Surewest continues to hone its skills as a broadband provider and its second-quarter and first-half 2009 results illustrate those efforts are paying off. During the quarter, Surewest reported its first-half revenue increased 10 percent to $121.9 million, up from $112 million in Q2 2008. However, the company did report that quarterly earnings slumped to $3.5 million from the $21.2 million profit it posted in Q2 2008, which the company attributed to the sale of wireless assets to Verizon Wireless in the previous year's quarter. Company revenue rose 2 percent to $60.9 million from $60 million during the second quarter of 2008.
Broadband services continued to be a big seller for Surewest during the second quarter. The company reported that broadband revenues were up 14 percent year-over-year and 3 percent sequentially. Overall, second-quarter broadband revenues made up 66 percent of the ILEC's total revenues versus 59 percent during the same period last year. Residential broadband revenue was up 14 percent year-over-year to $29.8 million, which the company attributes to 9 percent ARPU growth and an 8 percent increase in revenue generating units (RGUs). To enhance the utility of its broadband service suite, Surewest has been extending Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV capabilities to both its Fiber to the Premises and existing copper-based customers.
Of course, Surewest saw inevitable voice line loss. The company reported that it saw its residential revenue decline 25 percent year-over-year and 7 percent sequentially to $6.4 million as a result of 28 percent year-over-year telecom voice RGU losses. To curtail its voice line losses of 6,400 lines, it has continued to enhance its Broadband VoIP product. During the second quarter, 2,100 traditional voice customers migrated to the VoIP service.
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- Sacramento Business Journal has this article
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