FTTX

Consolidated Communications to boost broadband speeds to over 500,000 New England customers

Feb. 26, 2018

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. said it plans to improve broadband speeds to over 500,000 residents and small businesses throughout its Northern New England service area by the end of 2018. The announcement covers areas served by the former FairPoint Communications, Inc., which Consolidated purchased in 2017 and recently rebranded.

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) said it plans to improve broadband speeds to over 500,000 residents and small businesses throughout its Northern New England service area by the end of 2018. The announcement covers areas served by the former FairPoint Communications, Inc., which Consolidated purchased in 2017 and recently rebranded (see "Consolidated Communications to buy FairPoint, sells enterprise/IT services equipment biz").

Consolidated said its primary focus will be offering speeds two to three times faster than what is currently available to residents and small businesses. Residents have more and more devices that require Internet connection, and the company will extend speeds of 1 Gbps to approximately 100,000 residents to address these demands.

Speed upgrades will not require a service call in many instances, says Consolidated. Customers will be notified when increased speeds are available in their area. Residents and small businesses interested in obtaining more information about speeds available in their area, and new, advanced services available are being asked to enter their service address online at www.consolidated.com.

The company recently announced the expansion of enterprise business services throughout Northern New England, including premises hardware virtualization and DDOS mitigation services to address data security and business continuity obstacles. According to Consolidated, it will offer residents and businesses several new products and services, in addition to faster broadband speeds and overall network investment. Consolidated says it will introduce IP-based voice services, streaming video offerings, and other residential and small business services in the coming months.

"This is an exciting time for our customers as we significantly increase broadband speeds and make it easier to do business with us," said Bob Udell, Consolidated Communications president and chief executive. "Today's announcement is a result of our commitment to improve broadband speeds after we closed on the FairPoint acquisition. We are excited about new tools and service enhancements to come."

This past November, Consolidated sold its Virginia properties, Peoples Mutual Telephone Company and Peoples Mutual Long Distance Company, to better focus on serving its core regions, and on the integration of FairPoint (see "Consolidated Communications sells Virginia properties to focus on FairPoint").

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