Segment Information

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information

Note 13. Segment Information

Historically our management, including our chief executive officer, who is our chief operating decision maker, managed our operations as the four reportable segments, in addition to our corporate operations, as described below. Due to the sale of our towers business and wind down of the Consumer CLEC business, effective January 1, 2021, we manage our operations focused on our two primary businesses, Leasing and Fiber Infrastructure.

Leasing: Represents the results from our leasing business, Uniti Leasing, which is engaged in the acquisition of mission-critical communications assets and leasing them back to anchor customers on either an exclusive or shared-tenant basis.

Fiber Infrastructure: Represents the operations of our fiber business, Uniti Fiber, which is a leading provider of infrastructure solutions, including cell site backhaul and dark fiber, to the telecommunications industry.

Towers: Represents the operations of our former towers business, Uniti Towers, through which we acquired and constructed tower and tower-related real estate and leased space on communications towers to wireless service providers and other tenants in the United States and Latin America.  Starting in 2019, the Company completed a series of transactions to largely divest of its towers business:  on April 2, 2019, May 23, 2019 and June 1, 2020, the Company completed the sales of its Latin American business, substantially all of its U.S. ground lease business, and its U.S. tower business, respectively.

Consumer CLEC: Represents the operations of Talk America through which we operated the Consumer CLEC business, which prior to Uniti’s separation and spin-off from Windstream (the “Spin-Off”) was reported as an integrated operation within Windstream. Talk America provided local telephone, high-speed internet and long-distance services to customers in the eastern and central United States.  As of the end of the second quarter of 2020, we substantially completed a wind down of our Consumer CLEC business.

Corporate: Represents our corporate and back office functions. Certain costs and expenses, primarily related to headcount, insurance, professional fees and similar charges, that are directly attributable to operations of our business segments are allocated to the respective segments.

Management evaluates the performance of each segment using Adjusted EBITDA, which is a segment performance measure we define as net income determined in accordance with GAAP, before interest expense, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense and the impact, which may be recurring in nature, of transaction and integration related costs, costs associated with Windstream’s bankruptcy, costs associated with litigation claims made against us, costs associated with the implementation of our enterprise resource planning system, costs related to the settlement with Windstream, amortization of non-cash rights-of-use, the write off of unamortized deferred financing costs, costs incurred as a result of the early repayment of debt, including early tender premiums and costs associated with the termination of related hedging activities, gains or losses on dispositions, changes in the fair value of contingent consideration and financial instruments, and other similar or infrequent items (although we may not have had such charges in the periods presented). Adjusted EBITDA includes adjustments to reflect the Company’s share of Adjusted EBITDA from unconsolidated entities. The Company believes that net income, as defined by GAAP, is the most appropriate earnings metric; however, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA serves as a useful supplement to net income because it allows investors, analysts and management to evaluate the performance of our segments in a manner that is comparable period over period. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income as determined in accordance with GAAP.

Selected financial data related to our segments is presented below for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020:

	Three Months Ended June 30, 2021
(Thousands)	Leasing		Fiber Infrastructure		Towers		Consumer CLEC		Corporate			Subtotal of Reportable Segments
Revenues	$	196,057	$	72,123	$	-	$	-	$	-		$	268,180
Adjusted EBITDA	$	192,137	$	29,439	$	-	$	-	$	(5,842	)	$	215,734
Less:
Interest expense													106,388
Depreciation and amortization		40,474		29,132		-		-		65			69,671
Other expense, net													8,779
Transaction related and other costs													424
Gain on sale of real estate													(442	)
Gain on sale of operations													(28,143	)
Stock-based compensation													3,462
Income tax expense													5,084
Adjustments for equity in earnings from unconsolidated entities													872
Net income												$	49,639

	Three Months Ended June 30, 2020
(Thousands)	Leasing		Fiber Infrastructure		Towers		Consumer CLEC			Corporate			Subtotal of Reportable Segments
Revenues	$	185,320	$	79,140	$	2,392		(32	)	$	-		$	266,820
Adjusted EBITDA	$	182,810	$	28,493	$	85	$	(292	)	$	(8,227	)	$	202,869
Less:
Interest expense														107,243
Depreciation and amortization		52,405		32,279		14		197			74			84,969
Other expense, net														6,013
Settlement expense														650,000
Transaction related and other costs														18,556
Gain on sale of real estate														(63,818	)
Stock-based compensation														4,110
Income tax benefit														(5,875	)
Net loss													$	(598,329	)

	Six Months Ended June 30, 2021
(Thousands)	Leasing		Fiber Infrastructure		Towers		Consumer CLEC		Corporate			Subtotal of Reportable Segments
Revenues	$	390,993	$	149,773	$	-	$	-	$	-		$	540,766
Adjusted EBITDA	$	383,634	$	59,160	$	-	$	-	$	(12,812	)	$	429,982
Less:
Interest expense													246,969
Depreciation and amortization		82,700		57,802		-		-		133			140,635
Other income, net													10,097
Transaction related and other costs													4,561
Gain on sale of real estate													(442	)
Gain on sale of operations													(28,143	)
Stock-based compensation													6,797
Income tax expense													2,527
Adjustments for equity in earnings from unconsolidated entities													1,844
Net income												$	45,137

	Six Months Ended June 30, 2020
(Thousands)	Leasing		Fiber Infrastructure		Towers		Consumer CLEC			Corporate			Subtotal of Reportable Segments
Revenues	$	369,672	$	156,547	$	6,112	$	651		$	-		$	532,982
Adjusted EBITDA	$	364,689	$	56,034	$	77	$	(275	)	$	(15,942	)	$	404,583
Less:
Interest expense														285,636
Depreciation and amortization		107,027		62,340		783		791			149			171,090
Other income, net														9,088
Settlement expense														650,000
Transaction related and other costs														34,528
Gain on sale of real estate														(63,818	)
Stock-based compensation														7,105
Income tax benefit														(10,451	)
Net loss													$	(678,595	)