Employee Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2025

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans:

In connection with the Merger, the Company assumed a non-contributory qualified defined benefit pension plan. Future benefit accruals for all eligible non-bargaining unit employees covered by the pension plan have ceased.

As previously discussed in Note 3, the net pension benefit obligation as of August 1, 2025 was calculated based upon a number of actuarial assumptions, including an expected long-term rate of return on pension plan assets of 7.75% and a discount rate of 5.64%. Factoring in these actuarial assumptions, the net pension benefit obligation was estimated to be $103.6 million as of August 1, 2025, of which $9.0 million was recorded to other current liabilities and $94.6 million was recorded to other liabilities.

There were no voluntary or required contributions made to the qualified pension plan during the period from August 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025. The remaining minimum required employer contributions to the pension plan for the 2025 plan year total $11.9 million, of which $4.5 million will be contributed in both October 2025 and January 2026 and the remaining $2.9 million will be contributed in September 2026, using cash. The amount and timing of future contributions to the pension plan are dependent upon a myriad of factors including future investment performance, changes in future discount rates and changes in the demographics of the population participating in the plan.

The components of pension income were as follows:

	August 1-September 30,
(Millions)	2025
Benefits earned during the period (a)	$	0.4
Interest cost on benefit obligation (b)	4.8
Expected return on plan assets (b)	(5.4)
Net periodic pension income	$	(0.2)

(a)Included in cost of services and selling, general and administrative expense.

(b)Included in other income, net.

In connection with the Merger, the Company also assumed an employee savings plan under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code, which covers substantially all salaried employees and certain bargaining unit employees of Windstream. Participating employees receive employer matching contributions up to a maximum of 4.0% of employee pre-tax contributions to the plan for employees contributing up to 5.0% of their eligible pre-tax compensation. The employer matching contribution is calculated and funded in cash to the plan each pay period with an annual true-up to be made as soon as administratively possible after the end of the year. Inclusive of the Company's existing 401(k) defined contribution plan, expense attributable to the employer matching contribution under the plans, excluding amounts capitalized, was $4.1 million and $5.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively, as compared to $0.5 million and $1.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively. Expense related to the employee savings plans is included in cost of services and selling, general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of income.