TIA 2011: Windstream CEO talks transformation to broadband, enterprise

DALLAS – “Telecom is buzzing again,” said Windstream Communications President and CEO Jeff Gardner and Genband President and CEO Charlie Vogt during a keynote address today at the Telecommunications Industry Association’s annual show, TIA2011: Inside the Network.
Windstream, which was spun off from Alltel Communications Corp. five years ago, said the next five years look good for broadband provider as it continues to transition from a mostly consumer-focused company with assets in rural areas to one that is focusing on broadband and enterprise. Gardner said 60% of Windstream’s revenues come from those two areas today. Meanwhile, its consumer business is stable. The company has acquired nine companies since its spinoff to help that enterprise and broadband growth.
To spark more interest in its consumer business segment, Windstream in 2009 introduced a price-for-life guarantee that has since morphed into a Quitter campaign in conjunction with EchoStar. Gardner, who was interviewed by Genband’s Vogt, said Windstream experienced its lowest line loss in the first quarter because people like the price-for-life campaign.
Going forward, Gardner said its special-access business is growing at 5% to 6% per year as people increasingly adopt mobile data offerings and need fiber to their cell sites. “We are winning a lot of business,” in the space, Gardner said. That fiber-to-the-cell opportunity also brings Windstream closer to its customers. “We need to figure out the best way to accelerate this transition.”
Regarding competing with over-the-top companies, Gardner said their needs to be more alignment between companies like Windstream and AT&T Inc. that have made the network investment and companies running services over those networks. “There has to be some causal relationship.”
Windstream, which secured nearly $200 million in federal government broadband stimulus funds, said it hopes to build out the markets where it got grants throughout this year and next year. The firm, which will invest around $60 million of its own funding, has a goal of serving 94% of customers in its footprint.