Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) on Thursday reported that revenue for the second quarter ending June 30, 2009 was up 20% over the same period last year but long distance call revenue for its local subsidiary, GT&T fell by 20% while wireless revenue grew by US$200,000.
ATN said “Wireless revenue in Guyana increased by US$0.2 million. At the end of the second quarter, we had approximately 266,000 subscribers in Guyana, below the 277,000 we had at the end of last year’s second quarter, but up from 248,000 as of December 31, 2008.”
It noted that International long distance revenue, all of which is generated by GT&T, “declined 20% to US$9.9 million from US$12.4 million in 2008. We believe this decrease is a result of a considerable increase in illegal bypass activities in the quarter resulting in lost revenue opportunities, as well as an overall reduction in call volume into Guyana attributable to the current difficult economic environment.” Stabroek News recently reported that the company said it had lost around US$2M in bypass activities over the last 8 months.
ATN added that “Local telephone and data revenue generated by our Guyana operations increased 3% to US$7.6 million compared to US$7.4 million in 2008, while access lines increased 5% to 142,000 from 135,000.”
Despite the increase in revenue, ATN operating income remained unchanged at $18.1 million as a result of costs associated with the revenue growth, as well as:
* $1.5 million of operating losses at two earlier stage businesses acquired in the third quarter of 2008
* $0.8 million of costs associated with the previously announced termination of our digital television services in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)
* $0.4 million related to the Company’s pending acquisition of the Alltel properties
* The reduction in high-margin international long distance revenue.
