UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 001-36146

CommScope Holding Company, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of shares of Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $1,179.2 million as of June 30, 2023. For purposes of this computation, shares held by affiliates and by directors and officers of the registrant have been excluded.

As of February 14, 2024 there were 212,270,576 shares of the registrant’s Common Stock outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

CommScope Holding Company, Inc.

Form 10-K

December 31, 2023

Table of Contents

PART I

Unless the context otherwise requires, references to “CommScope Holding Company, Inc.,” “CommScope,” “the Company,” “Registrant,” “we,” “us,” or “our” are to CommScope Holding Company, Inc. and its direct and indirect subsidiaries on a consolidated basis.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes certain statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by their use of such terms and phrases as “intend,” “goal,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “projections,” “plans,” “potential,” “anticipate,” “should,” “could,” “designed to,” “foreseeable future,” “believe,” “think,” “scheduled,” “outlook,” “target,” “guidance” and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. This list of indicative terms and phrases is not intended to be all-inclusive.

These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control. Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K sets forth more detailed information about the factors that may cause our actual results to differ, perhaps materially, from the views stated in such forward-looking statements. Although the information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K represents our best judgment as of the date of this report based on information currently available and reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. Given these uncertainties, we caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We are not undertaking any duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect developments or information obtained after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, except to the extent required by law.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Company Overview

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on October 22, 2010, and our initial public offering for our common stock was on October 25, 2013. Since our founding as an independent company in 1976, we have consistently played a significant role in many of the world’s leading communication networks. Our evolution has been driven by technological innovation and strategic acquisitions that expanded our product offerings and complemented our existing solutions. We are a global provider of infrastructure solutions for communication, data center and entertainment networks. Our solutions for wired and wireless networks enable service providers, including cable, telephone and digital broadcast satellite operators and media programmers, to deliver media, voice, Internet Protocol (IP) data services and Wi-Fi to their subscribers and allow enterprises to experience constant wireless and wired connectivity across complex and varied networking environments. Our solutions are complemented by services including technical support, systems design and integration. We are a leader in digital video and IP television (IPTV) distribution systems, broadband access infrastructure platforms and equipment that delivers data and voice networks to homes including fiber to the home technologies (FTTH). Our global leadership position is built upon innovative technology, broad solution offerings, high-quality and cost-effective customer solutions, and global manufacturing and distribution scale.

We have a team of over 20,000 people who serve our customers in over 150 countries through a network of world-class manufacturing and distribution facilities strategically located around the globe. Our customers include substantially all the leading global telecommunications operators, data center managers, cable television providers or multi-system operators (MSOs) and thousands of enterprise customers, including many Fortune 500 companies. We have long-standing, direct relationships with our customers and serve them through a direct sales force and a global network of channel partners.

Since 2021, we have been engaged in a transformation initiative referred to as CommScope NEXT, which is designed to drive shareholder value through three pillars: profitable growth, operational efficiency and portfolio optimization. We believe these efforts are critical to making us more competitive and allowing us to invest in growth, de-leverage our indebtedness and maximize stockholder and other stakeholder value in the future. In 2022, CommScope NEXT generated positive impacts on net sales, profitability and cash flow from our execution on pricing initiatives, capacity expansion and operational efficiencies. In 2023, we experienced headwinds related to a slow-down in spending by our customers, but we continued to execute under CommScope NEXT by driving operational efficiencies and focusing on portfolio optimization that should enable us to take advantage of the expected recovery in demand in the second half of 2024. To that end, we incurred $29.7 million, $63.0 million and $85.1 million of restructuring costs and $27.1 million, $35.1 million and $50.6 million of transaction, transformation and integration costs during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, primarily related to CommScope NEXT. We expect to continue to incur such costs in 2024 as we continue executing on CommScope NEXT initiatives, and the resulting charges and cash requirements could be material.

In 2021, as a step in our CommScope NEXT transformation plan, we announced a plan to separate the Home Networks (Home) segment and began analyzing the financial results of our “Core” business separately from Home. On October 2, 2023, we entered into a Call Option Agreement with Vantiva SA, a société anonyme organized under the Laws of France (Vantiva), pursuant to which we granted Vantiva a binding call option to acquire our Home segment and substantially all of the associated segment assets and liabilities (Home business), which was subsequently exercised and a Purchase Agreement signed on December 7, 2023. The transaction closed on January 9, 2024.

We determined the anticipated divestiture of our Home business met the “held for sale” criteria and the “discontinued operations” criteria in accordance with accounting guidance. All prior period amounts in these consolidated financial statements have been recast to reflect the discontinuation of the Home business. The discussions in these consolidated financial statements relate solely to our continuing operations, unless otherwise noted. For further discussion of the discontinued operations related to the Home business, see Note 3 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, our revenues were $5.79 billion and our loss from continuing operations was $851.3 million. For further discussion of our current and prior year financial results, see Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Operating Segments

As a result of the divestiture of the Home business, we are now reporting financial performance based on the following remaining four operating segments, which excludes our Home segment: Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS), Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN), Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS) and Access Network Solutions (ANS). For all periods presented, amounts have been recast to reflect the discontinuation of our Home business. The distribution of net revenues among our four segments was as follows:

CCS Segment (2023 Net Sales of $2.7 billion)

Our CCS segment provides fiber optic and copper connectivity and cable solutions for use in telecommunications, cable television, residential broadband networks, data centers and business enterprises. The CCS portfolio includes network solutions for indoor and outdoor network applications. Indoor network solutions include optical fiber and twisted pair structured cable solutions, intelligent infrastructure management hardware and software and network rack and cabinet enclosures. Outdoor network solutions are used in both local-area and wide-area networks and “last mile” fiber-to-the-home installations, including deployments of fiber-to-the-node, fiber-to-the-premises and fiber-to-the-distribution-point to homes, businesses and cell sites.

OWN Segment (2023 Net Sales of $0.9 billion)

Our OWN segment focuses on the macro and metro cell markets. The segment includes base station antennas, radio frequency (RF) filters, tower connectivity, microwave antennas, metro cell products, cabinets, steel, accessories and our wireless spectrum management business, Comsearch.

NICS Segment (2023 Net Sales of $1.1 billion)

Our NICS segment provides wireless networks for enterprises and service providers. Product offerings include indoor cellular solutions such as distributed antenna systems, public key infrastructure solutions, indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi and long-term evolution (LTE) access points, access and aggregation switches; an Internet of Things (IoT) suite, on-premises and cloud-based control and management systems; and software and software-as-a-service applications addressing security, location, reporting and analytics.

ANS Segment (2023 Net Sales of $1.1 billion)

Our ANS segment’s product solutions include cable modem termination systems (CMTS), video infrastructure, distribution and transmission equipment and cloud solutions that enable facility-based service providers to construct a state-of-the-art residential and metro distribution network.

Industry Background

We participate in the large and growing global market for connectivity and essential communications infrastructure. This market is being driven by the growth in bandwidth demand associated with the continued demand of smartphones, tablets and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication as well as the proliferation of data centers, Big Data, cloud-based services, streaming media content and IoT. In addition, video distribution over the broadband IP network is transforming how content is managed and consumed. IP facilitates new forms of video such as Over-the-Top (OTT) and interactive television. We continue to see a mix of connectivity needs in homes, in offices and while on the move. We also continue to see higher upstream network usage than downstream usage. Additionally, the network has become more bi-directional and interactive, driving the need for lower and more consistent latency.

There are several major trends that we expect to continue to drive network deployments and investment, including the following:

Evolution of Network Architecture and Technology

The pace of change in networking continues to increase as consumers and data-driven businesses utilize more bandwidth and cloud and mobile applications. Exponential growth in video and mobile data consumption is continuing to revolutionize how we connect to each other and changing the network architecture needed to support consumer demand. This trend requires better network coverage, greater broadband access, and increased capacity and data storage.

Our customers are continuing to develop networks that are faster, more responsive, more efficient and more reliable. We believe the following key network trends will continue to impact CommScope and the industry during 2024:

Transition to 5G

5G wireless is continuing to evolve from an industry vision toward a tangible next generation wireless technology. Operators continue to transition to 5G networks with countries in North America, Northeast Asia, Gulf Cooperation Council and Western Europe continuing to lead the way in 5G subscription penetration. The number of 5G-enabled devices is expected to continue to increase during 2024. The primary benefits of 5G include the following:

As described above, wireless operators are having to both acquire and launch new spectrum for 5G, as well as continue their strategy of re-allocation of spectrum from one generation to another. Some of this spectrum is at much higher frequencies and uses new technologies to deliver exceptional amounts of bandwidth to subscribers. 5G also requires significant fiber infrastructure to connect wireless access points to each other to improve the response time of the network. As wireless operators continue to transition toward 5G, they are also managing the fundamental network deployment issues of site acquisition, power, backhaul and in-building wireless proliferation.

In addition to investment required by wireless operators, the continued transition to 5G also creates an investment cycle by cable operators as they upgrade their networks to compete with fixed wireless broadband, which is a viable alternative to traditional broadband internet access. Many cable operators continue to offer or plan to offer 5G wireless services on top of their wired cable services, and one approach employs convergence techniques that utilize wired networks, such as DOCSIS or passive optical networks (PON), to support Crosshaul (xHaul) to the more heavily-densified wireless access points and radio units of 5G. All of these transitions are expected to continue driving increased investment.

Fiber Deep Deployments

Residential and business bandwidth consumption continues to grow substantially. The proliferation of OTT video, multiscreen viewing, cloud services and social media are continuing to prompt operators to accelerate fiber deployment. Operators are increasing network capacity by installing fiber deeper into their networks. Although consumer devices are increasingly connected to the network via a wireless connection such as LTE or Wi-Fi, these wireless access points must have abundant optical backhaul capacity available to provide consumers the experience they expect. Operators around the globe are deploying fiber deep to build next generation networks. These networks use the capabilities of fiber to enable consumers access to content at higher speeds with improved network response time.

As networks improve and deliver higher speed and greater reliability, many operators have chosen to provide both residential and business services over a common physical layer infrastructure, saving them time and money. In addition, with the deployments of metro cells, outdoor small cells and fixed wireless broadband to the home, these same service providers are utilizing this common physical layer infrastructure to provide connectivity to these wireless access points.

Ethernet passive optical networks (EPON) and XGS-PON are both being included in the plans of network operators, and CommScope has developed optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network terminal (ONT) equipment for both technologies.

Shift in Enterprise Spending

Several trends in the enterprise market are expected to continue creating opportunities and challenges for us. First, the shift toward mobility in business enterprises is expected to continue impacting the amount and type of structured copper connectivity needed over the longer term. As the bandwidth requirements for Wi-Fi, indoor cellular networks (private and public), and IoT devices continue to increase, more access points will be needed throughout commercial buildings. As a result, enterprises continue to adjust in-building cabling designs to deliver both power and high-speed data to those devices. Power-over-ethernet is becoming increasingly important as the number of devices used for Wi-Fi and indoor cellular networks multiplies. While enterprises continue to need copper connectivity to power edge devices, enterprises are deploying fiber more extensively in data centers. Over the next several years, we expect the growing demand for fiber and Wi-Fi solutions to result in decelerating demand for copper solutions in networks.

Due to huge increases in data traffic and migration of applications to the cloud, enterprises continue to shift spending toward multi-tenant (co-located) data centers and hyperscale cloud service providers, which offer cloud data center services as a replacement for in-house corporate data centers. Multi-tenant and hyperscale data center managers are focused on ultra-low loss, high density, scalable fiber connectivity solutions.

Enterprises are also using LTE and 5G for their own, private uses. Private networks are becoming more important to an enterprise’s information technology plans and provide a level of reliable connection that enterprises have not been able to get from their Wi-Fi networks, further moving the demand of enterprise communications into the wireless domain.

Metro Cell, Distributed Antenna System (DAS) and Small Cell Investment to Enhance and Expand Wireless Coverage and Capacity

As demand growth continues to outpace macro cell capacity growth, new solutions are required for densely populated areas. Metro cells and indoor networks have emerged as important layers of the network. Metro cells are smaller outdoor cell sites, located closer to the ground, having a lower power level than traditional macro cell sites. Metro cells blend into their environment and are often found integrated with traditional street furniture, which helps alleviate zoning restrictions that have made traditional deployments difficult.

Small cell and DAS solutions address the capacity and speed requirements from an indoor perspective. These systems provide coverage and capacity to the indoor environment and reduce the load from the macro and metro layers, which improves overall network performance. Small cell and DAS systems may range from small single-operator, single-band, low-capacity systems for use in enterprise buildings to large multi-carrier, multi-technology, multi-band systems for use in high-capacity public venues.

Transition to Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7, the latest generation of tri-band (2.4/5/6GHz) Wi-Fi, is designed to deliver unparalleled performance. It aims to provide extremely high throughput, near-wired levels of latency and increased capacity, enabling immersive and content-rich wireless experiences in cutting-edge applications such as XR, gaming, 4K/8K streaming and real-time collaboration. Wi-Fi 7 is expected to deliver exceptional user experiences and empower an entirely new class of advanced connected devices and demanding applications through the most efficient use of spectrum.

