Windstream 2013 Annual Report Download - page 100

Windstream Holdings, Inc.
Windstream Corporation
Form 10-K, Part 1
2
Item 1. Business THE COMPANY
Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms "Windstream," "we," "us" or "our" refer to Windstream Holdings, Inc. and its
subsidiaries, including Windstream Corporation, and the term "Windstream Corp." refers to Windstream Corporation and its
subsidiaries.
CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
On August 30, 2013, through the creation of a new holding company structure (the "Holding Company Formation"), Windstream
Corporation ("Windstream Corp.") became a wholly-owned subsidiary of a new publicly traded parent company, Windstream
Holdings, Inc. ("Windstream Holdings"). As the Holding Company Formation occurred at the parent company level, the remainder of
our subsidiaries, operations and customers were not affected. Therefore, the operations of Windstream Corp. are the same as the
operations of Windstream Holdings as of December 31, 2013. We expect the new holding company design will enhance our corporate
structure, strengthen our credit profile and provide greater flexibility and efficiency in managing and financing existing and future
strategic operations. Following the Holding Company Formation, Windstream Corp. and its guarantor subsidiaries remained the sole
obligors on its outstanding debt obligations and, as a result, will continue to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC"). Windstream Holdings is not a guarantor of nor subject to the restrictive covenants included in any of
Windstream Corp.'s debt agreements.
OVERVIEW
Our vision is to be the premier enterprise communications and services provider in the United States while maintaining our strong,
stable consumer business. We provide advanced communications and technology solutions, including managed services and cloud
computing, to businesses nationwide. In addition to business services, we offer broadband, voice and video services to consumers in
primarily rural markets. We have operations in 48 states and the District of Columbia, a local and long-haul fiber network spanning
approximately 118,000 miles, a robust business sales division and 26 data centers.
Strategy
Our strategy is focused on maximizing growth
opportunities with our enterprise business customers while
optimizing our cost structure and maintaining the stability
of our consumer business. Our goal from our business
strategy is to generate solid and sustainable cash flows
over the long-term to build shareholder value. In
implementing our strategy, we continue to invest in capital
initiatives designed to drive improvements in network
performance and to enhance our ability to provide
advanced solutions to our business customers and increase
broadband speeds and capacity in our consumer markets.
During 2013, we continued to transition revenue streams
away from traditional consumer voice services to our
strategic growth areas of business services and consumer
broadband. Diversification of our revenue streams is key to
our success in accelerating revenue growth opportunities as
we combat the effects of revenue declines from consumer
customer losses and wholesale revenue declines due to
intercarrier compensation reform.
The expansion of our fiber transport network through
capital investment has enhanced our ability to provide
wireless transport, or backhaul services. As cellular
customers consume more wireless data, wireless carriers
need more bandwidth on the wireline transport network.