Consolidated Communications appointed Dan Stoll to replace Michael Smith as president of the operator’s commercial and carrier business, as it looks to drive growth in the segment. Smith is retiring after three decades with Consolidated.
Commercial and carrier revenue made up around 47% of Consolidated’s $296.6 million in sales in Q3 2022, with the remainder coming from its consumer and network access businesses as well as subsidies. But its overall revenue figure was down nearly 7% year on year, thanks in part to lower voice, video, commercial and subsidy earnings.
As the Consolidated continues to flesh out its fiber footprint in 2023 on the road to reaching 1.6 million locations by 2025, an operator representative told Fierce it is focused on “growing Commercial-Carrier Data and Transport revenue and Consumer fiber broadband revenue and returning to revenue growth.”
More specifically, it is aiming to boost commercial and carrier fiber revenue from its fiber-to-the-tower and Data and Transport services like Metro Ethernet. Additionally, it will be looking to grow a new Fidium @Work offering which is it planning to launch later this month. Stoll will be a key part of its efforts.
Consolidated CEO Bob Udell said in a statement Stoll will be tasked with “further accelerating our commercial and carrier strategy and delivering a differentiated offering to our customers.” He added Stoll’s “track record of translating fiber network investments into increased sales velocity will have a significant impact on our organic growth.”
Stoll most recently served as Managing Director of Regional Networks at Zayo. He previously held a position as the company’s SVP of networks for the Western region. However, the majority of Stoll’s career was spent at Integra, where he worked from 2000 to the mid-2010s in various roles including VP of Business Development, VP of Corporate Development and SVP of Strategy and Development. He also served as President of Electric Lightwave, a division of Integra which was spun out into its own company in 2016 before being acquired by Zayo in 2017.
His appointment comes after Consolidated hired Fred Graffam as its new CFO in November.
Though Consolidated hasn’t yet shared the full details of its plans for 2023, it appears the company will continue pushing fiber deeper into New England. In December, it highlighted planned builds in the cities of Lewiston, Scarborough, Ellsworth, and Blue Hill in Maine, and St. Albans, Vermont.