CenturyLink reported mixed second-quarter results, with revenues down, but adjusted EBITDA of $2.27 billion beating analysts’ estimates.

Total revenue in the second quarter, excluding an accounting change, was down 2.1 percent to $5.9 billion.  Jeffrey Storey, CenturyLink president and COO attributed this, in part, to dropping unprofitable revenue streams.  

Broken out, business revenues were down 1.2 percent to $4.37 billion, and consumer revenue dipped 5.8 percent to $1.35 billion.

According to a transcript of the earnings call, Storey said the company has shifted focus away from what he called “empty calorie revenue.”

“That is, contracts or services with very low or no margin. As a result, you will see us continually evaluating our existing business and moving away from unprofitable revenue,” Storey said.

Among them are the company’s linear TV and OTT video products, which are both being discontinued, CenturyLink announced last quarter. It also includes terminating an unprofitable government contract in the company’s enterprise group and renegotiating a “large contract” with a European Global Accounts customer, CFO Sunit Patel noted on the earnings call.

“Clearly, those affect the top line of our business,” Storey said. “But our focus is to align our time, our capital and our resources to our more highly profitable opportunities.”

Jeffries analysts think CenturyLink’s efforts to boost profitability are going in the right direction.

“Topline weakness was not surprising, but reflected deliberate actions to improve profitability,” Jeffries analyst Scott Goldman wrote in an investor note Thursday. “A wise trade-off in our view.”

Storey also said that integrating Level 3 has created greater opportunity for the combined company in the wireline enterprise market. He pointed to CenturyLink securing primary provider status in June for General Mills’ 120 site global MPLS network.

“Our combined global assets, dedicated focus, and strong customer support model were key factors in the selection. We’ll have to see with this particular customer but, in general, being the MPLS core within Enterprise, will also position us well to provide their backbone needs such as waves and fiber solutions, their SD-WAN needs and other capabilities,” Storey said.

On the consumer front, CenturyLink shed 80,000 net broadband subscribers. The mix includes losses of about 134,000 subscribers at speeds under 20 Mbps and gains of about 54,000 in higher speed offerings including 22,000 subscribers at speeds of 100 Mbps or higher.

Storey said CenturyLink’s consumer Price for Life initiative is going well and has helped increase ARPU, reduce churn and improve the customer experience.

“That effort has been highly successful, with around 40 percent of our broadband based on that pricing program,” Storey said

“Given the higher satisfaction and low return we see with higher speeds, we look to extend our fiber footprint in areas where it makes sense,” Storey added. He also said CenturyLink will spread its fiber investments to take advantage of forthcoming IoT technologies and 5G small cells. 

In rural areas CenturyLink is investigating how it can use a hybrid fiber wireless network to deliver services, according to Storey.

The company plans to up investments in its consumer business, primarily through the Connect America Fund program and in urban areas where it makes sense. Specifically, the company is looking to extend its fiber network in places like MDUs, condominiums, apartment complexes and areas where business and residences co-exist.

“We’re focused on planning and identifying the right places, but then our deployment speed should pick up,” Patel said.