Pegasus Satellite said its first-quarter loss widened to $29 million from $25 million a year ago as it lost 32,642 subscribers to DirecTV. Revenue declined to $205.5 million as Pegasus, which resells DirecTV service in rural markets, ended the quarter with 1.27 million customers. It added 38,990 gross new subscribers in the quarter vs. 64,549 a year ago, but lost 71,692. Pegasus suffers from a lack of access to local programming, including 15 markets in which it competes against EchoStar, CEO Marshall Pagan said. That should be reduced to 5 later this year as DirecTV expands local programming to 66 markets, he said.
The FCC’s Media and Wireless bureaus announced the July 23 auction of construction permits for one full-power TV, 2 low-power TV and 4 FM stations. For the full-power TV permit in Corpus Christ, Tex., the bidders are Davis TV Corpus Christi, Humberto Lopez, Marri Bcstg., Minority Media TV 38, Paloma Bcstg., Patricia Card Smith, Prime Bcstg. and Sunbelt Bcstg. For the low-power permit in San Luis Obispo, Cal., the bidders are James Primm and Jeffrey Jordan, and in Rio Grande City, Tex., the bidders are Minerva Rodriquez Frias, Deanna Hinojosa, Evarista Romero, Susan Easton, Daniel Parks and Debra Kamp. For the FM radio station in Kasilof, Alaska, the bidders are William John Glynn Jr. and Kasilof Communications. For one FM permit in Victor, Idaho, the bidders are Idaho Bcstg. Consortium, Michael Radio Group and Chaparral Bcstg. For the other permit in Victor, the bidders are Chaparral, Victor Bcstg. and Michael Radio Group. For the station in Glenrock, Wyo., the bidders are Idaho Bcstg., Michael Radio Group and Mount Rushmore Bcstg.
Wireless trade groups applauded the Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel’s decision to maintain the 1900 MHz band for 3rd-generation (3G) use. 3G Americas said the decision to reaffirm that using only the 1800 MHz band for Personal Mobile Service (SMP) licenses would “sustain continued growth of mobile services in not only Brazil, but in other countries in the Americas.” Anatel last week refused a request by Vesper, a CDMA wireless local loop operator owned by Qualcomm, to utilize the 1900 MHz band, which had been set aside by the agency for 3G use, to deploy mobile networks. Vesper had acquired a license with obligation to deploy SMP services in the 1800 MHz band, pursuant to a competitive bid by Anatel. Qualcomm didn’t return a call for comment.
The Idaho PUC set a May 7 deadline for comments on a Qwest request for permission to close its customer payment centers in Boise and Pocatello. Qwest said the centers no longer were cost-effective and weren’t necessary because customers had many other options for paying bills. The carrier said the centers cost more than $210,000 per year to operate, with an average transaction cost of $2.50 per payment vs. 11 cents for a mailed-in payment. The company said the volume of payments though the centers had declined 38% in the last 2 years. Qwest said it would continue to collect payments through its 8 contract payment agents in Boise and the 3 agents in Pocatello. If the PUC approves, Qwest plans to close the centers by July 1. Separately, the PUC decided to leave unchanged its assessment on telecom carriers that supported the state’s telecom relay service. The fee will remain at 4 cents monthly per local access line and 7 cents per 100 intrastate toll minutes.
The information technology (IT) and telecom markets are in “reconstruction mode” and investors are just beginning to “come out of their shells,” said Richard Lukaj, pres., Babcock Capital Partners. He spoke at a panel on technology needs of the telecom and IT industry at the International Finance Corp. (IFC) Global Technology Conference 2003 Wed. Venture capitalists have “very much gone back to the basics” in deciding what to invest in, he said. It’s much tougher to find financing for raw, pre-beta (testing) technologies, Lukaj said. However, he said, the woes of the developed IT markets are creating new opportunities for emerging markets.
UBS Warburg analyst Aryeh Bourkoff issued highly favorable report on Cox Communications Wed., “reiterating our Buy 1 rating” issued early this year. He said Cox was “one of the best positioned companies in the cable sector.” Bourkoff raised his estimate of the stock value at end of the year to $38 from $36. Cox was trading at $31.37 at mid- afternoon.
Charter Communications said 4th-quarter net loss widened to $1.81 billion from $302 million a year ago after asset write-downs. The company, under federal investigation for its accounting, also announced restated financial results dating back to 2000. It said it had overstated revenue for the first 3 quarters of 2002 by $38 million and its 2001 and 2000 revenue by $146 million and $108 million, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was overstated by $110 million for the first 3 quarters of 2002 and by $292 million and $195 million in 2001 and 2000, respectively, it said. The company reduced its net loss by $12 million in the first 3 quarters of 2002 and by $11 million in 2001 but net loss deepened by $29 million for 2000.
New Edge Networks confirmed it planned to buy broadband and data communications businesses that it said would add to its cash flow growth. The company, which has $38 million in debt, said it tried to “capitalize on the growth opportunities in broadband and data communications” and had acquired the commercial division of AtHome Corp. in a bankruptcy sale as well as several hundred business data customers from Cable & Wireless.
SES Global said its revenue jumped 38% in FY 2002 to 1.35 billion euros, in part from the first full year of revenue from SES Americom. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled 1.1 billion euros, up from 794.6 million last year.
Mpower Holding said its revenue from continuing operations in the 4th quarter grew 19.3% to $38 million from the same period a year earlier and its gross margin 101.2% to $17.7 million. It said it reduced its selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs to $23.3 million in the 4th quarter (to 61.3% of revenue), from 87.4% a year ago. The company reported a $5.4 million EBITDA loss from continuing operations. Mpower said it was “in the final stages” of more than 2 years of financial and operational restructuring and expected “to be EBITDA positive by the end of June.”