![\"Jeff](\"http:\/\/assets.fiercemarkets.net\/public\/sites\/telecom\/jeff_gardner3_100.jpg\")
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\nHaving penetrated 71 percent of its access lines with broadband, the service\u00a0 provider continues to increase speeds to 12 and 20 Mbps and grow top line\u00a0 revenues.
\nServing mainly rural towns, 63 percent of the telco’s\u00a0 customers subscribe to a 6 Mbps or higher service.
\nSpeaking at the\u00a0 Goldman Sachs 22nd Annual Communacopia Conference, Jeff Gardner, CEO and\u00a0 president, said that Windstream is getting about $10 a month from complementary\u00a0 services such as hosting and virus protection it sells to consumers.<\/p>\n
“From the beginning we know we’d come to a point where we’d have high\u00a0 penetration, and the future of our revenue growth would be dependent on us\u00a0 further monetizing the broadband pipe into the home by selling other features,”\u00a0 Gardner said. “We’ve got these bundle adders like tech refresh, which helps\u00a0 people manage their PCs at home, software virus protection, and hosting.”<\/p>\n
The service provider received $183 million in Rural Utility Service (RUS)\u00a0 broadband stimulus funds that was matched by $70 million of its own capital. It\u00a0 expects to complete those projects by next year.<\/p>\n
“Once we build out these stimulus sites, they have very high penetration\u00a0 rates,” Gardner said. “Well over 50 percent of the homes passed will subscribe\u00a0 to our service.”<\/p>\n
In addition, the service provider is pursuing $60.4 million in incremental\u00a0 funding from CAF-I. It has also agreed to use $63.5 million above its initial\u00a0 allocation for a total of over $123.9 million.<\/p>\n
A key focus will be on extending fiber to remote terminal sites that house\u00a0 necessary broadband loop carrier (BLC) equipment to deliver up to 12-20 Mbps DSL\u00a0 speeds to customers.<\/p>\n
Gardner said the CAF money “will do two things: open up new rural markets\u00a0 similar to the stimulus money and in markets where we are copper fed we’ll have\u00a0 the opportunity to convert those to fiber.”<\/p>\n
Regardless of its moves, the telco faces strong competition from cable, which\u00a0 has been offering standalone broadband packages to offset declines in their\u00a0 traditional video business.<\/p>\n
“We’re doing well on the growth side,” Gardner said. “We’re seeing a little\u00a0 more disconnect because cable has been more aggressive than they’ve ever been,\u00a0 and often broadband has become more strategic to the cable companies in their\u00a0 offering as a standalone product.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"