Strategy

Since 2021, we have been engaged in a transformation initiative referred to as CommScope NEXT, which is designed to drive shareholder value through three pillars: profitable growth, operational efficiency and portfolio optimization. We believe these efforts are critical to making us more competitive and allowing us to invest in growth, de-leverage our indebtedness and maximize stockholder and other stakeholder value in the future. In 2022, CommScope NEXT generated positive impacts on net sales, profitability and cash flow from our execution on pricing initiatives, capacity expansion and operational efficiencies. In 2023, we experienced headwinds related to a slow-down in spending by our customers, but we continue to execute under CommScope NEXT by driving operational efficiencies and focusing on portfolio optimization so that we are in a better position to take advantage of the recovery later in 2024.

Profitable Growth

Organic growth is fundamental to achieving the financial returns that investors expect from us. While acquisitions and inorganic growth can change the structure of a business and reset financial expectations resulting in short-term financial returns, the only reliable means for consistently producing long-term positive financial performance is strong organic growth. Our plan to achieve our growth opportunities are driven by five themes:

The underpinning of our growth opportunities is also optimizing pricing across our products and solutions. We are revamping our pricing processes, policies, tools and governance structure to simplify and create more ownership and accountability so that we can better react to changes in the market and maintain acceptable margins.

Operational Efficiency

We are pursuing strategic initiatives aimed at optimizing our utilization of resources by improving direct procurement processes, increasing transparency and control over indirect procurement spend, driving operational improvements to lower manufacturing costs and streamlining and optimizing our period overhead cost structure. Our management team has a strong track record of improving operational efficiency and successfully executing on formalized annual profit improvement plans, cost-savings initiatives and working capital improvements to drive future profitability and cash flow.

Portfolio Optimization

We utilize a general management model in our segments. This enables us to manage our portfolio more granularly, assign responsibilities and build a culture of accountability and ownership. We continuously review our portfolio and look for ways to better manage and optimize our product offerings. We also regularly review our product offerings, business lines and segments and holistically assess opportunities to deliver the most value to stakeholders.

For the past two years, as a step in optimizing our portfolio, we have been committed to finding the right strategic opportunity for our non-Core Home segment. As discussed above, we believe we found the right opportunity for its future success and closed on a transaction to divest of our Home business on January 9, 2024.

The Future of CommScope

We are positioned as a leader in most of our segments already and will work to defend our leadership in the more mature parts of these markets, while also shifting resources towards our targeted growth choices within them. With CommScope NEXT, we are striving to achieve the following:

With CommScope NEXT, we are transforming our organization into one that has better operational efficiency, speed and resilience and one that can better service our existing customers, as well as new ones. As demand in our industry recovers, we expect CommScope NEXT to drive adjusted EBITDA expansion that will enable us to increase our cash flow to de-leverage our indebtedness and further invest in our growth.

Customers

Our customers include substantially all the leading global telecommunications operators, data center managers, cable television providers or MSOs and thousands of enterprise customers, including many Fortune 500 companies. Major customers and distributors include companies such as AT&T Inc.; Charter Communications, Inc.; Comcast Corporation (Comcast); Graybar Electric Company, Inc.; KGP Companies, Inc.; Power & Telephone Supply Company; Talley Inc.; TD SYNNEX Corporation; Verizon Communications Inc.; and Wesco International, Inc. (including Anixter International Inc.). For the year ended December 31, 2023, we derived approximately 17% of our consolidated net sales from our top two direct customers, however, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, no single direct customer accounted for 10% or more of our net sales.

Products from our CCS segment are primarily sold directly to cable television system operators, broadband operators and other service providers that deploy broadband networks. CCS segment products are also sold through independent distributors or system integrators for large telecommunications operators.

Products from our OWN segment are primarily sold directly to wireless operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that sell equipment to wireless operators and other service providers that deploy elements of wireless networks at the direction of wireless operators. Our customer service and engineering groups maintain close working relationships with these customers due to the significant amount of customization associated with some of these products. Although we sell to most wireless operators globally, we are dependent on a small number of large operators.

Products from our NICS segment are primarily sold through independent distributors or system integrators for large telecommunications operators and to customers in a broad range of enterprise vertical markets, including hospitality, education, smart cities, government, venues and service providers, indirectly through channel partners. We also sell directly to cable television system operators, broadband operators and service providers that deploy broadband networks. In certain circumstances, we sell NICS segment products directly to end customers, but it is a relatively small part of the overall business.

Products from our ANS segment are primarily sold directly to wireline network service providers, such as telephone companies and cable television network providers, to be deployed into their service delivery networks. In some cases, we sell through specialized resellers and distributors who primarily provide logistics support, and in certain circumstances, post-sale service and support. Our customer service and engineering groups maintain close working relationships with these customers due to the significant amount of customization associated with some of these products. We sell these products to most of the wireline and satellite operators globally.

We generally have no minimum purchase commitments from any of our distributors, system integrators, channel partners, value-added resellers, wireless operators or OEM customers, and our contracts with these parties generally do not prohibit them from purchasing from our competitors or offering products or services that compete with ours. Although we maintain long-term relationships with these parties and have not historically lost key customers, we have experienced significant variability in the level of purchases by our key customers. Any significant reduction in sales to these customers, including as a result of the inability or unwillingness of these customers to continue purchasing our products, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See Part 1, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

Competition

The markets in which we participate are dynamic and highly competitive, requiring companies to react quickly to capitalize on opportunity. We retain skilled and experienced personnel and deploy substantial resources to meet the changing demands of the industry and to capitalize on change. The market for our products is also subject to rapid technological change.

We encounter significant domestic and international competition across all segments of our business. Our competitors include large, diversified companies some of whom have substantially more assets and greater financial resources than we do. We also face competition from small to medium-sized companies and less diversified companies that have concentrated efforts in one or more areas of the markets we serve. Major competitors by segment include the following: CCS segment – Amphenol Corporation, Belden Inc., Clearfield, Inc., Corning Incorporated and Sterlite Technologies Limited; OWN segment – Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Rosenberger North America and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson; NICS segment – Cisco Systems, Inc., Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited, Corning Incorporated, Extreme Networks, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., JMA Wireless, Juniper Networks, Inc., SOLiD, Inc. and Ubiquiti Inc.; and ANS segment – ATX Networks Corp., Casa Systems, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Harmonic Inc., Technetix Group Limited, Teleste Oyj and Vecima Networks Inc.

We compete primarily on the basis of delivering solutions, product specifications, quality, price, customer service and delivery time. We believe that we differentiate ourselves in many of our markets based on our market leadership, global sales channels, intellectual property, strong reputation with our customer base, the scope of our product offering, the quality and performance of our solutions, and our service and technical support.

Competitive Strengths

We are a global leader in connectivity and essential infrastructure solutions for communications and entertainment networks, and we believe we hold leading market positions in most of our segments. Since our founding in 1976, CommScope has been a leading brand in connectivity solutions for communications networks. In the cable television and video network equipment industry, CommScope and ARRIS are longstanding market leaders, along with other brands we own such as RUCKUS, ADC and many smaller brands. In the wireless industry, ANDREW is one of the world’s most recognized brands and a global leader in RF solutions for wireless networks. In the enterprise market, SYSTIMAX, NETCONNECT and UNIPRISE are recognized as global market leaders in enterprise connectivity solutions for business enterprise and data center applications.

We believe the following competitive strengths have been instrumental to our success and position us well for future

growth and strong financial performance:

Differentiated Solutions Supported by Ongoing Innovation and Significant Proprietary Intellectual Property

Our integrated solutions for building better networks are differentiated in the marketplace and are a significant global competitive advantage. We invested $459.7 million in research and development (R&D) during 2023 to advance product innovation and decrease total cost of deployment and ownership. Our ongoing innovation, supported by proprietary intellectual property and technology know-how, has allowed us to build and sustain a competitive advantage.

Established Sales Channels and Customer Relationships

We serve customers in over 150 countries and have become a trusted advisor to many of them through our industry expertise, quality products, leading technology and long-term relationships. These factors enable us to provide mission-critical connectivity solutions that our customers need to build and maintain high-performing communication networks. Our customers include substantially all the leading global telecommunications operators, data center managers, cable television providers or MSOs and thousands of enterprise customers, including many Fortune 500 companies. We are a key supplier within the wireless infrastructure market and enjoy established sales channels across all geographies and technologies. Our long-standing relationships with telecommunications operators enable us to work closely with them in providing highly customized solutions aligned with their technology roadmaps. We have a global sales force with sales representatives based in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and other regions, and an extensive global network of channel partners, including independent distributors, system integrators and value-added resellers. Our sales force has direct relationships with our customers and end users which generates demand for our products, with a significant portion of our sales fulfilled through channel partners. Our direct sales force and channel partner relationships give us extensive reach and distribution capabilities to customers globally. Given our understanding of their existing networks, when it comes to deploying networks at scale, these customers trust CommScope and hold high regards for our ability to help them achieve their goals.

Global Scale, Manufacturing Footprint and Quality

Our global manufacturing and distribution footprint and worldwide sales force give us significant scale within our addressable markets. We believe our scale, stability and quality make us an attractive strategic partner to our large global customers, and we have been repeatedly recognized by key customers for these attributes.

Our manufacturing and distribution facilities are strategically located to optimize service levels and product delivery times. We also utilize lower-cost geographies for high labor content products and largely automated plants in higher cost regions. Most of our manufacturing employees are in lower-cost geographies such as Mexico, China, India and the Czech Republic. The combination of our dynamic manufacturing organization, our global network of third-party manufacturers and our distribution organization allows us to:

Manufacturing and Distribution

We maintain a balance of internal and external manufacturing providers to continue offering our customers a competitive combination of quality, cost and flexibility in meeting their needs. We develop, design, fabricate, manufacture and assemble many of our products and solutions in-house at our facilities located around the world. We have strategically located our manufacturing and distribution facilities to provide superior service levels to customers. We utilize lower-cost geographies for high labor content products while investing in largely automated plants in higher-cost regions close to customers. Most of our manufacturing employees are located in lower-cost geographies such as Mexico, China, India and the Czech Republic.

In addition, we utilize contract manufacturers located throughout the world for many of our product groups, including certain products in our CCS, OWN and ANS segments and all of our Ruckus products. There can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to extend or renew agreements with contract manufacturers on similar terms, or at all.

Our global footprint allows us to mitigate macroeconomic headwinds in an everchanging environment. We continuously evaluate and adjust operations to improve service, lower cost and improve the return on our capital investments, and we expect to continue modifying our global operations to adapt to changing product demand and business conditions.

Raw Materials and Components

Our products are manufactured or assembled from both standard components and parts that are unique to our specifications. Our internal manufacturing operations are largely process oriented and we use significant quantities of various raw materials, including aluminum, copper, steel, bimetals, optical fiber and plastics and other polymers, among others. Portions of the requirements for these materials are purchased under supply arrangements where some portion of the unit pricing may be indexed to commodity market prices for these metals. We may occasionally enter forward purchase commitments or otherwise secure availability for specific commodities to mitigate our exposure to price changes for a portion of our anticipated purchases. Certain of the raw materials utilized in our products may only be available from a few suppliers, and we may enter into longer term agreements to secure access to certain key inputs. We may, therefore, encounter significant price increases and/or availability issues for the materials we obtain from these suppliers as we have seen in recent years. These supply chain constraints have limited our ability to manufacture and deliver products to our customers in the past and could have similar impacts in the future.

Our profitability has been and may continue to be materially affected by changes in the market price of our raw materials and components, most of which are linked to the commodity markets. Prices for aluminum, copper, plastics, silicon and certain other polymers derived from oil and natural gas have fluctuated substantially during the past several years. We have adjusted our prices for certain products and may have to adjust prices again. Delays in implementing price increases, failure to achieve market acceptance of price increases, or price reductions in response to a rapid decline in raw material costs, could have a material adverse impact on the results of our operations.

In addition, some of our products are assembled from specialized components and subassemblies manufactured by third-party suppliers. We depend upon sole suppliers for certain of these components, including capacitors, memory devices and silicon chips. Our results of operations have been and may continue to be materially affected if these suppliers cannot provide these components in sufficient quantity and quality on a timely and cost-efficient basis. We believe that our supply contracts and our supplier contingency plans mitigate some of this risk. Our supply agreements include technology licensing and component purchase contracts, and several of our competitors have similar supply agreements for these components. There can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to extend or renew these supply agreements on similar terms, or at all. In addition, we license software for operating network and security systems or sub-systems and a variety of routing protocols from different suppliers.

