Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements (Cont.) the potential for incumbent carriers to impose monetary penalties for failure to meet specific volume and term commitments under their special access pricing and tariff plans, which Windstream uses to lease last-mile connections to serve its retail business data service customers, without FCC action;the impact of the FCC’s comprehensive business data services reforms that were confirmed by an appellate court, which may result in greater capital investments and customer and revenue churn because of possible price increases by our ILEC suppliers for certain services we use to serve customer locations where we do not have facilities;the impact of new, emerging or competing technologies and our ability to utilize these technologies to provide services to our customers;unanticipated increases or other changes in our future cash requirements, whether caused by unanticipated increases in capital expenditures, increases in pension funding requirements, or otherwise;for certain operations where we utilize facilities owned by other carriers, adverse effects on the availability, quality of service, price of facilities and services provided by other carriers on which our services depend;our election to accept statewide offers under the FCC’s Connect America Fund, Phase II, and the impact of such election on our future receipt of federal universal service funds and capital expenditures, and any return of support received pursuant to the program or future versions of the program implemented by the FCC;our ability to make rent payments under the master lease to Uniti, which may be affected by results of operations, changes in our cash requirements, cash tax payment obligations or overall financial position;adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets served by us;the extent, timing and overall effects of competition in the communications business;unfavorable rulings by state public service commissions in current and further proceedings regarding universal service funds, inter-carrier compensation or other matters that could reduce revenues or increase expenses;material changes in the communications industry that could adversely affect vendor relationships with equipment and network suppliers and customer relationships with wholesale customers;earnings on pension plan investments significantly below our expected long term rate of return for plan assets or a significant change in the discount rate or other actuarial assumptions;unfavorable results of litigation or intellectual property infringement claims asserted against us;the risks associated with noncompliance by us with regulations or statutes applicable to government programs under which we receive material amounts of end-user revenue and government subsidies, or noncompliance by us, our partners, or our subcontractors with any terms of our government contracts;the effects of federal and state legislation, and rules and regulations, and changes thereto, governing the communications industry;loss of consumer households served;the impact of equipment failure, natural disasters or terrorist acts;the effects of work stoppages by our employees or employees of other communications companies on whom we rely for service; andother risks and uncertainties referenced from time to time in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, including those additional factors under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I, and in other filings of ours with the SEC at www.sec.gov or not currently known to us or that we do not currently deem to be material. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes and results may differ materially because of more general factors including, among others, general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. Windstream undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.