2003 was the 10th anniversary of Shentel’s decision to enter the PCS
business and the 8th year operating as a Sprint PCS Affiliate.  This year was a
significant milestone for Shentel’s PCS business, as we posted our first
profitable quarter and recorded net income for the year of $0.3 million versus a
net loss of  $5.4 million in 2002. 
Our Sprint PCS wireless customer base continues to grow, with year-end
customers at 85,139 spread from Harrisonburg, Virginia to Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania.  Our customers are averaging approximately 700 minutes of
usage per month and we have one of the lowest customer churn rates in the
industry.  To keep up with this growth and improve our service, we continued
investing in additional network facilities.  We added capacity to 26 existing
tower sites and installed 16 new tower locations bringing our total sites to
253.  Our plan is to add capacity and build additional sites in 2004 in order
to meet expected growth.
We added a new type of customer in 2003.  Through Sprint’s
relationship with its wholesale cutomers, more than 11,000 pre-paid
customers were added to our network.  These pre-paid accounts, usually
for customers with no established credit, are a low cost method to increase
customers.  They can purchase phones and some minutes at various
convenience, electronic or department stores in addition to one of our
company locations.  When needed, they can easily purchase additional
minutes.
Camera phones and e-mailing pictures were hot in 2003.  We now
offer phones that can take and send a 15 second video.  Late in the year,
we launched Spirit PCS ReadyLinksm, the Sprint walkie-talkie style
service.  It is hoped that these new services will be major sales drivers
in 2004.
In 2003, we focused on improving our distribution channels.  We
expanded and relocated our stores in Harrisonburg and Winchester,
Virginia to handle our growing customer base.  At our Edinburg,
Virginia store, we expanded both our hours and office space.   We
continue to increase our direct sales force to expand our base of
business customers.  To make it convenient for our potential
customers, we also grew the number of local third-party sales
partners.
A much publicized development in our industry was the introduction of Wireless Local Number Portability
(WLNP) on November 24th, 2003.  Starting on that day, customers in the 100 largest population centers in the
United States were able to change wireless carriers while keeping their existing phone number.   WLNP will be
available in the entire country on May 24, 2004.  To date, this change has had only a minor impact on Shentel’s
customer base.
We continue to work to make PCS a growth vehicle of revenue and net income for Shenandoah
Telecommunications Company. 
A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE FOR PCS
9 ■ 2003 ANNUAL REPORT