Research and Development

We operate in an industry that is subject to rapid changes in technology, and our success is largely contingent upon anticipating and reacting to such changes. Accordingly, R&D is important to preserve and expand our position as a market leader and to provide the most technologically advanced solutions in the marketplace. We invested $459.7 million in R&D during 2023, and we expect to continue with substantial investments in future years. We intend to focus our major R&D activities on high-growth opportunities such as fiber optic connectivity for fiber-to-the-x (FTTX) and data centers, Wi-Fi 7 and 6GHz, CCAP, DAA, DOCSIS 4.0, gigabit passive optical network (GPON), active and passive base-station antennas and metro cell and small cell wireless solutions. We are also developing solutions that support the convergence of wireline and wireless networks in connection with the rollout of 5G. Several of our professionals are leaders and active contributors in standards-setting organizations, which helps ensure that our products can be formulated to achieve broad market acceptance.

Backlog and Seasonality

At December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had an order backlog of $1,151.5 million and $2,925.4 million, respectively. Orders typically fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on customer demand and general business conditions. Our backlog includes only orders that are believed to be firm. Sometimes, unfilled orders may be canceled prior to shipment of goods, but cancellations historically have not been material. However, our current order backlog may not guarantee future demand. We expect a majority of our backlog as of December 31, 2023 to be recognized as revenue during 2024.

Due to the variability of shipments under large contracts, customers’ seasonal installation considerations and variations in product mix and in profitability of individual orders, we can experience significant fluctuations in quarterly sales and operating income. Our operating performance is typically the weakest during the first quarter, and this pattern is expected to continue in the future. It may be more meaningful to focus on our annual rather than interim results.

Patents and Trademarks

We pursue an active policy of seeking intellectual property protection, including patents and registered trademarks, for new products and designs. For technology that is not owned by us, we have a program for obtaining appropriate licenses to help ensure that we have the necessary license coverage for our products. In addition, we have formed strategic relationships with leading technology companies to provide us with early access to technology that we believe will help keep us at the forefront of our industry.

As of December 31, 2023, we held over 13,000 patents and patent applications and over 2,700 registered trademarks and trademark applications worldwide. Over the next five years, approximately 1,650, or about 18%, of our issued patents will expire, while at the same time we intend to seek patents protecting new innovations. We consider our patents and trademarks to be valuable assets, and although no single patent is material to our overall operations, we believe the COMMSCOPE, ARRIS, RUCKUS, SYSTIMAX, NETCONNECT, NOVUX, ERA, ONECELL and HELIAX trade names and related trademarks are critical assets to our business. We intend to rely on our intellectual property rights, including our proprietary knowledge, trade secrets and continuing technological innovation, to develop and maintain our competitive position. From time to time there are disputes with respect to the ownership of the technology used in our industry and accusations of patent infringements. We will continue to protect our key intellectual property rights.

Government Regulation

We are subject to various domestic and international government regulations. For example, our international operations expose us to increased challenges in complying with anti-corruption laws and regulations of the U.S. government and various other international jurisdictions. We are also subject to governmental export and import regulations and sanctions programs that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in international markets. In addition, because of the nature of information that may pass through or is stored on our solutions or networks, we and our end customers may be subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding information privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and other matters. Further, we are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations governing, among other things, substances used in our products, discharges to air and water, management of regulated materials, handling and disposal of solid and hazardous waste, and investigation and remediation of contaminated sites. These descriptions are not exhaustive, and these laws, regulations and rules frequently change and are increasing in number. See Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” for additional discussion of our risks related to government laws and regulations.

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

We believe that corporate responsibility and sustainability means making decisions that have a positive impact on our people, planet and bottom line. Our company-wide sustainability mission is to enable faster, smarter and more sustainable solutions while demonstrating the utmost respect for our human and natural resources. Innovative technology, intelligent engineering and energy efficient design help us to build more sustainable networks that make our customers more agile, while at the same time allowing us to preserve the natural ecosystems from which we source our raw materials.

While we may provide technological solutions, it is our people who make the real difference in our communities. Their commitment to our customers, fellow employees and the communities in which they live and work drives them to provide creative solutions, services and practices that are safe and sustainable for our environment and future generations.

We understand how important it is to consider the larger impact of our actions beyond the balance sheet. We are proud of CommScope’s significant standing in one of the world’s most vital and dynamic industries. We are making great progress in delivering our sustainability actions while advancing the industry and creating a better and sustainable tomorrow. For the sake of our current and future generations, we will continue to grow as a sustainable, environmentally conscious business that benefits the whole planet.

For additional information, which is not incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, see our Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability pages on the CommScope website: https://www.commscope.com/corporate-responsibility-and-sustainability/.

Human Capital Management

CommScope believes that human capital management, including attracting, developing and retaining a high-quality workforce, is critical to our long-term success. Our Board of Directors and its Committees provide oversight on a broad range of human capital management topics, including corporate culture, diversity, equity and inclusion, pay equity, health and safety, training and development and compensation and benefits.

We employed approximately 20,000 people worldwide as of December 31, 2023, with approximately 64% classified as manufacturing employees. The majority of these manufacturing employees are located in low-cost labor countries such as Mexico, China, India and the Czech Republic. Our U.S. workforce includes approximately 4,400 employees, comprised of a mix of manufacturing and non-manufacturing employees. We are party to numerous works’ councils or similar statutory arrangements outside of the U.S. (none in the U.S.) and believe that relations with our employees are generally good.

Protecting the safety, health, and well-being of our associates around the world is CommScope’s top priority. We strive to achieve an injury-free work environment. We believe that our culture of diversity, equity and inclusion is a competitive advantage that fuels innovation, enhances our ability to attract and retain talent and strengthens our reputation. We are also committed to providing competitive rewards and the continued growth and development of our employees through a variety of global training and development opportunities that build and strengthen employees’ leadership and professional skills. Lastly, we aim to provide a positive employee experience and workplace environment that engages all employees.

We are proud that employees all over the world continue to unite behind our common purpose to “Create Lasting Connections.” We collaborate and innovate to create the world’s most advanced networks driven by our passionate employees who deliver on this vision every day.

Employee Health, Safety and Well-being

At CommScope, our employees’ health, safety and well-being are our top priority. We are always seeking opportunities to protect the well-being of our employees, customers, suppliers, environment and communities.

A commitment to business practices that are innovative, safe and sustainable is key to our success. To achieve this, we maintain a robust Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) management system, set objectives and targets and measure them accordingly, provide necessary resources and create a comprehensive well-being and benefits program that supports a culture of safety and health first. Our EHS management system was designed and implemented based on the requirements of the International Standards of ISO45001 and ISO14001.

CommScope seeks to inspire a culture of proactive and productive health management so employees make lifestyle decisions that lead to rewarding careers and healthy, balanced lives. To realize this goal, we provide tools, services and programs that help employees achieve and maintain optimal personal health (physical, emotional and financial). The results of our efforts make us stronger and pave a path for innovation, which drives business differentiation, talent engagement and retention.

Employee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

CommScope strives to create an equitable and inclusive environment that draws upon the strength of our diverse workforce to deliver exceptional results for our investors and all key stakeholders. CommScope’s global workforce is comprised of individuals of many races, cultures, backgrounds, geographies and experiences. We focus on ensuring equity in the workplace and take pride in our diverse workforce and inclusive culture. CommScope has continued to strengthen its global Diversity & Inclusion Business Network that was established in 2020, providing over 1,600 employees with targeted opportunities to network, learn and lead, grow their careers and support their communities. CommScope's CEO also signed the pledge for the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion and committed to a set of actions several years ago. The results of our focused efforts make us stronger and pave a path for innovation, which drives business differentiation, talent engagement and retention.

Total Rewards

We compensate employees equitably, relative to experience and performance, regardless of gender, nationality or disability. Globally, we embrace a pay-for-performance compensation philosophy, conducting pay equity assessments to determine the results of our pay practices. CommScope’s compensation plans and programs strive to: attract and retain skilled, high-performing individuals; pay base salaries and provide benefits that are competitive in our industry and the local markets in each country where we operate; and provide short- and long-term incentives (when appropriate) that are tied to exceptional employee and Company performance.

Employee Education, Training and Development

We are committed to developing the careers and capabilities of our current and future employees. We manage employees’ performance and goals throughout the year, providing both classroom and virtual training and development opportunities for both our manufacturing and non-manufacturing employees. We believe employees learn best through a combination of work experience, coaching, feedback, training and education.

We augment in-person communications with technology to align and manage employees’ performance and goals throughout the year, providing continuous development opportunities through coaching and feedback. We also offer classroom training as well as an online learning platform that offers a wealth of work-related employee development content (e.g., for managerial, technical and personal development). We focus heavily on interacting with our employees how, when and where it matters most.

Employee Engagement

CommScope prides itself on creating a collaborative, engaged and enabled workforce. We define engagement as the strength of the emotional connection employees feel toward their work, their teams and the Company. We believe communication and feedback are integral to building engaged employees and driving a high-performance culture. In support of this, we periodically “take the pulse” of our organization through a global employee engagement survey, one of the ways our global workforce can voice their opinions and provide ongoing feedback. Among other things, the survey seeks to understand how employees experience our Company values in their day-to-day work in order to measure our cultural health. We also ask questions to determine if employees feel a strong sense of inclusion and belonging, as well as measure overall engagement. With this valuable feedback, we can identify strengths and potential areas for focused improvement. CommScope continues to enhance employee engagement by leveraging technology, enabling managers, emphasizing communication, striving to become a destination for the best talent and providing competitive rewards, flexible work approaches and career development opportunities.

Available Information

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge on our website at www.commscope.com under Company — Investor Relations as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information posted to our website is not incorporated elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following is a cautionary discussion of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that we believe are significant to our business. In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following are some of the important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, we believe could make our results differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements. It is impossible to predict or identify all such factors and, as a result, you should not consider the following factors to be a complete discussion of risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to us or our business.

Summary of Risk Factors

The following is a summary of some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could materially adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained below.

Competitive Risks

Financial Risks

Supply Chain Risks

Strategic Risks

Business and Operational Risks

Labor-Related Risks

International Risks

Litigation and Regulatory Risks

General Risks

Competitive Risks

Our business is dependent upon third-party capital spending for data, communication and entertainment equipment, and reductions in such capital spending could adversely affect our business.

Our performance is dependent on third parties’ capital spending for constructing, rebuilding, maintaining or upgrading data, communication and entertainment networks, which can be volatile and difficult to forecast. Capital spending in the communications industry is cyclical and can be curtailed or deferred on short notice. We experienced a significant decrease in customer capital spending in 2023, which negatively impacted our results of operations, and we may continue to experience significant fluctuations in sales and operating income due to the volatility in our industry. A variety of factors affect the timing and amount of capital spending in the communications industry, including:

As a result of these factors, we may not be able to maintain or increase our sales in the future, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

A substantial portion of our business is derived from a limited number of key customers and channel partners.

Our customer base includes direct customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and channel partners, which include distributors, system integrators, value-added resellers and sales representatives. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we derived approximately 17% of our consolidated net sales from our top two direct customers. The concentration of our net sales with these key customers subjects us to a variety of risks, including:

We are also exposed to similar risks to the extent that we have significant indirect sales to one or more end-users of our products, who may also be a direct customer.

A material portion of our sales is derived through our channel partners, including distributors, systems integrators and value-added resellers. Our channel partners have experienced financial difficulties in the past that have adversely affected our collection of accounts receivable. Our exposure to credit risks of our channel partners may increase if our channel partners and their end customers are adversely affected by global or regional economic conditions. One or more of these channel partners could delay payments or default on credit extended to them, either of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We generally have no minimum purchase commitments with any of our distributors, value-added resellers, operators, OEMs or other customers, and our contracts with these parties generally do not prohibit them from purchasing or offering products or services that compete with ours. We have historically experienced variability in the level of purchases by our key customers and expect that similar variability could affect future sales. Any significant reduction in sales to these customers, including as a result of the inability or unwillingness of these customers to continue purchasing our products, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

We face competitive pressures with respect to all our major product groups.

Competition in our industry depends on a number of factors, including: innovative product and service solution offerings; the ability to adapt to changing markets and customer preferences; product and service quality; timing of the introduction of new products and services; speed of delivery; pricing; and customer service, including the total customer experience. In each of our major product groups, we compete with a substantial number of foreign and domestic companies, some of which have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources or lower operating costs. They may also have broader product offerings and market focus. This gives many of these enterprises a competitive advantage to withstand any significant reduction in capital spending by customers in our markets over the long term. Further, our industry continues to consolidate, and the combination of any of our competitors could further increase these advantages and result in competitors with broader market presence.

Some competitors may be able to bundle their products and services together and may be capable of delivering more complete solutions that better meet customer preferences than we are able to provide, which may cause us to lose sales opportunities and revenue. Competitors’ actions, such as price reductions, acceptance of high-risk contractual terms or the introduction of new, innovative products and services, and the use of exclusively price-driven auctions by customers, have caused lost sales opportunities in the past and may cause us to lose sales opportunities in the future.

