Consolidated Communications Holdings Reports Third Quarter 2010 Results

• Delivered record IPTV subscriber growth.
• Best year over year access line performance in three years.
• Total connections growth for fourth consecutive quarter.
• Continued solid operating cash flow and dividend payout ratio.

MATTOON, Ill., Nov. 4, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNSL)reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010.

Third quarter financial summary:

• Revenue was $95.6 million.
• Net cash provided by operations was $24.7 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $45.2 million.
• Dividend payout ratio was 73.1%.

"I am pleased to report another solid quarter," said Bob Currey, president and CEO. "We delivered our fourth consecutive quarter of total connection increases driven by our strong growth in broadband subscribers and industry leading access line performance. Our 1,879 net IPTV adds represent our best quarter ever. The continued success in adding IPTV subscribers and the value of the triple play bundle helped us deliver our best year over year line loss in nearly three years. Financially, both our revenue and adjusted EBITDA were consistent with the prior quarter producing another comfortable dividend payout ratio."

Operating Statistics at September 30, 2010, Compared to September 30, 2009.

	Period Ended September 30,
	2010	2009	Increase/(decrease)	%
Local access lines	239,695	250,370	(10,675)	(4.3)%
DSL subscribers	104,933	97,750	7,183	7.3%
IPTV subscribers	27,953	21,518	6,435	29.9%
ILEC VOIP lines	8,770	8,562	208	2.4%
CLEC access line equivalents	73,313	71,723	1,590	2.2%
Total connections	454,664	449,923	4,741	1.1%

Steve Childers, Consolidated's Chief Financial Officer, stated, "In addition to our solid operating results, our third quarter net income was positively affected by a net $4.6 million non-cash reduction in income tax expense and a $0.9 million (after tax) non cash reduction in interest expense related to changes in uncertain tax position liabilities. This contributed approximately $0.19 to our fully diluted earnings per share of $0.40 for the quarter."