Altice USA is moving forward with plans to push its fiber network to the edges of its traditional footprint, adding at an industry conference that it is on target to add about 150,000 homes this year and expects more to come. 

Altice USA chief financial officer Michael Grau said at the virtual Credit Suisse Communication Conference Tuesday that most of the company’s edge-out program is concentrated in Texas, but other markets are expected to follow.

Other cable operators have been expanding their fiber footprint for years, with Comcast and Charter adding about 1 million homes passed to its territory each year over the past few years.

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At the Credit Suisse conference, Grau said that Altice hasn’t done its budgeting for next year yet, but that a target of 175,000 to 200,000 additional homes via edge-out “probably makes sense in 2022.”

Currently, he said the edge-out efforts are heavily concentrated in Texas, particularly in the Dallas, North Austin and west Texas markets. Grau added Altice USA has systems in three of the top five markets for new household formation in the country, and that future edge-out efforts will focus on those areas, as well as in North Carolina, where in April it purchased Morris Broadband for about $310 million. 

“There’s really ample opportunity between our different footprints to really accelerate new builds at very very attractive economics,” Grau said.

Altice USA also is working hard to upgrade its Suddenlink network. Grau said there are between 600,000 and 700,000 homes within its Suddenlink footprint that still offer speeds under 100 Megabits per second, some as low as 25 Mbps to 30 Mbps. 

“Not coincidentally, customer penetration is significantly lower than what we’re seeing in the remainder of the western footprint,” Grau said, adding that the plan is to bring those areas back up to speed, estimating that  Altice USA could upgrade about 300,000 of those homes this year.    

Altice USA said it has named Michael Grau chief financial officer, replacing Charles Stewart, who leaves the company to become CEO of auction house Sotheby’s.

Grau joined Altice USA in 2016 and most recently served as EVP of financial planning & control. Prior to that job, Grau had served in various financial roles at Cablevision Systems -- which Altice purchased in 2016 -- for 15 years. Earlier he had held senior financial positions at Winstar Communications, Health Professionals Inc, and Deloitte & Touche.

In his new role, Grau will be responsible for all financial and accounting matters as well as the strategic planning and analysis, internal audit, tax, investor relations and treasury activities. He will report to Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei.

“We are very fortunate to have someone of Michael’s caliber serve as CFO,” Goei said in a press release. “Michael has distinguished himself over the last 20-years as a well-respected financial executive in our industry, and I’m pleased to welcome him to our senior leadership team.”

Stewart, who has been with Altice USA since its inception, was named CEO of Sotheby’s on Monday. He will will continue as a member of the Altice USA board of directors and serve as a special advisor to the CEO on M&A and related strategic matters.

“I am delighted for Charlie as he takes on the role of CEO at Sotheby’s,” Goei continued in the press release. “Charlie has provided exemplary leadership at Altice USA, driving growth during an unprecedented time in our industry. I look forward to him continuing as a member of our Board of Directors and to his ongoing valuable insight.”