TDS Telecom surpassed the halfway point in its quest to light up 60% of its footprint with fiber by 2026, announcing on its Q1 2022 earnings call fiber coverage now stands at 33%.
On an earnings call, TDS Telecom CFO Michelle Brukwicki said the operator added 22,000 fiber passings in the quarter and is targeting a total of 160,000 for the full year 2022. It increased its overall number of passings, including cable, by 7% to 1.4 million. It currently covers upwards of 460,000 of these with fiber, meaning it will end the year with around 600,000 fiber passings if it hits its deployment goal.
Brukwicki noted “Seasonality will impact the quarterly cadence of fiber service address delivery,” meaning that following a slow start in Q1 deployments are expected to “steadily” ramp throughout the remainder of the year.
Fiber aside, Brukwicki said TDS also completed its DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade in its cable markets during Q1 and boosted availability of its 1-gig service to 62% of its total service addresses. That figure compares to 55% in the year-ago quarter. Uptake of faster speeds is trending upward accordingly, she added.
“In areas where we offer 1-gig service, we are seeing 21% of our new customers taking this superior product compared with 17% a year ago,” Brukwicki stated. “Our 1-gig product, along with our 2-gig product in certain markets, are important tools that will allow us to defend and win new customers.”
A-CAM advocate
At its upcoming May meeting, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on whether to seek comments on proposed changes to its Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) program, which supports broadband deployments in eligible high-cost areas. These changes would extend additional A-CAM support in exchange for commitments from operators to extend deployments to more locations and offer speeds of at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream.
Brukwicki said on the call TDS supports the proposal, stating it expects “an extension program would provide additional years of revenue support."
“Extending the current federal A-CAM program, along with the IIJA broadband funding, would provide even more opportunities for TDS Telecom to help bridge the digital divide in our most rural areas,” she added.
Metrics
Consolidated revenue increased 1% year on year to $251 million, with residential revenue increasing to $162 million from $157 million the year prior. Commercial revenue dipped from $47 million to $44 million year on year while Wholesale revenue of $44 million was down from $45 million. Net income of $23 million fell slightly from $24 million.