CenturyTel 1st-qtr Profit Falls

MONROE, La. (AP) — CenturyTel Inc. said Thursday that its first-quarter profit fell 24 percent as it gained high-speed Internet customers but shed many more access line customers. The results did beat analysts' estimates, however.

For the quarter that ended March 31, the telecommunications company earned $67.2 million, or 67 cents per share. This compares with $88.8 million, or 82 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

When excluding certain items, the company earned 82 cents per share — 2 cents higher than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected. Analysts typically exclude special items.

Revenue dipped 2 percent to $636.4 million from $648.6 million last year; analysts were looking for $634.2 million.

CenturyTel said voice revenue fell 5 percent to $209.9 million, while network access revenue dropped almost 7 percent to $192.8 million. Data revenue rose 10 percent to $139.9 million.

The company said it gained more than 24,000 high-speed Internet customers during the quarter, for a total of more than 665,000 at the end of March. This is an increase of more than 13 percent when compared with the year-ago quarter.