Spok Holdings, Inc - FORM 10-K

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EX-32.2 - EXHIBIT 32.2 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kcfosoxcertificatio.htm
EX-32.1 - EXHIBIT 32.1 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kceosoxcertificatio.htm
EX-31.2 - EXHIBIT 31.2 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kcfocertification-e.htm
EX-31.1 - EXHIBIT 31.1 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kceocertification-e.htm
EX-23 - EXHIBIT 23 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kauditorconsent-ex23.htm
EX-21 - EXHIBIT 21 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710ksubsidiarieschart-.htm
EX-10.16 - EXHIBIT 10.16 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kltip2018redacted-e.htm
EX-10.15 - EXHIBIT 10.15 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kstip2018redacted-e.htm
EX-10.13 - EXHIBIT 10.13 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kstip2017unredacted.htm
EX-10.10 - EXHIBIT 10.10 - Spok Holdings, Inc	a201710kltip2015unredacted.htm

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)



x	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2017



¨	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number 001-32358

SPOK HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



DELAWARE		16-1694797
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

6850 Versar Center, Suite 420 Springfield, Virginia		22151-4148
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

(800) 611-8488

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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



Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share		NASDAQ National Market^®

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 x

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 x

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 for 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 x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted 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 and post such files). YES x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

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.



Large accelerated filer	¨	Accelerated filer	x

Non-accelerated filer	¨ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)	Smaller reporting company	¨

		Emerging growth company	¨

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 is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). YES ¨ NO x

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $348.1 million based on the closing price of $17.43 per share on the NASDAQ National Market^® on June 30, 2017.

The number of shares of registrant’s common stock outstanding on February 26, 2018 was 20,018,377.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the registrant, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A no later than May 1, 2018, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS





	Part I

Item 1.	Business	4
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	13
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	19
Item 2.	Properties	20
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	20
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	20

	Part II

Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	21
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	25
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Statement of Operations	25
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	36
Item 8	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	37
Item 9.	Changes In and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	37
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	37
Item 9B.	Other Information	38

	Part III

Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	39
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	39
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	39
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	39
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	39

	Part IV

Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	40
Signatures		41

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Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements and information relating to Spok Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Spok” or the “Company”) that set forth anticipated results based on management’s current plans, known trends and assumptions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “target,” “forecast” and similar expressions, as they relate to Spok are forward-looking statements.

Although these statements are based upon current plans, known trends and assumptions that management considers reasonable, they are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including but not limited to the following:


•	Continuing decline in the number of paging units we have in service with customers, commensurate with a continuing decline in our wireless revenue


•	The sales cycle of our software solutions and services can run from six to eighteen months, making it difficult to plan for and meet our sales objectives and bookings on a steady basis quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year


•	Our ability to manage network rationalization to lower our costs without causing disruption of service to our customers


•	Our ability to design and develop an integrated critical communications platform to address mobile communications, clinical alerting, nursing and workflow functions at state of the art hospitals that gains market acceptance and wide-spread use by customers


•	Our ability to address changing market conditions with new or revised software solutions


•	Our ability to retain key management personnel and to attract and retain talent within the organization


•	Our ability to manage change related to regulation, including laws and regulations affecting hospitals and the healthcare industry generally


•	Competition for our services and products from new technologies or those offered and/or developed from firms that are substantially larger and have much greater financial and human capital resources


•	The reliability of our networks and servers and our ability to prevent cyber-attacks and other security issues and disruptions


•	Unauthorized breaches or failures in cybersecurity measures adopted by us and/or included in our products and services


•	Those matters discussed in this Annual Report under Item 1A “Risk Factors.”

Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, known trends change, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results or outcomes may differ materially from past results and those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, targeted or forecasted. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to consult all further disclosures the Company makes in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K that it will file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Also note that, in the risk factors section, the Company provides a cautionary discussion of risks, uncertainties and possibly inaccurate assumptions relevant to its business. These are factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from past results as well as those results that may be anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, targeted or forecasted. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risk factors. Consequently, investors should not consider the risk factor discussion to be a complete discussion of all of the potential risks or uncertainties that could affect Spok’s business, statement of operations or financial condition, subsequent to the filing of this Annual Report.

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PART I

The terms "we," "us," "our," "Company" and "Spok" refer to Spok Holdings, Inc. and its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), is proud to be the global leader in healthcare communications. We deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most to improve patient outcomes. Top hospitals rely on the Spok Care Connect suite to enhance workflows for clinicians, support administrative compliance, and provide a better experience for patients. Our customers send over 100 million messages each month through their Spok solutions.

Our headquarters is located at 6850 Versar Center, Suite 420, Springfield, Virginia 22151, and our telephone number is 800-611-8488. We maintain an Internet website at http://www.spok.com. (This website address is for information only and is not intended to be an active link or to incorporate any website information into this 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K ("2017 Form 10-K").)

We are a provider of paging services and selected software solutions in the United States and abroad, on a limited basis, in Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. We offer our services and products to three major market segments: healthcare, government, and large enterprise, with a greater emphasis on the healthcare market segment.

Industry Overview

We deliver smart, reliable critical communication solutions to help protect the health, well-being, and safety of people around the globe, primarily in the United States. Our customers rely on Spok for workflow improvement, secure texting, paging services, contact center optimization, and public safety response.

We develop, sell, and support enterprise-wide systems primarily for healthcare and other organizations needing to automate, centralize, and standardize their approach to critical communications. Our solutions can be found in prominent hospitals; large government agencies; leading public safety institutions, colleges and universities; large hotels, resorts and casinos; and well-known manufacturers.

Due to the focused nature of our software solutions there is no single competitor that matches our portfolio (additional details can be found under “Competition”). Our primary market is healthcare providers, particularly hospitals. We have identified hospitals with 200 or more beds as the primary targets for our software solutions as well as our paging services. Within this market we have identified the following dynamics and have focused our efforts to address these dynamics:


•	a heightened awareness of the ubiquitous, critical role of communications in healthcare;


•	an increased focus within hospitals on quality of care and patient safety initiatives;


•	the importance of confidentiality when sharing information;


•	increased regulations that may result in process changes, increased documentation and reporting and increased costs;


•	a continuing focus within hospitals to reduce labor and administrative costs while increasing productivity; and


•	a broader proliferation of information technology in healthcare as hospitals strive to apply technology to solve their business problems.

Sales and Marketing

Sales. We market and distribute our critical communication solutions through a direct sales force and an indirect sales channel.

The direct sales force contracts or sells products, solutions, messaging services and other services directly to customers ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to companies in the Fortune 1000; healthcare and related businesses; and Federal, state, and local government agencies. We will continue to market primarily to commercial enterprises, with a focus on healthcare organizations, interested in our communication solutions. We maintain a sales presence in key markets throughout the United States, and in limited markets internationally including our European-Middle East-Africa ("EMEA") and Asia-Pacific ("APAC") sales teams, in an effort to gain new customers and to retain and increase sales to existing customers. We also maintain several corporate sales groups, such as our Key Account Management team, focused on retaining and selling additional products and services to our key healthcare accounts as well as a team selling primarily to national accounts. The direct sales force targets leadership responsible for the procurement of critical communications solutions such as chief information officers, chief technology officers, chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, information technology directors, telecommunications directors, and contact center managers. The timing for a direct sale varies, but may take from six to 18 months depending on the type and scope of software solution.

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The indirect sales force complements our direct sales force. Through relationships with alliance partners we are able to sell our solutions to a wider customer base. For paging services that we do not provide directly, we contract with and invoice an intermediary for airtime services. For our software sales, our relationships with alliance partners assist us in broadening the distribution of our products and further diversifying into markets outside healthcare.

Marketing. We have a centralized marketing function, which is focused on supporting our solutions and sales efforts by strengthening our corporate brand, generating sales leads, and facilitating the sales process. Our principal marketing programs include:


•	Content marketing (eBriefs, case studies, brochures, videos, infographics, and more) as an underlying foundation of all marketing campaigns or initiatives;


•	Website development and maintenance, which provides product and Company information, customer support options, paging capabilities, as well as thought leadership and engagement;


•	Participation at trade shows and industry events, such as Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems, American Organization of Nurse Executives, Becker's Healthcare Conference, and many other Healthcare Information technology related shows and conferences;


•	Webinars about customer success, current industry trends, and our solutions;


•	Social media involvement to provide information regarding upcoming educational events or new product offerings;


•	Industry analyst relationships;


•	Newsletters and blog posts to provide information about industry trends and our solutions to customers, prospects, and alliances; and


•	Annual customer conferences that solicit feedback on our solutions and services.

Licenses and Messaging Networks

In order to provide our wireless services, we hold licenses to operate on various frequencies in the 900 MHz narrowband. We are licensed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) to operate Commercial Mobile Radio Services (“CMRS”). These licenses are required to provide one-way and two-way messaging services over our networks.

We operate local, regional and nationwide one-way networks, which enable subscribers to receive messages over a desired geographic area. One-way networks operating in 900 MHz frequency bands utilize the FLEX™ protocol developed by Motorola Mobility, Inc. (“Motorola”). The FLEX™ protocol has advantages of functioning at higher network speeds (which increases the volume of messages that can be transmitted over the network) and of having more robust error correction (which facilitates message delivery to a device with fewer transmission errors).

Our two-way networks utilize the ReFLEX 25™ protocol, also developed by Motorola. ReFLEX 25™ promotes spectrum efficiency and high network capacity by dividing coverage areas into zones and sub-zones. Messages are directed to the zone or sub-zone where the subscriber is located, allowing the same frequency to be reused to carry different traffic in other zones or sub-zones. As a result, the ReFLEX 25™ protocol allows the two-way network to transmit substantially more messages than a one-way network using the FLEX™ protocols. The two-way network also provides for assured message delivery. The network stores, for a limited amount of time, messages that could not be delivered to a device that is out of coverage for any reason, and when the unit returns to service, those messages are delivered. The two-way paging network operates under a set of licenses called narrowband Personal Communications Service, which uses 900 MHz frequencies. These licenses require certain minimum five and ten-year build-out commitments established by the FCC, which have been satisfied.

Although the capacities of our networks vary by geographic area, we have excess capacity at a consolidated level. We have implemented a plan to manage network capacity and to improve overall network efficiency by consolidating subscribers onto fewer, higher capacity networks with increased transmission speeds. This plan is referred to as network rationalization. Network rationalization will result in fewer networks and therefore fewer transmitter locations, which we believe will result in lower operating expenses due primarily to lower site rent expenses. As we continue to implement our network rationalization plan, we expect to have fewer transmitters that can be removed efficiently from our networks and still maintain the level of service required for our customers, and thus the benefits of network rationalization will decline. Our messaging networks and related infrastructure are located exclusively in the United States.

Generally, our software solutions do not require licenses or permits from Federal, state and/or local government agencies in order to be sold to customers. However, certain of our software products are subject to regulation by the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") and are subject to certification by the Joint Interoperability Test Command to be sold to the branches of the armed services of the Unite States and the United States government. (see “Regulation” below).

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Our Strategy

Our goal is to continue to execute on our vision of integrated communications and collaboration enterprise solutions. In doing so, we will strengthen our core product offerings and offer new solutions as we continue to focus on serving the mission critical needs of our customers, while operating an efficient and profitable business strategy.

Critical aspects of our strategy include:

Growth of our software revenue and bookings — We expect to continue to substantially increase our investment in sales and marketing, product implementation, product development and customer support to drive software, services and maintenance bookings and revenue growth. We will continue to focus our sales and marketing efforts in the healthcare market in order to identify opportunities for sales and close those opportunities in the form of bookings. We have established software revenue and software operations bookings as key performance objectives for our consolidated operations in 2018.

We have an ongoing initiative to further penetrate the hospital segment in the United States and while we believe there is a significant opportunity to sell critical communication solutions to hospitals located outside the United States our focus is on the domestic market. We intend to leverage the strength of our market presence and the breadth of our product offerings to further expand our customer base in healthcare.

Retention of our wireless subscribers and revenue stream — We will continue to focus on reducing the rate of subscriber disconnects and minimize the rate of wireless revenue erosion. We continue to have a valuable wireless presence in the healthcare market, particularly in larger hospitals. We offer a comprehensive suite of wireless messaging products and services focused on healthcare and “campus” type environments and critical mission notification. We will continue to focus on network reliability and customer service to help minimize the rate of subscriber disconnects. We have established wireless revenue as a key performance objective for our consolidated operations in 2018.

We recognize that the number of our wireless subscribers, our units in service and the related revenue will continue to decline. We intend to continue reducing our underlying cost structure impacting this wireless revenue stream. We will reduce payroll and related expenses as well as network related expenses as necessary in light of the declining wireless revenue. We will integrate and consolidate operations as necessary to ensure the lowest cost operational platform for our consolidated business. We have established operating and capital expenditures as a key performance objective for our consolidated operations in 2018.

Invest in our future solutions — The market for communication and collaboration solutions is expected to grow as healthcare continues to change. Focus on patient satisfaction, population health management, reimbursement changes and emphasis on quality improvement and care coordination are all driving an evolution in communication and collaboration between previously disparate departments and systems within and outside hospitals and across the healthcare ecosystem. Maintaining our position as a leader in healthcare communication and collaboration requires us to continue development of our integrated platform and invest in the key areas of customer need including: 1) mobility, 2) integrated platform, 3) nursing and physician solutions and 4) alerting. We will continue to increase our spending on product development and strategy in 2018 and beyond to develop these solutions and compete in the changing marketplace. Investment in our future solutions is discussed in further detail under "Research and Development". We have established specific product development related activities as a key performance objective for our consolidated operations in 2018.

