Shentel and nTelos 4th Quarter Earnings Update 2/28

[DCC233]

For all of those in the Shentel and nTelos coverage areas tomorrow (2/28) both companies will be releasing their 4th quarter earnings results and probably along with it some info about their 4G build-outs. If anyone wants to tag team the calls and update this thread with any notable news that would be helpful. I'll try and join the Shentel call, but I make no promises. The links are as follows:

 

nTelos webcast: (http://services.choruscall.com/links/ntls130228.html) 11:00 am EST

 

Shentel webcast: (http://investor.shentel.com/) 10:00 am EST

[chamb]

For all of those in the Shentel and nTelos coverage areas tomorrow (2/28) both companies will be releasing their 4th quarter earnings results and probably along with it some info about their 4G build-outs. If anyone wants to tag team the calls and update this thread with any notable news that would be helpful. I'll try and join the Shentel call, but I make no promises. The links are as follows:

 

nTelos webcast: (http://services.chor...ntls130228.html) 11:00 am EST

 

Shentel webcast: (http://investor.shentel.com/) 10:00 am EST

 

Correction -- Shentel will release earnings on Feb 28 but the conference call is on Friday March 1 at 10 am Eastern.

[lynyrd65]

Tuned in to nTelos. I'm nowhere near their coverage area but I'm bored so why not.

 

Edit: Love the classical music. I feel like a rich Englishman in a mansion somewhere.

 

Edit: there is still a dispute with Sprint that has become worse.

 

Sprint Disputes Update

 

Data rate reset dispute

Still outstanding

Ranges updated to:

Sprint’s favor: $9.0 million

nTelos’s favor: $13.0 million

$4.2 million unrelated dispute raised during 3Q, isolated to historical billing issues only

$10.0 million accrual recorded for the disputes in 2012 included in current liabilities

 

No LTE info in presentation slides, we'll see what happens in Q&A.

 

EDIT:

 

2h2013 LTE launch on west side of coverage and finishing in 2014

 

Sprint relationship is important

 

EDIT:

 

LTE Launch trying for Q3, big piece of the investment in core network 500,000 pops in west side of coverage. Big acceleration 2014 to 4 Million Pops.

 

LTE notes very light, no one is asking the right LTE questions. They ask the same questions over obvious things that require no explanations. They ask vague LTE questions that somewhat lead to it but they give no new information.

 

Edit:

 

LTE wholesale partners questions were asked, but they refused to answer saying that "obviously we can't discuss that".

 

They didnt discuss which spectrum LTE is being deployed on or who they will roam with. I'm not entirely surprised, nTelos seems pretty secretive.

[DCC233]

Thanks for posting that info. I read through the press release and slide deck and didn't see much information relevant to their 4G rollout listed. Though it was interesting to see the number of towers on their network has expanded nicely, but I wonder how many will get LTE (and in what bands).

[lynyrd65]

Highlights

 

- LTE Launch in the 2nd Half of 2013 on the west side of their coverage area with around 500,000 POPs covered

 

- LTE buildout complete in 2014 with 4 Million POPs

 

- nTelos remains mum about any roaming agreements with other carriers and was especially testy in talking about specifics with Sprint although they claimed relations between them were relaxed and anticipated a healthy long term relationship

 

- No new info on which band they will use for LTE. They only claimed that PCS and AWS were very important assets to them not reffering to LTE but company assets in general.

 

 

I suspect nTelos wants a bigger cut from Sprint and any information that would show Sprint as a business partner necessary for survival (such as LTE roaming agreements) would jeopardize the attempts to get that bigger slice of the pie.

[DCC233]

Shentel highlights from their earnings release:

 

- As of December 31, 2012, the Company had upgraded 200 of its 516 cell sites to 4G LTE, covering 55% of our covered PCS POPs

 

-The Company expects that capital spending will remain elevated, particularly during the first half of 2013, as the Company works to complete cell site upgrades as part of the Network Vision project.

 

- The Company expects to spend a total of approximately $115 million on capital expenditures to implement 4G LTE services in its PCS service area in conjunction with Sprint Nextel's Network Vision project, including $30 million spent during 2012 and $85 million remaining to be spent in 2013, in addition to on-going capital spending to support capacity needs on the wireless network.

 

Nothing to groundbreaking but good numbers overall for the company and it's good to see that they are adding subscribers.

 

Hopefully on the earnings call tomorrow (3/1) there is some good Q&A from the analysts related to their 4G buildout.

 

I also can't wait for them to finish building out their coverage in central PA. It's night and day when I travel from Harrisburg to Philadelphia (though it is improving noticeably in pockets in and around the Philly market).

[Boosted20V]

Shentel highlights from their earnings release:

 

- As of December 31, 2012, the Company had upgraded 200 of its 516 cell sites to 4G LTE, covering 55% of our covered PCS POPs

 

-The Company expects that capital spending will remain elevated, particularly during the first half of 2013, as the Company works to complete cell site upgrades as part of the Network Vision project.

 

- The Company expects to spend a total of approximately $115 million on capital expenditures to implement 4G LTE services in its PCS service area in conjunction with Sprint Nextel's Network Vision project, including $30 million spent during 2012 and $85 million remaining to be spent in 2013, in addition to on-going capital spending to support capacity needs on the wireless network.

 

Nothing to groundbreaking but good numbers overall for the company and it's good to see that they are adding subscribers.

 

Hopefully on the earnings call tomorrow (3/1) there is some good Q&A from the analysts related to their 4G buildout.

 

I also can't wait for them to finish building out their coverage in central PA. It's night and day when I travel from Harrisburg to Philadelphia (though it is improving noticeably in pockets in and around the Philly market).

 

Glad to see I could help Shentel add a few post paid lines in the 4Q. They deserve it. I'm interested to see how Sprint having deeper pockets now plays out with their affiliate markets.

[userkv8031]

I imagine some of the dispute with Ntelos is that Sprint can start building in the area...I want to say in 2014. Sprint may not want to relinquish that so that they can build in roaming support where Ntelos may not see a profitable customer base. They may also just not renew as they want to start serving that area. If Sprint can start building in 2014 and the contract ends in 2015 they have a year to build. With NV there would be a fair amount of contractors that could quickly get equipment on towers. Since space is leased building new towers would likely be kept to a minimum. So many possibilities. No doubt that Ntelos is trying to get more money from Sprint. Sprint could also buy Ntelos once the other mergers and acquisitions have gone through the feds. There was speculation a few years back that Sprint would buy Ntelos. Going to be interesting to watch.

[DCC233]

Since they no longer get revenue from lines they run to the towers since they spun that business off to Lumos networks they are now a one trick pony for their revenue. I wouldn't think they would have as strong a bargaining position anymore as a loss of the sprint revenue would be damaging.

 

My theory is that they will do their "tough" negotiation stance for a little but will see something announced in the next two months about there buildout of LTE which will include sprint bands.