US-based communications services provider FairPoint Communications has reported revenue of $262.6m in the second quarter of 2011, down from $271.6m in the year-ago quarter.
The company notes that the loss is due to a 9.3% decline in voice access lines, which led to decreases in voice services and access revenue, though the loss continued to slow as FairPoint lost 22,700 lines in the second quarter of 2011 compared to 24,900 in the first quarter of 2011.
Partially offsetting the decline were lower service quality penalties, the impact of revenue assurance activities, including back-billing, and a 3.1% increase in data and Internet services revenue.
Consolidated EBITDAR was $70.5m as compared to $72.3m a year earlier, while net loss was $27.1m as compared to a net loss of $54.2m a year earlier.
High-speed Internet subscriber growth increased to 5.4%, compared to a 4.8% increase in the first quarter of 2011, and the company reported 305,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter, reaching an all-time high.
High-speed internet penetration increased to 28.3% of voice access lines, following the addition of more than 7,600 subscribers in the quarter.
FairPoint said that improvements in retail and wholesale service quality, along with a reversal of penalties accrued in earlier periods has benefited the second quarter of 2011.
The company reiterated its consolidated EBITDAR guidance of $260m – $280m, and said it is moving ahead with a project for an initial network build that will extend fibre to more than half of the 1,600 wireless communications towers in its northern New England service footprint.
