Frontier Reports First-Quarter 2025 Results

 

 

 

 

 

“We had the strongest start to a year yet, led by continued strength in our fiber business,” said Nick Jeffery, President and Chief Executive Officer of Frontier. “Consumers, business owners and technology companies are increasingly relying on fiber to power networks and connect to the digital economy – and that trend is shining through in our results. The team delivered 19% growth in fiber broadband customers and 24% growth in fiber broadband revenues this quarter, which taken together drove record first-quarter growth in both revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.”

 

Jeffery continued, “We also hit a milestone in the first quarter, growing our fiber network to reach more than 8 million passings. We started this turnaround journey with a goal of 10 million fiber passings and four years later, I’m proud to say that we’re nearly there. As we scale our network, we’re expanding access for millions of Americans and building a legacy that will continue to endure long after our planned combination with Verizon.”

 

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Added 321,000 fiber passings to reach 8.1 million total locations passed with fiber

1 Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure of performance. See “Non-GAAP Measures” for a description of this measure and its calculation. See Schedule A for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss).

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Cash capital expenditures of $757 million plus $16 million of vendor financing payments resulted in total cash capital investment of $773 million2

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Generated net cash from operations of $519 million

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Consumer revenue of $813 million increased 3.3% year-over-year as growth in fiber-based products was partly offset by declines in copper-based products

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Consumer fiber revenue of $589 million increased 16.6% year-over-year as growth in broadband was partly offset by declines in video

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Consumer fiber broadband revenue of $471 million increased 25.6% year-over-year driven by growth in both fiber broadband customers and ARPU

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Consumer fiber broadband customer net additions of 103,000 resulted in consumer fiber broadband customer growth of 19.8% year-over-year

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Consumer fiber broadband customer churn of 1.20% compared to 1.24% in the first quarter of 2024

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Business and Wholesale revenue of $682 million increased 3.5% year-over-year driven by growth in fiber-based products

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Business and Wholesale fiber revenue of $324 million increased 8.0% year-over-year driven by growth in data and internet services

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Business and Wholesale fiber broadband customer net additions of 4,000 resulted in Business and Wholesale fiber broadband customer growth of 11.4% year-over-year

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Business and Wholesale fiber broadband ARPU of $99.98 increased 1.6% year-over-year3

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Business and Wholesale fiber broadband customer churn of 1.53% compared to 1.32% in the first quarter of 20243

2 Cash capital investment includes capital expenditures and vendor financing payments for capital spend.

3 Business and Wholesale ARPU and churn methodologies exclude circuits or fiber-to-the-tower churn.

4 Net leverage ratio is a non-GAAP measure. See “Non-GAAP Measures” and the condensed consolidated balance sheet data contained herein for a description and calculation of net leverage ratio.

Forward-Looking Statements

 

