Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB), which this year rolled out an IPTV service, said the new businesses helped its wireline bottom line in the third quarter as well as the continued expansion of its Fioptics FTTH initiative.
The company said revenues rose 5 percent to $369 million from a year ago, and net income was up 21 percent to $18 million, or 7 cents per share diluted.
Cincinnati Bell said its push into IT services and hardware sales also was a major growth factor, as they increased 26 percent; Data Center Colocation revenue was up 18 percent.
Its wireline business added 4,000 Fioptics entertainment subscribers, bringing the total to 38,000 customers; because of demand for the service, the company passed 25,000 additional homes and businesses with Fioptics during the quarter, bringing the total number of units passed to 115,000. It anticipates passing 25,000 additional units during the fourth quarter.
"We delivered another strong performance in the third quarter, building on the solid results that we generated during the first half of the year," said Jack Cassidy, president and chief executive.
Wireline revenue fell 1 percent to $183 million. On-going access line losses continue to negatively impact Wireline's voice revenues. Growth from the entertainment, data and VoIP products, combined with the company's continuing cost reductions, helped Wireline maintain its strong Adjusted EBITDA margin.
"In the third quarter, we delivered our highest revenue in more than eight years and continued to see strong growth and high utilization in our data center colocation segment. The expansion of our data center operations continues, and we expect to finish construction on an additional 30,000 square feet of data center space in the fourth quarter," said Kurt Freyberger, chief financial officer. "We were also pleased to sell our non-core home security business during the third quarter for proceeds of more than $10 million and to complete a shareholder-friendly buyback of our stock for $10 million."
For more:
- see this release
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