Management at Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. (NASDAQ: FYBR) confirmed May 5, 2023, its previously stated plans to pass 1.3 million new locations with fiber to the premises (FTTP) infrastructure this year. The confirmation came during the company’s first quarter 2023 earnings call, during which Frontier reported year-over-year EBITDA growth for the first time in more than five years.
Despite maintaining its FTTP deployment goals, Frontier did increase its cash capital expenditures forecast to $3.0 billion to $3.2 billion, up from the prior guidance of $2.8 billion. The company said that higher inventory levels and fiber build costs caused the guidance jump.
The confirmed deployment guidance came as Frontier reported passing 339,000 locations during the first quarter. The company set a quarterly record of 87,000 fiber broadband customer additions (84,000 net), 19% better than the additions gained during the first quarter of 2022. Quarterly capex of $1.15 billion included $523 million of non-subsidy-related build capex and $37 million of subsidy-related build capex.
Consumer fiber revenue of $448 million increased 10.1% over the first quarter of 2022, while consumer fiber broadband revenue of $298 million increased 17.3% versus the year-ago quarter. However, losses among copper-based customers offset both strong fiber performances, leading to an overall year-on-year decline of 1.9% versus first quarter 2022 on revenues of $761 million. Frontier saw a similar scenario play out in its business and wholesale activities, leading to a year-on-year decline of 1.4%, based on $657 million in revenues. Overall, total revenues of $1.44 billion for the quarter represented a decrease of 0.5% from the first quarter of 2022.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.