Revenue from the distributed antenna system (DAS) segment represented 40% of Boingo Wireless’ overall revenue in the second quarter of the year, up from a contribution of 37% in the year-ago period, CFO Peter Hovenier said during a conference call with investors.
DAS revenue totaled $27.6 million in the second quarter, up 26.2% compared to the same period in 2018. DAS revenue for the quarter was comprised of $16.9 million of build-out project revenue and $10.7 million of access fee revenue.
The company added ten new DAS deals in the second quarter. As of June 30, 2019, Boingo Wireless had 69 DAS venues live, comprised of 35,200 DAS nodes, with an additional 12,300 nodes in backlog.
“These launches drive access fee revenue immediately, as well as set the stage for future margin expansion when additional carriers are added to each network. We typically launch a DAS network with one to two carriers and then add additional carriers over time,” said Mike Finley, CEO of Boingo Wireless.
“Our DAS runway continues to be strong with another 65 venues in backlog. Our backlog includes venues like MTA Long Island Railroad and Grand Central Terminal Eastside access in New York City. Both are major, multi0year DAS construction projects, and construction is progressing nicely. Sales activity for new DAS venues remains strong, and we have a robust pipeline of opportunities, as carriers continue to invest in DAS to densify their networks and add capacity closer to the end consumer. What’s more, our neutral-host approach positions Boingo to take advantage of any kind of technology rollout,” Finley added.
Finley also highlighted that Boingo will deploy the technology that makes sense for each venue, whether that’s 5G, 4G LTE with a 5G upgrade path, Wi-Fi 6, private LTE, CBRS or other wireless technologies.
Boingo recorded revenues of $68.6 million for Q2, climbing 15%, compared to $59.6 million in the same quarter in 2018. Boingo said revenue growth reflected strong performance in the military/multi-family and DAS segments during the period.
Revenue from the military/multi-family segment amounted to $24.4 million in the second quarter of 2019, up 45.8% compared to the second quarter of 2018.
Boingo provides a range of services including Wi-Fi and TV for service men and women living in military barracks throughout the U.S. and in South Korea and Japan. The company’s military subscriber base totaled 142,000 subscribers at the end of the second quarter, down 2.1% from the prior year period, and down 3.4% from the first quarter of 2019.
“The decline in subscribers is in line with our anticipated seasonal trends, which typically reflect short-term reduction in subscribers during the summer months, due primarily to higher troop movement,” Hovenier said.