General Communications Inc., the dominant bundled-services provider for the
state of Alaska, posted a $1.1 million loss for the second quarter, due
primarily to losses related to the WorldCom Inc. bankruptcy.
GCI -- which delivers cable, telephone and Internet services -- took a $9.7
million expense on the quarter for debts owed to it by WorldCom.
GCI handles WorldCom customers' long-distance calls to the lower 48 states.
WorldCom is both GCI's largest customer and its largest shareholder, GCI
said.
GCI will expense another $6.7 million in WorldCom losses in the third
quarter, the company added.
'GCI's basic business performance was exceptionally well during the second
quarter,' president Ron Duncan said in a prepared statement. 'Had it not been
for the bad debt reserve taken for the WorldCom bankruptcy, it would have been
the best quarter ever.'
Duncan expects 'robust performance' by the company through the rest of the
year, due to improvements across all product lines.