Return capital to our stockholders — We understand that our primary objective is to create long-term stockholder value. We will continue to evaluate how best to deploy our capital resources to support sustainable business growth and maximize stockholder value. We expect to continue to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock or $0.50 annually in 2018. We will continue to evaluate both market and Company factors to determine whether a common stock repurchase program is an appropriate method to return capital to our stockholders.

Long-term revenue growth through business diversification — We believe that add-on acquisitions of companies or technologies could be an important part of our future growth. We believe add-on acquisitions of complementary companies or technologies in the healthcare market could enhance our position with current customers and expand our overall addressable markets. Rapidly and successfully integrating strategic acquisitions and improving operational efficiencies is a focus of our management team. Given the nature of our solutions, new technologies can be integrated to accelerate cross-selling opportunities. We evaluate these potential businesses or technologies to determine if they can be acquired at a reasonable valuation and will be profitably accretive and accelerate our revenue goals.

To ensure focus on our business strategy we establish specific performance objectives and develop short-term and long-term incentive plans (“STIP” and "LTIP," respectively) for our management that include a combination of these operating objectives and priorities.

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Our Products and Services

Wireless Products and related Services. We offer subscriptions to one-way or two-way messaging services for a periodic (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual) service fee. The level of service fees is generally based upon the type of service provided, the geographic area covered, the number of devices provided to the customer and the period of commitment. A subscriber to one-way messaging services may select coverage on a local, regional, or nationwide basis to best meet their messaging needs. Two-way messaging is generally offered on a nationwide basis. In addition, subscribers either contract for a messaging device from us for an additional fixed monthly fee or they own a device, having purchased it either from us or from another vendor. We also sell devices to resellers who lease or resell them to their subscribers and then sell messaging services utilizing our networks. We offer ancillary services, such as voicemail and equipment loss or maintenance protection, which help increase the monthly recurring revenue we receive along with these traditional messaging services. In 2015 and 2016 we launched new and exclusive one-way (T5) and two-way (T52) alphanumeric pagers, respectively. Both pagers are configurable to support un-encrypted or encrypted operation. When configured for encryption, they utilize AES-128 bit encryption, screen locking and remote wipe capabilities. With encryption enabled these new secure paging devices enhance our service offerings to the healthcare community by adding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") security capabilities to the low cost, highly reliable and availability benefits of paging.

The demand for one-way and two-way messaging services declined during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 and we believe demand will continue to decline for the foreseeable future. Wireless products and services revenue represented 59%, 61% and 63% of total consolidated revenue for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. As demand for one-way and two-way messaging has declined, we have developed or added service offerings in order to increase our revenue potential and mitigate the decline in our wireless revenues. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to provide customers the highest value possible.

Software. Dependable critical communications are paramount for individuals in healthcare and a host of other industries. We offer a number of solutions, providing our customers with the ability to communicate anywhere, anytime across a number of situations. Our solutions are used for contact centers, clinical alerting and notification, mobile communications and messaging, and for public safety notifications. We offer critical communication solutions in four major product categories:

Contact Center

•

Spok® Healthcare Console: Provides operators with the information needed to process calls using their computers, with just a few keystrokes. This solution integrates with the customers’ existing phone systems and is used by the operator group to answer incoming calls to the contact center. Operators can quickly and accurately perform directory searches and code calls, as well as messaging and paging by individual, groups, and roles using the Spok Healthcare Console’s computer telephony integration ("CTI") and directory capabilities.


•	Spok® Web-Based Directory: Makes employee contact information more accessible and enables staff to send messages quickly right from the directory. Authenticated users can log on anywhere, anytime to perform a variety of important updates to contact information and on-call schedules, search the directory, and send important messages.


•	Spok® Web-Based On-Call Scheduling: Keeps personnel, calendars and on-call scheduling information updated, even with thousands of staff, using a secure web portal to maintain and allow password-protected access to the latest on-call schedules and personnel information.


•	Spok® Speech: Enables the organization to process routine phone requests, including transfers, directory assistance, messaging and paging without live operators and with more ease-of-use than touchtone menus.


•	Spok® Call Recording and Quality Management: Records, monitors, and scores operators’ conversations to allow for better management of calls, helping improve customer service.

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Clinical Alerting

•

Spok® Messenger: Provides an intelligent, FDA, 510(k)-cleared solution that connects virtually all crucial alert systems, including nurse call, fire, security, patient monitoring, and building management to mobile staff via their wireless communication devices. This solution provides the ability to reach mobile team members within seconds of an alert, improving overall workflow, staff productivity, and the comfort and safety of everyone in the facility.


•	Spok® e.Notify: Enables organizations to quickly and reliably notify and confirm team member availability during emergency situations without relying on calling trees, thereby reducing confusion that may arise in an emergency situation. This solution automatically delivers messages, collects responses, escalates issues to others, and logs all activities for reporting and analysis purposes.

•

Spok® Critical Test Results Management: Automates and streamlines the process of delivering critical test results to the right clinicians to help ensure patient safety. This solution can send messages from the cardiology, laboratory and radiology departments by means of encrypted smartphone communications, two-way paging, secure email, secure text, images, annotations, and voice to a variety of endpoints such as workstations, laptops, tablets, smartphones, pagers, and other wireless devices.

Mobile Communications

•

Spok Mobile®: Simplifies communications and strengthens care by using smartphones and tablets for secure code alerts, patient updates, results, consult requests, and much more. Allows users to access the full directory of accurate contact information to send messages/photos/videos to smartphones and other devices, and to ensure critical communications are logged, all with security, traceability, and reliability.


•	Spok® Device Preference Engine: Facilitates voice conversations among doctors and caregivers by enabling users to choose the desired communication method based on factors such as message priority.

Public Safety

•

Spok® pc/psap: Speeds emergency dispatch by giving Public Safety Answering Point ("PSAP") call-takers an easy-to-use, standards-based, graphical interface that integrates the underlying phone system, mapping systems, and other resources for critical information availability. 9-1-1 call-takers are able to instantly involve police, fire, EMT, and hazardous material personnel with a single click of the mouse or touch of the screen.


•	Spok® Enterprise Alert: Directs emergency personnel to a 9-1-1 caller’s exact location (building, floor, room), helping to ensure speed, accuracy, and reliability of response. The E9-1-1 software provides real-time, onsite notification when 9-1-1 is dialed, and works to decrease emergency response time.

Services. We offer a variety of professional services to assist our customers in the successful implementation of, and to maximize the benefits obtained from the use of, our software solutions. We also offer support services to enhance and refine the customers experience throughout their relationship with Spok.

•

Professional Services: We offer a full suite of professional services which are provided by a dedicated group of professional service employees. Our professional services include consultation, implementation, and training services. For software solution implementations, our professional services staff uses a branded, consistent methodology that provides a comprehensive phased work plan for both new software installations and/or upgrades. In support of our implementation methodology, we manage the various aspects of the process through a professional services automation tool. We may also use third-party professional services firms to implement our solutions for customers depending on the circumstances. Professional services revenue represented 10% of total consolidated revenue for each of the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015.

•

Software License Updates and Product Support (Maintenance): Software license updates and product support, which is generally referred to as maintenance when sold to customers, is an important offering to customers who utilize our software solutions. In order to support our products that provide mission critical solutions to our customer’s organizations, we have a dedicated customer support organization. The customer support organization provides support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and the service can be accessed via telephone, email or the Internet via the Spok webpage. The Spok support service is augmented by third party services where needed. Software license updates and product support are generally priced together as a percentage of the software licenses for which these services will be provided. Largely all of our customers purchase maintenance when they purchase new software licenses after which renewals generally occur on an annual basis and are paid in advance. Software license updates provide customers with rights to unspecified product upgrades as well as maintenance and patch releases that are released during the term of the support period. Software license updates and product support revenue (i.e. maintenance revenue) represented 23%, 21% and 18% of total consolidated revenue for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively.

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Sources of Equipment

We do not manufacture the messaging devices our customers need to take advantage of our services or the network equipment we use to provide messaging services. We have relationships with several vendors to purchase new messaging devices. Used messaging devices are available in the secondary market from various sources. We believe existing inventory, returns of devices from customers that canceled services, and purchases from other available sources of new and reconditioned devices will be sufficient to meet expected messaging device requirements for the foreseeable future. We negotiate contractual terms with our vendors that do not directly relate to the manufacturing of the network equipment or messaging devices. The network equipment and messaging devices are generic on which we may place our logo or label.

We sell third party equipment for use with our software solutions. The third party equipment that we sell is generally available and does not require any specialty manufacturing to accommodate our software solutions.

We currently have inventory and network equipment on hand that we believe will be sufficient to meet our wireless and software equipment requirements for the foreseeable future.

Intellectual Property

As of December 31, 2017, we held 66 trademarks and 19 patents which we believe are important to protect our intellectual property. We believe our intellectual property distinguishes our business from our competition and are integral to our continued success in the area of critical communication solutions. The expiration dates of these trademarks range from 2018 to 2032 and can be extended for 10 year periods upon renewals.

Customers

Our customers include businesses and employees who need to be accessible to their offices or customers, first responders who need to be accessible in emergencies, and third parties, such as other telecommunication carriers and resellers that pay our Company to use our networks. Customers include businesses, professionals, management personnel, medical personnel, field sales personnel and service forces, members of the construction industry and construction trades, real estate brokers and developers, sales and services organizations, specialty trade organizations, manufacturing organizations and government agencies.

We offer our communication services and products primarily in the United States and to three major market segments: healthcare, government and large enterprise, but with a greater emphasis on the healthcare market segment. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, revenues from healthcare customers accounted for approximately 74.6%, 70.3% and 68.2% of our total revenues, respectively. We expect the trend of an increasing percentage of our total revenue to come from the health care segment to continue, even as our total revenue declines due to our subscriber erosion from our wireless services. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our total revenues in 2017, 2016 or 2015. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, foreign sales represented approximately 2.6%, 3.2% and 2.0% of our consolidated revenue, respectively.

We pursue close, long-term relationships with our customers because we believe strong customer relationships enable us to retain our current customer base and expand our services and revenue to that customer base.

Backlog

Our backlog of undelivered or in-progress orders was $42.3 million and $38.3 million at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Of the current backlog we expect to deliver and complete all but $6.9 million in 2018.

Competition

The competitors and degree of competition vary among our various product categories. Competition is particularly strong for our wireless messaging services. Within the wireless industry, companies compete on the basis of price, coverage area, services offered, transmission quality, network reliability, and customer service. We compete by maintaining competitive pricing for our products and services, by providing broad coverage options through high-quality, reliable messaging networks and by providing quality customer service. Direct competitors for wireless messaging services include American Messaging Service, LLC and a variety of other regional and local providers. We also compete with a broad array of wireless messaging services provided by mobile telephone companies, including AT&T Mobility LLC, Sprint Nextel Corporation, T-Mobile USA, Inc., and Verizon Wireless, Inc. This competition has intensified as prices for the services of mobile telephone companies have declined and as those companies have incorporated messaging capabilities into their mobile phone devices. Many of these companies possess far greater financial, technical and other resources than we do.

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Most Personal Communications Service and other mobile phone devices currently sold in the United States are capable of sending and receiving one-way and two-way messages. Most subscribers that purchase these services no longer need to subscribe to a separate messaging service. As a result, many one-way and two-way messaging subscribers can readily switch to cellular, Personal Communications Service and other mobile telephone services. The decrease in prices and increase in capacity and functionality for cellular, Personal Communications Service, WiFi, and other mobile telephone services have led many subscribers to select combined voice and messaging services from mobile telephone companies as an alternative to our stand-alone messaging services.

We also have a number of competitors whose software products compete with one or more modules of our critical communications solutions. These competitors are a mix of privately held and public companies that offer a number of call center, alerting and mobile communication products. Our primary competitive advantages include having:


•	An integrated product suite;


•	A communication-driven workflow;


•	Certifications, such as those through the Joint Interoperability Test Command (See "Joint Interoperability Test Command" below) and the FDA; and


•	A complete directory of contacts throughout the customer enterprise.

Although there are no competitors that offer a similar comprehensive set of software modules that match our product offerings, there are several competitors who offer software similar to many of our solutions. Selected competitors for portions of our product portfolio include:


•	Amtel Communications, Inc. (AMTELCO) - Contact center solutions;


•	Nuance Communications, Inc. - Clinical alerting solutions;


•	peerVue, Inc. - Clinical alerting solutions;


•	TigerText, Inc. - Mobile communication solutions;


•	Vocera Communications, Inc. (including Extension Healthcare)- Mobile communications solutions;


•	Imprivata, Inc. - Mobile communications solutions;


•	Voalte, Inc. - Mobile communications solutions;


•	Ascom Holding AG - Mobile Communications solutions;


•	Emergin, a Phillips Healthcare company - Alerting and notification;


•	DBA HipLink Software, Inc. - Mobile communications solutions; and


•	Veriphy Ltd - Critical test results management.

