most traditional wireline and wireless telephone service providers and cable companies are substantially larger and better capitalized than we are and have the advantage of a large existing customer base . in addition , because our competitors provide other services , they often choose to offer voip services or other voice services as part of a bundle that includes other products , such as video , high speed internet access , and wireless telephone service , which we do not offer . we also compete against alternative communication providers . some of these service providers have chosen to sacrifice telephony revenue in order to gain market share and have offered their services at low prices or for free . as we continue to introduce applications that integrate different forms of voice and messaging services over multiple devices , we are facing competition from emerging competitors focused on similar integration , as well as from alternative voice communication providers . we also are subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies . in connection with our emphasis on the international long distance market in the united states , we face competition from low-cost international calling cards and voip providers in addition to traditional telephone companies , cable companies , and wireless companies , each of which may implement promotional pricing targeting international long distance callers . regulation . our business has developed in a relatively lightly regulated environment . for further discussion regarding regulatory issues which impacts the company , refer to `` regulation `` in note 11 , commitments and contingencies to our financial statements . key operating data the table below includes key operating data that our management uses to measure the growth and operating performance of the business segment : replace_table_token_4_th service revenues per customer . service revenues per customer for a particular period is calculated by dividing the average monthly service revenues for the period by the average number of customers over the number of months in the period . the average number of customers is the number of customers on the first day of the period , plus the number of customers on the last day of the period , divided by two . service revenues excludes revenues from trading and auction customers . service revenues per customer increased from $ 327 for 2017 to $ 358 for 2018 primarily driven by the company 's successful efforts to attract larger business customers and to expand services provided to our existing business customers . business revenue churn . business revenue churn is calculated by dividing the revenue from customers or customer locations that have been confirmed to be foregone during a period by the simple average of the total revenue from all customers in that period . revenue for purposes of determining business revenue churn is service revenue excluding revenue from our trading and auction customers , and usage in excess of a customer 's contracted service plan , regulatory fees charged to customers , and credits . the simple average of total revenue from all customers during the period is the total revenue as defined herein on the first day of the period , plus the total revenue as defined herein on the last day of the period , divided by two . terminations , as used in the calculation of churn statistics , do not include customers terminated during the period if termination occurred within the first month after activation . other companies may calculate business revenue churn differently , and their business revenue churn data may not be directly comparable to ours . business revenue churn decreased slightly from 1.2 % in 2017 to 1.1 % in 2018 . our revenue churn will fluctuate over time due to economic conditions , seasonality in certain customer 's operations , loss of customers who are acquired , and competitive pressures including promotional pricing . we are continuing to invest in our overall quality of service which includes customer care headcount and systems , billing systems , on-boarding processes and self-service options to ensure we scale our processes to our growth and continue to improve the overall customer experience . the table below includes key operating data that our management uses to measure the growth and operating performance of the consumer segment : replace_table_token_5_th 29 vonage annual report 2018 average monthly revenues per subscriber line . average monthly revenues per subscriber line for a particular period is calculated by dividing our revenues for that period by the simple average number of subscriber lines for the period , and dividing the result by the number of months in the period . the simple average number of subscriber lines for the period is the number of subscriber lines on the first day of the period , plus the number of subscriber lines on the last day of the period , divided by two . our average monthly revenues per subscriber line increased from $ 26.19 for 2017 to $ 26.42 for 2018 due primarily to the company 's ability to retain its more tenured customers . subscriber lines . our subscriber lines include , as of a particular date , all paid subscriber lines from which a customer can make an outbound telephone call on that date . our subscriber lines include fax lines , including fax lines bundled with subscriber lines in our small office home office calling plans and soft phones , but do not include our virtual phone numbers and toll free numbers , which only allow inbound telephone calls to customers . subscriber lines decreased from 1,492,067 as of december 31 , 2017 to 1,287,649 as of december 31 , 2018 , reflecting planned actions to enhance the profitability of the assisted sales channel by eliminating lower performing locations and restructuring the pricing offers , and to shift investment to our business market . customer churn . story_separator_special_tag for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 total other operating expenses decreased $ 18,376 during the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to the following : sales and marketing expense decreased by $ 17,718 , or 5 % , due to a continued shift during 2017 in traditional marketing investments targeting consumer customers to more selective targeted advertising focused on attracting more profitable business customers resulting in overall fewer media marketing programs being deployed during the current year . other income ( expense ) replace_table_token_11_th for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 interest expense . the increase in interest expense of $ 200 , or 1 % , was mainly due to higher principal balances on our 2018 credit facility that we entered into in july 2018 and our 2016 credit facility that we entered into in july 2016 as compared to the prior year on our 2016 credit facility along with rising rates during the second half of 2018. other income ( expense ) , net . other income ( expense ) , net decreased by $ 1,588 , or 125 % in 2018 compared to 2017 due to the gain from the sale of the hosted infrastructure product line during the year ended december 31 , 2017. for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 interest expense . the increase in interest expense of $ 1,826 , or 14 % , was due mainly to higher interest rates in 2017 compared to 2016 , partially offset by lower principal balances , and the additional interest expense associated with our interest rate swaps arrangement . other income ( expense ) , net . other income ( expense ) , net increased by $ 1,537 , or 576 % in 2017 compared to 2016 due the sale of the hosted infrastructure product line during the second quarter of 2017 as further discussed in note 12 , acquisitions and dispositions . 