Windstream Holdings, Inc. provides advanced network communications and technology solutions for businesses across the U.S.
The company also offers broadband, entertainment and security solutions to consumers and small businesses primarily in rural areas in 18 states. Additionally, the company supplies core transport solutions on a local and long-haul fiber network spanning approximately 150,000 miles.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Consumer & Small Business, Enterprise,...
Windstream Holdings, Inc. provides advanced network communications and technology solutions for businesses across the U.S.
The company also offers broadband, entertainment and security solutions to consumers and small businesses primarily in rural areas in 18 states. Additionally, the company supplies core transport solutions on a local and long-haul fiber network spanning approximately 150,000 miles.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Consumer & Small Business, Enterprise, and Wholesale.
Consumer & Small Business segment
This segment manages the company’s residential and small business operations in those markets in which it is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) due to the similarities with respect to service offerings, marketing strategies and customer service delivery. Products and services offered to customers include traditional local and long-distance voice services, high-speed Internet services, and value-added services, such as security and online back-up, which are delivered primarily through network facilities operated by the company.
The company offers consumer video services through relationships with DirecTV and Dish Network LLC. It also owns and operates cable television franchises in some of its service areas. The company offers Kinetic, a video entertainment offering in its various markets.
Services and Products
The company’s Consumer services primarily consist of high-speed Internet, traditional voice and video services. The company provides high-speed broadband and additional value-added services to its consumer base. The company’s Consumer broadband services include value-added features, such as its suite of Shield products, which offers Internet security services, technical support, a wired maintenance program, device protection, and whole home support for approximately 10 devices in the customer’s home. Consumer voice services include basic local telephone services, features and long-distance services. Features include call waiting, caller identification, call forwarding, and various other offerings. The company also offers various long-distance plans, including rate plans based on minutes of use and flexible or unlimited long-distance calling services.
The company offers video services to consumers through its relationship with DirecTV. The company also owns and operates IPTV and cable television franchised systems in some of its ILEC markets. The company sells and leases certain equipment to support its consumer high-speed Internet and voice offerings, including broadband modems and home networking gateways. The company’s ILEC Small Business services comprise:
High-speed Internet Access: The company offers speeds approximately 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) with an option of high-speed Internet or a solution.
Hosted Voice Services: OfficeSuite is a cloud-based, hosted-voice solution that includes a phone system, and real-time audio and video communications available from the office phone, computer or on the go with connected smart devices.
Software Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN): SD-WAN is the next-generation technological wide-area network solution that ensures optimal application performance irrespective of the underlying transport and allows for business continuity, as well as routing control through a customer-facing portal.
Internet Wireless Back-up: Internet wireless back-up eliminates Internet downtime by automatically switching over to a wireless Internet back-up connection, backed by 99.999% Internet uptime service level agreement for businesses.
Online Backup: The company’s online backup solution is dedicated to keeping files accessible from any location. These services include hosting mission critical servers and computer systems with redundant subsystems with the ability to set up scheduled backups.
Remote Information Technology (IT): The company provides a remote tech help service that provides remote support 24x7 and serves as a virtual IT department.
Web and Audio Conferencing: The company is able to connect businesses through its audio, Web and event conferencing, which enable access to organizing, securing, attending and recording conferences from a telephone keypad.
Managed Web Design: The company provides a professionally developed Website design, whether it is a simple site or a complex store.
Web and Email Hosting: With its Web and email hosting services, the company’s customers are in the control of customizing and branding their own professional online presence. The company provides the tools to develop a Web presence that suits their business needs.
Fax-to-email: The company offers the ability to utilize the advantage of mobility to send and receive faxes online from anywhere they could access their email or Internet. The company also offers a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant option to support its customers in the healthcare industry to maintain compliance with health standards and regulations.
Sales and Marketing
Sales are made through various distribution channels giving new and existing customers choices in how to interact and experience the company’s products and services. The company offers customers the opportunity to order service and purchase various products designed to improve its existing services at any of its 23 retail stores located in its local service areas or through its call center-based sales teams. The company augments these traditional channels with online sales, national agents, telephone and direct sales representatives. The company utilizes a similar multi-channel approach for its Small Business sales focusing on a blend of local field sales teams and inbound/outbound call centers to serve this segment.
