Liberty Global PLC at New Street Fiber to the Future Conference (Virtual) Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : Great. So I think, obviously, one of the big debates around the world at the moment is how the DOCSIS technology, which you have in a number of your markets is going to evolve and compete against FTTH. So maybe we could start a little bit on how over the past 12 months you've seen the DOCSIS technology evolve. And I think you've been deploying a lot of 3.1 now. How much of your network now where you are still running DOCSISes is using 3.1?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And how will the customers then see the advantage of that? You're running 2-gigabit trials in the UK, but when does that actually -- when will then that speed points start to go live across the network? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 28, 2023 / 3:15PM, LBTYA.OQ - Liberty Global PLC at New Street Fiber to the Future Conference (Virtual)

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : We'll get on to gigahertz later. Yeah, yeah.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : No, that's great to hear. And then on the 3.1, what's your plan and thinking about that being high split? Maybe this is an opportunity to talk about gigahertz.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And when you go to high split, what -- does that take you then above the 2.5-gigabit download, or are you talking then really about just changing the uplink speed? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 28, 2023 / 3:15PM, LBTYA.OQ - Liberty Global PLC at New Street Fiber to the Future Conference (Virtual)

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : Got it. So maybe we could spend a little bit of time then on DOCSIS 4.0 as a top technology we hear a lot about but don't yet really see that rolled out in the field. So maybe you could just give us your latest thinking on a timeline for that being rolled out and then maybe even actually going live to end customers.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : So that's really interesting, Enrique. So that slightly slower deployment that we might see in the US, is that also being driven by the competitive landscape or consumer demands that you're seeing less demand for high speed in Europe? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 28, 2023 / 3:15PM, LBTYA.OQ - Liberty Global PLC at New Street Fiber to the Future Conference (Virtual)

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : So maybe that's a really helpful setting the scene of the technology path because I suppose the crux of the debate, I think for a lot of investors and participants here today, is if that DOCSIS path upgrade is it can do what it advertises it can. And we haven't even discussed things like DOCSIS full duplex. It raises the question of then why in certain markets you are switching to fiber. [Canne] markets like the Netherlands stay permanently as a DOCSIS technology. What's driven that decision compared to, let's say, the UK, where you are giving an FTTH overlay? Maybe we can try to dig into that a little bit more, please.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : So as you move to fiber, it seems like we can debate whether that this -- how the speed differentials will be perceived by consumers. But there seems to be a view that the operating costs to run the fiber network could be cheaper than the HFC network. Can you give us any numbers here, Enrique, to help us think about how much cheaper that network might be to run, or whether this is you just hope from a lower churn perspective. Any thoughts on what the advantages might be from that perspective?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And talking of lower operating costs. As you move to fiber network, do you see a future where you then don't need set-top boxes in homes as a way to further reduce costs? It's something we've talked about for years but hasn't yet seem to become reality.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And can you say anything about what the cost of that box is to nowadays?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : Got it. Maybe we could just come back a second, Enrique, to DOCSIS 4.0. What are you seeing? Can you help give the audience a benchmark for the cost to do that upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0? And do you need to do much more node splitting to deploy it in the network? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 28, 2023 / 3:15PM, LBTYA.OQ - Liberty Global PLC at New Street Fiber to the Future Conference (Virtual)

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And that figure would be the cost to pass presuming then for the customer to move to DOCSIS 4.0, they will then need a new modem as well on top of that. Is that right?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And what can you say at the moment about your number of homes you served per node and how this should develop over time?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : Okay. Maybe we could spend the last few minutes just on your -- some of the new builds you're doing. You work pretty closely with InfraVia; you're working with them in the UK. But you also had a deal with them in Germany, but you decided not to go ahead in Germany. So what can you say about what you find didn't really go to plan then? And does that -- is there any read across for the UK from that?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : But then in the UK, you've been linked in the press to looking at potentially buying a number of alternative carriers to meet your network build instead of maybe actually building organically. From your perspective as a CTO, how easy is it to actually integrate any of these acquisitions if they were to go ahead with your network compared to building organically?

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : And do you think acquisitions are needed to hit some of your build-out targets? Because I'm thinking to get to 7 million homes in next fiber by 2027, that will require you to do around 1.5 million homes per annum. But your current build rate is only around 750,000. So something needs to change to be able to reach that end goal.

Question: James Ratzer - New Street Research LLP - Analyst : That's good to hear. And Enrique, we could chat for hours and lots we could go through. But I think, unfortunately, we're out of time for today. So really wanted to thank you for joining us. Look forward to really seeing how everything progresses. And it's been a pleasure to have you here today.