Hawaiian Telcom (Hawtel) may only have been operating as a restructured company for just a few months, but it's anxious to take on the state's main video operator Oceanic Time Warner with its own video service.
With bankruptcy protection in the rear view mirror, Hawtel is revisiting its TV over DSL lines plans, but it has not revealed when it will actually launch the service. Right now, Hawtel is ironing out a video franchise in Oahu with the state's Cable TV division. Public hearings on Hawtel's entrance into the video business will be held in April.
The service provider has its work cut out for them as Oceanic Time Warner currently enjoys 94 percent penetration for cable TV service in Oahu residential homes.
In related news, it appears that Hawtel is making a decent comeback with slight increases in revenue and broadband subscribers, and a slight decline in landline losses.
On the broadband front, Hawtel reported a 4 percent increase in yearly broadband subscriber growth to 99,700 in 2010. However, they still trail Oceanic Time Warner, which has over 272,000 broadband subscribers. Meanwhile, Hawtel reported 6 percent of landline losses in 2010, down from 8 percent in 2009, a factor it attributes to the sale of more bundled phone/broadband packages.
Despite being under bankruptcy for most of 2010, Hawtel's revenue declined slightly from $408.6 million in 2009 to $401.4 million, a factor it related to revenue declines from access line losses due to wireless voice substitution. At the same time, Hawtel reported a six percent increase in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) and also generated net income of $3.1 million in the first two months after emergence from chapter 11.
For more:
- Honolulu Star Advertiser has this article
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