TDS Telecom reaches nearly 1.1 million fiber service addresses
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TDS Telecom continues to make progress with its fiber broadband-centric strategy, delivering 40,000 marketable fiber service addresses in the first quarter.
This represents 58% of its total footprint, and 79% of its addresses support gigabit speeds.
Ken Dixon, president and CEO of TDS Telecom, told investors during its first-quarter earnings call that progress on fiber builds reflects the telco’s move to enhance its installation workforce.
“This is the highest first-quarter total in our company's history and nearly 3x our delivery in the first quarter of 2025,” he said. “This performance reflects both effective execution and increased construction capacity, including our highest-ever internal and external construction crew counts.”
However, Dixon added that while the first-quarter results are encouraging, it is now preparing for the next stage of fiber expansion.
“We continue to invest in our internal construction teams by adding headcount, upgrading tools and equipment to support increased build capacity, giving us a strategic advantage,” he said. “We believe these investments provide greater control over our execution and improve long-term efficiency.”
Driving fiber additions, reach
Over the past three years, TDS Telecom has nearly doubled the number of fiber service addresses across its markets, a trend that continued into the first quarter of 2026.
Driven by continued footprint expansion and ongoing copper-to-fiber conversions, the telco’s residential fiber added 11,000 new fiber subscribers during the first quarter, up 32% year-over-year,
Kristina Bothfeld, VP of Financial Analysis and Strategic Planning for TDS, said that “residential fiber connections have also nearly doubled over the past 3 years, and we expect continued growth as we expand our fiber footprint.”
TDS further expanded its fiber reach in its New Hampshire markets by acquiring Granite State Communications in April.
After obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals, the company said it expects to close the deal in the third quarter of 2026.
“The transaction adds over 11,000 fiber addresses that are contiguous with existing TDS markets and supports our clustering strategy, along with approximately 30 associates who will join the TDS team,” Dixon said.
What is the Enhanced ACAM) program?
The FCC’s E-ACAM program will distribute roughly $18.28 billion over 15 years to carriers to deploy broadband service with speeds of at least 100 megabits per second downstream and 20 megabits per second upstream (100/20 Mbps) to more than 700,000 locations, and to improve or maintain 100/20 Mbps broadband service at approximately 2 million locations, in 44 states.
E-ACAM progresses
As it builds a pipeline of targeted fiber addresses under construction, TDS is positioned well for the spring and summer build season.
A big part of that pipeline will leverage funding from the FCC’s Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (E-ACAM) program.
Dixon said TDS Telecom’s fiber construction pipeline “includes a mix of addresses from our fiber expansion into new areas as well as fiber upgrades in our existing markets through our fiber deeper program and the federal EA-CAM program.”
In June, TDS Telecom marked the start of the second phase of its E-ACAM broadband expansion in Wisconsin’s Dane County with a ceremonial groundbreaking on June 2 in the Town of Perry. What’s interesting about the Dane County build is that TDS has expanded the construction project beyond federally supported areas to encompass its entire legacy footprint in the county.
The new services will be launched to customers as work is completed and will reach rural addresses in the cities and towns of Black Earth, Middleton and Verona, the village of Waunakee, as well as the towns of Blanchardville, Cross Plains, Dane, Montrose, Springfield, Springdale, and Vienna.
Given the rural nature of markets like Dane County and others TDS Telecom serves, the E-ACAM program is an essential funding tool to get fiber-based broadband in hard to reach areas.
“EA-CAM program provides federal support that enables us to bring fiber to approximately 300,000 service addresses, including those along the route, where it would otherwise not be economical, helping to drive copper out of our network,” Dixon said.
Fiber revenue rises
TDS Telecom continues to reap the benefits of its fiber expansion strategy, with gains in overall residential revenue in the first quarter.
Residential revenue per connection increased 1% year-over-year, reflecting what the company said was annual price increases offset by ongoing industry-wide declines in video attachment rates.
TDS Telecom’s fiber revenue is up 13% versus the prior year, approximately $11 million.
Bothfeld said these results are “helping offset the legacy revenue stream pressures we are experiencing.”
However, as TDS Telecom moves forward with its fiber-centric strategy, the provider can’t escape the near-term legacy declines from its copper and cable business segments.
Cable revenues declined 10% year-over-year, but Bothfeld noted that the company is “increasing investment in our cable markets to stem these declines.”
While TDS Telecom’s total residential revenue declined by $5 million year-over-year, $3 million of this decline is attributable to the divestiture of markets that were mainly copper-based.
“We remain hyper-focused on driving fiber revenue at a pace that's expected to more than offset legacy declines,” Bothfeld said.
TDS reported first-quarter total operating revenues from continuing operations of $309.5 million, up from $290.4 million for the same period one year ago.
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Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategy of Lightwave across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products.
