GCI profits plunge 66 percent in 3rd quarter
Company president blames reduced carrier traffic, sluggish commercial sector
General Communication Inc. announced a 66 percent drop in third-quarter profits late Wednesday night, results the company said were "very disappointing."
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The Alaska-based telecommunications company released financial disclosures for the third quarter showing a net income of $2.2 million in the third quarter, compared to income of $6.5 million in the same period of 2006.
GCI's third-quarter revenues, however, rose 7 percent to $133.9 million from the third quarter of 2006.
"Our consumer business had a spectacular quarter," GCI president Ron Duncan said. "Customer metrics were up all across the board, including solid increases in wire line, wireless, high-speed data and video customers.
"We significantly outpaced our largest competitor in each of these categories, adding more than three times as many high-speed customers and almost twice as many wireless customers," he said.
"Unfortunately our strong success in the marketplace was offset by continued challenges in our carrier business, which is down significantly from the prior year," Duncan added. "The reductions in carrier traffic and some sluggishness in our commercial sector overwhelmed the success of our consumer business to produce very disappointing financial results for the quarter."