The rapid technological changes occurring in the communications industry could also lead to the entry of new competitors against whom we may not be able to compete successfully. For example, as networks become more virtualized, the functionality of our products is at risk of being subsumed by competitors who utilize software to provide the same functions as our products. A related trend that could affect us is the emerging interest in distributed access architecture (DAA), which disaggregates some of the functions of the converged cable access platform (CCAP) and the access and transport platforms to enable deployment of these functions in ways that could reduce traditional operator capital expenditures in hybrid fiber-coaxial. We have developed and deployed a line of DAA products, but some operators may not be aligned on the specific implementations of DAA and we could lose market share to competitors. Service providers also have the goal of virtualizing CCAP management and control functions as they deploy DAA, and although we are developing a fully virtualized CCAP product, this could potentially enable new competitors to enter the market and reduce operator dependence on our products. In our mobile wireless markets, the shift to 5G includes the deployment of new spectrum in higher frequency bands where larger available bandwidths enable a significant increase in network capacity. In many cases, massive multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) technology (active antennas) is the most effective way to deliver coverage in these bands. Consequently, 5G deployments present an inherent headwind to our traditional passive base station antenna business. We are developing technologies and new products to address this shift from passive to active antennas, but we may not be able to completely offset this trend. As there is technology evolution or transformation within the industry, whether it be DOCSIS 4.0, PON, Wi-Fi technology or the shift to 5G, there is a risk that our market position would be weakened. If any of our competitors’ products or technologies were to become the industry standard, our business would be negatively affected.

The continued industry shift toward open standards may result in an increase in competition for our products that may adversely impact our future revenues and margins. In addition, many of our customers participate in “technology pools” and increasingly request that we donate a portion of our source code used by customers to these pools, which may impact our ability to recapture the R&D investment made in developing such code. We believe that we will be increasingly required to work with third-party technology providers. As a result, we expect the shift to more open standards may require us to license software and other components indirectly to third parties via various open-source or royalty-free licenses. In some circumstances, our use of such open-source technology may include technology or protocols developed by standard-setting bodies, other industry forums or third-party companies. The terms of the open-source licenses granted by such parties, or the granting of royalty-free licenses, may limit our ability to commercialize products that utilize such technology, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

In some instances, our customers themselves may also be our competition in other business areas. Some of our customers may develop their own software requiring support within our products and/or may design and develop products of their own that are produced to their own specifications directly by a contract manufacturer. Further, if we are unable to transform our business processes to support changing customer expectations and deliver a superior total customer experience, we may lose sales opportunities in the future. We are also facing significant and increased competition from original design manufacturers (ODMs) and contract manufacturers who are selling and attempting to sell their products directly to service providers.

We cannot assure you that we will continue to compete successfully with our existing competitors or with new competitors. If we are unable to compete in any of our markets at the same level as we have in the past or are forced to reduce the prices of our products in order to continue to be competitive, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to sell our products is highly dependent on the quality of our support services after the sale, and our inability to provide adequate support after the sale would have a material adverse effect on our business.

After our products are deployed, our channel partners and end customers depend on our support organization to resolve any issues relating to our products. A high level of support is important for the successful marketing and sale of our products. In many cases, our channel partners provide support directly to our end customers. We do not have complete control over the level or quality of support provided by our channel partners. These channel partners may also provide support for other third-party products, which may potentially distract resources from support for our products. If we and our channel partners do not effectively assist our end customers in deploying our products, quickly resolving post-deployment issues and provide effective ongoing support, it could adversely affect our ability to sell our products to existing end customers and could harm our reputation with potential end customers. In some cases, we guarantee a certain level of performance to our end customers, which could prove to be resource-intensive and expensive for us to fulfill if unforeseen technical problems arise.

Many of our service providers and large enterprise end customers have more complex networks and require higher levels of support than our smaller end customers. In addition, given the extent of our international operations, our support organization faces challenges, including those associated with delivering support, training and documentation in languages other than English. Our failure to maintain high-quality support and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Changes to the regulatory environment in which our customers operate and changes in or uncertainty about government funded programs may negatively impact our business.

The telecommunications and cable television industries are subject to significant and changing federal and state regulation, both in the U.S. and other countries. Many of our customers, such as internet service providers, are subject to various rules and regulations, and changes to such rules and regulations could adversely impact our customers’ decisions regarding capital spending. We, as well as some of our customers, also participate in and benefit from government funded programs that encourage the development of network infrastructures such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Changes in government programs in our industry or uncertainty regarding future changes could adversely impact our customers’ decisions regarding capital spending, which could decrease demand for our products and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

Financial Risks

We may be required to obtain additional financing in the future to address our liquidity needs, and subject to market conditions, we may seek to amend, refinance, restructure or repurchase our outstanding indebtedness and/or raise additional equity financing.

We currently believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, combined with availability under our asset-based revolving credit facility (Revolving Credit Facility), will be sufficient to meet our presently anticipated future cash needs. However, we may be required to obtain additional financing in the future to address our liquidity needs, and subject to market conditions, we may from time to time seek to amend, refinance, restructure, exchange or repurchase our outstanding indebtedness and/or raise additional equity or other financing. For example, our $1.3 billion of 6.0% senior notes due June 15, 2025 will likely require us to seek refinancing or some other restructuring of our debt in 2024. Any debt we incur in the future may have terms (including cash interest rate, financial covenants and covenants limiting our operating flexibility or ability to obtain additional financings) that are not favorable to us, and any such additional equity financing may dilute the economic and/or voting interests of our existing stockholders, may be preferred in right of payment to our outstanding common stock or confer other privileges to the holders and may contain financial or operational covenants that restrict our operating flexibility or ability to obtain additional financings. Furthermore, our failure to obtain any necessary financing, amendment, refinancing, restructuring, exchange or repurchases could have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and liquidity.

We may experience volatility in cash flows between periods due to, among other reasons, variability in the timing of vendor payments and customer receipts. We may, from time to time, seek to obtain alternative sources of financing, by borrowing additional amounts under our Revolving Credit Facility, issuing debt or equity securities or incurring other indebtedness, if market conditions are favorable, utilizing trade credit, selling assets (including businesses or business lines) or securitizing receivables to meet future cash needs or to reduce our borrowing costs. Any issuance of equity or debt may be for cash or in exchange for our outstanding securities or indebtedness, or a combination thereof.

We are aware that our outstanding debt securities and debt under our credit facilities are currently trading at substantial discounts to their respective principal amounts. In order to reduce future cash interest payments, as well as future amounts due at maturity or upon redemption, we may, from time to time, purchase such debt for cash, in exchange for common or preferred stock or debt, or for a combination thereof, in each case in open-market purchases and/or privately negotiated transactions, tender offers or exchange offers and upon such terms and at such prices as we may determine. Any such transactions will be dependent upon several factors, including our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions, general market conditions and applicable regulatory, legal and accounting factors. Whether or not we engage in any such transactions will be determined at our discretion. The amounts involved in any such transactions, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.

To service our indebtedness and pay dividends on our preferred stock, we will require a significant amount of cash, and our ability to generate sufficient cash depends on many factors beyond our control.

Our operations are conducted through our global subsidiaries, and our ability to make cash payments on our indebtedness and pay cash dividends on our preferred stock will depend on the level of earnings and distributable funds from our subsidiaries. Certain of our subsidiaries may have limitations or restrictions on paying dividends and otherwise transferring funds to us. Our ability to make cash payments on and to refinance our indebtedness will depend upon our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to financial, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. We might not be able to achieve a level of cash flows from operating activities or transfer sufficient funds from our subsidiaries to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness and dividends on our preferred stock.

If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow or are otherwise unable to obtain funds necessary to meet required payments of principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness or if we fail to comply with the various covenants in the instruments governing our indebtedness and we are unable to obtain waivers from the required lenders or noteholders, we could be in default under the terms of the agreements governing such indebtedness. In the event of such default, the holders of our indebtedness could elect to declare all the funds borrowed to be due and payable, together with accrued and unpaid interest. The lenders under our Revolving Credit Facility could elect to terminate their commitments and cease making further loans, and the holders of our secured indebtedness could institute foreclosure proceedings against our assets. As a result, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation.

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our financial obligations.

As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $9.3 billion of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2023, we had no outstanding loans under our Revolving Credit Facility and the remaining availability was $688.0 million, reflecting a borrowing base subject to maximum capacity of $1,000.0 million reduced by $97.9 million of outstanding letters of credit. Our ability to borrow under our Revolving Credit Facility depends, in part, on inventory, accounts receivable and other assets that fluctuate from time to time and may further depend on lenders’ discretionary ability to impose reserves and availability blocks.

Our interest cost on our senior secured term loan due 2026 (2026 Term Loan) and our Revolving Credit Facility, which make up about $3.1 billion of our indebtedness, is variable and subject to the risk of changes in interest rates. As the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates in 2023, we have seen increased interest cost which has adversely impacted our results of operations and cash flows. This may continue into 2024 if the Federal Reserve continues to maintain higher interest rates or chooses to raise interest rates further. We have entered into certain hedging agreements to reduce our exposure to variable rate debt.

Other consequences our substantial indebtedness has had and could continue to have on our business are as follows:

The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) had historically been the reference interest rate in our variable rate debt agreements, but we transitioned our Revolving Credit Facility to Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) as the reference rate in 2022 and we amended our 2026 Term Loan to replace LIBOR with SOFR in the first half of 2023. SOFR is calculated differently than LIBOR and they have inherent differences, which could give rise to uncertainties, including limited historical data and volatility. While we do not expect the transition to SOFR to have a material adverse effect on our business, the full effects of the transition to SOFR remain uncertain.

In addition, the indentures and credit agreements governing our indebtedness contain affirmative and negative covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interests. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our debt and permit our secured creditors to institute foreclosure proceedings against our assets.

Despite current indebtedness levels and restrictive covenants, we may still incur additional indebtedness that could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial financial leverage.

We may incur significant additional indebtedness in the future under the agreements governing our indebtedness. Although the indentures and the credit agreements governing our indebtedness contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of thresholds, qualifications and exceptions, and additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. Additionally, these restrictions permit us to incur obligations that, although preferential to our common stock in terms of payment, do not constitute indebtedness.

We may need to recognize additional impairment charges related to goodwill, identified intangible assets, fixed assets and right of use assets.

We have substantial balances of goodwill and identified intangible assets. As of December 31, 2023, goodwill and identified intangible assets represented approximately 55% of our total assets. We are required to test goodwill for possible impairment on the same date each year and on an interim basis if there are indicators of a possible impairment. We have recognized substantial impairment charges related to goodwill, including $571.4 million in 2023 and $1,119.6 million in 2022. There were no asset impairment charges related to goodwill in 2021. As of the October 2023 annual impairment test, the fair value of our ANS and Building and Data Center Connectivity (BDCC) reporting units equaled their respective carrying values and slight changes in significant assumptions or business factors could result in material impairment. In the future, if we are unable to improve our results of operations and cash flows, or other indicators of impairment exist, such as a sustained significant decline in our share price and market capitalization, we may incur material charges against earnings relating to our remaining goodwill.

We are also required to evaluate identified intangible assets, fixed assets and right of use assets for impairment if there are indicators of a possible impairment. In the past, due to revisions in financial performance outlooks or deterioration in certain markets, we have recognized significant impairment charges on identified intangible assets and fixed assets. In the future, we may again determine that one or more of our long-lived assets is impaired and additional impairment charges may be recognized that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The IRS may not agree ARRIS was a foreign corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Following the ARRIS 2016 combination with Pace plc (the “Pace combination”), ARRIS was incorporated under the laws of England and Wales and a tax resident in the United Kingdom (U.K.) for U.K. tax purposes. There is a risk that the IRS does not agree that ARRIS was a foreign corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes in periods prior to the acquisition of ARRIS by CommScope and we could be subject to substantial additional U.S. taxes. For U.K. tax purposes, ARRIS was expected to be treated as a U.K. tax resident for all periods prior to the acquisition of ARRIS by CommScope and following the Pace combination, regardless of how ARRIS was treated in the U.S. Therefore, if ARRIS was treated as a U.S. corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we could be liable for both U.S. and U.K. taxes in certain periods prior to the acquisition of ARRIS by CommScope, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Supply Chain Risks

We are dependent on certain raw materials and components linked to the commodity markets and utilize a limited number of key suppliers for logistics support of certain of these raw materials and components, subjecting us to cost volatility and supply shortages or delays that could limit our ability to manufacture products.

We are dependent on certain raw materials and components linked to the commodity markets, and our profitability may be materially affected by changes in the market price. The principal raw materials and components we purchase are aluminum, copper, steel, bimetals, optical fiber, plastics and other polymers, capacitors, memory devices and silicon chips. Prices for aluminum, copper, steel, silicon, fluoropolymers and certain other polymers have experienced significant volatility in the past as a result of changes in the levels of global demand, supply disruptions, including port, transportation and distribution delays or interruptions, and other factors. As a result, in the past we saw significant increases in costs that negatively impacted our results of operations. We adjusted our prices for most of our products, but if we see significant increases in costs again, we may have to adjust prices in the future. Delays in implementing price increases or a failure to achieve market acceptance of price increases has in the past, and could in the future, have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. Conversely, in an environment of falling commodities prices, we may be unable to sell higher-cost inventory before implementing price decreases, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We also utilize a limited number of key suppliers for logistics support of certain of our raw material and component purchases, including certain semiconductors, memory and chip capacitors, polymers, copper rod, copper and aluminum tapes, fine aluminum wire, steel wire, optical fiber, circuit boards and other electronic components, subassemblies and modules. Certain of our suppliers are sole source suppliers, and a number of our agreements with suppliers are short-term in nature. Our reliance on sole or limited suppliers and our reliance on subcontractors involves several risks, including a potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of required materials, components and other products, and reduced control over pricing, quality, terms and conditions of purchase and timely delivery. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw shortages in supply of memory devices, capacitors and silicon chips that negatively impacted our ability to deliver on a timely basis and increased our product costs, which unfavorably impacted our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and increased our risk of excess and obsolescence component inventory.