In addition, substantially larger companies in the electronic medical records ("EMR") space such as Epic Systems Corporation, Cerner Corporation, Athenahealth, Inc. and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. may choose to offer software related solutions similar to our critical communications and work flow solutions, or may acquire one of our competitors.

Research and Development ("R&D")

We maintain a product development group, a substantial portion of which is focused on developing new software products, especially with respect to developing an integrated platform for communications solutions and additional enhancements. Within our Research and Development group is a separate task force focused on ongoing maintenance and enhancement of existing point-solution products. Our product development group uses a methodology that balances enhancement requests from a number of sources including customers, regulatory requirements, the professional services staff, customer support incidents, known defects, market and technology trends, and competitive requirements. These requests are reviewed and prioritized based on criteria that include the potential for increased revenue, customer/employee satisfaction, possible cost savings and development time and expense.

We continue to focus our product development activities on developing our unified communications solution, Spok Care Connect®. This unified communication solution focuses on four key areas of customer need: mobility offerings, an integrated platform, alerting, and nursing solutions. The development of Spok Care Connect requires a multi-year effort by a dedicated product development staff and will be deployed in multiple phases which include planned development and enhancements. We believe that development of the Spok Care Connect platform will drive long-term stockholder value and play an important role in determining the future success of our strategy.

Our expenses for research and development for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were $18.7 million, $13.5 million, and $10.3 million, respectively, and we expect our research and development expenses to continue to grow throughout 2018. We plan to continue to invest in our research and development efforts to build a fully integrated communications and workflow platform for hospitals focused on mobility, critical alerting, and nursing care with full enterprise accessibility.

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Employees

At December 31, 2017 and 2016 we had 596 and 587 full time equivalent (“FTE”) employees, respectively. Our employees are not represented by labor unions or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that our employee relations are good.

Regulation

Federal Regulation

The FCC issues licenses to use radio frequencies necessary to conduct our business and regulate many aspects of the operations that support our wireless revenue. Licenses granted to us by the FCC have varying terms, generally of up to ten years, at which time the FCC must approve renewal applications. In the past, FCC renewal applications generally have been granted upon showing compliance with FCC regulations and adequate service to the public. Other than those still pending, the FCC has thus far granted each license renewal that we have requested.

The Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the “Communications Act”), requires radio licensees, including us, to obtain prior approval from the FCC for the assignment or transfer of control of any construction permit or station license or authorization of any rights thereunder. The FCC has thus far granted each assignment or transfer request we have made in connection with a change of control.

The Communications Act also places limitations on foreign ownership of CMRS licenses, which constitute the majority of our licenses. These foreign ownership restrictions limit the percentage of stockholders’ equity that may be owned or voted, directly or indirectly, by non-United States citizens or their representatives, foreign governments or their representatives, or foreign corporations. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation permits the redemption of our equity from stockholders where necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements.

The FCC’s rules and regulations require us to pay a variety of fees that otherwise increase our costs of doing business. For example, the FCC requires licensees, including Spok, to pay levies and fees, such as universal service fees, to cover the costs of certain regulatory programs and to promote various other societal goals. These requirements increase the cost of the services provided. By law, we are permitted to bill our customers for these regulatory costs and we typically do so.

Additionally, the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act of 1994, (“CALEA”) and certain rules implementing CALEA require some telecommunication companies, including Spok, to design and/or modify their equipment in order to allow law enforcement personnel to “wiretap” or otherwise intercept messages. Other regulatory requirements restrict how we may use customer information and prohibit certain commercial electronic messages, even to our own customers.

In addition, the FCC’s rules require us to pay other carriers for the transport and termination of some telecommunication traffic. As a result of various FCC decisions over the last few years, we no longer pay fees for the termination of traffic originating on the networks of local exchange carriers providing wireline services interconnected with our services. In some instances, we received refunds for prior payments to certain local exchange carriers. We have entered into a number of interconnection agreements with local exchange carriers in order to resolve various issues regarding charges imposed by local exchange carriers for interconnection.

Failure to follow the FCC’s rules and regulations can result in a variety of penalties, ranging from monetary fines to the loss of licenses. Additionally, the FCC has the authority to modify licenses, or impose additional requirements through changes to its rules.

The FDA has determined software systems that connect to medical devices are subject to regulation as medical devices as defined by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (“the FDC Act”). Since our middleware software products connect to medical devices, we are required to comply with the FDC Act’s requirements, including but not limited to: registration and listing, labeling, medical device reporting (reporting of medical device-related adverse events), removal and correction, and good manufacturing practice requirements. We have complied with the regulatory requirements of the FDC Act, and registered and received the necessary clearances for our products. As we modify and/or enhance our software products (including our middleware product), we may be required to request FDA clearance before we are permitted to market these products.

In addition, our software solutions may handle or have access to personal health information subject in the United States to the HIPAA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), and related regulations. These statutes and related regulations impose numerous requirements regarding the use and disclosure of personal health information with which we help our customers comply. Our failure to accurately anticipate or interpret these complex and technical laws could subject us to civil and/or criminal liability. We believe that we are in compliance with these laws and their related regulations.

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Although these and other regulatory requirements have not, to date, had a material adverse effect on our operating results, such requirements could have a material impact on our operating results in the future. We monitor discussions at the FCC and FDA on pending changes in regulatory policy or regulations; however, we are unable to predict what changes, if any, may occur in 2018 to regulatory policy or regulations.

State Regulation

As a result of the enactment by the United States Congress of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (“OBRA”) in August 1993, states are now generally preempted from exercising rate or entry regulation over any of our operations. States are not preempted, however, from regulating “other terms and conditions” of our operations, including consumer protection and similar rules of general applicability. Zoning requirements are also generally permissible, however, provisions of the OBRA prohibit local zoning authorities from unreasonably restricting wireless services. States that regulate our services also may require us to obtain prior approval of (1) the acquisition of controlling interests in other paging companies and (2) a change of control.

At this time, we are not aware of any proposed state legislation or regulations that would have a material adverse impact on our business.

Joint Interoperability Test Command ("JITC") Certification

JITC is a military organization that tests technology for use by the branches of the armed services of the United States and the United States federal government. JITC certification is required of all systems with joint interfaces or joint information exchanges with other systems used by these organizations and is done to ensure all systems operate effectively together. All information technology and national security systems that exchange and use information to enable units or forces to operate effectively in joint, combined, coalition and interagency operations and simulations must be certified. Once a system has been certified under this program, the certification must be renewed every four years or after any changes that may affect interoperability. The interoperability certification process consists of four basic steps, which are:


•	Identify (interoperability) requirements;


•	Develop certification approach (planning);


•	Perform interoperability test and evaluation; and


•	Report certifications and statuses.

We submit and receive JITC certification for certain of our products through the Defense Information Systems Agency ("DISC"), which allows us to sell and implement our solutions at federal government agencies. We currently certify a console, web, speech, mass notification, public safety answering point, call recording and campus 911 product with JITC. We have a roadmap to renew the existing certifications with new releases of existing products and to bring additional products to JITC to increase the products that can be sold into Federal agencies.

Information about Segment and Geographic Revenue

Information regarding segment and geographic revenue can be found in Note 11, "Segments and Geographic Information". No country other than the United States accounted for more than 10% of our total revenue, and we intend to focus our marketing and sales efforts on customers in the United States due to lower margins on sales abroad and low volume relative to the cost of maintaining an international sales team. Financial information regarding revenues from external customers and measure of profit and/or loss for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, and our total assets as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, are included in our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Available Information

We make available on our website at http://www.spok.com, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. We also make available on our website, and in print, if any stockholder or other person so requests, our code of business conduct and ethics entitled “Code of Ethics” which is applicable to all employees and directors, our “Corporate Governance Guidelines” and the charters for all committees of our Board of Directors, including Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance and Nominating. Any changes to our Code of Ethics or waiver, if any, of our Code of Ethics for executive officers or directors will be posted on that website.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following important factors, among others, could cause our actual operating results to differ materially from those indicated or suggested by forward-looking statements made in this 2017 Form 10-K or presented elsewhere by management from time to time.

The rate of wireless subscriber and revenue erosion could exceed our ability to reduce operating expenses in order to maintain overall positive operating cash flow.

Our wireless revenue is dependent on the number of subscribers that use our paging devices. Our customers may not renew their subscriptions after the expiration of their subscription agreements. In addition, our customers may opt for a lower-priced edition of our offerings or for fewer subscriptions. We have limited historical data with respect to rates of customer subscription renewals, so we cannot accurately predict customer renewal rates. Our customers’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including their level of satisfaction with our offerings and their ability to continue their operations and spending levels. Increasing awareness and concern over HIPAA/HITECH compliance is causing healthcare organizations, our largest customer segment, to re-evaluate paging subscriptions for clinical use cases when users are not equipped with our encrypted pager offerings.

We face intense competition for subscribers from other paging service providers and alternate wireless communications providers such as mobile phone and mobile data service providers. There is a risk that our competitors’ products may provide better performance or include additional features when compared to our offerings. Competitive pressures could also affect the prices we may charge or the demand for our offerings, resulting in reduced profit margins and loss of market share. Our efforts to compete effectively may not be sufficient, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

In addition to competition, our customer base may be impacted by the introduction of new technologies. As mobile communications technology evolves, competitors that provide wireless broadband data services may lower their prices to customers that approach, meet or undercut our prices for paging services. We are unable to predict how customer perceptions of the value of our wireless services will be impacted by the development of new wireless technologies. Our continued success will depend on our ability to adapt to rapidly changing technologies and user preferences, to adapt our offerings to evolving industry standards, to predict user preferences and industry changes in order to continue to provide value to our customers and to improve the performance and reliability of our offerings. Our failure to adapt to such changes could harm our business, and our efforts to adapt to such changes could require substantial expenditures on our part to modify our offerings or infrastructure. Delays in developing, completing or delivering new or enhanced offerings and technologies could result in delayed or reduced revenue for those offerings and could also adversely affect customer acceptance of those offerings and technologies. Even if we are able to enhance our existing offerings or introduce new offerings that are well perceived by the market, if our marketing or sales efforts do not generate interest in or sales for these offerings, they may be unsuccessful.

We expect our subscriber numbers, units in service and revenue will continue to decline into the foreseeable future. As this revenue erosion continues, maintaining positive cash flow is dependent on substantial and timely reductions in selected operating expenses. Reductions in operating expenses require both the reduction of internal costs and negotiation of lower costs from outside vendors. As we require fewer services and products from our vendors, our negotiating leverage to lower our costs is diminished. There can be no assurance that we will be able to reduce our operating expenses commensurate with the level of revenue erosion. The inability to reduce operating expenses would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and statement of income including our continued ability to remain profitable, produce positive operating cash flow, continue our research and development investment in our Spok Care Connect platform, pay cash dividends to stockholders, and repurchase shares of our common stock.

We may be unable to effectively develop, introduce and deploy our integrated communications platform, Spok Care Connect, which is the basis for our future growth.

Our future revenue growth depends on our ability to develop, introduce and effectively deploy our integrated communications suite. This multi-year effort will require the coordination of multiple development teams dedicated to this task. Simultaneously with this new development effort, we must continue to improve and support our existing suite of products to transition to the integrated critical communications suite. We foresee the following risks inherent in our research and product development efforts:


•	Requirements Definition - Our plans for an integrated communications suite may not meet the market's needs or customer expectations and could result in low market demand and/or acceptance.

•

Product Scope and Schedule - We may fail to manage the scope of our software development activities effectively, resulting in delays to meet key milestones, achieve network solutions on a fully integrated basis, or solve coding problems in a timely and efficient manner. In addition, the continuing software development efforts on our existing products could distract management time and focus on developing our integrated communications platform.


•	Staffing and Organization - The development of the integrated communications suite requires the hiring of new staff. We may be unable to attract, in a timely manner, the qualified staff to meet our requirements. The organizational changes and new hires necessary to address our development requirements could create attrition risk for our current staff.

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•	Operational Readiness - While the development of the integrated communications suite could occur as we have planned, we may not be prepared or ready to sell, deliver and support the new platform technology.

Technical problems and higher costs may affect our product development initiatives.

Our future software revenue growth depends on our ability to develop, introduce and effectively deploy new solutions and features to our existing software solutions. These new features and functionalities are designed to address both existing and new customer requirements. We may experience technical problems and additional costs as these new features are tested and deployed. Failure to effectively develop new or improved software solutions could adversely impact software revenue growth and could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial condition and statement of operations including our continued ability to remain profitable, produce positive operating cash flow, pay cash dividends to stockholders, and repurchase shares of our common stock.

We are dependent on the U.S. healthcare provider market segment for most of our revenue.

Over 80 percent of our revenue for wireless services and software products comes from sales to hospitals and other healthcare provider organizations in the United States. These customers, both non-profit and for-profit, are greatly affected by healthcare reform and the reimbursement policies of the federal and state governments and health insurance companies, and any decline in revenue received by our customers due to adverse economic conditions or legislative or regulatory changes could significantly affect the type and amount of services and products they order from us. We do not anticipate any flexibility in increasing prices for our wireless services notwithstanding general inflation due to an unrelenting focus by our customers on their cost structures, and our customers could be slow to invest in our software products and professional services due to budgetary pressures.