37 vonage annual report 2018 income taxes replace_table_token_12_th for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 we recognize income taxes equal to pre-tax income multiplied by our annual effective income tax rate . in addition , adjustments are recorded for discrete period items and changes to our state effective tax rate which can cause the rate to fluctuate from quarter to quarter . during the year ended december 31 , 2018 , we recognized tax expense of $ 797 related to u.s. , state and foreign income tax expense . the company has recorded a permanent benefit related to excess share-based stock compensation . in addition , certain acquisition related expenses incurred during 2018 are treated as a permanent difference as the expenses are not deductible for tax purposes but are a reduction of pre-tax income . the company also recorded a permanent difference related to the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act , or tcja , related to the excess compensation deduction pertaining to covered employees who received compensation in excess of $ 1 million dollars . during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company recognized tax expense of $ 79,726 which primarily reflects the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act , or tcja , which was signed into law by the president of the united states on december 22 , 2017. the tcja most notably reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 % to 21 % along with eliminating the alternative minimum tax , or amt , and imposes a mandatory one-time tax on foreign earnings . the company recorded an income tax expense of $ 69,378 which is primarily with the re-measurement of the company 's deferred tax balances at the 21 % income tax rate . the company has concluded that the provisional amount recorded as of december 31 , 2017 is final and does not require any further adjustment . during the year ended december 31 , 2016 , the company recognized tax expense of $ 17,694 which is primarily related to the contingent consideration in connection with the acquisition of nexmo which was treated as a permanent difference as the expense is not deductible for tax purposes but is a reduction of pre-tax income . 38 vonage annual report 2018 liquidity and capital resources overview during the years ended december 31 , 2018 , 2017 , and 2016 we generated cash from operations . we expect to continue to balance efforts to grow our revenue while consistently achieving operating profitability . to grow our revenue , we continue to make investments in growth initiatives , marketing , application development , network quality and expansion , and customer care . although we believe we will achieve consistent profitability in the future , we ultimately may not be successful and we may not achieve consistent profitability . we believe that cash flow from operations and cash on hand will fund our operations for at least the next twelve months . the following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the periods indicated : replace_table_token_13_th operating activities story_separator_special_tag ended december 31 , 2018. nexmo was acquired on june 3 , 2016. nexmo shareholders received consideration of $ 231,122. of the consideration , $ 194,684 ( net of cash acquired of $ 16,094 ) was paid at close , which consisted of $ 163,093 of cash ( net of $ 16,094 of cash acquired ) and 6,823 in shares of vonage common stock valued at $ 31,591. the remaining $ 36,438 of the $ 231,122 purchase price was in the form of restricted cash , restricted stock and options held by nexmo management and employees , subject to vesting requirements over time . state and local sales taxes

cash provided by operating activities decreased to $ 123,205 for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 128,058 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , primarily due to a decrease of $ 73,071 in non-cash items offset by an increase in net income . also attributing to the decrease in operating activities was an increase in cash used for working capital requirements of $ 1,443 during the year ended december 31 , 2018 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 primarily due payment of acquisition related expenses made during the current year . cash provided by operating activities increased to $ 128,058 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to $ 93,456 for the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to an increase in operating income adjusted for non-cash items of $ 27,817 driven by a decrease in operating expenses as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily attributable to decreased sales and marketing costs . also attributing to the increase in operating activities was a decrease in cash used for working capital requirements of $ 6,785 during the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to a decrease in timing of prepayments made during the current year .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```cash provided by operating activities decreased to $ 123,205 for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to $ 128,058 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , primarily due to a decrease of $ 73,071 in non-cash items offset by an increase in net income . also attributing to the decrease in operating activities was an increase in cash used for working capital requirements of $ 1,443 during the year ended december 31 , 2018 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 primarily due payment of acquisition related expenses made during the current year . cash provided by operating activities increased to $ 128,058 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to $ 93,456 for the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to an increase in operating income adjusted for non-cash items of $ 27,817 driven by a decrease in operating expenses as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily attributable to decreased sales and marketing costs . also attributing to the increase in operating activities was a decrease in cash used for working capital requirements of $ 6,785 during the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to a decrease in timing of prepayments made during the current year .