Our key suppliers have experienced in the past, and could experience in the future, production, operational or financial difficulties, or there may be global shortages and pricing inflation of certain raw materials or components we use. Our inability to find sufficient sources of supply on reasonable terms could impact our ability to manufacture products in a cost-effective manner. We have adjusted our market prices for certain of our products as component prices have changed, but we may not be able to pass along all further cost increases to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our gross margin and results of operations, especially in a highly inflationary environment. Our ability to ship products on a timely basis has been and may continue to be unfavorably impacted, which could damage relationships with current and prospective customers and potentially have a material adverse effect on our business.

We also source many of our components from international markets. Any change in the laws and policies of the U.S. or other countries affecting trade is a risk to us. To the extent there are unfavorable changes imposed by the U.S. or other countries and/or retaliatory actions taken by trading partners, such as the addition of new tariffs or trade restrictions, we may experience material adverse impacts on earnings. For a more complete discussion of our risks related to tariffs and trade restrictions, see the risk factor, “Additional tariffs or a global trade war could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products” under our “International Risk Factors” in this Item 1A. Risk Factors section.

If our integrated global manufacturing operations, including our contract manufacturers, suffer capacity constraints or production or shipping delays, we may have difficulty meeting customer demands.

Disruption of our ability to produce at or distribute from our manufacturing or contract manufacturing facilities could adversely affect our ability to manufacture products in a cost-effective and timely manner. We experienced lost sales opportunities in the past due to lack of capacity to meet the demand for certain of our products. If we cannot ramp up capacity fast enough to meet customer demand in the future, we may experience lost sales opportunities, lose market share and experience customer relations problems, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We rely on unaffiliated contract manufacturers, both domestically and internationally, to produce certain products or key components of products. Our reliance on these contract manufacturers reduces our control over the manufacturing process and exposes us to risks, including reduced control over quality assurance, product supply and costs and timing. Any manufacturing disruption by our contract manufacturers could severely impair our ability to fulfill orders. Our reliance on outsourced manufacturers also increases the potential for infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property.

If our internal manufacturing operations or contract manufacturers suffer delays or disruptions in production or other operations for any reason, including financial instability of the contract manufacturer, labor disturbances or shortages, fires, electrical outages, cybersecurity incidents, pandemics/epidemics, severe weather events, natural disasters, geopolitical instability, acts of violence or terrorism, shipping interruptions including port distribution delays or interruptions, increased manufacturing lead times, capacity constraints or quality control problems in their manufacturing operations, failure to meet our future requirements for timely delivery or some other catastrophic event, our ability to manufacture products at our manufacturing or contract manufacturer facilities and ship products to our customers in a cost-effective and timely manner could be impaired, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our contract manufacturers typically fulfill our supply requirements on the basis of individual orders. In most cases, we do not have long-term contracts with our contract manufacturers that guarantee capacity, the continuation of particular pricing terms or the extension of credit limits. Accordingly, our contract manufacturers are not always obligated to continue to fulfill our supply requirements, which could result in supply shortages, and the prices we are charged for manufacturing services could be increased on short notice. If our manufacturers are unable or unwilling to continue manufacturing our products in required volumes, we will be required to identify one or more acceptable alternative manufacturers to satisfy our demand. There is no assurance that we would be able to identify suitable alternative manufacturing partners on a timely basis, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all.

Some of our manufacturing and contract manufacturing facilities rely on aging production equipment and information technology infrastructure, and if we fail or our contract manufacturers fail to properly maintain or update this equipment, it could affect our ability to manufacture or ship products.

Strategic Risks

The successful execution of our CommScope NEXT transformation plan is key to the long-term success of our business.

Over the last several years, we have been executing under a business transformation initiative called CommScope NEXT, designed to drive stakeholder value. CommScope NEXT could result in changes to our business that may result in a number of risks and uncertainties, including the following: lost customers or reduced sales volumes if customers do not accept higher pricing, our new product offerings or if we discontinue or divest of product lines; higher one-time costs such as restructuring costs and transaction, transformation and integration costs; the loss of key management and other employees if we are not successful in getting employee buy-in for CommScope NEXT; and additional supply chain disruptions or higher costs of supplies if we do not successfully execute our projects related to direct and indirect procurement. The implementation of CommScope NEXT may take longer than anticipated, and once implemented, we may not realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits or such benefits may be realized more slowly than anticipated. Any failure to realize benefits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

Difficulties may be encountered in the realignment of manufacturing capacity and capabilities among our global manufacturing facilities and our contract manufacturers that could adversely affect our ability to meet customer demand for our products.

We periodically realign manufacturing capacity among our global facilities and contract manufacturers in order to reduce costs by improving manufacturing efficiency and to strengthen our long-term competitive position. The implementation of these strategic initiatives may include significant shifts of production capacity among facilities and contract manufacturers. We have done this in the past related to the integration of certain acquisitions, including the integration of the ARRIS business. Also, in prior years, with some of the uncertainties in the U.S. trade tariff environment, we transitioned manufacturing for certain impacted products to non-tariff countries. In addition, in response to intermittent shutdowns of our facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, we transitioned certain manufacturing to less impacted facilities. These changes are time-consuming and costly, and changes in our contract manufacturers or manufacturing locations may cause significant interruptions in supply if the manufacturers have difficulty manufacturing products to our specifications. There are significant risks inherent in the implementation of these initiatives, including our failure to ensure the following: adequate inventory on hand or production capacity to meet customer demand while capacity is being shifted among facilities; maintaining product quality as a result of shifting capacity; adequate raw material and other service providers to meet the needs at the new production locations; ability to successfully remove, transport and re-install equipment; and availability of adequate supervisory, production and support personnel to accommodate the shifted production. In the event manufacturing realignment initiatives are not successfully implemented, we could experience lost future sales and increased operating costs, as well as customer relations problems, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The separation, discontinuance or divestiture of a business or product line is subject to various risks and uncertainties that could disrupt or adversely affect our business.

To better optimize our portfolio of products, we have divested of the Home Networks business and we may in the future decide to separate, discontinue or divest of other businesses or product lines that we believe are not core to CommScope’s business, or where we believe the separation, discontinuation or divestiture will be accretive to stakeholders. A plan to separate, discontinue or divest a business or product line is complex in nature and can be affected by unanticipated developments or changes, including changes in the macroeconomic, regulatory or political environment, changes in credit or equity markets or changes in other market conditions.

If we do choose to separate, discontinue or divest of a business or product line and successfully complete the separation plan, we cannot assure you or any of our stakeholders that we will achieve the expected benefits. Upon completion, we would also be a smaller, less diversified company and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions. In addition, we will continue to incur ongoing costs some of which may exceed our estimates and may be stranded.

Whether or not a separation plan is completed, our businesses may face risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: the diversion of senior management’s attention from ongoing business concerns; maintaining employee morale and retaining key management and other employees; retaining existing business and operational relationships, including with customers, suppliers and employees, and attracting new business and operational relationships; foreseen and unforeseen costs and expenses; and potential negative reactions from the financial markets if we fail to complete a separation plan as expected, within the anticipated time frame, or at all. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

Our business strategy has historically relied, in part, on acquisitions to create growth. We may not fully realize anticipated benefits from past or future acquisitions or investments in other companies.

Our business strategy has historically relied, in part, on acquisitions to create growth, such as our acquisition of ARRIS in 2019 and our acquisition of TE Connectivity’s Broadband Network Solutions business (the BNS business) in 2015. We anticipate that a portion of our future growth may be accomplished by acquiring existing businesses, products or technologies. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to identify suitable acquisition opportunities or obtain the necessary financing on acceptable terms to provide these future growth opportunities. We may spend time and money investigating and negotiating with potential acquisition or investment targets without completing the transaction, which may divert or waste resources.

All acquisitions involve risks, such as the assumption of additional liabilities and expenses, issuance of debt, incurrence of transaction and integration costs, diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns, assumption of unknown contingent liabilities, unanticipated litigation costs and falling short of growth expectations. There are also significant challenges to integrating an acquired operation into our business, including, but not limited to, successfully managing the operations, manufacturing facilities and technology of the combined business; integrating the sales organizations; maintaining and increasing the customer base; retaining key employees, suppliers and distributors; integrating management information systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems; integrating inventory management and accounting activities; integrating R&D activities; navigating markets in which we potentially have limited or no prior experience; integrating and implementing effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting; and the impact of goodwill or other impairment charges, amortization costs for acquired intangible assets and acquisition accounting treatment, including the loss of deferred revenue and increases in the fair values of inventory and other acquired assets, on our financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, such acquisitions may be dilutive to our financial results. Although we typically expect to realize strategic, operational and financial benefits as a result of our past and future acquisitions and investments, we cannot predict or guarantee whether and to what extent anticipated cost savings, synergies and growth prospects will be achieved. For example, we have not fully achieved the expected growth prospects associated with the ARRIS acquisition and that has had adverse effects on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

We may need to undertake additional restructuring actions in the future.

We have previously recognized restructuring charges in conjunction with the implementation of initiatives to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of our operations and to integrate acquisitions. For example, the CommScope NEXT actions to date have included the closure of a manufacturing facility, reduction in our real estate footprint, including the consolidation of distribution facilities, as well as workforce reductions. In prior years, we have also undertaken a number of initiatives to support the integration of acquisitions, such as the 2019 acquisition of the ARRIS business and the 2015 acquisition of the BNS business. These initiatives also included the closure of manufacturing facilities, consolidation of distribution centers and other real estate and various other workforce reductions. As a result of the continued efforts related to CommScope NEXT, changes in business conditions and other developments, we may need to initiate additional restructuring actions that could result in workforce reductions and restructuring charges, which could adversely and materially affect our cash flows.

Carlyle owns a substantial portion of our equity and its interests may not be aligned with yours.

Funding for the acquisition of ARRIS included an investment by Carlyle in our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock. As a result, Carlyle owns approximately 17% of our common stock on an if-converted basis and has the right to designate up to two directors on our Board of Directors (Board). In addition, certain of our existing directors are senior advisors to Carlyle. As a result, Carlyle has significant influence on our business. Circumstances may occur in which the interests of Carlyle could conflict with the interests of our other stockholders.

Business and Operational Risks

Our future success depends on our ability to anticipate and adapt to changes in technology and customer preferences and develop, implement and market innovative solutions.

Many of our markets are characterized by rapid advances in information processing and communications capabilities that require increased transmission speeds and density and greater bandwidth. These advances require significant investments in R&D in order to improve the capabilities of our products and services and develop new offerings or solutions that will meet the needs and preferences of our customers. There can be no assurance that our investments in R&D will yield marketable product or service innovations.

We may not be successful in our ongoing innovation efforts if, among other things, our products and services are not cost effective, brought to market in a timely manner, compliant with evolving industry standards, accepted in the market or recognized as meeting customer requirements. We could experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows if we are not successful in our ongoing innovation efforts.

As our products become more complex and customer preferences continue to change, we may encounter difficulties in meeting such preferences, including performance, service and delivery expectations. Developing our products is expensive, complex and involves uncertainties. Each phase in the development of our products presents serious risks of failure, rework or delay, any one of which could impact the timing and cost-effective development of such product and could jeopardize end customer acceptance of the product. We have experienced in the past, and may in the future experience, design, manufacturing, marketing and other difficulties that could delay or prevent the development, introduction or marketing of new products and enhancements. Any such difficulties or delays could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

If we do not stay current with product life cycle developments, our business may suffer.

To compete successfully, we must continue to innovate in anticipation of both our customers’ needs and developing industry trends, which require us to quickly design, develop, manufacture and sell new or enhanced products that provide increasingly higher levels of performance and reliability. If we do not have competitively priced, market-accepted products available to meet our customers’ planned roll-out of new technologies, we may miss a significant opportunity and our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

The introduction of new or enhanced products requires that we carefully manage the transition from older products to minimize disruption in customer ordering practices and ensure that new products can be timely delivered to meet our customers’ demand. If we are not able to support our customers in an effective and cost-efficient manner as they advance from older generation networks or as they expand the capacity of their networks, our business will suffer.