If we are unable to retain key management personnel, we might not be able to find suitable replacements in a timely basis, or at all, and our business could be disrupted.

Our success is largely dependent upon the continued service, availability and performance of key personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer, senior management team and other highly skilled personnel, particularly in product development, product strategy and sales. We believe that there is, and will continue to be, intense competition for qualified personnel in the telecommunication and software industries, and there is no assurance that we will be able to attract, motivate and retain the personnel necessary for the management and development of our business. Turnover, particularly among senior management, can also create distractions as we search for replacement personnel, which could result in significant recruiting, relocation, training and other costs, and can cause operational inefficiencies as replacement personnel become familiar with our business and operations. In addition, manpower in certain areas may be constrained, which could lead to disruptions over time. The elimination or reconfiguration of employee responsibilities could impact retention decisions by key executives and personnel. Also, to the extent we hire personnel from competitors, we may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited, that they have divulged proprietary or other confidential information, or that their former employers own their inventions or other work product. Moreover, the loss of these key employees, particularly to a competitor, some of which may be in a position to offer greater compensation, and any resulting loss of customers could reduce our market share and diminish our brands.

In order to grow our software revenue and bookings and maintain our wireless revenue and subscribers we are dependent on our ability to effectively manage our employee base in sales and marketing to achieve our sales productivity goals.

Growth in our software revenue and bookings and maintenance of our wireless revenue and subscriber base is dependent on the productivity of our sales organization. From time to time it may be necessary to reorient our sales representatives to focus on specific market segments, product lines or new software solutions or to remove underperforming individuals which may require additional resources to maintain productivity. The impact of these changes could adversely impact our ability to achieve our sales productivity goals. We have also identified the following risks that could impact our sales productivity:


•	Customer Dissatisfaction and Spok's Reputation - We may experience customer dissatisfaction with our solutions that could result in lost opportunities for sales. Potential low ratings of our solutions may negatively impact our perception by future prospects. In addition, fewer references for our solutions could impact our ability to prospect new sales.


•	Training - Training of our marketing and sales personnel as to the clinical requirements of our healthcare customers and the complexity of our service offerings, takes time and requires a substantial, continuing investment in new hires as well as long term employees.


•	Competitive Speed - Sales productivity can be impacted by the capabilities of our competitors. There is a risk that competitors can innovate or partner faster than we do to deliver a unified communications platform.


•	Employee Retention - The impact of the elements noted above can challenge the ability of employees to make sales. This is tough on morale and can affect employee retention.

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We may experience a long sales cycle for our software products.

Our software revenue growth results from a long sales cycle that from initial contact to final sales order may take six to 18 months depending on the type of software solution. Our software sales and marketing efforts involve educating our customers on the technical capabilities of our software solutions and the potential benefits from the deployment of our software, as well as educating ourselves as to the clinical needs of our customers. The inherent unpredictability of decision making resulting from customer budget constraints, multiple approvals and administrative issues may result in fluctuating bookings and revenue from month to month, quarter to quarter and year to year. Our bookings and corresponding revenue are dependent on actions that have occurred in the past. Each month we need to spend substantial time, effort, and expense on our marketing and sales efforts that may not result in future revenue.

Undetected defects or bugs in our products could adversely affect the market acceptance of new products, damage our reputation with current or prospective customers, and materially and adversely affect our operating costs.

Software products, such as those we offer, may contain defects and bugs when they are first introduced or as new versions are released, or their release may be delayed due to unforeseen difficulties during product development. If any of our products, including products of companies we have acquired, or third-party components used in our products, contain defects or bugs, or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, we may not be able to successfully design workarounds. Any defects we do not detect and fix in pre-release testing could cause reduced sales and revenue, damage to our reputation, repair or remediation costs, delays in the release of new products or versions, or legal liability. There can be no assurance that provisions in our license agreements that limit our exposure to liability will be sufficient or withstand legal challenge.

Service to our customers could be adversely impacted by network rationalization.

We have an active program to consolidate the number of networks and related transmitter locations, which is referred to as network rationalization. Network rationalization is necessary to match our technical infrastructure to our smaller subscriber base and to reduce both site rent and telecommunication costs. The implementation of the network rationalization program could adversely impact service to our existing subscribers, and there can be no assurance that any efforts to minimize that impact would be successful. This adverse impact could increase the rate of gross subscriber cancellations and/or the level of wireless revenue erosion. Adverse changes in gross subscriber cancellations and/or revenue erosion could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unable to find vendors able to supply us with paging equipment based on future demands.

We purchase paging equipment from third party vendors. This equipment is sold or leased to customers in order to provide wireless messaging services. The reduction in industry demand for paging equipment has caused various suppliers to cease manufacturing this equipment. There can be no assurance that we can continue to find vendors to supply paging equipment, or that the vendors will supply equipment at costs that allow us to remain a competitive alternative in the wireless messaging industry. A lack of paging equipment could impact our ability to provide certain wireless messaging services and could have a material adverse effect on our business, leading to further wireless revenue erosion.

We may be unable to maintain successful relationship with our channel partners.

We use channel partners such as resellers, consulting firms, original equipment manufacturers, and technology partners to license and support our products. We rely, to a significant degree, on each of our channel partners to select, screen and maintain relationships with its distribution network and to distribute our offerings in a manner that is consistent with applicable law and regulatory requirements and our quality standards. Contract defaults by any of these channel partners or the loss of our relationships with them may materially adversely affect our ability to develop, market, sell, or support our communication solution offerings. If our indirect distribution channel is disrupted, we may be required to devote more resources to distribute our offerings directly and support our customers, which may not be as effective and could lead to higher costs, reduced revenue and growth that is slower than expected.

Recruiting and retaining qualified channel partners and training them in the use of our enterprise technologies requires significant time and resources. If we fail to devote sufficient resources to support and expand our network of channel partners, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, because we rely on channel partners for the indirect distribution of our enterprise technologies, we may have little or no contact with the ultimate end-users of our technologies, thereby making it more difficult for us to establish brand awareness, ensure proper delivery and installation of our software, support ongoing customer requirements, estimate end-user demand, respond to evolving customer needs and obtain subscription renewals from end-users.

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We may be unable to realize the benefits associated with our deferred income tax assets.

We have significant deferred income tax assets that are available to offset future taxable income and increase cash flows from operations. The use of these deferred income tax assets is dependent on the availability of taxable income in future periods. The availability of future taxable income is dependent on our ability to profitably manage our operations to support a growing base of software revenue offset by declining wireless subscribers and revenue. To the extent that anticipated reductions in operating expenses do not occur or sufficient revenue is not generated, we may not achieve sufficient taxable income to allow for use of our deferred income tax assets. The accounting for deferred income tax assets is based upon an estimate of future results, and any valuation allowance we may apply to our deferred tax assets may be increased or decreased as conditions change or if we are unable to implement certain tax planning strategies. If we are unable to use these deferred income tax assets, our financial condition and statement of operations may be materially affected. In addition, a significant portion of our deferred income tax assets relate to net operating losses. If our ability to utilize these losses is limited, due to Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Section 382, our financial condition and statement of operations may be materially affected.

Our wireless products are regulated by the FCC and, to a lesser extent, state and local regulatory authorities. Changes in regulation could result in increased costs to us and our customers.

We are subject to regulation by the FCC and, to a lesser extent, by state and local authorities. Changes in regulatory policy could increase the fees we must pay to the government or to third parties, and could subject us to more stringent requirements that could cause us to incur additional capital and/or operating costs. To the extent additional regulatory costs are passed along to customers, those increased costs could adversely impact subscriber cancellations.

For example, the FCC issued an order in October 2007 that mandated paging carriers (including the Company) along with all other CMRS providers serving a defined minimum number of subscribers to maintain an emergency back-up power supply at all cell sites to enable operation for a minimum of eight hours in the event of a loss of commercial power (the “Back-up Power Order”). Ultimately, after a hearing by the DC Circuit Court and disapproval by the Office of Management and Budget (the “OMB”) of the information collection requirements of the Back-Up Power Order, the FCC indicated that it would not seek to override the OMB’s disapproval. Rather the FCC indicated that it would issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the goal of adopting revised back-up power rules. To date, there has been no Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the FCC and we are unable to predict what impact, if any, a revised back-up power rule could have on our operations, cash flows, ability to continue payment of cash dividends to stockholders, and ability to repurchase shares of our common stock.

As a further example, the FCC continues to consider changes to the rules governing the collection of universal service fees. The FCC is evaluating a flat monthly charge per assigned telephone number as opposed to assessing universal service contributions based on telecommunication carriers’ interstate revenue. There is no timetable for any rulemaking to implement this numbers-based methodology. If the FCC adopts a numbers-based methodology, our attempt to recover the increased contribution costs from our customers could significantly diminish demand for our services, and our failure to recover such increased contribution costs could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our software products are regulated by the FDA. The application of or changes in regulations could impact our ability to market new or revised software products to our customers.

Certain of our software products are regulated by the FDA as medical devices. The classification of our software products as medical devices means that we are required to comply with certain registration and listing, labeling, medical device reporting, removal and correction, and good manufacturing practice requirements. Updates to these products or the development of new products could require us to seek clearance from the FDA before we are permitted to market or sell these software products. In addition, changes to FDA regulations could impact existing software products or updates to existing products. The impact of delays in FDA clearance or changes to FDA regulations could impact our ability to market or sell our software products and could have a material adverse effect on our software sales, financial condition and results of operations, including our continued ability to remain profitable, produce positive operating cash flow, pay cash dividends to stockholders and repurchase shares of our common stock.

We have investigated potential acquisitions and may not be able to identify an opportunity at favorable terms or have the ability to close on financing necessary to consummate the transaction.

We cannot provide any assurances that we will be successful in finding such acquisitions or consummating future acquisitions on favorable terms. We anticipate that our acquisitions will be financed through a combination of methods, including but not limited to the use of available cash on hand, and, if necessary, borrowings from third party financial institutions. Disruptions in credit markets and an unwillingness to lend may limit our ability to finance acquisitions.

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We have investigated potential acquisitions and may be unable to successfully integrate such acquisitions into our business and may not achieve all or any of the operating synergies or anticipated benefits of those acquisitions.

We continue to evaluate acquisitions of other businesses where we believe such acquisitions will yield increased cash flows, improved market penetration and/or identified operating efficiencies and synergies. We may face various challenges with our integration efforts, including the combination and simplification of product and service offerings, sales and marketing approaches and establishment of combined operations.

We may have limited or no history of owning and operating any business that we acquire. If we were to acquire these businesses, there can be no assurance that:

•such businesses will perform as expected;


•	such businesses will not incur unforeseen obligations or liabilities;


•	such businesses will generate sufficient cash flow to support the indebtedness, if incurred, to acquire them or the expenditures needed to develop them; and/or


•	the rate of return from such businesses will justify the decision to invest the capital to acquire them.

There can be no assurance that we will manage these challenges and risks successfully. Moreover, if we are not successful in completing transactions that we have pursued or may pursue, our business may be adversely affected, and we may incur substantial expenses and divert significant management time and resources. In addition, in pursuing and completing such transactions, we could use substantial portions of our available cash as all or a portion of the purchase price for these transactions or as retention incentives to employees of the acquired business, or we may incur substantial debt. We could also issue additional securities as all or a portion of the purchase price for these transactions or as retention incentives to employees of the acquired business, which could cause our stockholders to suffer significant dilution. Any transaction may not generate additional revenue or profit for us, or may take longer to do so than expected, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

We may experience litigation claiming intellectual property infringement by us, and we may not be able to protect our rights in intellectual property that we own and develop.

Intellectual property infringement litigation has become commonplace, particularly in the wireless and software industries in which we operate. This litigation can be protracted, expensive, and time consuming. There is no assurance that we will remain immune to this type of predatory litigation. Any such claims, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming and costly in terms of both resources and management time.

Third parties may claim we infringe their intellectual property rights. We may receive claims that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of others, including claims regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks. As noted below in Part I, Item 3, on February 1, 2018, GroupChatter, LLC filed a complaint against us in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Civ. A. No. 6:18-cv-00048, alleging that we have infringed four U.S. patents. The number and types of these claims may grow as a result of constant technological change in the segments in which our wireless services and software products compete, the extensive patent coverage of existing technologies, and the rapid rate of issuance of new patents.

Third parties may claim we infringe their intellectual property rights. We may receive claims that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of others, including claims regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks. The number of these claims may grow as a result of constant technological change in the segments in which our software products compete, the extensive patent coverage of existing technologies, and the rapid rate of issuance of new patents.

Our patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets relating to our wireless services and networks, and our software solutions, are important assets. The efforts we undertake to protect our proprietary rights may not be sufficient or effective. Any significant impairment to our intellectual property rights could harm our business and our ability to compete effectively. Protecting our intellectual property rights can be costly and time consuming.

We seek to maintain certain of our intellectual property rights as trade secrets, including the source code for many of our software solutions and innovations. Our source code and system architecture may be reverse engineered by our competitors, or the secrecy of our solutions and designs could be compromised through a security breach or otherwise, or by our employees or former employees, intentionally or accidentally. Any compromise of our trade secrets could cause us to lose any competitive advantage our software solutions have and the investment we have made in developing our products and services.

