Roseville, Calif.-based SureWest Communications reported today that its third-quarter earnings were down 66 percent compared to the same year-ago period.
SureWest, a telecommunications company that serves northern California, said its third-quarter earnings dropped to $736,000, or 5 cents a share, from $2.2 million, or 15 cents a share, from the third quarter last year. SureWest said the decline in earnings was partially due to its discontinued directory operations. Last year the directory operations added $1.3 million in income to the third quarter.
SureWest’s revenue went from $52.6 million last year to $51.6 million this year for a 2 percent drop. The company’s residential access lines dropped by 7 percent while telecom revenue fell 10 percent.
SureWest’s wireless revenue was off by 5 percent. The good news for SureWest was the 15 percent revenue growth in its broadband division, which was aided by the company’s fiber build-out.
“For the past several years we have been upgrading and expanding the network as well as diversifying the revenue streams across our high-speed platform,” said Steve Oldham, SureWest’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “This successful transformation from a traditional provider of voice products into a leading edge provider of a broad array of services is evident in the third quarter results, with 15 percent broadband revenue growth and 16 percent Broadband business access line growth helping to offset anticipated access line declines in the telephone businesses.”