FairPoint Communications is reporting a second straight quarter of net revenue gains. The latest earnings report continues a reversal of the significant losses by the company in the past.
FairPoint says federal money from phase two of Connect America broadband funding and a reduction in the number of employees drove the company’s net gains in the third quarter of the fiscal year.
The company says net revenues were $53.1 million for the quarter and $48.1 million year-to-date.
The company was losing money as recently as the first quarter of this fiscal year – and in fiscal 2014, FairPoint reported a net loss of $136.3 million.
Earlier this year, FairPoint was beset by repair problems, which it blamed on winter weather and a workers strike.
In prepared remarks FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu said the company has reversed the backlog of problems.
“We’re seeing historic lows in our maintenance workload,” said Sunu. The situation allows the company “to address issues more quickly, reduce the number of repeat customer calls and free up time to focus on hardening the network for the upcoming winter,” he said.
FairPoint’s Ethernet business and wholesale and institutional services continue to grow as residential telephone revenues declined.
The company is also losing broadband customers, but says the loss is offset by existing customers paying more for speed upgrades.
