Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) (Nasdaq: SHEN) reported on Friday that Q3 2012 revenue was $72.9 million, up 16.3 percent over Q3 2011 due to strong gains in both wireless PCS and cable Revenue Generating Unit (RGU) counts, combined with increases in the monthly revenue per customer across all segments.
The service provider's adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (adjusted OIBDA) was $22.6 million, up from $22.2 million in Q3 2011.
However, there were some declines during the quarter. Company net income declined to $1.4 million and net income from continuing operations to $1.4 million, down from $3.0 million and $3.6 million, respectively, in Q3 2011.
"We are pleased with this quarter's increase in revenue which indicates continued demand for our services," Christopher E. French, president and CEO of Shentel, said in the earnings release. "Our comparative results for this quarter were unfavorably impacted by several transactions and events that should either not be repeated or have a substantially reduced impact next quarter."
In the cable segment, Shentel reported that operating losses decreased $0.8 million from the same period a year ago, while adjusted OIBDA for third quarter 2012 was $0.5 million, down from $1.1 million from Q3 2011.
Shentel's cable unit reported that it had a total of 139,399 RGUs at the end of Q3 2012, up 2.7 percent from September 30, 2011. However, it only added 2,374 new RGUs in Q3 2012, down from the 4,745 it added in Q3 2011. It said RGUs are impacted by seasonal activity in college town service areas.
The service provider is now in the process of completing its final market upgrade, one that will pass about 10,000 homes.
In the wireline segment, Shentel reported that operating income was $3.4 million in Q3 2012, down $0.1 million from Q3 2011. Likewise, adjusted wireline segment OIBDA was $5.8 million, a decrease of $0.1 million from the same period a year ago.
It saw a slight uptick in wireline broadband. During the quarter, Shentel added 309 DSL customers, ending the quarter with a total of 12,551 broadband DSL customers, up 2.5 percent from Q3 2011. As seen with other wireline telcos, Shentel's voice access lines declined to 22,506 from 23,288 at the end of September 2011.
Shentel was trading at $13.24, down $0.30, or .22 percent, on the Nasdaq stock market in late-morning trading.
For more:
- see the release
Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the third quarter
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