Furthermore, there are several major trends that we expect to continue to impact the enterprise market and product life cycles, including the shift to 5G, enterprise shifts toward mobility indoors and adjustments of in-building cabling designs to support Wi-Fi, more access points and in-building cellular applications. Due to significant increases in data traffic and migrations of applications to the cloud, enterprises are also shifting spending toward multi-tenant data centers and hyperscale cloud service providers, which offer cloud data centers services as a replacement to in-house corporate data centers. As a result, there is growing demand for fiber solutions and decelerating demand for copper solutions. If we are unable to continue to support customers in these transitions, or if sales of copper products decline faster than expected, we could experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In order to stay current with product life cycle developments, we have formed strategic relationships with leading technology companies to provide us with early access to technology that we believe will help keep us at the forefront of our industry. Our strategic alliances are generally based on business relationships that have not been the subject of written agreements expressly providing for the alliance to continue for a significant period of time, and the loss of any such strategic relationship could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If our products do not effectively interoperate with cellular networks and mobile devices, future sales of our products could be negatively affected.

Many of our products are designed to interoperate with cellular networks and mobile devices using Wi-Fi technology. These networks and devices have varied and complex specifications. As a result, we must ensure that our products interoperate effectively with these existing and planned networks and devices. To meet these requirements, we must continue development and testing efforts that require significant capital and employee resources. We may not accomplish these development efforts quickly or cost-effectively, or at all. If our products do not interoperate effectively, orders for our products could be delayed or cancelled, which would harm our revenue, operating results and reputation, potentially resulting in the loss of existing and potential end customers. The failure of our products to interoperate effectively with cellular networks or mobile devices may result in significant warranty, support and repair costs, may divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts and may cause significant customer relations problems. In addition, our end customers may require our products to comply with new and rapidly evolving security or other certifications and standards. If our products are late in achieving or fail to achieve compliance with these certifications and standards, or our competitors first achieve compliance with these certifications and standards, such end customers may not purchase our products, which would harm our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

If our product or service offerings, including material purchased from our suppliers, have quality or performance issues, our business may suffer.

Our business depends on delivering products and services of consistently high quality. Many of our solutions are highly complex, and testing procedures used by us and our customers are limited to evaluating them under likely and foreseeable failure scenarios. Many of our products include both hardware and software components. It is not unusual for software, especially in earlier versions, to contain bugs that can unexpectedly interfere with expected operations. For various reasons, once deployed, our products may fail to perform as expected. Performance issues could result from faulty design, defective raw materials or components purchased from suppliers, problems in manufacturing or installation errors. We have experienced such performance issues in the past and remain exposed to such performance issues in the future. In some cases, recall of some or all affected products, product redesigns or additional capital expenditures may be required to correct a defect; and depending on the number of products affected, the cost of fixing or replacing such products could have a material impact on our results of operations and cash flows. Our agreements with our contract manufacturers and component suppliers may not cover all costs related to defects.

In some cases, we are dependent on a sole supplier for components used in our products. Defects in sole-sourced components subject us to additional risk of being unable to quickly address any product issues or failures experienced by our customers as a result of the component defect and could delay our ability to deliver new products until the defective components are corrected or a new supplier is identified and qualified. This could increase our costs in resolving the product issue, result in decreased sales of the impacted product or damage our reputation with customers, any of which could negatively impact our results of operations.

Hardware or software defects could also permit unauthorized users to gain access to our customers’ networks and/or a consumer’s home network. In addition to potentially damaging our reputation with customers, such defects may also subject us to claims for damages under agreements with our customers and fines by regulatory authorities.

We offer warranties on most products, the terms and conditions of which depend upon the product subject to the warranty. In many cases, we also indemnify our customers against damages or losses that might arise from certain claims relating to our products and services. Future claims may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Any significant or systemic product or service failure could also result in lost future sales as a result of reputational damage.

Our products have been deployed in many different locations and user environments and are capable of providing services and connectivity to many different types of devices operating a variety of applications. The ability of our products to operate effectively can be negatively impacted by many different elements unrelated to our products. For example, a user’s experience may suffer from an incorrect setting in a Wi-Fi device. Although certain technical problems experienced by users may not be caused by our products, users often may perceive them to be the underlying cause of poor performance of the wireless network. This perception, even if incorrect, could harm our business and reputation. Similarly, a high-profile network failure may be caused by improper operation of the network or failure of a network component that we did not supply, but service providers may perceive that our products were implicated, which, even if incorrect, could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We depend on cloud computing infrastructure operated by third parties and any disruption in these operations could adversely affect our business.

For certain of our service offerings, in particular our Wi-Fi-related cloud services, we rely on third parties to provide cloud computing infrastructure that offers storage capabilities, data processing and other services. We currently operate our cloud-dependent services using Amazon Web Service (AWS), Google Compute Engine (GCE) or Microsoft Azure (Azure). We cannot easily switch our AWS, GCE or Azure operations to another cloud provider. Any disruption of or interference with our use of these cloud services would impact our operations and our business could be adversely impacted.

Problems faced by our third-party cloud service providers with the telecommunications network providers with whom we or they contract or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our end customers. If AWS, GCE or Azure are unable to keep up with our needs for capacity, this could have an adverse effect on our business. Any changes in third-party cloud services or any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our cloud-based applications, could adversely affect our reputation and may damage our end customers’ stored files or result in lengthy interruptions in our services. Interruptions in our services might adversely affect our reputation and operating results, cause us to issue refunds or service credits, subject us to potential liabilities or result in contract terminations.

Our business depends on effective management information systems.

We rely on effective management information systems for critical business operations, to support strategic business decisions and to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. We rely on our ERP systems to support critical business operations such as processing sales orders and invoicing, manufacturing, shipping, inventory control, purchasing and supply chain management, human resources and financial reporting. In 2020, we began the upgrade and integration of our ERP software to a newer, cloud-based version. The first phase was completed in early 2021 and we completed the second phase in 2023, with limited disruption. These upgrades and integrations do have risks and any future upgrades or integrations could disrupt our operations, divert management’s attention and have an adverse effect on our capital resources, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We also rely on management information systems to produce information for business decision-making and planning and to support digital platforms. Failure to maintain an adequate digital platform or to make additional investment in our digital platform to support e-commerce activities and improve our customer experience could have a material adverse impact on our business through lost sales opportunities.

If we are unable to maintain our management information systems, including our IT infrastructure, to support critical business operations, produce information for business decision-making activities and support digital customer experience activities, we could experience a material adverse impact on our business or an inability to timely and accurately report our financial results.

Cybersecurity incidents, including data security breaches, ransomware or computer viruses, could harm our business by exposing us to various liabilities, disrupting our delivery of products and services and damaging our reputation.

We rely extensively on our management information technology systems and those of third parties to operate our business and store proprietary information about our products and intellectual property. Additionally, we and others acting on our behalf receive, process, store and transmit confidential data, including “personally identifiable information,” with respect to employees, vendors, customers and others. As the continued rise in cybersecurity incidents around the world indicates, all management information technology systems are vulnerable. We experienced a cybersecurity incident in the first quarter of 2023, but it had limited impact on our business operations. Despite the security controls we have put in place since that incident, our facilities, systems and procedures, and those of our third-party service providers, are still at risk of security breaches, acts of vandalism, ransomware, software viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors or other similar events. In particular, unauthorized access to our computer systems or stored data could result in the theft or improper disclosure of proprietary, confidential, sensitive or personal information, the deletion or modification of records or interruptions in our operations. These cybersecurity risks increase when we transmit information from one location to another, including transmissions over the Internet or other electronic networks. Any future significant compromise or breach of our data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of employee, vendor, customer, or Company data, could result in significant costs, lost sales, fines, lawsuits, lost customers and damage to our reputation. We employ a variety of security breach countermeasures and security controls designed to mitigate these risks, but we cannot guarantee that all breach attempts can be successfully thwarted by these measures as the sophistication of attacks increases. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to mitigate new and emerging threats while continuing to enhance our information security capabilities or to investigate and remediate security vulnerabilities.

In addition, defects in some of the hardware or software we develop and sell, including in our engineering or in their implementation by our customers, could result in unauthorized access to our customers’ and/or consumers’ networks. Such unauthorized access could result in third parties gaining access to the private and personal information and technology of our customers, such as home health information, home cameras or other personal information or technology. Any such events could result in theft of personal information, trade secrets and intellectual property; give rise to legal proceedings; cause us to incur increased costs for insurance premiums, security, remediation and regulatory compliance; subject us to civil and criminal penalties; expose us to liabilities to our customers, employees, vendors, governmental authorities or other third parties; allow others to unfairly compete with us; disrupt our delivery of products and services; expose the confidential information of our clients and others; and have a negative impact on our reputation, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

Climate change may have a long-term impact on our business.

There are inherent climate change risks wherever business is conducted. The potential physical impacts of climate change on our operations are highly uncertain and would be particular to the geographic areas in which we operate. These may include changes in rainfall and storm patterns and intensities, water shortages, changing sea levels and changing temperatures. These impacts may adversely impact the cost, production levels and financial performance of our operations. Climate-related events, including the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and their impact on critical infrastructure in the regions in which we operate, have the potential to disrupt our business, our third-party suppliers, and/or the business of our customers and may cause us to experience higher attrition, losses and additional costs to maintain or resume operations. CommScope aligns with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and makes use of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) platform, which is committed to aligning with the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations to accurately assess, take potential proactive action and report as appropriate. For additional information, which is not incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, see our Sustainability report on the CommScope website: https://www.commscope.com/corporate-responsibility-and-sustainability/.

Labor-Related Risks

Failure to attract, develop and maintain a highly skilled and diverse workforce or effectively manage changes in our workforce can have an adverse effect on our business.

Our business requires that we attract, develop and maintain a highly skilled and diverse workforce. Our employees are highly sought after by our competitors and other companies and our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract, retain, develop and motivate highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization. Our ability to do so has been and may continue to be impacted by challenges in the labor market, which has experienced and may continue to experience wage inflation, labor shortages, increased employee turnover, changes in availability of our workforce and a shift toward remote work. Any unplanned turnover, sustained labor shortage or unsuccessful implementation of our succession plans to backfill current leadership positions, including the Chief Executive Officer, or failure to attract, develop and maintain a highly skilled and diverse workforce can deplete our institutional knowledge base, erode our competitive advantage or result in increased costs due to increased competition for employees, higher employee turnover or increased employee benefit costs, all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Disruptions in labor, including strikes or work stoppages, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have experienced and could continue to experience disruption in our manufacturing operations and supply chain, including labor shortages or changes in the availability of our or our business partners’ workforce, strikes or work stoppages (including by third parties involved in the manufacture, production and distribution of our products). Although none of our U.S. employees are represented by unions, a significant portion of our international employees are members of unions or subject to works councils or similar statutory arrangements. Strikes or work stoppages or other business interruptions have occurred and may occur in the future if we or the third parties that are involved in the manufacturing, production and distribution of our products are unable to renew or enter into new agreements on satisfactory terms. This can impair the manufacturing and distribution of our products, interrupt product supply, lead to a loss of sales, increase our costs or otherwise affect our ability to fully implement future operational changes to enhance our efficiency or to adapt to changing business needs or strategy, all of which can adversely affect our business.

International Risks

Our significant international operations expose us to economic, political, foreign exchange rate and other risks.

We have significant international sales, manufacturing, distribution and R&D operations. Our major international manufacturing, distribution and R&D facilities are located in China, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Ireland, Mexico and the U.K. For the year ended December 31, 2023, international sales represented 35% of our consolidated net sales. In general, our international sales have lower gross profit percentages than our domestic sales. To the extent international sales increase as a percentage of our net sales, our overall gross profit percentages may decline.

Our international sales, manufacturing, distribution and R&D operations are subject to the risks inherent in operating abroad, including, but not limited to, coordinating communications among and managing international operations; currency exchange rate fluctuations; economic and political destabilization, including the current risk with China-Taiwan relations, China-U.S. relations and Russia-U.S. relations; restrictive actions by foreign governments; price inflation; volatile interest rates; wage inflation; nationalization of businesses and expropriation of assets; the laws and policies of the U.S. and other countries affecting trade and tariffs, anti-bribery, foreign investment and loans; foreign tax laws, including the ability to recover amounts paid as value-added and similar taxes; potential restrictions on the repatriation of cash; reduced protection of intellectual property; longer customer payment cycles; compliance with local laws and regulations, including the imposition of new data privacy and climate change regulations; volatile geopolitical turmoil, including popular uprisings, regional conflicts, terrorism, and war; shipping interruptions, including shortages of containers or port congestion; major public health or safety concerns, such as pandemics and infectious diseases; natural or man-made disasters; inflexible labor contracts or labor laws in the event of business downturns; and economic boycott for doing business in certain countries. Although the Company maintains insurance coverage for certain types of losses, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses that may arise.

A significant portion of our products sold in the U.S. are manufactured outside the U.S. To the extent there are changes in U.S. trade policies, such as significant increases in tariffs or duties for goods brought into the U.S., our competitive position may be adversely impacted and the resulting effect on our earnings could be material. For a more complete discussion of our risks related to trade policies, see the risk factor, “Additional tariffs or a global trade war could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products” under “International Risks” in this Item 1A, Risk Factors section.

