Qwest Communications reported quarterly earnings of $240 million, or $0.12 per diluted share compared with earnings of $88 million, or $0.05 per diluted share in the first quarter 2006. Operating revenue for the first quarter 2007 was $3.4 billion, including data and Internet services revenue of $1.2 billion, now more than 35 percent of operating revenue. Some highlights:
- High-speed Internet subscribers grew by 167,000 in the first quarter.
- Qwest added 80,000 net DIRECTV subscribers in the quarter compared to 38,000 new subscribers in the year-ago quarter. Qwest surpassed the 500,000 video subscriber mark in the quarter and now has a total of 506,000 video subscribers.
- At the end of first quarter, Qwest had a total of 13.6 million domestic access lines, down 6.8 percent from the first quarter 2006.
- Combined data, Internet and video revenue increased by 11 percent year over year.
- Wholesale revenue was flat with the prior year as more than 10 percent growth in data revenue largely offset access-line and volume-driven declines in local and access revenues.
- First quarter capital expenditures totaled $318 million, compared to $390 million in the year-ago quarter when the capital spend was balanced throughout the year and commercial and housing development was expanding more quickly. Nearly half of the wireline spend in the quarter was directed toward increasing the speeds and capabilities of the network.