This release contains “forward-looking statements” related to future events, including our 2025 outlook. Forward-looking statements address our expectations or beliefs concerning future events, including, without limitation, the proposed merger with Verizon (the “Merger”), future operating and financial performance, our ability to implement our growth strategy, our ability to comply with the covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness, our capital expenditures, and other matters. These statements are made on the basis of management’s views and assumptions, as of the time the statements are made, regarding future events and performance and contain words such as „expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “see,” “may,” ”will,” ”would,” or ”target.” Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. A wide range of factors could materially affect future developments and performance, including but not limited to: the risk that the Merger may not be completed in a timely manner or at all;  the possibility that any or all of the various conditions to the consummation of the Merger may not be satisfied or waived, including the failure to receive any required regulatory approvals from any applicable governmental entities (or any conditions, limitations or restrictions placed on such approvals); the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement relating to the Merger, including in circumstances which would require us to pay a termination fee;  the effect of the pendency of the Merger on our ability to attract, motivate or retain key executives and employees, our ability to maintain relationships with our customers, suppliers and other business counterparties, or our operating results and business generally; risks related to the Merger diverting management’s attention from our ongoing business operations; the risk that the Company’s stock price may decline significantly if the Merger is not consummated; our significant indebtedness, our ability to incur substantially more debt in the future, and covenants in the agreements governing our current indebtedness that may reduce our operating and financial flexibility; declines in Adjusted EBITDA and revenue relative to historical levels that we are unable to offset; economic uncertainty, volatility in financial markets, and rising interest rates could limit our ability to access capital or increase the cost of capital needed to fund business operations; our ability to successfully implement strategic initiatives and realize productivity improvements; our ability to secure necessary construction resources, materials and permits for our fiber buildout initiative in a timely and cost-effective manner; inflationary pressures on costs and potential disruptions in our supply chain, including the impact of trade tariffs. which could adversely impact our financial condition or results of operations and hinder our fiber expansion plans; our ability to effectively manage our operations, operating expenses, capital expenditures, debt service requirements and cash paid for income taxes and liquidity; the impact of potential information technology or data security breaches or other cyber-attacks or other disruptions; the impact of laws and regulations relating to the handling of privacy and data protection; competition from cable, wireless carriers, satellite providers, wireline carriers, fiber “overbuilders” and over the top companies, and the risk that we will not respond on a timely or profitable basis; our ability to successfully adjust to changes in the communications industry, including the effects of technological changes and competition on our capital expenditures, products and service offerings; our ability to retain or attract new customers and to maintain relationships with existing customers, including wholesale customers; our reliance on a limited number of key supplies and vendors; declines in revenue from our voice services, switched and nonswitched access and video and data services that we cannot stabilize or offset with increases in revenue from other products and services; our ability to secure, continue to use or renew intellectual property and other licenses used in our business; our ability to dispose of certain assets or asset groups or to make acquisition of certain assets on terms that are attractive to us, or at all; the effects of changes in the availability of and requirements of receiving federal and state universal service funding, grants or other subsidies and our ability to obtain future subsidies; our ability to comply with applicable CAF II and RDOF requirements and the risk of discontinuance of funding,  penalties or obligations to return certain CAF II and RDOF funds; our ability to defend against litigation or government investigations and potentially unfavorable results from current pending and future litigation or investigations; our ability to comply with applicable federal and state consumer protection requirements; the effects of governmental legislation and regulation on our business, including costs, disruptions, possible limitations on operating flexibility and changes to the competitive landscape resulting from such legislation or regulation; the impact of regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks; our ability to effectively manage service quality in the states in which we operate and meet mandated service quality metrics or regulatory requirements; the effects of changes in income tax rates, tax laws, regulations or rulings, or federal or state tax assessments, including the risk that such changes may benefit our competitors more than us, as well as potential future decreases in the value of our deferred tax assets; the effects of changes in accounting policies or practices; our ability to successfully renegotiate union contracts; the effects of increased medical expenses and pension and postemployment expenses; changes in pension plan assumptions, interest rates, discount rates, regulatory rules and/or the value of our pension plan assets; the impact of adverse changes in economic, political and market conditions in the areas that we serve, the U.S. and globally, including but not limited to, disruption in our supply chain, inflation in pricing for key materials or labor, the imposition of trade tariffs or other adverse changes resulting from epidemics, pandemics and outbreaks of contagious diseases, natural disasters, economic or political instability, terrorist attacks and wars, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Israel–Hamas war, or other adverse widespread developments; potential adverse impacts of climate change and increasingly stringent environmental laws, rules and regulations, and customer expectations and other environmental liabilities; potential adverse impacts from natural disasters, wildfires and other severe weather events impacting our network, operations and customer base in certain markets; market overhang due to substantial common stock holdings by our former creditors; certain provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation that may prevent efforts by our stockholders to change the direction or management of our company; and certain other factors set forth in our other filings with the SEC. This list of factors that may affect future performance and the accuracy of forward-looking statements is illustrative and is not intended to be exhaustive. You should consider these important factors, as well as the risks and other factors contained in Frontier’s filings with the SEC, including our most recent report on Form 10-K. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in such forward-looking statements. We do not intend, nor do we undertake any duty, to update any forward-looking statements.