Windstream clearly is serious about upgrading its broadband network infrastructure. A Windstream broadband progress report issued yesterday reveals that the company made substantial progress in boosting network speeds since it last provided an update just one month ago.
According to yesterday’s release, Windstream broadband is now available at speeds of 25 Mbps or higher for “almost half of all customers.” This is a significant increase over numbers provided by Windstream CFO Bob Gunderman in June, which showed that just one third of customers had access to speeds of 25 Mbps or higher.
Just over a quarter (26%) of Windstream broadband customers can now get service at speeds of 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps. That, too, is a significant increase from Gunderman‘s June data, when 18% of customers could get service at speeds of 50 Mbps or higher. (story continues below)
Windstream still has more progress to make this year in order to meet its broadband upgrade goals, though. According to the data that Gunderman presented, Windstream aims to make speeds of 25 Mbps or higher available to 54% of its customers by year-end, including 30% who will have speeds of 50 Mbps or higher available to them and 15% who will be able to get service at speeds of at least 75 Mbps.
Windstream Broadband Upgrades are Critical
Windstream experienced a net loss of 35,000 broadband lines in 2015, but expects that number to decrease by half this year and become flat in 2017 as a result of the broadband network upgrades.
The company’s experience illustrates the growing importance of broadband network upgrades as more and more customers look for higher speeds to support increased use of over-the-top video viewing and other high-bandwidth applications.
Yesterday’s release doesn’t detail the technology that Windstream is using for its broadband network upgrades. But previously the company said it would use fiber-to-the-node and VDSL2 technology.
According to yesterday’s release, Windstream “now provides speeds of up to 100 Mbps to more than 1,000 markets” as a result of upgrades completed to date.
