Shentel’s commercial and residential fiber drove a shift in its revenue mix
Key Highlights
- Shentel's fiber network expansion passed approximately 427,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2025, with an annual increase of 81,000 passings.
- Commercial fiber revenue grew by 13.2%, contributing significantly to the company's shift in revenue mix towards fiber-based services.
- Despite a slight decline in residential broadband revenue, Shentel recognized $1.7 million from Horizon markets and continues to focus on fiber growth.
- The company’s commercial bookings exceeded 155,000 monthly, with a 9% increase in the second half of 2025 compared to the previous year.
- Shentel aims to complete its fiber broadband build by the end of 2026, with a focus on acquiring pure-play fiber providers and expanding its customer base.
Keep up to date with Lightwave’s Q4 2025 earnings coverage.
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Here are other stories on Shentel:
· Shentel’s CEO says it would be interested in acquiring a pure-play fiber player
· Shentel’s CEO says it is on track to complete its fiber broadband build by the end of 2026
· Shentel's CEO: Residential Glo Fiber and commercial fiber to surpass incumbent revenues next year
Shentel may be nearing the end of its fiber build-out. Still, the service provider’s efforts in the consumer and commercial sectors have become a growth weapon, helping it more effectively battle incumbent declines.
Residential and SMB incumbent broadband markets' revenue declined $5.1 million, or 2.9%. Shentel recognized $1.7 million in revenue from the acquired Horizon markets in the first quarter of 2025.
Commercial Fiber revenue increased $9.3 million, or 13.2%. Shentel recognized $9.9 million in revenue from the acquired Horizon markets in the first quarter of 2025. The company said the remaining decrease of $0.6 million was primarily due to non-cash deferred revenue adjustments for a carrier customer and early termination fees earned in the prior year.
Ed McKay, CEO of Shentel, said the results reflect the service provider’s dedication to expanding its fiber network to more business locations across its footprint.
As of the end of 2025, Shentel had passed approximately 427,000 homes and businesses in our Glo Fiber expansion markets, an annual increase of 81,000 passings.
“This past year marked another important step forward for Shentel as we continue to execute on our fiber-first strategy,” he said. “Strong year-over-year growth in both Glo Fiber and Commercial Fiber drove a notable shift in our revenue mix with our fiber-based lines of business surpassing our incumbent broadband revenue in the fourth quarter.”
Working through the backlog
Shentel continued to make progress with commercial sales in the fourth quarter, reporting that incremental monthly bookings exceeded 155,000, in line with the results reported at the end of 2024.
Following a period of record bookings in the first half of 2025, second-half bookings increased by almost 9% compared to the second half of 2024.
“We’re seeing strong performance across a broad and diverse customer base, including wireless carriers, mid-market and enterprise customers, wholesale partners, educational institutions, and state and local governments,” McKay said.
During the quarter, Shentel’s service delivery team generated $191,000 in new monthly revenue, declining from $216,000 sequentially.
“Our monthly revenue was down modestly as we continue to work through the backlog and move bookings to revenue more quickly,” McKay said.
He added that “average monthly compression and disconnect churn remained very low at 0.6% in the fourth quarter, driven by exceptional support from our network operations center and sales team.”
Weathering business customer dynamics
Like other providers serving business customers, Shentel also must face the typical dynamics of the time it takes for network installation and billing for services
While business passings account for about 8% of Shentel’s total passings, these locations show a slower penetration ramp than residential passings.
Still, McKay noted that business customers generate data ARPU that is over 40% higher than residential customers.
“Due to the slower business ramp, cohorts with a higher concentration of business passings can show lower penetration,” he said. “This dynamic is evident in the Q4 2023, Q1 and Q4 2024, and Q1 2025 cohorts, which have a significantly higher mix of business passings than other cohorts.”
Another challenge for Shentel when it wins a new commercial customer is waiting for the contracts to end.
“We must wait for that contract to roll off,” McKay said. “And in some markets, there are actually multiple providers going after business customers.”
He added that we “expect terminal penetration on business customers to be lower than residential.”
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About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
