Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results

Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATNI), today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011.

Third Quarter 2011 Financial Results

”This was a strong quarter for us in many key areas,” noted Michael Prior, Chief Executive Officer. "The significant year-over-year and sequential improvements in profitability were mainly driven by cost reductions with the completion of the transition of Alltel customers to our own operating platform, billing system and customer care centers in late July. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the U.S. Wireless segment reached 28% for the period, representing a substantial increase over the prior year and recent quarters, as overlapping expenses were markedly reduced. Our third quarter U.S. wireless subscriber metrics, however, lagged expectations. While we believe that gross subscriber additions, in particular, were affected by certain constraints we put in place just prior to and subsequent to the final transition, and had expected to see some pick up in churn in the immediate aftermath of conversion, it is clear that we have more to do to see improved subscriber metrics.

"Third quarter profitability also benefited from seasonally high roaming revenues and improved results from our international businesses. These results demonstrate the earnings potential that ATN has gained through the Alltel asset acquisition and the continued solid contributions from our other businesses.”

Total revenues for the third quarter were $194.3 million, a 5% decline from the $205.0 million reported for the third quarter of 2010.

Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the 2011 third quarter was $52.0 million, an increase of 38% over the $37.8 million reported in last year’s third quarter. The Company estimates that duplicate transition-related expenses were approximately $4.9 million in the third quarter of 2011, offset in part by other one-time benefits of approximately $3.6 million mainly related to out of period ETC revenues and USF expense adjustments. Wireless retail revenues were also negatively impacted this quarter by approximately $2.3 million related to the decision to forego the billing of certain items for a period following the system conversion. Duplicate transition-related expenses and the net impact of other one-time items were approximately $10.0 million in the 2010 third quarter.

Total operating income was $27.6 million, twice the $13.8 million reported in last year’s third quarter. Third quarter 2011 operating income included a $2.7 million increase in depreciation and amortization expenses over the prior year’s third quarter. Net income attributable to ATN’s stockholders was $11.3 million, or $0.73 per diluted share, up from the $6.4 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, earned in the third quarter of 2010.

”With the Alltel customer transition successfully behind us, our focus is now on increasing the competitiveness of our domestic retail wireless offers and plans by specifically tailoring them to our markets, which we expect will result in improved subscriber metrics over the next several quarters.

"A noteworthy contributor to our strong 2011 third quarter results was our Bermuda wireless operation, CellOne, whose performance has benefited from the merger we concluded in this year’s second quarter and our ability to quickly achieve significant synergies from that transaction,” Mr. Prior noted.

Third Quarter 2011 Operating Highlights

U.S. Wireless Service Revenues

U.S. wireless service revenues include voice and data service revenues from the Company’s prepaid and postpaid retail operations as well as its wholesale roaming operations. Total service revenues from the U.S. wireless businesses amounted to $146.2 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared to $158.8 million in the third quarter of 2010.

U.S. retail wireless service revenues were $89.1 million for the third quarter of 2011, a decrease of 18% from the $108.8 million reported in the 2010 third quarter. Service revenue declines were the result of the net subscriber attrition that the Company has experienced through the transition period. At the end of the third quarter of 2011, the Company had approximately 593,000 U.S. retail subscribers, of which approximately 470,000 were postpaid subscribers and approximately 123,000 were prepaid subscribers. Additional operating data on our U.S. retail wireless business can be found in Table 4 of this release.

U.S. wholesale wireless revenues were $57.1 million, an increase of 14% over the $50.0 million reported in the third quarter of 2010. Data revenues accounted for 46% of wholesale wireless revenues for the quarter, compared to 27% a year earlier. Data volume growth, as well as a slightly larger network coverage area, largely offset the impact of expected revenue losses in certain areas of the Company’s legacy "roam only” markets and previously-reported rate reductions for voice and data.

International Wireless Revenues

International wireless revenues include retail and wholesale voice and data wireless revenues from international operations in Bermuda and the Caribbean, including the U.S. Virgin Islands. Total revenues from international wireless were $20.5 million in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of $6.6 million, or 47%, over the $13.9 million reported in the third quarter of 2010. This increase was primarily due to the Company’s merger of its Bermuda operations with M3 Wireless, Ltd. on May 2, 2011 and growth in the number of wireless subscribers in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Wireline Revenues

Wireline revenues are generated by the Company’s wireline operations in Guyana, including international telephone calls into and out of that country, its integrated voice and data operations in New England and its wholesale transport operations in New York State. Total revenues from wireline amounted to $21.7 million in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of $0.9 million from $20.8 million reported in the third quarter of 2010. The increase resulted primarily from data revenue and local wireline service growth in Guyana, as well as growth in fiber optic capacity sales in New York State.

