Shentel Reports 2019 Strong Fourth Quarter and Year End Operating Statistics


EDINBURG, Va., Jan. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) (NASDAQ: SHEN) announces preliminary operating statistics for the fourth quarter and year-end 2019.

“We achieved our second consecutive quarter of record postpaid wireless gross and net postpaid additions in the fourth quarter 2019, driven in part by our network and distribution investments in the recently acquired Parkersburg expansion areas.  We grew postpaid gross and net additions in 2019 by 24% and 142%, respectively, giving us strong sales momentum in our Wireless business as we enter 2020,” said President and CEO Christopher French “Our Cable and Wireline focus on increasing broadband penetration, together with the acquisition of Big Sandy Broadband, produced 11.3% year-over-year growth in cable broadband RGUs with broadband penetration increasing to 40.7% as of December 31, 2019.  We continue to see the benefits of the recently completed DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades which have enabled 1 Gigabit download speeds across our footprint, while our new rate card and ongoing improvements in customer service and operations have significantly increased customer satisfaction and retention.”

WIRELESS December 31,
2019
 December 31,
2018
Retail PCS subscribers – postpaid 844,194 795,176
Retail PCS subscribers – prepaid 274,012 258,704
Total PCS subscribers 1,118,206 1,053,880


  Three Months Ended  Twelve Months Ended 
  December 31,  December 31, 
WIRELESS 2019 2018  2019 2018 
Gross PCS subscriber additions – postpaid 71,830 54,517  235,953 190,334 
Net PCS subscriber additions – postpaid 20,777 9,639  49,018 20,236(1)
Gross PCS subscriber additions – prepaid 39,352 38,225  152,098 150,662 
Net PCS subscriber additions – prepaid 2,461 3,242  15,308 17,191(1)
PCS average monthly retail churn % – postpaid 2.05% 1.90%  1.92% 1.82% 
PCS average monthly retail churn % – prepaid 4.52% 4.55%  4.26% 4.45% 

   (1)  Results exclude 38,343 postpaid and 15,691 prepaid subscribers acquired on February 1, 2018 in the Richmond Expansion Area.


CABLE AND WIRELINE December 31, 2019 (2)  December 31, 2018
  Cable (3)WirelineTotal  CableWirelineTotal
Cable homes passed 189,762 16,500 206,262   185,119 16,500 201,619 
          
Video RGUs 48,613 5,024 53,637   53,086 5,586 58,672 
Penetration 25.6% 30.4%
 26.0%   28.7% 33.9% 29.1%
 
          
Broadband RGUs 77,227 6,689 83,916   70,183 5,206 75,389 
Penetration 40.7% 40.5%
 40.7%   37.9% 31.6% 37.4%
 
          
Voice RGUs 24,152 7,213 31,365   23,810 5,664 29,474 
Penetration 12.7% 43.7%
 15.2%
   12.9% 34.3% 14.6%
 
          
Total Cable RGUs 149,992 18,926 168,918   147,079 16,456 163,535 


CABLE AND WIRELINE December 31, 2019 (2)  December 31, 2018
  CableWirelineTotal  CableWirelineTotal
Rural Local Exchange Carrier ("RLEC")         
RLEC homes passed 25,495 25,495   25,457 25,457 
RLEC RGUs         
Data RLEC 7,797 7,797   9,104 9,104 
Penetration 30.6% 30.6%   35.8% 35.8%
 
Voice RLEC 14,332 14,332   15,698 15,698 
Penetration 56.2% 56.2%   61.7% 61.7% 
Total RLEC RGUs 22,129 22,129   24,802 24,802 

   (2)  Homes passed are as of September 30, 2019.
   (3)  Excludes Glo Fiber results.


About Shenandoah Telecommunications
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) provides a broad range of diversified communications services through its high speed, state-of-the-art network to customers in the Mid-Atlantic United States. The Company’s services include: wireless voice and data; cable video, internet and digital voice; fiber network and services; and regulated local and long distance telephone. Shentel is the exclusive personal communications service (“PCS”) Affiliate of Sprint in a multi-state area covering large portions of central and western Virginia, south-central Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and portions of Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio. For more information, please visit www.shentel.com.

CONTACTS:
Shenandoah Telecommunications, Inc.
Jim Volk
Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
540-984-5990
Jim.Volk@emp.shentel.com

Or
John Nesbett/Jennifer Belodeau
IMS Investor Relations
203-972-9200
jnesbett@institutionalms.com