TDS Telecom sees urgent need to increase fiber footprint in 2021

TDS Telecom’s leadership said that the company believes that there is a “sense of urgency” around its fiber strategy and it plans to increase its fiber build within its existing wireline footprint and also in expansion markets outside its footprint. In fact, the company feels such a sense of urgency that it is not naming the markets or the number of markets and addresses where it plans to expand its fiber footprint because of the growing competition in the 1-Gig space. TDS currently offers 1-Gig speeds to 56 percent of its market using both fiber-to-the-home and cable. Vicki Villacrez, senior vice president and CFO of TDS Telecom, said that the company will identify its next expansion markets once it signs construction agreements. The company now has fiber to 37 percent of its wireline footprint, or 338,000 residential addresses, and has a long-term goal of reaching 657,000 addresses in its wireline footprint and its expansion markets.