FairPoint Communications is reporting a second quarter net loss of $22.7 million as the company continues to lose landline revenue.
In a Webcast discussion of the latest earnings report, FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu said the company’s revenue was lower than anticipated. However, Sunu said he is encouraged by continued growth in Internet and other high tech services.
“Despite our second quarter revenue shortfall, I am pleased with our progress. We’re transforming our revenue base and building a strong reputation as a technology driven communications provider,” Sunu said in a prepared statement.
FairPoint’s losses were less than the same quarter last year, when the company reported a net loss of $43.1 million.
However, revenue was also down: $225.6 million in the most recent quarter, compared to $234.5 million in Q2 2013. The company says the change is due primarily to lower operating expenses.
So far this fiscal year, FairPoint has net losses of $54.9 million.
Sunu said the number of FairPoint broadband subscribers continues to grow, as does revenue from services provided to business. Overall, the company’s Ethernet revenue reached $20.9 million in the second quarter and now accounts for 9.3 percent of its earnings, up from 6.6 percent one year ago.
The company’s landline revenue has declined 7.1 percent in the past year.
Sunu also said the company will open a technology center in Burlington in the fall in collaboration with the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies. The center will provide entrepreneurs with technology services for businesses, which Sunu hopes will help change how his company is perceived.
“Part of what we’ve got to do is get people to think about us differently than just using us for the basic telephone service,” he said. “If we can get the movers and shakers, people that are at the front edge of technology development, and have them use our services and be in our center, I think it starts to move perceptions.”
FairPoint is attempting to negotiate new contracts with its unionized workers in an effort to lower costs.
However, little progress has been reported in the negotiations which began in April.
The unions are considering calling a strike.
The North Carolina-based company has about 3,200 employees. Most of them are in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
