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WOW! sees fiber broadband growth potential in Greenfield, edge-out markets amidst a challenging Q4
WideOpenWest continues to make good on its Greenfield fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) expansion strategy, passing nearly 14,000 locations during the first quarter across four markets--Central Florida, Hernando Beach, Florida, Brighton, Michigan and Greenville, South Carolina.
Speaking to investors during WideOpenWest's first-quarter earnings call, Teresa Elder, CEO, said the company is progressing with its network builds and that customer adoption rates remain steady.
“During the first quarter, our fiber expansion made further progress as we passed an additional 13,700 homes in our greenfield markets, bringing our total number of homes to 75,600 in these new markets,” she said. “The penetration rates in our greenfield markets remain strong at 16.3%, reflecting a strong sell-in, especially in the higher speed tiers.”
Likewise, Elder said the cable MSO continued to make progress in bringing fiber to its Edge-Out markets.
“The 2025 Edge-Out vintage also passed 1,500 new homes in the first quarter while delivering a penetration rate close to 27%,” she said. “Our 2024 Edge-Out vintage increased almost five percentage points to a penetration rate of 44.6% while the 2023 vintage increased 0.5% to 31.4%.”
Capex transitions
Capital spending on WideOpenWest’s ongoing network build-out in Greenfield markets was tempered in the first quarter.
The company’s core capex efficiency was 16.1% in the first quarter. Expansion capex decreased to $32.3 million from the same period last year and increased by $5.3 million from the previous quarter.
“In the first quarter, we spent $10.8 million on Greenfields, which was slightly lower than expected, primarily due to weather issues in our new markets, which slowed us down on our construction,” said John Rego, CFO of WideOpenWest.
Despite the first quarter's slowdown, Rego added, “We still expect to spend between $60 million and $70 million in 2025 on Greenfields.”
Revenue, subscriber challenges
While WideOpenWest is succeeding in Greenfield fiber markets, the company faced various subscriber and revenue challenges during the first quarter.
For one, the service provider saw a decline in broadband subscribers. The provider lost 4,500 broadband subscribers, while high-speed data revenue decreased 0.8% year-over-year to $105.4 million.
Despite the losses, Elder pointed to an increase in broadband subscribers in its Greenfield and Edge-Out expansion market.
“We added 2,000 high-speed data subscribers in our greenfield markets and 900 in our Edge-Out expansion market, which partially offset the drop in our legacy footprint,” she said. “The steps we introduced last year, such as complementary speed upgrades and our simplified pricing plans, which have an optional price lock, modem included, no data caps, and no contracts, continue to benefit our business, especially in our expansion markets.”
Rego said he expects WideOpenWest's “High Speed Data (HSD) net adds to be between a negative 6,500 and a negative 4,500.”
ARPU, however, was a bright spot, rising 3.7% year-over-year to $75. “Overall, we continue to see the success of our simplified pricing strategy, which is showing particular strength in our greenfield market,” Elder said.
Like earlier quarters, WideOpenWest’s traditional video business dipped again, reflecting the ongoing customer transition to online video sources like YouTube TV. In 2023, the company signed an agreement with Google to offer YouTube TV as its dedicated live television offering.
“As expected, our traditional video business declined further during the quarter and has now dropped to 48,900 subscribers, a 38% decrease from last year,” Elder said. “We anticipate this trend will continue as we transition to YouTube TV, which grew significantly this past year.”
Total revenue for the first quarter was $150.0 million, down $11.5 million, or 7.1%, from the corresponding period 2024.
Looking forward, WideOpenWest expects HSD revenue to be between $101 million and $104 million, and total revenue to be between $141 million and $144 million.
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Sean Buckley
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