Shentel Reports 2019 Strong Fourth Quarter and Year End Operating Statistics

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) (NASDAQ: SHEN) announces preliminary operating statistics for the fourth quarter and year-end 2019.

“We achieved our second consecutive quarter of record postpaid wireless gross and net postpaid additions in the fourth quarter 2019, driven in part by our network and distribution investments in the recently acquired Parkersburg expansion areas.  We grew postpaid gross and net additions in 2019 by 24% and 142%, respectively, giving us strong sales momentum in our Wireless business as we enter 2020,” said President and CEO Christopher French “Our Cable and Wireline focus on increasing broadband penetration, together with the acquisition of Big Sandy Broadband, produced 11.3% year-over-year growth in cable broadband RGUs with broadband penetration increasing to 40.7% as of December 31, 2019.  We continue to see the benefits of the recently completed DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades which have enabled 1 Gigabit download speeds across our footprint, while our new rate card and ongoing improvements in customer service and operations have significantly increased customer satisfaction and retention.”

WIRELESS		December 31,2019		December 31,2018
Retail PCS subscribers – postpaid		844,194		795,176
Retail PCS subscribers – prepaid		274,012		258,704
Total PCS subscribers		1,118,206		1,053,880

		Three Months Ended					Twelve Months Ended
		December 31,					December 31,
WIRELESS		2019		2018			2019		2018
Gross PCS subscriber additions – postpaid		71,830		54,517			235,953		190,334
Net PCS subscriber additions – postpaid		20,777		9,639			49,018		20,236	(1)
Gross PCS subscriber additions – prepaid		39,352		38,225			152,098		150,662
Net PCS subscriber additions – prepaid		2,461		3,242			15,308		17,191	(1)
PCS average monthly retail churn % – postpaid		2.05%		1.90%			1.92%		1.82%
PCS average monthly retail churn % – prepaid		4.52%		4.55%			4.26%		4.45%

   (1)  Results exclude 38,343 postpaid and 15,691 prepaid subscribers acquired on February 1, 2018 in the Richmond Expansion Area.

CABLE AND WIRELINE		December 31, 2019 (2)								December 31, 2018
		Cable (3)		Wireline		Total				Cable		Wireline		Total
Cable homes passed		189,762		16,500		206,262				185,119		16,500		201,619
Video RGUs		48,613		5,024		53,637				53,086		5,586		58,672
Penetration		25.6%		30.4%		26.0%				28.7%		33.9%		29.1%
Broadband RGUs		77,227		6,689		83,916				70,183		5,206		75,389
Penetration		40.7%		40.5%		40.7%				37.9%		31.6%		37.4%
Voice RGUs		24,152		7,213		31,365				23,810		5,664		29,474
Penetration		12.7%		43.7%		15.2%				12.9%		34.3%		14.6%
Total Cable RGUs		149,992		18,926		168,918				147,079		16,456		163,535

CABLE AND WIRELINE		December 31, 2019 (2)							December 31, 2018
		Cable	Wireline		Total				Cable	Wireline		Total
Rural Local Exchange Carrier ("RLEC")
RLEC homes passed		—	25,495		25,495				—	25,457		25,457
RLEC RGUs
Data RLEC		—	7,797		7,797				—	9,104		9,104
Penetration		—	30.6%		30.6%				—	35.8%		35.8%
Voice RLEC		—	14,332		14,332				—	15,698		15,698
Penetration		—	56.2%		56.2%				—	61.7%		61.7%
Total RLEC RGUs		—	22,129		22,129				—	24,802		24,802

   (2)  Homes passed are as of September 30, 2019.   (3)  Excludes Glo Fiber results.

About Shenandoah Telecommunications Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) provides a broad range of diversified communications services through its high speed, state-of-the-art network to customers in the Mid-Atlantic United States. The Company’s services include: wireless voice and data; cable video, internet and digital voice; fiber network and services; and regulated local and long distance telephone. Shentel is the exclusive personal communications service (“PCS”) Affiliate of Sprint in a multi-state area covering large portions of central and western Virginia, south-central Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and portions of Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio. For more information, please visit www.shentel.com.

CONTACTS:Shenandoah Telecommunications, Inc.Jim VolkSenior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial [e-mail]

OrJohn Nesbett/Jennifer BelodeauIMS Investor [e-mail]