Time Warner Telecom charts growth

Time Warner Telecom topped a year of growth with a quarter of growth, as its revenues increased to $238.8 million, up from $184.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company’s loss was $24.8 million, or 18 cents a share, compared to $22.3 million or 19 cents a share for the year-previous quarter.

Some of that revenue came from the acquisition of Expedius, which TWT completed in 2006. Revenue from core operations was $201.6 million, up 9% from the year-previous quarter. When extraordinary items such as non-cash stock-based compensation expense and debt extinguishment costs are excluded, the company’s loss was seven cents a share.

“This was an incredibly strong year from the company,” said Larissa Herda, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Telecom. “All measures of organic growth--revenue growth, modified EBITDA, margins, cash flow and customer growth--were all impressive.”

She also trumpeted TWT’s future, saying its metro assets are well positioned for the corporate move to Ethernet. Already, Time Warner Telecom is third in sales of carrier Ethernet ports, trailing only AT&T and Verizon in the bi-annual Vertical Systems report.

The most recent report “showed that we closed the gap between us and the number-one position,” Herda told financial analysts. “Imagine--little old Time Warner Telecom closing in on behemoths like AT&T and Verizon in the hottest area of telecom--not a bad position to be in.”

TWT grew enterprise revenues by 43% year over year and by 29% sequentially, included 16% annual organic growth. Its data and Internet revenues increases 40% year over year and 16% sequentially. Modified EBITDA grew to $80.2 million.

“Our business remains on a strong trajectory building off the incredibly strong performance and position of 2006,” Herda said. “We look forward to 2007 including growing the business further by capitalizing on our strengths and the positive trends in the enterprise space.”