Document text
CLEAR Temp: 51 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Wednesday, February 5, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend February 1, 2003 Dot-com decline hurts Ashland Fiber Network By SEAN WOLFE for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Internal cost-cutting made up for soft earnings in city-owned Ashland Fiber Network’s first quarter. By and large, the cable and high-speed Internet service is meeting numbers projected in its business plan. AFN has hit its targets on the number of cable and residential Internet subscribers, but its high-speed data customers are in decline, thanks to the dot-com bubble’s burst. The city’s electric and telecommunications director, Dick Wanderscheid, said AFN continues to lose money, but it’s also reducing costs. "Our business plan assumed a rate increase with data services, but the market for bandwidth is such that we can’t increase rates. People can buy (Internet) bandwidth pretty cheap right now," Wanderscheid said. "Also we lost some customers. Some went out of business, some left town. It’s part of what’s going on in the world of dot-coms." Revenues since July have been markedly soft, missing all but one monthly target through December. On average, AFN brought in $156,829 per month over the past six months. By June, AFN needs to bring in $203,979 per month to hit its steadily escalating revenue goals. At the same time, the service has managed to drop its expenses. Capped at $282,077 a month, AFN overspent last year in August through October. But by November, AFN’s expenses dropped under the cap at $281,761, and in December expenses fell to $260,372. Another area of concern is AFN’s number of bulk cable television contracts. Since June, the number of contracts — typically sold to hotels — has remained flat at 139 customers. "The problem is that most hotels already out there have long-term contracts with the incumbent cable company (Charter Communications). All of our contracts are with new hotels. We’re in Ashland Springs Hotel, and all the new ones," Wanderscheid said. Sean Wolfe is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 482-3456. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S