acceptable terms, to improve our liquidity or fund acquisitions or for general corporate purposes. In addition, in an effort to reduce future cash interest payments as well as future amounts due at maturity or to extend debt maturities, we may, from time to time, issue new debt, enter into debt for debt, or cash transactions to purchase our outstanding debt securities in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. We will evaluate any such transactions in light of the existing market conditions. The amounts involved in any such transaction, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts. As such, we are not materially exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in these relationships.

Income Taxes

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code in the United States limits the utilization of net operating losses when ownership changes, as defined by that section, occur. We have performed an analysis of our Section 382 ownership changes and have determined that the utilization of certain of our net operating loss carryforwards in the United States is limited.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The accounting policies we believe to be most critical to understanding our financial results and condition or that require complex, significant and subjective management judgments are discussed below.

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Finance Lease Obligations

We record assets and liabilities under finance leases at the lesser of the present value of the aggregate future minimum lease payments or the fair value of the assets under lease. We establish the number of renewal option periods used in determining the lease term, if any, based upon our assessment at the inception of the lease of the number of option periods for which failure to renew the lease imposes a penalty on us in such amount that renewal appears to be reasonably certain. Useful lives are determined based on historical usage with consideration given to technological changes and trends in the industry that could impact the asset utilization. We estimate the fair value of leased assets primarily using estimated replacement cost data for similar assets. We determine the incremental borrowing rate for each lease using our current borrowing rate adjusted for various factors including the level of collateralization and term to align with the term of the lease.