We were at a holiday party a couple of weeks ago and found ourselves talking to a owner of a small computer networking company. I took the opportunity to ask him the “Oceanic Time Warner or Hawaiian Telcom?” question. This is an issue that has come up here several times in the past couple of years, and an issue on which lots of people are willing to offer an opinion based on their own experiences with the two competitors.
Well, we were surprised by his quick response.
If I recall correctly, he began with a statement, something like this: “Hawaiian Telcom’s system is new.”
And, by implication, Oceanic’s is not.
Hawaiian Telcom’s internet is fast, he added.
And then he tossed in another observation: “Most of my tech friends have gone with Hawaiian Tel.”
Now, it’s possible that the things that attract these digital professionals aren’t the things that make practical differences to most consumers. Possible.
But for those looking to get the most bang for the buck in their broadband services, including video entertainment, this seems like a pretty strong recommendation.
Now, the question remains whether Hawaiian Telcom can deliver a good customer service experience to those attracted by its modern, fiber optic system.
And there’s the additional question of whether Hawaiian Telcom can add digital customers quickly enough to offset the steady decline in residential land line customers.
Between September 30, 2013 and September 30, 2014, the company reported losing 16,357 residential voice customers, an 8.6% drop, according to their quarterly report to the SEC. In the period, they grew video entertainment subscribers by 63.1%, but that came to 9,970 new customers. And they added 2.5% to their residential internet business, bringing the number of residential customers to 92,265.
Investors apparently haven’t been as positive on the company’s short term prospects, sending its stock price down 8.8% this year, compared to a 13.38% rise in the S&P 500 index, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
The stats also show company insiders own 25.63% of outstanding shares, while institutions hold 71.9%. That appears to mean that the company is relatively unknown to retail investors. Interesting.
See also:
Hawaii Telcom hopes to differentiate itself through “enhanced” customer service