The Windstream gigabit footprint now includes markets in Nebraska, North Carolina, and Texas, the company announced yesterday. Windstream first announced these specific gigabit plans back in December, but has now actually launched the service.
The gigabit markets include Lincoln, Neb.; Lexington, Ky.; Sugar Land, Texas and seven North Carolina communities (China Grove, Concord, Davidson, Harrisburg, Kannapolis, Lewisville and Matthews), Collectively, the Windstream gigabit footprint now reaches about 35,000 residential and business subscribers according to a Windstream press release. The gigabit markets closely follow Windstream’s IPTV markets.
“We’re continuing to build on the momentum we started last year with the launch of premium speeds, Kinetic TV and Project Excel to further improve our network and expand our service offering,” said Tony Thomas, president and chief executive officer at Windstream in the press release.
Project Excel is Windstream’s broadband expansion plan, which aims to bring 100 Mbps broadband to 600 markets across 12 states. Ultimately, Windstream wants to reach approximately 1 million residential and small business locations with 100 Mbps broadband service.
As they build out with Project Excel, Windstream is finding a few opportunistic areas to bring fiber all the way to the home, and offer gigabit services. Project Excel is largely based on FTTN and VDSL2 technologies. It’s being funded in part by Windstream’s sale of their data center portfolio for $575 million, first announced in October of last year.
Project Excel is a large part of Windstream’s broadband strategy to address declining broadband subscriber numbers, much of which are being lost to cable competitors. Windstream hasn’t announced pricing for their gigabit services.
