TDS to deploy fiber to 25 percent of homes in territory by mid-2016

TDS continues to progress with bringing fiber to the home to its Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, and it plans to continue that trend by equipping about 25 percent of customers in its wireline territory with fiber by the middle of the year.  

LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr., president and CEO of TDS, said that in areas where it offers FTTH service, it is seeing ARPU levels rise.  

"Our investments in fiber deployment generated impressive results with competitively priced bundles driving increased customer loyalty and higher revenue per customer," Carlson said in the earnings release.

For 2016, the service provider plans to complete its targeted fiber deployment while increasing the availability of broadband and IPTV in existing markets.

Cable broadband growth continued in the fourth quarter, rising 6 percent year-over-year to end the period with a total of 117,100 total subscribers.

IPTV continues to be another key element in the wireline portfolio, ending the fourth quarter with presence 27 markets covering 23 percent of its services addresses. However, overall cable video subscribers declined 3 percent to 106,800.

Despite the progress it is making in rolling out FTTH, declines in the residential, commercial and wholesale segments, TDS' total wireline revenues declined 4 percent year-over-year to $174 million.

Residential wireline revenues declined 1 percent to $73 million, while commercial and wholesale declined 4 and six percent, respectively, to $54 and $46 million.

From an overall financial perspective, TDS reported total operating revenues of $1.27 billion for the fourth quarter of 2015, down slightly year-over-year form $1.29 billion for the comparable period one year ago.

Net loss attributable to TDS shareholders and related diluted earnings per share improved to $0.8 million and $0.01, respectively.

Shares of TDS were listed at $24.31, up 48 cents, or 2.01 percent, in Friday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.  

For more:
- see the earnings release

Special Report: From Adtran to Zayo: Tracking wireline earnings in Q4 2015

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