Cincinnati Bell continues to be aggressive in expanding in its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) Fioptics business by passing more multi-dwelling units (MDUs) and single-family homes in its territory.
The service provider passed an additional 25,000 units in the second quarter with Fioptics, ending the period with a total of 382,300 dwellings. It plans to continue expanding that base throughout 2015 and into 2016.
Speaking to investors during the second-quarter earnings call, Ted Torbeck said that nearly half of Cincinnati is covered by Fioptics.
"We passed 25,000 homes addresses with Fioptics, which is now available to 47 percent of Greater Cincinnati," Torbeck said during the second-quarter 2015 earnings call.
Fioptics was the star performer in Cincinnati Bell's portfolio with revenues rising 32 percent year-over-year to $45 million.
During the quarter, the service provider added 9,300 new Fioptics Internet subscribers, ending the period with a total of 132,400 subscribers. However, it reported that it lost 6,900 DSL subscribers, finishing the quarter with a total of 275,100 total Internet subscribers.
Cincinnati Bell also added 5,700 video subscribers to end the quarter with a total of 101,500 subscribers.
While multi-dwelling units (MDUs) were the initial target for Fioptics, the service provider said that it is increasingly seeing an uptick in sales to single-family homes.
"Around 30 percent of our base is in the MDU market, but obviously that's shrinking," said Leigh Fox, CFO of Cincinnati Bell, during the earnings call. "The majority of our sales today incrementally are to SFUs, but if you remember we started the Fioptics strategy in MDUs as a test to see we could actually be successful in this business."
Fox added that "we have a higher percentage in the MDU business, but that's lowering over time."
The ILEC's second-quarter Entertainment and Communications revenue for the quarter totaled $182 million, up $1 million compared to the prior year after excluding revenue from services provided to its wireless business which was shut down on March 31, 2015.
Strategic revenue for business customers totaled $42 million (including $2 million of Fioptics revenue) for the quarter, up $2 million year-over-year after excluding revenue for services provided to our wireless operations in the prior year.
Overall, second-quarter 2015 consolidated revenue was $286 million, up $3 million year-over-year. Operating income for the quarter totaled $30 million and adjusted EBITDA equaled $75 million.
Meanwhile, net income was $192 million, including income from discontinued operations. During the second quarter Cincinnati Bell recognized a$295 million gain on the sale of 14 million CyrusOne partnership units.
Shares of Cincinnati Bell were trading at $3.81, down 9 cents, or 2.31 percent in Thursday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more:
- see the earnings release
- listen to the earnings webcast (reg. req.)
Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the second quarter of 2015
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