Shenandoah Telecommunications Company to buy cable networks

Despite a wave of consolidation in the competitive carrier market, things have been a bit slow on the small incumbent telco consolidation front. But that isn’t stopping Shenandoah Telecommunications Company from expanding its business through a different type of acquisition.

The company announced yesterday it plans to purchase two cable systems from Suddenlink Communications--one in West Virginia and the other in Maryland. Shenandoah got its start as a rural local exchange carrier but also operates a cable business under the Shentel brand. The company has been growing its cable business through acquisitions in rural markets, often upgrading the outdated cable infrastructure it acquires, Shenandoah Telecommunications Company Chief Operating Officer Earle A. MacKenzie told Connected Planet.

“Sometimes they offer 24 channels of video, no voice, no HD and no DVR,” MacKenzie said. “We can offer 150 channels and HD. It’s a big change for folks in the community.”

MacKenzie said Shenandoah also acquired one cooperative telephone company and would consider other similar acquisitions but that its focus has been on cable company acquisitions because “we think a coax/fiber network is probably a better broadband highway than a copper/fiber network.”

MacKenzie says the company has determined that “it’s easier to put voice on coax than video on copper.”