President of Commercial & Carrier Business, CONSOLIDATED COMM HLDGS INC
Consolidated Communications’ Dan Stoll talks fiber expansion, industry trends and what he’s most exc
Dan Stoll, President of Commercial and Carrier for Consolidated Communications, joins us on the floor of Metro Connect 2023 to ...
About Dan Stoll
Dan Stoll, President of Commercial and Carrier for Consolidated Communications, discussed the company’s fiber expansion and industry trends at Metro Connect 2023. He stated that Consolidated Communications is a fiber infrastructure, broadband, and telecommunications provider operating in over 23 markets with a network of over 60,000 route miles and service to over 16,000 buildings. Stoll said the company’s fiber expansion program is underway and aims to build over 1.6 million address passings, covering 70% of its market footprint, to deliver quality connections for consumers, commercial customers, and wholesale providers. He noted that in some markets, network upgrades support up to 400 gigabits of transport along key middle-mile routes. Stoll described customer demand as focused on service quality and bandwidth quantity, with demand for bandwidth being “almost insatiable.” He said the focus has shifted from how much customers need to how much providers can supply. Stoll expressed excitement about the company’s culture, long-standing history, and community presence in its markets, adding that the combination of local teams, existing network, and robust product set provides a competitive advantage to grow the business.
Transcript (17 segments)
D
Dean Perrine0:12
This is JSA TV Live, The Newsroom for Data Center and Telecom professionals. I'm Dean Perrine of JSA, and we are coming at you, as the name might suggest, live from beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida at Metroconnect 2023. And I am here with a relatively new executive, Mr. Dan Stoll. Dan is the President of Commercial and Carrier for Consolidated Communications. Dan, welcome to JSA TV.
D
Dan Stoll0:40
Thank you, Dean. Pleasure to be here.
D
Dean Perrine0:43
You bet. So Dan, for our viewers that don't already know, why don't you tell them a little bit about Consolidated Communications?
D
Dan Stoll0:49
No, thank you, Dean. Consolidated Communications is a long-standing fiber infrastructure, broadband, and telecommunications service provider that operates nationwide and focuses in over 23 markets, and leverages its vast fiber network which exists over 60,000 route miles, over 16,000 buildings, to service the consumer, the commercial, and the wholesale space.
D
Dean Perrine1:20
Yeah, I think we'd be hard-pressed to find somebody, especially somebody in the industry in the know, that hasn't heard of Consolidated Communications. So some big things happening there at Consolidated, but also a very exciting time. It really is. But even more exciting perhaps for you, why don't you tell our viewers a little bit about your recently having joined Consolidated Communications and what you do, what your role is, and those kinds of things?
D
Dan Stoll1:48
No, I have joined the company with over 22 years of experience within this industry, working primarily with fiber infrastructure companies. Had opportunities to run multiple functions over all those years, worked with great teams and people, lead P&Ls, and really work with the business to identify how we can best capitalize and go to market to be able to service and cover all of our markets and provide great quality products and solutions for our customers.
D
Dean Perrine2:11
Yeah, I love it. And the folks that I have spoken to at Consolidated were really excited about you joining the team, so I can see why. There's a nice history and a lot of experience, there's a lot of passion for the business here and a passion for supporting customers and differentiating. So it's very exciting. I love it. Dan, so speaking of that passion, let's talk a little bit about some fiber expansion passion that's going on over there at Consolidated. What can you tell us a little bit about that fiber expansion?
D
Dan Stoll2:40
Yeah, it's a great program. It's underway and it's set to over time be able to build over 1.6 million crossings or passings of addresses within our footprint. That's over 70% of the market when you think about the size of the market. That's a great amount of customers to pass. It's the purpose of really delivering that quality connection for our customers, to be able to service not only consumers but move all the way up the stack from a broadband solution all the way up to 10 gig solutions and core backbone, as well as in between. In some of our markets we've made some great upgrades in the network and can cover up to 400 gigs worth of transport, connecting a lot of those key middle mile routes.
D
Dean Perrine3:20
Yeah, so they've got a big fiber expansion. What does that tell us about the market? What does that tell us about where Consolidated is going and where the overall telecommunications broadband market is headed?
D
Dan Stoll3:33
Right. I mean, you think about where things are going and what customers want. Customers are really looking to cover off on two things: one, quality. The quality of the service now is paramount. You're using your connection to be able to connect to the cloud, you're using it to connect to the internet and connect applications. So the success of a business and being able to run and operate, as well as customers and wholesale providers that are using our network, it's really reliant, fully dependent on the quality of the service. The other thing that we continue to see over time is just the quantity of bandwidth and the size of the pipe. It's about quality, it's about throughput, symmetrical service that's going to be reliable, so you can then stack those services and applications over the top. We have a very robust portfolio to be able to tackle what customers need in consumer, the commercial, as well as the carrier space.
D
Dean Perrine4:25
Yeah, it doesn't feel like we're going to be taking our foot off the gas in that regard anytime soon, with 1.6 million passings and the proliferation of IoT devices. One of the things that I, in my own home, I think on any given day I might have 30 to 50 IoT devices that are hitting the internet. And I think 10 years ago, 20 years ago, how businesses used... we used to get excited about, I guess it was more like 25 years ago, about a T1 connection, and now there's up to a gig coming to my home. So I feel like Consolidated is really on the forefront of keeping the foot on the gas there.
D
Dan Stoll5:05
Yeah, so it's a solver. It's about how much can you... how much do you need? And now it's how much can you provide, because the demand for it is almost insatiable.
D
Dean Perrine5:15
Absolutely. So I'm excited about what's going on over there at Consolidated. But why don't you tell our viewers what you are most excited about having just recently joined the team?
D
Dan Stoll5:25
Oh, I'm very excited about the culture, the long-standing history, and the community element that the business has. Consolidated has in all the markets that we support, we're local. We have great teams of people, we have a great network that is in place today that we're going to continue to grow and expand, and we have a very robust product set. And you put that all together, those are the key ingredients to be able to differentiate, to have an advantage in this marketplace, and be able to ultimately grow the business.
D
Dean Perrine5:50
I love it. Dan, thanks for being with us on JSA TV today. We appreciate it.
D
Dan Stoll5:54
All right, thank you, Dean.
D
Dean Perrine5:56
You bet. And thank you, viewers, for watching JSA TV. We'll see you soon.