Hawaiian Telcom, which has invested aggressively in its infrastructure over the past six years, cut its fourth-quarter loss in half after achieving strong growth from its TV and broadband internet services and reducing overtime and contractor costs.
The technology company said ahead of today’s official earnings release that it added nearly 1,800 TV subscribers during the quarter to end the year with about 41,600 subscribers. The company said 20.6 percent of the homes in areas where its TV service is available have subscribed. Hawaiian Telcom added its TV service in July 2011.
Hawaiian Telcom said it also enabled 1,000 households with fiber-optic connections last quarter to complete its targeted consumer fiber build program with 202,000 fiber-connected homes on Oahu.
| FOURTH-QUARTER LOSS
$214,000
YEAR-EARLIER LOSS
$435,000
|
For the quarter, Hawaiian Telcom lost $214,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with a loss of $435,000, a 4 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The company’s revenue, which was hurt by reductions in landline and low-bandwidth internet services, fell 2 percent to $96.8 million from $99.2 million.
Hawaiian Telcom’s net income and revenue for the full year of $1.1 million and $393 million, respectively, were virtually flat with 2015 numbers. Earnings per share were 10 cents for both years.
“2016 was a year of significant milestones and growth,” Hawaiian Telcom President and CEO Scott Barber said in a statement. “Over the past six years, we have invested aggressively in fiber and systems, which has transformed our network, our products and services, and our growth profile.”
Barber said that compared with just three years ago, the company’s combined consumer and business strategic revenue has grown 66 percent, while revenue from its 5-year-old TV product has more than tripled.
“We have made tremendous strides toward our vision of becoming the No. 1 service provider of innovative fiber-based communication, information and entertainment solutions to the people and businesses of Hawaii,” Barber said. “Today, more than 200,000 homes on Oahu, nearly 7,000 businesses, 1,100 commercial buildings and 500 cell towers throughout the state are fiber-enabled for our next-generation broadband services. And in just a few months, the SEA-US undersea fiber cable, which we are a co-owner and operator, is expected to go into service, allowing us to participate in the growing demand for trans-Pacific bandwidth. Demand for broadband capacity and IP (Internet Protocol) services is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.”
Business strategic revenue, from Hawaiian Telcom’s data center and cloud services, rose 6 percent during the quarter and 18.8 percent for the year while consumer strategic revenue, which includes TV and residential internet services, rose 1.5 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, primarily due to growth from the TV service.
Hawaiian Telcom’s stock closed up 69 cents, or 3 percent, at $23.80 Monday.
