Windstream says it’s making 100 Mbps speed internet service available to twice as many households in its service areas over the next three months.
By the end of the first quarter, Windstream’s Kinetic-branded 100 Mbps broadband service will be available to about 30 percent of households in Windstream’s local exchanges across the provider’s 18-state footprint.
“Windstream understands that premium internet speeds are critical to families and businesses in rural America, and we are systematically enhancing our network to meet that urgent demand,” said Jeff Small, president of the company’s consumer and small and medium-sized business segment, in a statement.
Most of Windstream’s customers are located in rural areas, and Small noted that network upgrades in these locations can be particularly expensive. To that end, the service provider is utilizing both its own capital as well as support from the FCC’s Connect America Fund program to make faster speeds available to a greater number of customers.
“Without support from the Connect America Fund, many of these projects simply would not be economically feasible,” Small said.
Windstream also completed network upgrades over the last year, bringing 50 Mbps speeds and higher to about 40 percent of households – up from 33 percent at the beginning of 2018. Speeds of 25 Mbps or greater now reach 60 percent of the company’s footprint, which expanded availability by 5 percent since the start of last year.
Windstream says it’s using various technologies as part of its network upgrade efforts including fixed wireless solutions, less expensive customer devices, and fiber to the premises (FTTP).
“Rural broadband deployment can be challenging, but the Windstream team is committed to finding creative solutions that deliver the robust, secure internet connections our customers deserve,” Small said.
Earlier this year, Windstream announced an expansion of its Kinetic fiber Internet services, delivering speeds up to 1 Gbps to about 100,000 commercial locations across 16 states. The company expects that upgrade to be completed in the first quarter as well.