The future is fiber for TDS and Shentel

Two independent telecom service providers–TDS Telecom and Shentel–have touted their increasingly fiber-focused broadband expansion plans. Jim Butman, president and CEO of TDS Telecom, said TDS is pressing ahead with a self-funded fiber expansion that mostly will focus on out-of-territory growth, with a few exceptions where the provider uses a full fiber deployment to defend some of its ILEC areas from competitive overbuilders. “We have plans over the next five years to make the business much more fiber-centric," said Butman. And that is TDS’ plan without the assumption of additional federal or state infrastructure funding, Butman said. Getting more money through those channels could allow TDS to do more. Meanwhile, Edward McKay, EVP and COO at Shentel, said his company also is fully focused on a full fiber-to-the-home expansion via its Glo Fiber offering, but unlike TDS, Shentel’s plans have been spurred by the increased access to government broadband funding that many other rural service providers also have seen. “We do expect our cable passings to increase modestly over the next five years, but our primary growth will come from our Glo Fiber markets," said McKay. "We plan to grow… to over 700,000 in the next five years. And that's driven almost entirely by fiber.”