```    
 Suspicious Activity Report : most traditional wireline and wireless telephone service providers and cable companies are substantially larger and better capitalized than we are and have the advantage of a large existing customer base . in addition , because our competitors provide other services , they often choose to offer voip services or other voice services as part of a bundle that includes other products , such as video , high speed internet access , and wireless telephone service , which we do not offer . we also compete against alternative communication providers . some of these service providers have chosen to sacrifice telephony revenue in order to gain market share and have offered their services at low prices or for free . as we continue to introduce applications that integrate different forms of voice and messaging services over multiple devices , we are facing competition from emerging competitors focused on similar integration , as well as from alternative voice communication providers . we also are subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies . in connection with our emphasis on the international long distance market in the united states , we face competition from low-cost international calling cards and voip providers in addition to traditional telephone companies , cable companies , and wireless companies , each of which may implement promotional pricing targeting international long distance callers . regulation . our business has developed in a relatively lightly regulated environment . for further discussion regarding regulatory issues which impacts the company , refer to `` regulation `` in note 11 , commitments and contingencies to our financial statements . key operating data the table below includes key operating data that our management uses to measure the growth and operating performance of the business segment : replace_table_token_4_th service revenues per customer . service revenues per customer for a particular period is calculated by dividing the average monthly service revenues for the period by the average number of customers over the number of months in the period . the average number of customers is the number of customers on the first day of the period , plus the number of customers on the last day of the period , divided by two . service revenues excludes revenues from trading and auction customers . service revenues per customer increased from $ 327 for 2017 to $ 358 for 2018 primarily driven by the company 's successful efforts to attract larger business customers and to expand services provided to our existing business customers . business revenue churn . business revenue churn is calculated by dividing the revenue from customers or customer locations that have been confirmed to be foregone during a period by the simple average of the total revenue from all customers in that period . revenue for purposes of determining business revenue churn is service revenue excluding revenue from our trading and auction customers , and usage in excess of a customer 's contracted service plan , regulatory fees charged to customers , and credits . the simple average of total revenue from all customers during the period is the total revenue as defined herein on the first day of the period , plus the total revenue as defined herein on the last day of the period , divided by two . terminations , as used in the calculation of churn statistics , do not include customers terminated during the period if termination occurred within the first month after activation . other companies may calculate business revenue churn differently , and their business revenue churn data may not be directly comparable to ours . business revenue churn decreased slightly from 1.2 % in 2017 to 1.1 % in 2018 . our revenue churn will fluctuate over time due to economic conditions , seasonality in certain customer 's operations , loss of customers who are acquired , and competitive pressures including promotional pricing . we are continuing to invest in our overall quality of service which includes customer care headcount and systems , billing systems , on-boarding processes and self-service options to ensure we scale our processes to our growth and continue to improve the overall customer experience . the table below includes key operating data that our management uses to measure the growth and operating performance of the consumer segment : replace_table_token_5_th 29 vonage annual report 2018 average monthly revenues per subscriber line . average monthly revenues per subscriber line for a particular period is calculated by dividing our revenues for that period by the simple average number of subscriber lines for the period , and dividing the result by the number of months in the period . the simple average number of subscriber lines for the period is the number of subscriber lines on the first day of the period , plus the number of subscriber lines on the last day of the period , divided by two . our average monthly revenues per subscriber line increased from $ 26.19 for 2017 to $ 26.42 for 2018 due primarily to the company 's ability to retain its more tenured customers . subscriber lines . our subscriber lines include , as of a particular date , all paid subscriber lines from which a customer can make an outbound telephone call on that date . our subscriber lines include fax lines , including fax lines bundled with subscriber lines in our small office home office calling plans and soft phones , but do not include our virtual phone numbers and toll free numbers , which only allow inbound telephone calls to customers . subscriber lines decreased from 1,492,067 as of december 31 , 2017 to 1,287,649 as of december 31 , 2018 , reflecting planned actions to enhance the profitability of the assisted sales