Risks related to fluctuations in foreign currency rates has impacted in the past and could continue to impact our sales, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our foreign currency risk exposure is mainly concentrated in Chinese yuan, European Union (E.U.) euro, British pound sterling, Mexican peso, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Brazilian real, South African rand, Indian rupee and Czech koruna. We manage our foreign currency rate risks through regular operating and financing activities and use derivative financial instruments such as foreign exchange forward contracts. There can be no assurance that our risk management strategies will be effective or that the counterparties to our derivative contracts will be able to perform. In addition, foreign currency rates in many of the countries in which we operate have at times been extremely volatile and unpredictable. We may choose not to hedge or determine we are unable to effectively hedge the risks associated with this volatility. In such cases, we may experience declines in sales and adverse impacts on earnings and such changes could be material.

Additional tariffs or a global trade war could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products.

There is uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and various other countries, most significantly China, with respect to trade policies and tariffs. Past U.S. administrations have called for substantial changes to U.S. foreign trade policy with respect to China and other countries, including the possibility of imposing greater restrictions on international trade and significant increases in tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. The current administration could have a different approach to U.S. foreign trade policy with China as well as other countries, but there remains uncertainty.

This uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and certain of its trading partners may reduce trade between the U.S. and other nations, including countries in which we currently operate, or result in a global economic slowdown with long-term changes to global trade. Changes in policy or continued uncertainty could depress economic activity and restrict our access to suppliers or customers. The tariffs implemented on our products (or on materials, parts or components we use to manufacture our products) by past U.S. administrations increased the cost of our products manufactured in the U.S. and imported into the U.S. If additional tariffs or trade restrictions are implemented on our products (or on materials, parts or components we use to manufacture our products) by the U.S. or other countries, the cost of our products manufactured in China, Mexico or other countries and imported into the U.S. or other countries could increase further. We expect to continue to pass along some of these costs to our customers, but the increased cost could adversely affect the demand for products. We have been successful in the past in shifting the manufacturing locations for the impacted products, but this takes time and results in additional one-time costs and these alternative locations may have higher ongoing manufacturing costs. These cost increases could adversely affect the demand for our products and/or reduce margins, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and our earnings. In addition, a significant percentage of our component parts are manufactured in China and other Southeast Asian countries. The impact of tariffs or other geopolitical instability may limit our access and our manufacturing partners’ access to those components which would impact production and could lead to further increases to product costs. Additionally, further escalation of trade tensions could lead to the possible decoupling of the U.S. and China economies. Any or all of these factors could negatively affect demand for our products and our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and such effects could be material.

Our significant international operations expose us to increased challenges in complying with anti-corruption laws and regulations of the U.S. government and various other international jurisdictions.

We are required to comply with the anti-corruption laws and regulations of the U.S. government and various other international jurisdictions, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act, and our failure to comply with these laws and regulations may expose us to significant liabilities. These laws and regulations may apply to companies, individual directors, officers, employees and agents, and may restrict our operations, trade practices, investment decisions and partnering activities. Violations of these legal requirements are punishable by significant criminal fines and imprisonment, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, injunctions, debarment from government contracts and other remedial measures. We have established policies, procedures and internal controls designed to assist us and our personnel in complying with applicable U.S. and international anti-corruption laws and regulations. However, our employees, subcontractors or channel partners could take actions that violate these requirements. In addition, some of the international jurisdictions in which we operate have elevated levels of corruption. As a result, we are exposed to an increased risk of violating anti-corruption laws. Violation of anti-corruption laws could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and such effects could be material.

We are subject to governmental export and import controls and sanctions programs that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in international markets.

Certain of our products, including purchased components of such products, are subject to export controls and may be exported only with the required export license or through an export license exemption. In addition, we are required to comply with certain U.S. and foreign import and customs rules, sanctions and embargos such as the U.S. enacted Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) that became effective in 2022. Although we believe the risk of a UFLPA enforcement action against the Company is low at this time, we will continue to monitor the ongoing potential impact as the Customs and Border Protection guidance will continue to evolve. If we were to fail to comply with applicable export licensing, customs regulations, economic sanctions and other laws, we could be subject to substantial civil and criminal penalties, including fines, the incarceration of responsible employees and managers and the possible loss of export or import privileges. In addition, if our distributors fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or permits, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm and penalties. Obtaining the necessary export license for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in a delay or loss of sales opportunities.

Furthermore, export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the shipment of certain products to embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments and persons. While we train our employees to comply with these regulations and have systems in place designed to prevent compliance failures, we cannot assure you that a violation will not occur, whether knowingly or inadvertently. Any such shipment could have negative consequences, including government investigations, penalties, fines, civil and criminal sanctions and reputational harm.

Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations could result in our decreased ability to export, import or sell our products to existing or potential customers, particularly those with international operations. Any limitation on our ability to export, import or sell our products could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and such effects could be material.

Litigation and Regulatory Risks

We may not be successful in protecting our intellectual property and in defending against claims that we are infringing on the intellectual property of others, and any such actions may be costly.

We may encounter difficulties and significant costs in protecting our intellectual property rights or obtaining rights to additional intellectual property to permit us to continue or expand our business. Other companies, including some of our largest competitors, hold intellectual property rights in our industry, and the intellectual property rights of others could inhibit our ability to introduce new products unless we secure necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms.

In the past, we have initiated litigation in order to enforce patents issued or licensed to us or to determine the scope and/or validity of a third-party’s patent or other proprietary rights, and we may initiate similar litigation in the future. We also have been and may in the future be subject to lawsuits by third parties seeking to enforce their own intellectual property rights, including against certain of the products or intellectual property that we have acquired through acquisitions. Any such litigation, regardless of outcome, could be costly and could subject us to significant liabilities or require us to cease using proprietary third-party technology. In addition, the payment of any damages or any necessary licensing fees or indemnification costs associated with a patent infringement claim could be material and could also materially adversely affect our cash flows and operating results. Such litigation can also be a significant distraction to management.

In certain markets, we may be required to address counterfeit versions of our products. We may incur significant costs in pursuing the originators of such counterfeit products and, if we are unsuccessful in eliminating them from the market, we may experience a reduction in the value of our products, harm to our reputation and/or a reduction in our net sales.

Because of the nature of information that may pass through or be stored on certain of our solutions or networks, we, our vendors and our end customers are subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding information privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and other related matters.

Globally, there has been an increase in laws and regulatory action concerning privacy-related matters. Generally, these laws create rights for individuals in their personal data as well as impose obligations on businesses regarding the handling of such personal data, including data of employees, consumers and business contacts. Several U.S. states are considering or have adopted legislation requiring companies to disclose the collection of personal data, protect the security of personal information that they hold or respond to individuals’ rights regarding their personal data. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which went into effect on January 1, 2020, subjects us to stricter obligations, greater fines and more private causes of action related to data security. The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which is effective in 2023, amends and further expands the CCPA. Virginia, Connecticut, Utah and Colorado enacted similar laws in 2023. Many jurisdictions have also enacted or are enacting laws requiring companies to notify regulators or individuals of data security incidents involving certain types of personal data, including the rule issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. in 2023 that requires public disclosure of material security incidents. These mandatory disclosures regarding security incidents often lead to widespread negative publicity. Any security incident, whether actual or perceived, could harm our reputation, erode customer confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures, negatively impact our ability to attract or retain customers, or subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines or other action or liability, which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

Foreign data protection, privacy and other laws and regulations can be more restrictive than those in the U.S. For example, the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became effective in May 2018, was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect all E.U. citizens’ data privacy, empower E.U. citizens with respect to their personal data and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy. Compliance with GDPR has required changes to products and service offerings, internal and external software systems, including our websites, and changes to many company processes and policies. Failure to comply with GDPR could cause significant penalties and loss of business. Subsequent judicial rulings in Europe about GDPR have invalidated the E.U.-U.S. privacy shield framework, which was the mechanism relied upon by some of our vendors for personal data transfers out of the E.U. Additionally, these rulings require companies like ours to assess their personal data transfers from the E.U. to determine whether the protections in the U.S. or any country without an adequacy determination meet E.U. standards in the context of the specific transfer. A European data protection authority could disagree with our assessment of such transfers, resulting in penalties or required changes in how we transfer data within our company.

In addition, some countries are considering or have passed legislation requiring local storage and processing of data. For example, Brazil and India have each adopted such laws that became effective in January 2020. These new and proposed laws could increase the cost and complexity of offering our solutions or maintaining our business operations in those jurisdictions. The introduction of new solutions or expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. Our channel partners and end customers also may be subject to such laws and regulations in the use of our products and services.

These U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which often can be enforced by private parties or government entities, are constantly evolving. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may be contradictory with each other. For example, a government entity in one jurisdiction may demand the transfer of information forbidden from transfer by a government entity in another jurisdiction. If our actions were determined to be in violation of any of these disparate laws and regulations, in addition to the possibility of fines, we could be ordered to change our data practices, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations and financial condition. There is also a risk that we, directly or as the result of a third-party service provider we use, could be found to have failed to comply with the laws or regulations applicable in a jurisdiction regarding the collection, handling, transfer, disposal or consent to the use of personal data, which could subject us to fines or other sanctions, as well as adverse reputational impact.

Some states and countries are considering or have introduced laws and regulations requiring minimum or particular security controls be incorporated into devices that connect to the internet (so called “Internet of Things Security laws”). Where products we manufacture are considered in scope for some of these laws and regulations, compliance obligations or customer contracts may necessitate modification of existing product features and specifications or make inventory obsolete. Inconsistencies in these laws can introduce complexity into our design, manufacturing and inventory management processes.

Compliance with these existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly and require significant management time and attention, and failure to comply can result in negative publicity and subject us to inquiries or investigations, claims or other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices. Customers may demand or request additional functionality in our products or services that they believe are necessary or appropriate to comply with such laws and regulations, which can cause us to incur significant additional costs and can delay or impede the development of new solutions. In addition, there is a risk that failures in systems designed to protect private, personal or proprietary data held by us or our customers using our solutions will allow such data to be disclosed to or seen by others, resulting in application of regulatory penalties, enforcement actions, remediation obligations, private litigation by parties whose data was improperly disclosed or claims from our customers for costs or damages they incur. There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim. Our existing general liability insurance coverage and coverage for errors and omissions may not continue to be available on acceptable terms or may not be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims, or our insurers may deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds available insurance coverage, or changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

Compliance with current and future social and environmental laws, regulations, policies and provisions, customer and investor pressures, other efforts to mitigate climate change and potential environmental liabilities may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations governing, among other things, discharges to air and water, management of regulated materials, energy consumption, handling and disposal of solid and hazardous waste and investigation and remediation of contaminated sites. We are also subject to laws and regulations regarding the types of substances allowable in certain of our products and the handling of our products at the end of their useful life. Because of the nature of our business, we have incurred and will continue to incur costs relating to compliance with or liability under these environmental laws and regulations, and these costs could be material. In addition, there is an increasing focus on corporate social and environmental responsibility in our industry, in which new laws and regulations, new or different interpretations of existing laws and regulations, expansion of existing legal requirements related to our products, the discovery of previously unknown contamination or the imposition of new remediation or discharge requirements could require us to incur costs or could become the basis for new or increased liabilities that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

Certain environmental laws impose strict and, in some circumstances, joint and several liability on current or former owners or operators of a contaminated property, as well as companies that generated, disposed of or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances at a contaminated property, for the costs of investigation and remediation of such property. Our present and past facilities have been in operation for many years and over that time, in the course of those operations, hazardous substances and wastes have been used, generated and occasionally disposed of at such facilities, and we have disposed of waste products either directly or through third parties at numerous disposal sites. Consequently, it has been necessary to undertake investigation and remediation projects at certain sites and we have been, and may in the future be, held responsible for a portion of the investigation and clean-up costs at these sites and our share of those costs may be material.

Efforts to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide, are continuing to evolve in the U.S. and other countries where we operate, and this could increase the cost of raw materials, production processes and transportation of our products. If we are unable to comply with such regulations or sufficiently increase prices or otherwise reduce costs to offset the increased costs of compliance, GHG regulation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.

A number of governments or governmental bodies have also introduced or are contemplating regulatory changes in response to various climate change interest groups and the potential impact of climate change, such as the proposed reporting regulations issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. and final regulations issued in California and the E.U. Increased regulation regarding climate change could impose significant costs on us and our suppliers, including costs related to increased energy requirements, capital equipment, environmental monitoring and reporting, and other costs to comply with such regulations. Any adopted future climate change regulations could also negatively impact our ability to compete with companies situated in areas not subject to such limitations.

Additionally, some of our customers have adopted, or may adopt, procurement policies that include social and environmental responsibility provisions or requirements with which their suppliers should comply. An increasing number of investors are also pushing companies to disclose corporate social and environmental policies, practices and metrics. If we are unable to comply with such policies or meet the requirements of our customers and investors, it may impact the demand for our products, negatively impact our stock price or expose us to potential litigation.