Our portfolio of issued patents and copyrights may be insufficient to defend ourselves against intellectual property infringement claims, and the validity and scope of our patents could be challenged by third parties were we to seek to enforce them.

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We may encounter issues with privacy and security of personal information.

A substantial portion of our revenue comes from healthcare customers. As part of our business, we (or third parties with whom we contract) may receive, store and process our data, as well as our customers’ and partners’ private data and personal information. As such, our business is subject to a variety of federal, state and international laws and regulations that apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and processing of personal data.

Our software solutions may handle or have access to personal health information subject in the United States to HIPAA, HITECH and related regulations as well as legislation and regulations in foreign countries. These statutes and related regulations impose numerous requirements regarding the use and disclosure of personal health information with which we and our software solutions must comply. Our failure to accurately anticipate or interpret these complex and technical laws and regulations could subject us to civil and/or criminal liability. Such failure could adversely impact our ability to market and sell our software solutions to healthcare customers, and have a material adverse impact on our software sales.

In addition, customers may use our wireless services to transmit patient health information subject to HIPAA and other regulatory requirements. While we offer encrypted pagers to our customers, many customers use pager devices provided by us that do not encrypt text messages. While we disclaim liability for customer non-compliance with HIPAA and other privacy requirements, there remains some risk we could be held responsible for privacy violations by our customers.

There can be no assurance that the security and testing measures we take relating to our offerings and operations will prevent all security breaches and data loss that could harm our business or the businesses of our customers and partners. These risks may increase as we continue to grow our services and offerings and as we receive, store and process more of our customers’ data. Actual or perceived vulnerabilities may lead to regulatory investigations, claims against us by customers, partners or other third parties, or costs, such as those related to providing customer notifications and fraud monitoring. There can be no assurance that any provisions in our customer agreements limiting our liability will be enforceable or effective under applicable law. In addition, the cost and operational consequences of implementing further data protection measures could be significant.

The data privacy- and protection-related laws and regulations to which we subject are evolving, with new or modified laws and regulations proposed and implemented frequently and existing laws and regulations subject to new or different interpretations. Any failure by us to comply with data privacy- and protection-related laws and regulations could result in enforcement actions, significant penalties or other legal actions against us or our customers or suppliers. An actual or alleged failure to comply, which could result in negative publicity, reduce demand for our offerings, increase the cost of compliance, require changes in business practices that result in reduced revenue, restrict our ability to provide our offerings in certain locations, result in our customers’ inability to use our offerings and prohibit data transfers or result in other claims, liabilities or sanctions, including fines, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

System disruptions and security threats to our computer networks, satellite control or telecommunications systems could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The performance and reliability of our computer network and telecommunications systems infrastructure, as well as the technology infrastructure of third parties, is critical to our operations. This technology infrastructure may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, power loss, telecommunication failures, terrorist attacks, software errors and other events. Any computer system or satellite network error or failure, regardless of cause, could result in a substantial outage that materially disrupts our operations. In addition, we face the threat to our computer systems of unauthorized access, computer hackers, computer viruses, malicious code, organized cyber-attacks and other security problems and system disruptions. Our satellite network connections for our wireless services depend upon VSAT terminals, many of which are based on decades-old technology or equipment that could fail resulting in a loss of service to our customers. With respect to our Enterprise Reporting and Management systems and data storage we rely on third party data centers and services with whom we are dependent for maintaining accessibility, reliability and uninterrupted connectivity.

Our satellite network connections for our wireless services depend upon VSAT terminals, many of which are based on decades-old technology or equipment that could fail resulting in a loss of service to our customers. With respect to our Enterprise Reporting and Management systems and data storage we rely on third party data centers and services with whom we are dependent for maintaining accessibility, reliability and uninterrupted connectivity.

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A significant number of the systems making up this infrastructure are not redundant, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for every eventuality. We may not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to protect us from all losses that may result from interruptions in our services as a result of technology infrastructure failures or to cover all contingencies. We may be required to expend significant resources to protect against the threat of these system disruptions or to alleviate problems caused by these disruptions. Any interruption in the availability of our websites and on-line interactions with customers or partners may cause a reduction in customer or partner satisfaction levels, which in turn could cause additional claims, reduced revenue or loss of customers or partners. There can be no assurance that any precautions we may take will prove successful, and such problems could result in, among other consequences, a loss of data, loss of confidence in the stability and reliability of our offerings, damage to our reputation, and legal liability, all of which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

Unauthorized breaches or failures in cybersecurity measures adopted by us and/or included in our products and services could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our security systems are designed to maintain the physical security of our facilities and protect our customers’, suppliers’ and employees’ confidential information, as well as our own proprietary information. However, we are also dependent on a number of third-party providers of critical corporate infrastructure services relating to, among other things, human resources, electronic communication services and certain finance functions, and we are, of necessity, dependent on the security systems of these providers. Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties or our employees or contractors of our facilities, our information systems or the systems of our third party providers, or the existence of computer viruses or malware in our or their data or software could expose us to a risk of information loss and misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information, including information relating to our products or customers and the personal information of our employees. We utilize a costly, multilayered security framework including detailed security policies and procedures, security appliances and software, third party vulnerability testing and detailed Business Continuity Plans that could be disrupted at any time.

In addition, we have, from time to time, also been subject to unauthorized network intrusions and malware on our own IT networks. Any theft or misuse of confidential, personal or proprietary information as a result of such activities could result in, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to our reputation, loss of our trade secrets and other competitive information, difficulty in marketing our products, allegations by our customers that we have not performed our contractual obligations, litigation by affected parties and possible financial obligations for liabilities and damages related to the theft or misuse of such information, as well as fines and other sanctions resulting from any related breaches of data privacy regulations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, profitability and financial condition. Since the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

General economic conditions that are largely out of our control may adversely affect our financial condition and statement of operations.

Our business is sensitive to changes in general economic conditions, both in the United States and foreign markets. Recessionary economic cycles, higher interest rates, inflation, higher levels of unemployment, higher tax rates and other changes in tax laws, or other economic factors that may affect business spending or buying habits could adversely affect the demand for our services. This adverse impact could increase the rate of gross subscriber cancellations and/or the level of revenue erosion.

A significant portion of our revenue is derived from healthcare customers and we are impacted by changes in the healthcare economic environment. The healthcare industry is highly regulated and is subject to changing political, legislative, regulatory, and other economic developments. These developments can have a dramatic effect on the decision-making and the spending by our customers for information technology and software. This economic uncertainty can add to the unpredictability of decision-making and lengthen our sales cycle.

Further, the consequences of the implementation of changes to healthcare reform legislation continue to impact both the economy in general and the healthcare market in particular. The uncertainty created by possibility of changes to the legislation is impacting customer decision making and information technology plans in our key healthcare market. We are unable to predict the full consequences of this uncertainty on our operations. Adverse changes in the economic environment could adversely impact our ability to market and sell our wireless and software solutions to healthcare customers.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

We had no unresolved SEC staff comments as of March 1, 2018.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters is located in Springfield, Virginia, and consists of approximately 18,000 square feet of space under a lease that expires on March 31, 2021. At December 31, 2017, we leased facility space, including our executive headquarters, sales offices, technical facilities, warehouse and storage facilities in 67 locations in 30 states in the United States, one facility in Australia and one facility in the Middle East. The total leased space is approximately 172,000 square feet. At December 31, 2017, we owned three small parcels of land in three states in the United States.

At December 31, 2017, we leased transmitter sites on commercial broadcast towers, buildings and other fixed structures in approximately 3,369 locations throughout the United States. These leases are for our active transmitters and are for various terms and provide for periodic lease payments at various rates.

At December 31, 2017, we had 4,030 active transmitters on leased sites which provide service to our customers.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are involved, from time to time, in lawsuits arising in the normal course of business. We believe these pending lawsuits will not have a material adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

On February 1, 2018, we learned of a complaint filed naming us and our subsidiary, Spok, Inc., as defendants in GroupChatter, LLC v. Spok Holdings, Inc., et. al., Civ. A. No. 6:18-cv-00048, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,969,959; 9,699,637; 9,615,239; and 9,294,888. We are evaluating the allegations asserted in this complaint and intend to defend against the claims vigorously. At this time we are unable to predict the outcome of this litigation, though we do not believe it will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

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

Market Information

Our sole class of common equity is our $0.0001 par value common stock, which is listed on the NASDAQ National Market^® and is traded under the symbol “SPOK.”

The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock, based on the last daily sale, for the periods indicated, which correspond to our quarterly fiscal periods for financial reporting purposes. Prices for our common stock are as reported on the NASDAQ National Market^® from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2017.



	2017				2016
For the Three Months Ended	High		Low		High		Low
March 31,	$	22.40	$	17.50	$	18.01	$	15.85
June 30,	19.95		16.65		19.29		16.17
September 30,	18.00		14.50		20.56		16.34
December 31,	18.45		15.50		21.30		16.40

Holders of Common Stock

As of February 23, 2018, there were 3,180 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

The Company declared dividends totaling $10.3 million and $15.8 million during 2017 and 2016, respectively, and expects to pay dividends of $0.125 per common share each quarter, subject to declaration by the Board of Directors, in 2018. Cash dividends declared for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, include dividends related to unvested restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and shares of unvested restricted common stock (“restricted stock”) granted under the Spok Holdings, Inc. Equity Incentive Plan (“Equity Plan”) to executives and non-executive members of our Board of Directors. Cash distributions on RSUs and restricted stock are accrued and paid when the applicable vesting conditions are met. Accrued cash distributions on forfeited RSUs and restricted stock are also forfeited.

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The following table details information on our dividends declared and cash distributions since the formation of the Company through the year ended December 31, 2017:



Year	Dividends Declared Per Share Amount		Total Payment⁽¹⁾
			(Dollars in thousands)
2005	$	1.500	$	40,691
2006⁽²⁾	3.650		98,904
2007⁽³⁾	3.600		98,250
2008⁽⁴⁾	1.400		39,061
2009⁽³⁾	2.000		45,502
2010⁽³⁾	2.000		44,234
2011	1.000		22,121
2012⁽⁵⁾	0.750		16,512
2013	0.500		12,312
2014	0.500		10,826
2015⁽⁶⁾	0.625		13,333
2016⁽⁷⁾	0.750		10,287
2017	0.500		$	15,234
Total	$	18.775	$	467,267


⁽¹⁾	The total payment reflects the cash distributions paid in relation to common stock, vested RSUs and vested shares of restricted stock.


⁽²⁾	On August 8, 2006, we announced the adoption of a regular quarterly cash distribution of $0.65 per share of common stock.


⁽³⁾	The cash distribution includes an additional special one-time cash distribution to stockholders of $1.00 per share of common stock.


⁽⁴⁾	On May 2, 2008, our Board of Directors reset the quarterly cash distribution rate to $0.25 per share of common stock from $0.65 per share of common stock.


⁽⁵⁾	On July 30, 2012, our Board of Directors reset the quarterly cash distribution rate to $0.125 per share of common stock from $0.25 per share of common stock.


⁽⁶⁾	The cash distribution includes an additional special one-time cash distribution to stockholders of $0.125 per share of common stock.


⁽⁷⁾	The per share amount includes a special one-time dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock declared in 2016 but payable to stockholders in 2017.

On February 28, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock, with a record date of March 16, 2018, and a payment date of March 30, 2018. This cash dividend of approximately $2.6 million is expected to be paid from available cash on hand.

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Performance Graph

We began trading on the NASDAQ National Market^® on November 17, 2004. The chart below compares the relative changes in the cumulative total return of our common stock for the period December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2017, against the cumulative total return of the NASDAQ Composite Index^®, the NASDAQ Telecommunications Index^® and the S&P Health Care Technology Index for the same period.

The chart below assumes that on December 31, 2012, $100 was invested in our common stock and in each of the indices. The comparisons assume that all cash distributions were reinvested. The chart indicates the dollar value of each hypothetical $100 investment based on the closing price as of the last trading day of each fiscal year from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2017.



	December 31,
	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		2017
Spok Holdings, Inc.	$	100.00	$	126.80	$	159.28	$	174.22	$	205.77	$	159.80
NASDAQ Composite Index	100.00		141.63		162.09		173.33		187.19		242.29
NASDAQ Telecommunications Index	100.00		141.28		145.43		140.97		150.94		184.81
S&P Health Care Technology Index	100.00		143.59		166.56		155.00		122.02		173.60

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Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

The following table presents information with respect to common stock repurchased by us (excluding the purchase of common stock for tax withholdings) during the year ended December 31, 2017.



For the Three Months Ended	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid Per Share⁽¹⁾		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Publicly Announced Plans or Programs⁽²⁾
					(Dollars in thousands)
March 31, 2017	—	$	—	—	10,000
June 30, 2017	572,550	$	17.47	572,550	—
September 30, 2017	—	$	—	—	—
December 31, 2017	—	$	—	—	—
Total	572,550	$	17.47	572,550

⁽¹⁾ Average price paid per share excludes commissions of approximately $23,000.

⁽²⁾ On April 26, 2017 the Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $10.0 million of the Company's common stock through December 31, 2017.