Reportable Operating Segments

The Company has four reportable segments: i) U.S. Wireless, ii) International Integrated Telephony, which operates in Guyana, iii) Island Wireless, which generates its revenues and has its assets located in Bermuda and the Caribbean and iv) U.S. Wireline. Financial data on our reportable operating segments for the three months ended September 30, 2011 are as follows:

(1) Reconciling items are comprised of corporate general and administrative costs and acquisition-related charges.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Highlights

Cash and cash equivalents at September 30, 2011 were $52.1 million. Long-term debt was $274.1 million. For the third quarter, net cash provided by operating activities was $41.7 million and was $84.7 million for the first nine months of 2011. Third quarter capital expenditures were $20.4 million, and $65.9 million for the first nine months of 2011. The Company expects full year 2011 capital expenditures to approximate $95 to $105 million, of which $65 to $70 million is expected to be allocated to the U.S. Wireless segment.

Conference Call Information

Atlantic Tele-Network will host a conference call tomorrow, Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) to discuss its third quarter results for 2011. The call will be hosted by Michael Prior, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Justin Benincasa, Chief Financial Officer. The dial-in numbers are US/Canada: 877-734-4582 and International: 678-905-9376, conference ID 20648773. A replay of the call will be available at ir.atni.com beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m. (ET) November 3, 2011.

About Atlantic Tele-Network

Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI), headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, provides telecommunications services to rural, niche and other under-served markets and geographies in the United States, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Through our operating subsidiaries, we provide both wireless and wireline connectivity to residential and business customers, including a range of mobile wireless solutions, local exchange services and broadband internet services and are the owner and operator of terrestrial and submarine fiber optic transport systems. For more information, please visit www.atni.com.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other matters, our future financial performance and results of operations; the competitive environment in our key markets, demand for our services and industry trends; the outcome of regulatory matters; our continued access to the credit and capital markets; the pace of our network expansion and improvement, including our level of estimated future capital expenditures and our realization of the benefits of these investments; and management’s plans and strategy for the future. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections, beliefs, and assumptions and are not guarantees of future events or results. Actual future events and results could differ materially from the events and results indicated in these statements as a result of many factors, including, among others, (1) the general performance of our operations, including operating margins, and the future retention and turnover of our subscriber base; (2) our ability to maintain favorable roaming arrangements; (3) increased competition; (4) economic, political and other risks facing our foreign operations; (5) the loss of certain FCC and other licenses, USF funds or other regulatory changes affecting our businesses; (6) rapid and significant technological changes in the telecommunications industry; (7) any loss of any key members of management; (8) our reliance on a limited number of key suppliers and vendors for timely supply of equipment and services relating to our network infrastructure and retail wireless business; (9) the adequacy and expansion capabilities of our network capacity and customer service system to support our customer growth; (10) the occurrence of severe weather and natural catastrophes; (11) our continued access to capital and credit markets; and (12) our ability to realize the value that we believe exists in our businesses. These and other additional factors that may cause actual future events and results to differ materially from the events and results indicated in the forward-looking statements above are set forth more fully under Item 1A "Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, filed with the SEC on March 16, 2011. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors that may affect such forward-looking statements.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this news release also contains non-GAAP financial measures. Specifically, ATN has presented Adjusted EBITDA and ARPU measures. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income attributable to ATN, Inc. stockholders before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, acquisition related charges, gain on disposition of long-lived assets, other income, bargain purchase gain, net income attributable to non-controlling interests, and equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates. ARPU, or monthly average revenue per subscriber/unit, is computed by dividing total retail service revenues per period by the weighted average number of subscribers with service during that period, and then dividing that result by the number of months in the period. The Company believes that the inclusion of these non-GAAP financial measures helps investors to gain a meaningful understanding of the Company's core operating results and enhance comparing such performance with prior periods, without the distortion of the recent increased expenses associated with the Alltel transaction. ATN’s management uses these non-GAAP measures, in addition to GAAP financial measures, as the basis for measuring our core operating performance and comparing such performance to that of prior periods. The non-GAAP financial measures included in this news release are not meant to be considered superior to or a substitute for results of operations prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures used in this news release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are set forth in the text of, and the accompanying tables to, this press release.

¹ See Table 5 for reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA.