AYLMER, Ont. – In the first quarter of 2006, the Amtelecom Income Fund (owners of cable and telecom company Amtelecom) generated revenues from telecommunications, cable TV and Internet operations of $7.2 million, an increase of 26% over the first quarter of 2005.
The company generated EBITDA of $3.2 million, a 16% increase but net earnings dipped by 10% to $900,000.
The first quarter results include the results of the fund’s recent acquisition of People’s Tel Limited Partnership (People’s) for the 66 day period since it was acquired on January 24, 2006.
"We expect continued growth in EBITDA from the acquisition as we continue integrating People’s fully into Amtelecom’s operations," said Michael Andrews, president and CEO, in a release.
Andrews also added during a conference call on the quarterly release that the company is pondering the addition of wireless telephony to its services. "Our long term goal is to provide wireless service in a bundled package to our customers," he said.
While with the acquisition, Amtelecom’s telecom subs grew to 26,660, it still faces challenges on the cable side where cable subscribers continue to dwindle. During the call CFO David Bronicheski said that strong satellite competition, coupled with the dearth of new home construction in its regions led to the cable losses. It closed the quarter with 8,766 customers.
Growth on the Internet side continues strong, however, as the company saw a 9% increase in high speed subs.