channel by eliminating lower performing locations and restructuring the pricing offers , and to shift investment to our business market . customer churn . story_separator_special_tag for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 total other operating expenses decreased $ 18,376 during the year ended december 31 , 2017 as compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 primarily due to the following : sales and marketing expense decreased by $ 17,718 , or 5 % , due to a continued shift during 2017 in traditional marketing investments targeting consumer customers to more selective targeted advertising focused on attracting more profitable business customers resulting in overall fewer media marketing programs being deployed during the current year . other income ( expense ) replace_table_token_11_th for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 interest expense . the increase in interest expense of $ 200 , or 1 % , was mainly due to higher principal balances on our 2018 credit facility that we entered into in july 2018 and our 2016 credit facility that we entered into in july 2016 as compared to the prior year on our 2016 credit facility along with rising rates during the second half of 2018. other income ( expense ) , net . other income ( expense ) , net decreased by $ 1,588 , or 125 % in 2018 compared to 2017 due to the gain from the sale of the hosted infrastructure product line during the year ended december 31 , 2017. for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2016 interest expense . the increase in interest expense of $ 1,826 , or 14 % , was due mainly to higher interest rates in 2017 compared to 2016 , partially offset by lower principal balances , and the additional interest expense associated with our interest rate swaps arrangement . other income ( expense ) , net . other income ( expense ) , net increased by $ 1,537 , or 576 % in 2017 compared to 2016 due the sale of the hosted infrastructure product line during the second quarter of 2017 as further discussed in note 12 , acquisitions and dispositions . 37 vonage annual report 2018 income taxes replace_table_token_12_th for the year ended december 31 , 2018 compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 we recognize income taxes equal to pre-tax income multiplied by our annual effective income tax rate . in addition , adjustments are recorded for discrete period items and changes to our state effective tax rate which can cause the rate to fluctuate from quarter to quarter . during the year ended december 31 , 2018 , we recognized tax expense of $ 797 related to u.s. , state and foreign income tax expense . the company has recorded a permanent benefit related to excess share-based stock compensation . in addition , certain acquisition related expenses incurred during 2018 are treated as a permanent difference as the expenses are not deductible for tax purposes but are a reduction of pre-tax income . the company also recorded a permanent difference related to the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act , or tcja , related to the excess compensation deduction pertaining to covered employees who received compensation in excess of $ 1 million dollars . during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company recognized tax expense of $ 79,726 which primarily reflects the impact of the tax cuts and jobs act , or tcja , which was signed into law by the president of the united states on december 22 , 2017. the tcja most notably reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 % to 21 % along with eliminating the alternative minimum tax , or amt , and imposes a mandatory one-time tax on foreign earnings . the company recorded an income tax expense of $ 69,378 which is primarily with the re-measurement of the company 's deferred tax balances at the 21 % income tax rate . the company has concluded that the provisional amount recorded as of december 31 , 2017 is final and does not require any further adjustment . during the year ended december 31 , 2016 , the company recognized tax expense of $ 17,694 which is primarily related to the contingent consideration in connection with the acquisition of nexmo which was treated as a permanent difference as the expense is not deductible for tax purposes but is a reduction of pre-tax income . 38 vonage annual report 2018 liquidity and capital resources overview during the years ended december 31 , 2018 , 2017 , and 2016 we generated cash from operations . we expect to continue to balance efforts to grow our revenue while consistently achieving operating profitability . to grow our revenue , we continue to make investments in growth initiatives , marketing , application development , network quality and expansion , and customer care . although we believe we will achieve consistent profitability in the future , we ultimately may not be successful and we may not achieve consistent profitability . we believe that cash flow from operations and cash on hand will fund our operations for at least the next twelve months . the following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the periods indicated : replace_table_token_13_th operating activities story_separator_special_tag ended december 31 , 2018. nexmo was acquired on june 3 , 2016. nexmo shareholders received consideration of $ 231,122. of the consideration , $ 194,684 ( net of cash acquired of $ 16,094 ) was paid at close , which consisted of $ 163,093 of cash ( net of $ 16,094 of cash acquired ) and 6,823 in shares of vonage common stock valued at $ 31,591. the remaining $ 36,438 of the $ 231,122 purchase price was in the form of restricted cash , restricted stock and options held by nexmo management and employees , subject to vesting requirements over time . state and local sales taxes