Enterprise segment
This segment provides advanced network communications and technology solutions to businesses across the continental U.S.
Services and Products
The company’s customers subscribe to services, such as SD-WAN, Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), fiber transport connectivity to major cloud ecosystems, network security, and other managed network services.
SD-WAN: The company’s technological wide-area network solution, SD-WAN, ensures optimal application performance irrespective of the underlying transport and allows for business continuity, as well as routing control through a customer-facing portal.
UCaaS, CCaaS, and Hosted Voice: The company’s UCaaS, CCaaS, and hosted voice solution portfolio utilizes the latest technology to enable its customers to improve productivity and avoid the upfront capital expense associated with private branch exchange systems. OfficeSuite is cloud-based, hosted-voice solution that includes a phone system, and real-time audio and video communications available from the office phone, computer or on the go with connected smart devices.
Multi-site Networking: The company’s advanced network provides private, secure multi-site connections for large businesses with multiple locations. Its core growth networking products include SD-WAN, multiprotocol label switching, Ethernet - local area network and wavelength connectivity solutions.
Core Data Transport Services: Through its cloud connectivity offering, the company provides connectivity to various cloud ecosystems, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Integrated Voice and Data Services: The company’s integrated services deliver voice and data through a single connection, which helps its customers manage voice and data usage and related costs. These services are delivered through an Internet connection, as opposed to a traditional voice line, and could be managed through equipment at the customer premise or through hosted equipment options.
Managed Services: The company provides a breadth of managed services, for both its core networking and UCaaS services, that allow its customers IT organizations to focus on other mission critical activities.
High-speed Internet: The company offers a range of high-speed broadband Internet access options providing connections designed to help its customers reduce costs.
Traditional Voice: Voice services consist of basic telephone services, including voice, long-distance and related features delivered through a traditional copper line.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing activities are conducted through the direct sales force, which accounts for the majority of the company’s new sales; its customer advocate team, who focus on pro-actively supporting, retaining and improving existing customers as their needs evolve over time; and its indirect sales channel, which partners with third-party dealers who sell directly to customers; and third-party agents, who refer sales of its products and services to its direct sales force.
Wholesale segment
This segment utilizes the company’s nationwide network to provide 100 Gbps bandwidth and transport services to wholesale customers, including telecom companies, content providers, and cable and other network operators.
The company’s sales team continues to target high-growth areas, including content, international and cable television providers. Its fiber network connects common interconnection points in tier one locations to its tier two and three markets, enabling its customers to reach their end users through various routes. Including network assets, the company’s fiber network spans approximately 150,000 route miles of fiber.
Services and Products
This segment provides network bandwidth to other telecommunications carriers, network operators, and content providers. These services include special access services, which provide access and network transport services to end users, Ethernet and Wave transport approximately 100 Gbps, and dark fiber and colocation services. Wholesale services also include fiber-to-the-tower connections to support the wireless backhaul market. In addition, the company offers voice and data carrier services to other communications providers and to larger-scale purchasers of network capacity.
Strategy
The key elements of the company's strategy are to deliver consistent excellence in the customer experience, achieve differentiation in the marketplace through development of innovative software, and continue to position the company for top-line growth.
Enterprise: This segment’s strategy is to expand its portfolio of next-generation products.
Wholesale: This segment’s strategy focuses on monetizing its network investment in strategic, high-traffic locations to drive new sales through the connection of its long-haul network from carrier hotels, international landing stations and data centers to its high fiber density markets.
Discontinued Operations
In 2018, the company completed the sale of its consumer competitive local exchange carrier business to an affiliate of Trive Capital Fund III LLP and nQue Technologies. The consumer operations sold solely consisted of the former EarthLink consumer business that the company acquired in 2017.
Regulation
The company is subject to regulatory oversight by the Federal Communications Commission for particular interstate matters and state public utility commissions for certain intrastate matters.
History
The company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in May 2013. It was formerly known as Windstream Corporation and changed its name to Windstream Holdings, Inc. in September 2013.
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