Shenandoah Telecommunications Company's Response to COVID-19

Shentel temporarily increases data speeds and allowances to help customers impacted by COVID-19 disruptions

EDINBURG, Va., March 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) (NASDAQ: SHEN), a leading provider of telecommunications and broadband services in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and Ohio, today made several key announcements regarding its proactive plans to limit the exposure of COVID-19 for all of Shentel’s key stakeholders and to temporarily increase broadband internet data speeds and data allowances.

First and foremost, we remain focused on the health and welfare of our employees, customers, and partners. While it is impossible to predict the precise impact this pandemic will have in the communities we serve, we are committed to taking the appropriate steps to ensure our network and services continue to operate seamlessly for our customers.

Temporary Speed Increase
Shentel announced that it is temporarily increasing the speed of every eligible small business and residential broadband data customer to a minimum speed tier of 50Mbps with a 750 GB (gigabyte) data allowance at no additional charge regardless of their current plan. In addition, Shentel will waive all installation fees for new broadband data subscribers and increase data allowances by 250 GB for all customers whose current rate plan includes a monthly data allowance. These changes will take effect immediately and remain in effect through April 30, 2020 in response to the anticipated increase in data usage as a result of newly enacted work and study from home policies.  

“We believe the decision to increase data speeds and allowances is a critical step to help our customers throughout our service area at this time of great uncertainty,” said President and CEO, Christopher E. French. “Shentel has served many of these markets for more than 100 years and cares deeply for the health and wellbeing of our customers. By temporarily increasing the speeds and data allowances at no additional charge for our customers, we hope we are making the situation surrounding COVID-19 a little easier to deal with when they may be forced to work from home, do school work or attend classes virtually,” continued French.