Repurchased shares of our common stock were accounted for as a reduction to common stock and additional paid-in-capital in the period in which the repurchase occurred. On February 28, 2018 the Company's Board of Directors reset the repurchase authority under the share repurchase program to $10.0 million which is set to expire on December 31, 2018.

Transfer Restrictions on Common Stock

In order to reduce the possibility that certain changes in ownership could impose limitations on the use of our deferred income tax assets, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that generally restrict transfers by or to any 5% stockholder of our common stock or any transfer that would cause a person or group of persons to become a 5% stockholder of our common stock. After a cumulative indirect shift in ownership of more than 45% since our emergence from bankruptcy proceedings in May 2002 through a transfer of our common stock, any transfer of our common stock by or to a 5% stockholder of our common stock or any transfer that would cause a person or group of persons to become a 5% stockholder of such common stock, will be prohibited unless the transferee or transferor provides notice of the transfer to us and our Board of Directors determines in good faith that the transfer would not result in a cumulative indirect shift in ownership of more than 47%.

Prior to a cumulative indirect ownership change of more than 45%, transfers of our common stock will not be prohibited, except to the extent that they result in a cumulative indirect shift in ownership of more than 47%, but any transfer by or to a 5% stockholder of our common stock or any transfer that would cause a person or group of persons to become a 5% stockholder of our common stock requires notice to us. Similar restrictions apply to the issuance or transfer of an option to purchase our common stock, if the exercise of the option would result in a transfer that would be prohibited pursuant to the restrictions described above. These restrictions will remain in effect until the earliest of (1) the repeal of IRC Section 382 (or any comparable successor provision) and (2) the date on which the limitation amount imposed by IRC Section 382 in the event of an ownership change would not be less than the tax attributes subject to these limitations. Transfers by or to us and any transfer pursuant to a merger approved by our Board of Directors or any tender offer to acquire all of our outstanding stock where a majority of the shares have been tendered will be exempt from these restrictions.

Based on publicly available information and after considering any direct knowledge we may have, our combined cumulative change in ownership was an insignificant amount as of December 31, 2017 and 2016.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Statement of Operations” (“MD&A”), the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this 2017 Form 10-K.



	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016		2015		2014		2013
	(Dollars in thousands except per share amounts)
Statements of Operations Data:
Revenues	$	171,175		$	179,561	$	189,628	200,273		209,752
Operating expenses	160,469			157,408		164,528		172,122		164,258
Operating income	10,706			22,153		25,100		28,151		45,494
Net (loss) income	(15,306		)	13,979		80,246		20,745		27,530
Basic and diluted net (loss) income per common share	(0.76		)	0.68		3.74		0.96		1.27
Cash dividends declared per common share	0.50			0.75		0.625		0.50		0.50

	December 31,
	2017			2016		2015		2014		2013
	(Dollars in thousands)
Balance Sheets Data:
Current assets	$	146,860		$	155,862	$	141,613	$	142,761	$	116,779
Total assets	350,561			388,087		386,433		337,890		326,898
Long-term debt	—			—		—		—		—
Long-term liabilities, excluding deferred revenue	8,075			8,921		8,972		8,131		9,259
Stockholders’ equity	290,529			322,087		329,564		279,059		269,950

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

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and the discussion under “Organization and Significant Accounting Policies” (refer to Note 1), which describes key estimates and assumptions we make in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements; the cautionary language that appears under the title "Forward Looking Statements" immediately following the Table of Contents;“Item 1. Business,” which describes our operations; and “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” which describes key risks associated with our operations and markets in which we operate. A reference to a “Note” in this section refers to the accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Overview and Highlights

We are a comprehensive provider of critical communication solutions for enterprises. We offer a suite of unified critical communication solutions that include call center operations, clinical alerting and notifications, one-way and advanced two-way wireless messaging services, mobile communications and public safety response. Our customers rely on Spok for workflow improvement, secure texting, paging services, contact center optimization and public safety response. Our product offerings are capable of addressing a customer’s mission critical communications needs. We develop, sell and support enterprise-wide systems for healthcare and other organizations needing to automate, centralize and standardize their approach to critical communications. Our solutions can be found in prominent hospitals; large government agencies; leading public safety institutions, colleges and universities; large hotels, resorts and casinos; and well-known manufacturers. Our primary market has been the healthcare industry, particularly hospitals. We have identified hospitals with 200 or more beds as the primary targets for our software and wireless solutions.

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Revenue generated by wireless messaging services (including voice mail, personalized greeting, message storage and retrieval) and equipment loss and/or maintenance protection to both one-way and two-way messaging subscribers is presented as wireless revenue in our statements of operations. Revenue generated by the sale of our software solutions, which includes software license, professional services (installation, consulting and training), equipment procured by us from third parties (to be used in conjunction with our software) and post-contract support (on-going maintenance), is presented as software revenue in our statements of operations. Our software is licensed to end users under an industry standard software license agreement.

2017 Highlights

Net sales declined by 4.7% or $8.4 million during 2017 compared to 2016, driven primarily by a continued and expected decline in wireless revenue while software revenue remained relatively flat for the same period. This is a $1.7 million improvement in the decrease of consolidated revenues period over period as compared to the year ended December 31, 2016. We continue to see a trend in wireless revenue as the decline year over year has decreased for the past five consecutive years. Our operating expenses increased by 1.9% or $3.1 million during 2017 compared to 2016, driven primarily by our continued investment in the development of Spok Care Connect and the related research and development costs. While we expect research and development will continue to be an area of focus going into 2018, we do anticipate those costs will begin to level off. As future sales related to our research and development efforts begin to materialize we expect those costs will decrease as a percentage of total revenues and begin to return to normalized levels.We returned approximately $20.3 million of capital to stockholders in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases.

2016 Highlights

Net sales declined by 5.3% or $10.1 million during 2016 compared to 2015, driven primarily by a continued and expected decline in wireless revenue while software revenue decreased slightly for the same period. Our operating expenses declined by 4.3% or $7.1 million during 2016 compared to 2015, driven primarily by reduction in all functional categories partially offset by an increase in research and development expenses attributable to our continued investment in the development of Spok Care Connect. We returned approximately $22.0 million of capital to our stockholders in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases which includes the special dividend declared in December 2016 but was paid in January 2017.

Wireless Revenue

Wireless revenue consists of two primary components: Paging revenue and product and other revenue. Paging revenue consists primarily of recurring fees associated with the provision of messaging services and fees for paging devices and is net of a provision for service credits. Product and other revenue reflects system sales, the sale of devices and charges for paging devices that are not returned and are net of anticipated credits. Our core offering includes subscriptions to one-way or two-way messaging services for a periodic (monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual) service fee. This is generally based upon the type of service provided, the geographic area covered, the number of devices provided to the customer and the period of commitment. A subscriber to one-way messaging services may select coverage on a local, regional or nationwide basis to best meet their messaging needs. Two-way messaging is generally offered on a nationwide basis. In addition, subscribers either contract for a messaging device from us for an additional fixed monthly fee or they own a device, having purchased it either from us or from another vendor. We also sell devices to resellers who lease or resell devices to their subscribers and then sell messaging services utilizing our networks. We offer ancillary services, such as voicemail and equipment loss or maintenance protection, which help increase the monthly recurring revenue we receive along with these traditional messaging services. In 2015 and 2016 we launched new and exclusive one-way (T5) and two-way (T52) alphanumeric pagers, respectively. Both pagers are configurable to support un-encrypted or encrypted operation. When configured for encryption, they utilize AES-128 bit encryption, screen locking and remote wipe capabilities. With encryption enabled these new secure paging devices enhance our service offerings to the healthcare community by adding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") security capabilities to the low cost, highly reliable and availability benefits of paging. (See Item 1. “Business” for more details.)

Software Revenue

Software revenue consists of two primary components: operations revenue and maintenance revenue. Operations revenue consists of license revenue, professional services revenue, and equipment revenue. Maintenance revenue is for ongoing support of a software application or equipment (typically for one year). We recognize equipment revenue when it is shipped or delivered to the customer depending on the delivery method of Free on Board ("FOB") shipping or FOB destination, respectively. License, professional services and maintenance revenue is recognized ratably over the longer of the period of professional services delivery to the customer or the contractual term of the maintenance agreement. If the period of delivery to the customer is not known, license and professional services revenue will be recognized when software and professional services are fully delivered to the customer and the maintenance revenue will be recognized ratably over the remaining contractual term of the agreement.

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Operations - Consolidated

Our operating expenses are presented in functional categories. Certain of our functional categories are especially important to overall expense control and management. These operating expenses are categorized as follows:


•	Cost of revenue. These are expenses primarily for hardware, third-party software, outside service expenses and payroll and related expenses for our professional services, logistics, customer support and maintenance staff.


•	Research and Development. These expenses relate primarily to the development of new software products and the ongoing maintenance and enhancement of existing products. This classification consists primarily of employee payroll and related expenses, outside services related to the design, development, testing and enhancement of our solutions and to a lesser extent hardware equipment.

•

Service, rental and maintenance. These are expenses associated with the operation of our paging networks. Expenses consist largely of site rent expenses for transmitter locations, telecommunication expenses to deliver messages over our paging networks, and payroll and related expenses for our engineering and pager repair functions. We actively pursue opportunities to consolidate transmitters and other service, rental and maintenance expenses in order to maintain an efficient network while simultaneously ensuring adequate service for our customers. We believe continued reductions in these expenses will occur as our networks continue to be consolidated for the foreseeable future.

•

Selling and marketing. The sales and marketing staff are involved in selling our communication solutions primarily in the United States. These expenses support our efforts to maintain gross placements of units in service, which mitigated the impact of disconnects on our wireless revenue base, and to identify business opportunities for additional or future software sales. We have a centralized marketing function, which is focused on supporting our products and vertical sales efforts by strengthening our brand, generating sales leads and facilitating the sales process. These marketing functions are accomplished through targeted email campaigns, webinars, regional and national user conferences, monthly newsletters and participation at industry trade shows. Expenses consist largely of payroll and related expenses, commissions and other costs such as travel and advertising costs.

•

General and administrative. These are expenses associated with information technology and administrative functions which includes finance and accounting, human resources and executive management. This classification consists primarily of payroll and related expenses, outside service expenses, taxes, licenses and permit expenses, and facility rent expenses. The Company reclassified $0.1 million from severance to the general and administrative operating expense classification. Corresponding reclassifications of $1.4 million and $2.7 million were made to the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015. The Company had previously reported severance as a separate item on the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

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Results of Operations

The following table is a summary of our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015.



(Dollars in thousands)	2017			Change					2016			Change					2015
Revenues:
Wireless	$	101,188		(8,402		)	(7.7	)%	$	109,590		$	(9,424	)	(7.9	)%	$	119,014
Software	69,987			16			—	%	69,971			(643		)	(0.9	)%	70,614
Total revenue	171,175			(8,386		)	(4.7	)%	179,561			(10,067		)	(5.3	)%	189,628
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenue	28,418			(2,231		)	(7.3	)%	30,649			(3,202		)	(9.5	)%	33,851
Research and development	18,702			5,235			38.9	%	13,467			3,187			31.0	%	10,280
Service, rental and maintenance	31,502			(1,232		)	(3.8	)%	32,734			(1,387		)	(4.1	)%	34,121
Selling and marketing	22,823			(1,945		)	(7.9	)%	24,768			(2,678		)	(9.8	)%	27,446
General and administrative	47,400			4,573			10.7	%	42,827			(2,033		)	(4.5	)%	44,860
Depreciation, amortization and accretion	11,624			(1,339		)	(10.3	)%	12,963			(1,007		)	(7.2	)%	13,970
Total operating expenses	160,469			3,061			1.9	%	157,408			(7,120		)	(4.3	)%	164,528
Operating income	10,706			(11,447		)	(51.7	)%	22,153			(2,947		)	(11.7	)%	25,100
Interest income	719			444			161.5	%	275			259			1,618.8	%	16
Other income	134			(409		)	(75.3	)%	543			(639		)	(54.1	)%	1,182
Income before income tax (expense) benefit	11,559			(11,412		)	(49.7	)%	22,971			(3,327		)	(12.7	)%	26,298
Income tax (expense) benefit	(26,865		)	(17,873		)	198.8	%	(8,992		)	(62,940		)	(116.7	)%	53,948
Net (loss) income	$	(15,306	)	$	(29,285	)	(209.5	)%	$	13,979		$	(66,267	)	(82.6	)%	$	80,246

Supplemental information
FTEs	596			9			1.5	%	587			(13		)	(2.2	)%	600
Active transmitters	4,030			(129		)	(3.1	)%	4,159			(84		)	(2.0	)%	4,243

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Revenue

The table below details total revenue for the periods stated:



(Dollars in thousands)	2017		Change					2016		Change					2015
Revenue - wireless
Paging revenue	$	97,296	$	(7,752	)	(7.4	)%	$	105,048	$	(9,059	)	(7.9	)%	$	114,107
Product and other revenue	3,892		(650		)	(14.3	)%	4,542		(365		)	(7.4	)%	4,907
Total wireless revenue	101,188		(8,402		)	(7.7	)%	109,590		(9,424		)	(7.9	)%	119,014

Revenue - software
Subscription	2,303		191			9.0	%	2,112		431			25.6	%	1,681
License	7,238		518			7.7	%	6,720		(3,076		)	(31.4	)%	9,796
Services	17,630		(964		)	(5.2	)%	18,594		(243		)	(1.3	)%	18,837
Equipment	4,147		(1,325		)	(24.2	)%	5,472		(401		)	(6.8	)%	5,873
Operations revenue	31,318		(1,580		)	(4.8	)%	32,898		(3,289		)	(9.1	)%	36,187
Maintenance revenue	38,669		1,596			4.3	%	37,073		2,646			7.7	%	34,427
Total software revenue	69,987		16			—	%	69,971		(643		)	(0.9	)%	70,614
Total revenue	$	171,175	$	(8,386	)	(4.7	)%	$	179,561	$	(10,067	)	(5.3	)%	$	189,628

The decrease in wireless revenue during 2017 compared to both 2016 and 2015, respectively, reflects the decrease in demand for our wireless services. Wireless revenue is generally based upon the number of units in service and the monthly Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU"). On a consolidated basis ARPU is affected by several factors, including the mix of units in service and the pricing of the various components of our services. The number of units in service changes based on subscribers added, referred to as gross placements, less subscriber cancellations, or disconnects. ARPU for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 was $7.51, $7.67 and $7.83, respectively, while total units in service were 1.0 million, 1.1 million and 1.2 million, respectively. While demand for wireless services continues to decline it has done so at a slower rate for each of the periods presented. While we are encouraged that this trend will continue in future periods, we believe that demand will continue to decline for the foreseeable future in line with recent and historical trends. As our wireless products and services are replaced with other competing technologies, such as the shift from narrow band wireless service offerings to broad band technology services, our wireless revenue will continue to decrease.

