Report: Shentel Experiencing Strong Growth in Commercial Fiber
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) is seeing strong growth in its commercial fiber business.
In an article, Lightwave provided an update based on the company’s third quarters earnings call with investors, in which executives discussed how it is advancing all areas of its commercial base through sales of its full suite of Ethernet, dedicated internet access, wavelength, dark fiber leasing and managed services.
“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,” Ed McKay, CEO of Shentel, told investors.
During Q3, the company added nearly $157,000 of incremental monthly recurring commercial revenue — a 19% increase year-over-year — while keeping churn for compressions and disconnects relatively low at 0.4%. Over the first nine months of 2025, commercial fiber revenue rose by $7.3 million, or 14.1%, compared to the same period in 2024. As was the case in previous periods, the service delivery team installed $215,000 in new monthly revenue in Q3.
There were some one-time revenue challenges, with Shentel reporting a $1.1 million decline in commercial fiber revenue during the quarter. This was the result of $900,000 in noncash deferred-revenue adjustments for a national wireless carrier customer and a $500,000 drop in early termination fees compared to the prior year.
“Excluding these variances, commercial fiber revenue grew 2.3% over the same period in 2024,” said Jim Volk, CFO of Shentel.
Regardless, Shentel is in a good position to continue expanding its commercial segment. The Glo Fiber division has passed 400,000 residences and businesses in greenfield markets, and total fiber route miles and fiber miles grew to 18,077 and 1,957,272, respectively.
As part of efforts to achieve positive free cash flow for 2027, Shentel aims to refinance its credit facilities through a hybrid structure, asset-backed securitization for its Glo Fiber and commercial fiber businesses, along with a new credit facility for its incumbent broadband business. This is expected to lower debt costs, boost its credit profile and improve financial flexibility. “These improvements will help us to capitalize on opportunities in a consolidating industry and deliver greater value to our investors,” McKay said. “We anticipate completing the refinancing in the coming months.”
Moving forward, Shentel plans to pursue M&A targets and optimize business operators to meet its commercial services growth strategy. “We think the refinancing we're working on gives us the flexibility to be a player there, and we're looking for opportunities to expand our footprint,” McKay said. “We're also looking to drive efficiencies in our business.”
Shentel has ample opportunities to continue to grow its fiber footprint to more businesses. The 2024 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD by Vertical Systems Group noted that “service providers cite rising customer demand for Wavelengths and custom Dark Fiber connectivity to support secure, dedicated ultra-high capacity bandwidth for AI and other applications that are driving fiber installations.”
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