Given the political significance around and uncertainty about how to best mitigate climate change, we cannot predict how legislation, regulation or customer and investor expectations will affect our financial condition, operating performance and ability to compete. Furthermore, even without such regulation, increased awareness and any adverse publicity in the global marketplace about potential impacts on climate change by us or other companies in our industry could harm our reputation.

General Risk Factors

Any future public health crisis could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Pandemics have had and could have in the future, material and adverse effects on our ability to successfully operate and on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows due to the following factors, among others:

The extent to which any future public health crisis impacts our operations and those of our customers and suppliers will depend on the scope, severity, duration and spread of the health crisis, the actions taken to contain it or mitigate its impact, and the direct and indirect economic effects of the crisis and containment measures, among others, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence.

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock and, consequently, the ability of investors to achieve a return on their investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We do not intend to declare and pay dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. The payment of future dividends will be at the discretion of our Board; however, the indentures and the credit agreements governing our indebtedness place limitations on our ability to pay dividends. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to reduce our debt and fund our growth. The success of an investment in our common stock will largely depend upon future appreciation in value, and there can be no guarantee that our common stock will appreciate in value.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY

Like many large, global companies, CommScope relies heavily on digital technology to conduct operations and engage with our customers and business partners. As our engagements become more complex and interdependent, threats from security incidents like ransomware and data breaches increase. To mitigate the threat to our business, we take a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risk management and make securing our data and the data customers and other stakeholders entrust to us a top priority. Our Board of Directors (Board), through our Audit Committee, and our management team are actively involved in the oversight of our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program, of which cybersecurity represents an important component. As described in more detail below, we have established policies, standards, processes and practices for assessing, identifying and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats. We have made investments in resources to implement and maintain security measures to meet regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations, and we intend to continue to make investments to maintain the security of our data and cybersecurity infrastructure. There can be no guarantee that our policies and procedures will be properly followed in every instance or that those policies and procedures will be effective. We believe that risks from prior cybersecurity threats, including as a result of previous cybersecurity incidents, have not materially affected our business to date. We can provide no assurance that there will not be incidents in the future or that any such incidents will not materially affect us, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. For additional information regarding the risks associated with cybersecurity incidents, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors.”

CommScope’s commitment to cybersecurity begins in the boardroom. The Audit Committee is responsible for oversight of cybersecurity and is actively engaged with our Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at least quarterly, in addition to ad-hoc discussions and our periodic cyber crisis management tabletop exercises. Our CIO and CISO also present on cybersecurity to our full Board at least annually. The commitment extends through our executive leadership team (ELT), who engage continually to review our cybersecurity strategy, planning and execution.

At CommScope, cybersecurity risk is part of our cross-functional Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program because of the potential for negative impacts of an incident across our business. At least annually we conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment, bringing together threat intelligence, internal assessment of our control posture and third-party opinions. The risk assessment informs our Board and management team and drives the next year’s security strategy and initiatives.

CommScope has implemented a cybersecurity program that is dedicated to protecting our business processes, technology assets and sensitive information entrusted to us by our customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. Drawing on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and Center for Internet Security (CIS) 18 Critical Security Controls, our security program seeks to identify high-value enterprise assets and business processes and manage the cybersecurity threats facing them with layered controls. We practice a “Defense in Depth” methodology, meaning that valuable assets or business processes are generally protected with more than one layered control.

Our cybersecurity program is led by our CIO and our CISO. Our CIO has served in various roles in information technology and information security for over twenty years. Our CISO has over twenty years of technology and security experience and has spent more than fifteen years leading cybersecurity functions. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Our CISO leads an in-house information security team responsible for cybersecurity risk and threat evaluation; the writing of relevant policies, control standards, and technical requirements; and the oversight and operation of security controls. The Security Operations team monitors for potential incidents via a global team operating 24 x 7 x 365 in a “follow the sun” model. We also engage outside experts where a third-party opinion or subject matter expertise provides specific value, such as with penetration testing. We use industry-leading security tools, regularly update our technology roadmaps, conduct tabletop exercises and mandate cybersecurity awareness and training for all employees.

We not only focus on cybersecurity threats directly facing CommScope but also those that might affect us through one of the many third parties we do business with, including suppliers and customers. Our procurement and security teams have a shared process to review the cybersecurity risk of our suppliers, performing an assessment during onboarding, requiring them to sign up for contractual security requirements, emplacing security controls and investigating third-party incidents as appropriate.

In the event of a significant cybersecurity incident, we have a detailed Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan (CIRP) in place for informing key stakeholders, ensuring events are properly escalated and for contacting authorities. There are many ways that CommScope might initially learn of a cybersecurity incident, and these potential incidents are escalated, according to decision criteria, to a core team of internal stakeholders comprised of leaders from our information security, legal, business and finance organizations. The core team directs the initial fact-finding and response efforts, and based on their qualitative and quantitative review, may escalate the incident to CommScope’s ELT. The ELT then makes the decision on escalation to the Audit Committee or Board based on the team’s assessment of materiality. Our incident response plan is regularly validated and assessed to consider the types of decisions that would need to be made in the event of a cybersecurity incident.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our fixed assets include factories and warehouses and a substantial quantity of machinery and equipment. Our factories, warehouses and machinery and equipment are generally in good operating condition, are reasonably maintained and substantially all of our facilities are in regular use. We consider the present level of fixed assets along with planned capital expenditures to be suitable and adequate for operations in the current business environment. At December 31, 2023, we operated approximately 23 manufacturing facilities with approximately 4.8 million square feet, of which approximately 1.3 million square feet were leased. Manufacturing facilities located in the U.S. had approximately 1.7 million square feet, of which approximately 0.1 million square feet were leased. Manufacturing facilities located outside the U.S. had approximately 3.1 million square feet, of which approximately 1.2 million square feet were leased. The square footage by segment related to our manufacturing facilities was approximately 3.7 million square feet, 0.8 million square feet, 0.2 million square feet and 0.1 million square feet for the CCS segment, OWN segment, NICS segment and ANS segment, respectively.

We believe that our facilities are suitable and adequate for our business and are being appropriately utilized for their intended purposes. Utilization of our facilities varies based on demand for the related products. We regularly review our anticipated requirements for facilities and, based on that review, may from time to time acquire or lease additional facilities and/or dispose of existing facilities.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The Company is party to certain intellectual property claims and also periodically receives notices asserting that its products infringe on another party’s patents and other intellectual property rights. These claims and assertions, whether against the Company directly or against its customers, could require the Company to pay damages or royalties, stop offering the relevant products and/or cease other activities. The Company may also be called upon to indemnify certain customers for costs related to products sold to such customers. The outcome of these claims and notices is uncertain and a reasonable estimate of the loss from unfavorable outcomes in certain of these matters either cannot be determined or is estimated at the minimum amount of a range of estimates. The actual loss, through settlement or trial, could be material and may vary significantly from our estimates. From time to time, the Company may also be involved as a plaintiff involving intellectual property claims. Gain contingencies, if any, are recognized when they are realized.

The Company is also either a plaintiff or a defendant in certain other pending legal matters in the normal course of business. Management believes none of these pending legal matters will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business or financial condition upon final disposition.

In addition, the Company is subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations governing the use, discharge, disposal and remediation of hazardous materials. Compliance with current laws and regulations has not had, and is not expected to have, a materially adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information and Holders

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “COMM.” As of February 14, 2024, all of our outstanding shares of common stock are held by one stockholder of record, Cede & Co., as nominee for the Depository Trust Company. Many brokers, banks and other institutions hold shares of common stock as nominees for beneficial owners that deposit these shares of common stock in participant accounts at the Depository Trust Company.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table summarizes the stock purchase activity for the three months ended December 31, 2023:

The shares purchased were withheld to satisfy the withholding tax obligations related to restricted stock units and performance share units that vested during the period.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares cumulative total return on $100 invested on December 31, 2018 in each of CommScope’s Common Stock, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index (S&P 500 Index) and the Standard & Poor’s 1500 Communications Equipment Index (S&P 1500 Communications Equipment). The return of the Standard & Poor’s indices is calculated assuming reinvestment of dividends. CommScope has not paid any dividends on its common stock over this period.

ITEM 6. RESERVED

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

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared with the year ended December 31, 2022. This comparison should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” included in Part I, Item 1A or in other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For a discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to December 31, 2021, see Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in the 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2023.

OVERVIEW

We are a global provider of infrastructure solutions for communication, data center and entertainment networks. Our solutions for wired and wireless networks enable service providers, including cable, telephone and digital broadcast satellite operators and media programmers, to deliver media, voice, Internet Protocol (IP) data services and Wi-Fi to their subscribers and allow enterprises to experience constant wireless and wired connectivity across complex and varied networking environments. Our solutions are complemented by services including technical support, systems design and integration. We are a leader in digital video and IP television distribution systems, broadband access infrastructure platforms and equipment that delivers data and voice networks to homes. Our global leadership position is built upon innovative technology, broad solution offerings, high-quality and cost-effective customer solutions, and global manufacturing and distribution scale.

CommScope NEXT

Since 2021, we have been engaged in a transformation initiative referred to as CommScope NEXT, which is designed to drive shareholder value through three pillars: profitable growth, operational efficiency and portfolio optimization. We believe these efforts are critical to making us more competitive and allowing us to invest in growth, de-leverage our indebtedness and maximize stockholder and other stakeholder value in the future. In 2022, CommScope NEXT generated positive impacts on net sales, profitability and cash flow from our execution on pricing initiatives, capacity expansion and operational efficiencies. In 2023, we experienced headwinds related to a slow-down in spending by our customers as discussed further below, but we continued to execute under CommScope NEXT to improve our profitability and cash flows by continuing to drive operational efficiencies and focusing on portfolio optimization that should enable us to take advantage of the expected recovery in demand in the second half of 2024. To that end, we incurred $29.7 million, $63.0 million and $85.1 million of net restructuring costs and $27.1 million, $35.1 million and $50.6 million of transaction, transformation and integration costs during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, primarily related to CommScope NEXT initiatives. We expect to continue to incur such costs during 2024 as we continue executing on CommScope NEXT initiatives, and the resulting charges and cash requirements could be material.

In 2021, as a step in our CommScope NEXT transformation plan, we announced a plan to separate the Home Networks (Home) segment and began analyzing the financial results of our “Core” business separately from Home. On October 2, 2023, we entered into a Call Option Agreement with Vantiva SA, a société anonyme organized under the Laws of France (Vantiva), pursuant to which we granted Vantiva a binding call option to acquire our Home segment and substantially all of the associated segment assets and liabilities (Home business), which was subsequently exercised and a Purchase Agreement signed on December 7, 2023. The transaction closed on January 9, 2024.

We determined the anticipated sale of our Home business met the “held for sale” criteria and the “discontinued operations” criteria in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) No. 360-10, Impairment and Disposal of Long Lived Assets, and ASC No. 205-20, Presentation of Financial Statements: Discontinued Operations in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to its relative size and strategic rationale. For all periods presented, amounts have been recast to reflect the discontinuation of our Home business in accordance with ASC 205-20. Unless otherwise noted, the following discussions relate solely to our continuing operations. For further discussion of the discontinued operation related to our Home business, see Note 3 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in the Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The results of our recast continuing operations do not align with our historical “Core” measures, which excluded the Home segment. Our continuing operations results include general corporate costs that were previously allocated to the Home segment. These indirect costs, reflected on the corporate and other line item within our segment information below, are classified as continuing operations, since they were not directly attributable to the discontinued operations of the Home segment. In future years, these costs will be reallocated to our remaining segments and will be at least partially offset by income from our transition services agreement with Vantiva or eliminated with future restructuring actions.

As a result of the divestiture of the Home business, we are now reporting financial performance based on the following remaining four operating segments, which excludes our Home segment: Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS), Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN), Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS) and Access Network Solutions (ANS). For all periods presented, amounts have been recast to reflect these operating segment changes.

Impacts of Current Economic Conditions

In 2023, macroeconomic factors such as higher interest rates and concerns about continued inflation and a global economic slow-down softened demand for our products, with certain customers reducing purchases as they right-sized their inventories and others pausing capital spending. This negatively impacted net sales in our CCS, OWN and ANS segments for the year ended December 31, 2023 and may continue to have a material negative impact on net sales into at least the first half of 2024. Conversely, in our NICS segment, we saw higher demand and favorable pricing impacts that partially offset the impact of lower demand in our other segments for the full year of 2023. However, NICS segment net sales were down in the fourth quarter of 2023 as we saw order rates decline as channel partners paused to digest inventory.

We saw lower input costs across most of our segments as inflation settled during the year. We proactively implemented cost savings initiatives that favorably impacted our profitability for the year ended December 31, 2023 and should enable us to take advantage of the expected recovery in demand in the second half of 2024. If the expected recovery in demand of our products does not occur in 2024, our outlook will be materially impacted.

For more discussion on risks related to our customers, see Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 with the year ended December 31, 2022

Net sales