The following reflects the impact of subscribers and ARPU on the change in wireless revenue:



	Units in Service As of December 31,				Revenue For the Year Ended December 31,							Change Due To:
	2017	2016	Change		2017		2016		Change			ARPU			Units
	(Units in thousands)				(Dollars in thousands)
Total	1,049	1,111	(62	)	$	97,296	$	105,048	$	(7,752	)	$	(1,979	)	$	(5,773	)



	Units in Service as of December 31,				Revenue For the Year Ended December 31,							Change Due To:
	2016	2015	Change		2016		2015		Change			ARPU			Units
	(Units in thousands)				(Dollars in thousands)
Total	1,111	1,173	(62	)	$	105,048	$	114,107	$	(9,059	)	$	(1,886	)	$	(7,173	)

As demand for one-way and two-way messaging has declined, we have developed or added service offerings such as encrypted paging and Spok Mobile with a pager number in order to increase our revenue potential and mitigate the decline in our wireless revenue. We will continue to explore ways to innovate and provide customers the highest value possible.

The decrease in software operations revenue during 2017 when compared to 2016 primarily reflects a decrease in the number and size of projects completed during 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016. Starting in late 2015, we began a reorganization of the sales staff and related sales territories, which realigned territories and replaced lower performing sales employees with new staff. The decrease in operational bookings during 2015 and 2016 also factored into the decrease in operational revenue for the same period. The decrease in operations revenue during 2016 when compared to 2015 primarily reflects lower sales of software to new customers which was reflected in the decrease in license revenue.

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The continued increase in maintenance revenue for each of the periods stated reflects our continuing success in renewals of our maintenance support for existing software solutions and in maintenance support for sales of new solutions. The renewal rates for maintenance revenue, including the annual uplifts, for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were in excess of 99%. We achieve very high maintenance renewal rates compared to many companies that have software offerings, and we may experience a downward trend in maintenance renewal as communications technology and services continue to advance, and customers have more choices and opportunities to shift to newer solutions for their communication and work flow needs.

Operating Expenses

Certain immaterial prior period amounts, within individual operating expense categories, have been reclassified to conform to the current period's presentation. These reclassifications had no effect on the reported results of operations nor did they have any effect on the total operating expense amounts they are a part of.

Cost of revenue. Cost of revenue consisted primarily of the following items:



Cost of revenue	2017		Change					2016		Change					2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Payroll and related	$	17,806	$	(310	)	(1.7	)%	$	18,116	$	990		5.8	%	$	17,126
Cost of sales	8,118		(1,992		)	(19.7	)%	10,110		(3,373		)	(25.0	)%	13,483
Stock based compensation	179		123			219.6	%	56		(78		)	(58.2	)%	134
Other	2,315		(52		)	(2.2	)%	2,367		(741		)	(23.8	)%	3,108
Total cost of revenue	$	28,418	$	(2,231	)	(7.3	)%	$	30,649	$	(3,202	)	(9.5	)%	$	33,851
FTEs	185		4			2.2	%	181		(10		)	(5.2	)%	191

Cost of revenue expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 primarily due to the reduction in cost of sales. Of the $2.0 million reduction in cost of sales, $1.2 million was attributable to a decrease in cost of sales directly related to the decrease in equipment revenue over the same periods and the remaining $0.8 million related to lower average FTE's and reduction in the usage of third party professional service resources.

Cost of revenue expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to December 31, 2015 primarily due to the reduction in cost of sales. Of the $3.4 million reduction in cost of sales, $2.6 million was attributable to a decrease in the sale of third party software, less usage of third party resources for software implementation related work, a reduction in billable travel costs and a one-time charge of $0.8 million related to adjustments made to our inventory balances in 2015.

Research and development. Research and development consisted primarily of the following items:



Research and development	2017		Change				2016		Change					2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Payroll and related	$	14,737	$	3,761	34.3	%	$	10,976	$	3,240		41.9	%	$	7,736
Outside services	3,386		1,298		62.2	%	2,088		55			2.7	%	2,033
Stock based compensation	92		40		76.9	%	52		(33		)	(38.8	)%	85
Other	487		136		38.7	%	351		(75		)	(17.6	)%	426
Total research and development	$	18,702	$	5,235	38.9	%	$	13,467	$	3,187		31.0	%	$	10,280
FTEs	111		23		26.1	%	88		28			46.7	%	60

We intend to continue the focus on our research and development efforts associated with our software solutions due to its importance to our continued success. The Company is investing in the development of products in the areas of: 1) mobility, 2) a unified software platform, 3) nursing solutions, and 4) alerting. The Company plans to continue to increase its staffing, including staff augmentation as represented by outside services, to develop its integrated communications solution portfolio. This increase in staffing will substantially impact margins and our cash flow from operations as the benefits from this development effort will not immediately be realized for at least two years. Based on this emphasis we expect the number of FTEs to increase in this area, impacting future payroll and related expenses.

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Service, rental and maintenance. Service, rental and maintenance consisted primarily of the following items:



Service, rental and maintenance	2017		Change					2016		Change					2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Payroll and related	$	10,267	$	(445	)	(4.2	)%	$	10,712	$	(160	)	(1.5	)%	$	10,872
Site rent	14,229		(343		)	(2.4	)%	14,572		(404		)	(2.7	)%	14,976
Telecommunications	4,123		(484		)	(10.5	)%	4,607		(699		)	(13.2	)%	5,306
Stock based compensation	79		66			507.7	%	13		(16		)	(55.2	)%	29
Other	2,804		(26		)	(0.9	)%	2,830		(108		)	(3.7	)%	2,938
Total service, rental and maintenance	$	31,502	$	(1,232	)	(3.8	)%	$	32,734	$	(1,387	)	(4.1	)%	$	34,121
FTEs	92		(5		)	(5.2	)%	97		(1		)	(1.0	)%	98

Service, rental and maintenance expense has decreased during each of the periods presented primarily due to reductions in payroll, site rent and telecommunications expense. The number of active transmitters declined 3.1% from December 31, 2016 to December 31, 2017 and 2.0% from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2016. The number of active transmitters directly relates to the amount of site rent and telecommunications expenses we generally incur on an annual basis. Site rent and telecommunications expense are expected to continue to decrease as part of our efforts to rationalize and consolidate our networks for the foreseeable future.

Selling and marketing. Selling and marketing consisted primarily of the following items:



Selling and marketing	2017		Change					2016		Change					2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Payroll and related	$	11,796	$	(2,370	)	(16.7	)%	$	14,166	$	(883	)	(5.9	)%	$	15,049
Commissions	5,191		(458		)	(8.1	)%	5,649		(1,590		)	(22.0	)%	7,239
Stock based compensation	377		310			462.7	%	67		(44		)	(39.6	)%	111
Other	5,459		573			11.7	%	4,886		(161		)	(3.2	)%	5,047
Total selling and marketing	$	22,823	$	(1,945	)	(7.9	)%	$	24,768	$	(2,678	)	(9.8	)%	$	27,446
FTEs	93		(14		)	(13.1	)%	107		(23		)	(17.7	)%	130

Selling and marketing expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 primarily due to the reduction in payroll and commissions expense partially offset by increases in stock compensation, conferences and trade show expenses. The increase in stock compensation was largely due to additional grants made during the year ended December 31, 2017 and the reduction in stock compensation during the year ended December 31, 2016 due to the estimated outcome of the 2015 and 2016 grants being reduced to 50 percent of the original awards.

Selling and marketing expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 primarily due to the reduction in payroll and commissions expense for the above mentioned reasons.

The reduction in payroll, for all periods presented, reflects the reorganization of the sales staff, which included the replacement of underperforming sales employees and the realignment of sales territories. The reduction in commissions for all periods presented was primarily due to lower operations revenue.

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General and administrative. General and administrative consisted primarily of the following items:



General and administrative	2017		Change					2016		Change					2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Payroll and related	$	17,078	$	(72	)	(0.4	)%	$	17,150	$	(457	)	(2.6	)%	$	17,607
Stock based compensation	2,961		2,295			344.6	%	666		(843		)	(55.9	)%	1,509
Facility rent	3,459		144			4.3	%	3,315		(191		)	(5.4	)%	3,506
Outside services	9,385		1,327			16.5	%	8,058		844			11.7	%	7,214
Taxes, licenses and permits	4,221		(33		)	(0.8	)%	4,254		(222		)	(5.0	)%	4,476
Other	10,296		912			9.7	%	9,384		(1,164		)	(11.0	)%	10,548
Total general and administrative	$	47,400	$	4,573		10.7	%	$	42,827	$	(2,033	)	(4.5	)%	$	44,860
FTEs	115		1			0.9	%	114		(7		)	(5.8	)%	121

General and administrative expense increased for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to December 31, 2016 primarily due to an increase in stock compensation, outside services and other expenses. The increase in stock compensation was largely due to additional grants made during the year ended December 31, 2017 and a reduction in stock compensation during the year ended December 31, 2016 due to the estimated outcome of the 2015 and 2016 grants being reduced to fifty percent of the original awards. The increase in outside services was largely due to the use of consultants related to the implementation of a new accounting system as well as general staff augmentation throughout 2017. The increase in other was primarily related to increased placement fees for recruiting new hires, PC refresh costs and various other immaterial expenses.

General and administrative expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to December 31, 2015 primarily due to reductions in payroll, stock based compensation and other expenses partially offset by outside services expense. The decrease in stock compensation was largely due to the estimated outcome of the 2015 and 2016 grants being reduced to fifty percent of the original awards. The decrease in other was primarily due to a decrease in severance costs. The increase in outside services was primarily due to an increase in information technology and system related costs as well as corresponding consulting and implementation costs.

Depreciation, amortization and accretion. For the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 depreciation, amortization and accretion expenses decreased by $1.3 million due primarily to the full amortization of trademark costs during the first quarter of 2017 and other various intangible costs that were fully amortized during 2016.The decrease of $1.0 million in depreciation, amortization and accretion expenses for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 was due primarily to $0.6 million related to the amortization of our acquired technology and non-compete arrangements which were included for the year ended December 31, 2015 but were completely amortized during the year ended December 31, 2016 and $0.5 million related to lower depreciation expense because of a lower balance of pagers for the year ended December 31, 2016 partially offset by $0.1 million in other changes.

Interest income, Other income, and Income tax expense (benefit)

Interest income. For the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to the same period in 2016, interest income increased by $0.4 million primarily due to higher interest rates earned on the company's cash balances. The increase of $0.3 million in interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 was primarily due to an increase in funds held in interest bearing accounts.

Other income. For the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 other income, net decreased by $0.4 million due to a variety of immaterial transactions. The decrease of $0.6 million in other income, net for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, due primarily to $0.8 million related to the sale of two land parcels in 2015 that did not occur in 2016 partially offset by $0.2 million related to a reduction in the total estimated royalty liability for the purchase of IMCO in 2012.

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Income tax expense (benefit). The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ("2017 Tax Act") was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The 2017 Tax Act significantly revises the U.S. corporate income tax by, among other things, lowering the statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, eliminating certain deductions, imposing a mandatory one-time tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, introducing new tax regimes, and changing how foreign earnings are subject to U.S. tax. The 2017 Tax Act also enhanced and extended through 2026 the option to claim accelerated depreciation deductions on qualified property. We have not completed our determination of the accounting implications of the 2017 Tax Act on our tax accruals. However, we have reasonably estimated the effects of the 2017 Tax Act and recorded provisional amounts in our financial statements as of December 31, 2017. We recorded a provisional tax expense for the impact of the 2017 Tax Act of approximately $24.2 million. This amount is primarily comprised of the remeasurement of net deferred tax assets resulting from the permanent reduction in the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Changes that impact foreign earnings are not expected to have a material effect. As we complete our analysis of the 2017 Tax Act, collect and prepare necessary data, and interpret any additional guidance issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and other standard-setting bodies, we may make adjustments to the provisional amounts. Those adjustments may materially impact our provision for income taxes in the period in which the adjustments are made.

