Consolidated Reports 18,000 New Fiber Subs in Q3

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2024 – Consolidated Communications reported more than 18,000 new fiber subscribers in the third quarter, for a total of nearly 250,000.

The company lost another 13,000 DSL customers, taking that total down to just under 150,000. Consolidated has 2.6 million total passings, roughly evenly split between the technologies.

The company is in the process of being bought by Searchlight Capital for $3.1 billion, which it said was the reason for not holding an earnings call. The transaction is still expected to close by early 2025, but it’s still waiting on regulatory approval at the Federal Communications Commission and facing a lawsuit from an investor seeking to block the deal. 

Bloomberg Law reported the Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit alleged Consolidated board members hid conflicts of interest and arranged a too-low sale price. Searchlight owns more than a third of the company’s stock.

Consolidated has been struggling to complete its planned fiber upgrade, which would see 70 percent of its footprint consisting of fiber. The company pushed its planned completion date beyond 2026 last year.

In their application to the FCC, Searchlight and Consolidated said the deal would ease that build out effort, and make Consolidated better equipped to scoop up more federal funds from the $42.5 billion BEAD program.