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Cincinnati Bell continues to find fortune in its growing fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) business Fioptics, one that CEO Ted Torbeck said will be a key point of expansion throughout this year with plans to ultimately expand coverage to 70-80 percent of its serving footprint.
[Image omitted] - (http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/cincinnati-bells-torbeck-2015-will-be-focused-efficiently-deploying-fiber/2015-02-19)
Torbeck
In 2014, Cincinnati Bell increased the footprint of Fioptics throughout Cincinnati to reach 59,000 units with the service. The Fioptics suite of products is now available to 335,000 residential and business customers, more than 40 percent of Greater Cincinnati.
Torbeck told investors during the fourth-quarter earnings call that the sale of its wireless business to Verizon gives it more freedom to focus more on extending Fioptics to more customers.
"The completion of the wireless transaction and our strategy for monetizing Cyrus One has increased operational and capital flexibility and also provides us with the ability to focus on our fiber investments," Torbeck said. "Our Fioptics suite of products is currently available to 40 percent of greater Cincinnati and we plan to expand that coverage to 70-80 percent over the next few years."
This year the service provider plans to pass 100,000 homes with Fioptics.
Leigh Fox, CFO of Cincinnati Bell, said this expansion effort which will cost between $80 million and $85 million, "will expand our coverage to approximately 55 percent of Greater Cincinnati." ---
Fioptics was a key contributor in its fourth-quarter 2014 wireline revenue mix, rising 40 percent year-over-year to $40 million for the...