The effects of foreign taxes are immaterial for all periods presented. The following is the effective tax rate reconciliation for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively (See Note 7, "Income Taxes", for further discussion on our income taxes):



Effective tax rate reconciliation	2017					2016				2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Income before income tax (expense) benefit	$	11,559				$	22,971			$	26,298
Income taxes computed at the Federal statutory rate	$	4,046		35.0	%	$	8,040	35.0	%	$	9,204		35.0	%
State income taxes, net of Federal benefit	472			4.1	%	867		3.8	%	1,021			3.9	%
Impact of 2017 Tax Act	24,235			209.7	%	—		—	%	—			—	%
Research and development and other tax credits	(1,775		)	(15.4	)%	—		—	%	—			—	%
Change in valuation allowance	—			—	%	—		—	%	(64,159		)	(244.0	)%
Other	(113		)	(1.0	)%	85		0.4	%	(14		)	(0.1	)%
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	26,865		232.4	%	$	8,992	39.1	%	$	(53,948	)	(205.1	)%

Income tax expense increased by $17.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 due primarily to the write-off of DTA's as a result of the 2017 Tax Act partially offset by research and development and other tax credits. Our investment in research and development qualifies for the research and development income tax credit under Section 41 of the Internal Revenue Code. Unused research and development tax credits have a 20-year carryover and will provide future tax benefits once Spok’s net operating losses are fully utilized. The Company first applied this credit during 2017 and as a result has certain credits related to past periods. Research and development tax credits totaled $1.4 million in 2017 of which $0.6 million related to prior periods.

The pro-forma effective tax rate excludes the effects of the change in the valuation allowance and the changes related to the 2017 Tax Act to provide a more comparable effective tax rate. The following are the pro-forma effective tax rates for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively:



Pro forma effective tax rate	2017		2016		2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Effective tax rate	232.4	%	39.1	%	(205.1	%)
Impact of 2017 Tax Act	(209.7	%)	—	%	—	%
Change in valuation allowance	—	%	—	%	244.0	%
Pro-forma effective tax rate	22.7	%	39.1	%	38.9	%

Due to the changes in federal tax law resulting from the 2017 Tax Act, which is effective beginning on January 1, 2018, Spok anticipates a positive impact on 2018 cash flows resulting from the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax ("AMT") for corporations. Additionally, Spok anticipates an increase in future cash flows after the Company fully utilizes all remaining NOL’s as a result of the decrease in corporate tax rates. Refer to Note 7, "Income Taxes", for additional discussion.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Cash and Cash Equivalents

At December 31, 2017, we had cash and cash equivalents of $107.2 million. The available cash and cash equivalents are held in accounts managed by third-party financial institutions and consist of invested cash and cash in our operating accounts. The invested cash is invested in interest bearing funds managed by third-party financial institutions. These funds invest in direct obligations of the government of the United States. To date, we have experienced no loss or lack of access to our invested cash or cash equivalents; however, we can provide no assurance that access to our invested cash and cash equivalents will not be impacted by adverse market conditions.

We maintain a level of liquidity sufficient to allow us to meet our cash needs in both the short-term and long-term. At any point in time, we have approximately $7.0 to $12.0 million in our operating accounts that are with third-party financial institutions. While we monitor daily the cash balances in our operating accounts and adjust the cash balances as appropriate, these cash balances could be impacted if the underlying financial institutions fail or are subject to other adverse conditions in the financial markets. To date, we have experienced no loss or lack of access to cash in our operating accounts.

We intend to use our cash on hand to provide working capital, to support operations, to invest in our business and to return value to stockholders through cash dividends and possible repurchases of our common stock. We may also consider using cash to fund or complete opportunistic investments and acquisitions that we believe will provide a measure of growth or revenue stability while supporting our existing operations. Because we intend to increase substantially our investment in developing our integrated communications platform over the next two or three years commensurate with declining revenues from our wireless business, we anticipate that our cash on hand will decrease significantly during that period and possibly longer until revenues from our Spok Care Connect platform begin to be realized.

Overview

In the event that net cash provided by operating activities and cash on hand are not sufficient to meet future cash requirements, we may be required to reduce planned capital expenses, reduce or eliminate our cash dividends to stockholders, not resume our common stock repurchase program, and/or sell assets or seek additional financing. We can provide no assurance that reductions in planned capital expenses or proceeds from asset sales would be sufficient to cover shortfalls in available cash or that additional financing would be available on acceptable terms.

Based on current and anticipated levels of operations, we anticipate net cash provided by operating activities, together with the available cash on hand at December 31, 2017, should be adequate to meet anticipated cash requirements for the foreseeable future.

The following table sets forth information on our net cash flows from operating, investing, and financing activities for the periods stated:



	For the Year Ended December 31,									Change Between 2017 and 2016
	2017			2016			2015			Change Between 2017 and 2016
	(Dollars in thousands)
Net cash provided by operating activities	$	15,556		$	37,461		$	41,837		$	(21,905	)
Net cash used in investing activities	(9,214		)	(6,254		)	(5,565		)	(2,960		)
Net cash used in financing activities	(25,001		)	(16,723		)	(32,809		)	(8,278		)

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities. As discussed above, we are dependent on cash flows from operating activities to meet our cash requirements. Cash from operations varies depending on changes in various working capital items, including deferred revenues, accounts payable, accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and various accrued expenses. Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $21.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 due primarily to a decrease in net income, net of adjustments related to deferred income tax benefit, of $10.8 million (decrease in cash flow), a decrease of $1.3 million in depreciation, amortization and accretion expenses (decrease in cash flow) and a decrease of $0.3 million in other non-cash items (decrease in cash flow), partially offset by an increase of $2.8 million in stock based compensation expenses (increase in cash flow). With respect to changes in assets and liabilities the net cash provided by operating activities reflects a $4.4 million greater decrease in accounts payable, accrued liabilities and other (decrease in cash flow) and a net $8.4 million greater increase to assets (decrease in cash flow)partially offset by a $0.5 million increase in deferred revenue (increase in cash flow).

Net Cash Used in Investing Activities. Net cash used in investing activities increased $3.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 due primarily to an increase in the purchase of property and equipment related to our research and development efforts.

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Net Cash Used in Financing Activities. Net cash used in financing activities increased $8.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 from the same period in 2016 due primarily to the payment of $5.0 million related to the special dividend that was declared in December 2016 and an increase of $3.3 million in common stock repurchases, net of proceeds from the issuance of common stock.

Cash Dividends to Stockholders. For the year ended December 31, 2017, we paid a total of $15.2 million in cash dividends compared to $10.3 million in cash dividends for the same period in 2016. Cash dividends paid to stockholders in 2017 increased by $4.9 million primarily due to the $5.0 million related to a special dividend of $0.25 per common stock which was declared in 2016 and paid in 2017.

Future Cash Dividends to Stockholders. On February 28, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock, with a record date of March 16, 2018, and a payment date of March 30, 2018. This cash dividend of approximately $2.6 million is expected to be paid from available cash on hand.

Common Stock Repurchase Program. For the year ended December 31, 2017, we purchased 572,550 shares of our common stock under the repurchase program for $10 million. The repurchase authority allows us, at management’s discretion, to selectively repurchase shares of our common stock from time to time in the open market depending upon market price and other factors. On February 28, 2018 the Company's Board of Directors reset the repurchase authority under the share repurchase program to $10.0 million which is set to expire on December 31, 2018. (See Note 6, "Stockholders' Equity", for further discussion on our common stock repurchase program.)

Other. For 2018, the Board of Directors currently expects to pay dividends of $0.125 per common share each quarter, subject to declaration by the Board of Directors, in 2018.

Commitments and Contingencies

Contractual Obligations. The following table provides the Company's significant commitments and contractual obligations as of December 31, 2017.



	Payments Due By Period
(Dollars in thousands)	Total		Less than 1 Year		1 to 3 years		3 to 5 years		More than 5 years
Operating lease obligations	$	17,411	$	6,126	$	6,797	$	3,603	$	885
Total contractual obligations	$	17,411	$	6,126	$	6,797	$	3,603	$	885

As of December 31, 2017, our contractual payment obligations under our operating leases for office and transmitter locations are indicated in the table above. For purposes of the table above, purchase obligations are defined as agreements to purchase goods or services that are enforceable, legally binding, noncancelable, has a remaining term in excess of one year and that specify all significant terms, including: fixed or minimum quantities to be purchased; fixed, minimum or variable pricing provisions; and the approximate timing of transactions. The amounts are based on our contractual commitments; however, it is possible that we may be able to negotiate lower payments if we choose to exit these contracts before their expiration date. Refer to Note 8, "Commitments and Contingencies", for further discussion on commitments and contingencies.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements. We do not have any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. As such, we are not exposed to any financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in such relationships.

Related Parties

Refer to Note 10, "Related Parties", for further discussion on our related party transactions.

Inflation

Inflation has not had a material effect on our operations to date. System equipment and operating costs have not significantly increased in price, and the price of wireless messaging devices has tended to decline in recent years. Our general operating expenses, such as salaries, site rent for transmitter locations, employee benefits and occupancy costs, are subject to normal inflationary pressures.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Refer to Note 1, "Organization and Significant Accounting Policies", for a summary of significant accounting policies and estimates.

Refer to Note 2, "Recent and Pending Accounting Standards", for a summary of recent and pending accounting standards.

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Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use non-GAAP financial measures as key elements in determining performance for purposes of incentive compensation for our annual STIP and the performance periods for our LTIPs. The non-GAAP financial measures include; (1) adjusted operating cash flow (“OCF”), defined as EBITDA less purchases of property and equipment plus severance (the Company defines EBITDA as operating income plus depreciation, amortization and accretion, each determined in accordance with GAAP; purchases of property and equipment and severance are also determined in accordance with GAAP); and (2) the total of adjusted operating expenses and capital expenses. Adjusted operating expenses are defined as operating expenses less depreciation, amortization and accretion less severance less stock based compensation. Capital expenses are defined as the purchase of property and equipment. We believe that adjusted OCF is useful to investors and management as a measure of the ability of our business to generate cash. Further, we believe that adjusted operating and capital expenses is useful to investors and management as a measure of the ability of our business to responsibly manage operational expenses that impact Company cash flows.

Adjusted OCF was as follows for the periods stated:



Non-GAAP Financial Measures	2017			2016			2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Net (loss) income	$	(15,306	)	$	13,979		$	80,246
Plus (Less): Income tax expense (benefit)	26,865			8,992			(53,948		)
Less: Other income	(134		)	(543		)	(1,182		)
Less: Interest income	(719		)	(275		)	(16		)
Operating income	10,706			22,153			25,100
Plus: Depreciation, amortization and accretion	11,624			12,963			13,970
EBITDA (as defined by the Company)	22,330			35,116			39,070
Less: Purchases of property and equipment	(9,200		)	(6,256		)	(6,374		)
Plus: Severance	104			1,446			2,701
OCF (as defined by the Company)	$	13,234		$	30,306		$	35,397

Adjusted operating and capital expenses were as follows for the periods stated:



Non-GAAP Financial Measures	2017			2016			2015
(Dollars in thousands)
Operating expenses	$	160,469		$	157,408		$	164,528
Less: Depreciation, amortization and accretion	(11,624		)	(12,963		)	(13,970		)
Less: Severance	(104		)	(1,446		)	(2,701		)
Less: Stock based compensation	(3,688		)	(854		)	(1,868		)
Adjusted operating expenses (as defined by the Company)	145,053			142,145			145,989
Plus: Purchases of property and equipment	9,200			6,256			6,374
Adjusted operating and capital expenses (as defined by the Company)	$	154,253		$	148,401		$	152,363

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Interest Rate Risk

At December 31, 2017, we had no outstanding borrowings or associated debt service requirements.

Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk

We conduct a limited amount of business outside the United States. The financial impact of transactions billed in foreign currencies is immaterial to our financial results and, consequently, we do not have any material exposure to the risk of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

The consolidated financial statements are included in this Report beginning on Page F-1.



Index to Consolidated Financial Statements	Page
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	F- 2
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2017 and 2016	F- 4
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015	F- 5
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015	F- 6
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015	F- 7
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	F- 8
Selected Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited)	F- 25
Schedule II - Valuation and Qualifying Accounts	F- 26

ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

There are no reportable events.

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management carried out an evaluation, as required by Rule 13a-15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), with the participation of our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of our last fiscal year. Disclosure controls and procedures are defined under Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act as controls and other procedures of an issuer that are designed to ensure that the information required to be disclosed by the issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act (i) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and (ii) is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal executive officer and principal financial officer, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Based upon this evaluation, our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2017.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in the Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the 2013 Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”).

Such internal controls include those policies and procedures that:


•	pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;


•	provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and members of the Board of Directors of the Company; and


•	provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Based on our evaluation under the 2013 Internal Control — Integrated Framework

Spok Holdings, Inc - FORM 10-K - March 1, 2018

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