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FairPoint Says First Quarter Earnings Hampered By Strike, Storms

FairPoint Communications says a workers strike and winter storms continued to take a toll on earnings in the first three months of 2015.

The quarterly earnings report issued Wednesday underscores the company’s continued loss of land line and residential broadband revenue, but FairPoint says the quarter represents a turning point in its finances. 

The company says due to new union contracts, its pension and other post-employment benefit obligations have declined $680 million.

Still, FairPoint reported a net loss of $45.2 million in the first quarter.

In prepared remarks, FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu acknowledged that to meet its goals, the company has to stem the loss of residential customers and provide service on a par with its business customers.

“We want to carry over that level of service and quality to our residential base, thereby beginning to lower the churn rate that remains a headwind to our revenue objectives,” said Sunu.

The bright spot in the company’s revenues continues to be FairPoint’s  businesses accounts, including Ethernet services, which have grown nearly 30 percent from a year ago.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
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