GNCMA Gci Liberty, Inc. (delisted)

 GCI REPORTS SECOND QUARTER 2016 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Consolidated Revenue of $234 million

Adjusted EBITDA of $79 million

August 2, 2016, Anchorage, Alaska - General Communication, Inc. ("GCI") (NASDAQ: GNCMA) announces its results for the second quarter of 2016.

Operating and Financial Highlights

Revenues in the first quarter were $234 million, down six percent or $14 million compared with the same period in 2015, and up $3 million or one percent sequentially. Growth in GCI Business revenues were offset by anticipated year-over-year declines in wireless roaming and backhaul revenues. As previously reported, GCI recently entered into long-term roaming and backhaul agreements that smooth roaming and backhaul revenues more evenly throughout the year and over the life of our contracts, which makes year-over-year comparisons less meaningful this year.

Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was $79 million, down $9 million or ten percent when compared with the second quarter of 2015 and up $1 million or one percent over the first quarter of 2016. The year-over-year decline in Adjusted EBITDA is due primarily to our roaming and backhaul agreements and spending related to our new billing system.

Updates

Alaska Fiscal Situation Update: The state government has not been able to adopt a workable long term fiscal plan in 2016. As a result, we have announced that we will be reducing 2017 capital expenditures by 20 to 25 percent from our 2016 forecast of $210 million. This implies 2017 capital expenditures of $158 to $168 million.

Fiber Acquisition: On July 29th, we executed a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement to acquire Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, the owner of the Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link (KKFL), for $20 million.  KKFL is the only low-latency redundant fiber link between Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak and ensures GCI has diverse, protected network capacity to these markets to support our current and future broadband requirements.  Closing is subject to the usual regulatory approvals.

Tower Sale: Our previously announced agreement to sell our urban wireless tower and rooftop sites to Vertical Bridge closed on August 1st.  We received proceeds of approximately $90 million in the transaction.

Wireless

Wireless segment revenues were $54 million for the quarter, a $14 million or 21 percent decline year-over-year and a $2 million or five percent gain sequentially. The year-over-year decline is driven primarily by our long-term roaming and backhaul agreements. The sequential gain is due to new non-cash wireless license amortization which is accompanied by an equivalent increase in COGS.

Wireless segment Adjusted EBITDA, which includes a $7.5 million adjustment for cash received from our new roaming agreements, was $40 million for the quarter, declining 12 percent over the second quarter of 2015 and was flat compared with the first quarter of 2016. The year-over-year decline in Adjusted EBITDA was a result of our roaming and backhaul agreements.   These agreements have eliminated most of the seasonality in this business.

The wireless segment revenue detail is as follows:

Wireline

Wireline segment revenues of $180 million for the second quarter were flat, both sequentially and year-over-year. Declines in voice, video, and wireless were offset by gains in data.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $39 million, down $4 million or eight percent year-over-year and up $1 million or two percent from the previous quarter. The year-over-year decline was a result of increased SG&A costs associated with our billing system project and allocation changes between segments. 

Wireline - Consumer

Consumer revenues of $84 million in the second quarter are down $5 million or six percent year-over-year and down $1 million or one percent sequentially. Wireless revenues were down $5 million year-over-year as we experienced ARPU compression associated with shifting the mix of our business to selling more equipment installment plans rather than subsidized handsets. Also affecting the year-over-year results was the loss of 2,900 video subscribers that drove revenues down by $2 million as subscribers migrate away from linear video. This was offset by a gain of 4,700 cable modem subscribers and a five percent increase in data ARPUs, which increased revenue by $3 million.

Total wireless subscribers were up 2,900 for the quarter on strong seasonal prepaid wireless growth. Consumer cable modems were down 800 in the seasonally challenged second quarter.

Wireline - GCI Business

GCI Business is our new customer group, formed from the previous Business Services and Managed Broadband groups.  Martin Cary, formerly our Vice President of Managed Broadband, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager of GCI Business where he will manage the integration of the various components into the new unit.

GCI Business revenues were $96 million for the quarter. This is up $6 million or six percent compared with the same period in 2015 and up $1 million or one percent sequentially. Growth in data revenue on the TERRA network was slightly offset by downward pressure in the oil and gas sector, particularly in our time and materials business.

SG&A

SG&A expenses were $88 million during the quarter, up $5 million or six percent over last year and flat sequentially. Progress towards our billing system conversion is on track, and spending associated with this project is reflected in the year-over-year increase in SG&A.

Other Events

GCI repurchased 0.5 million shares of its Class A common stock during the second quarter at a cost of $8 million, or $16.09 per share.

Capital expenditures for the quarter totaled $50 million, bringing the total for the year to $84 million.

2016 Guidance

GCI reiterates the following guidance for 2016:

• Revenue is expected to be between $930 million and $980 million in 2016.
• Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $295 million and $325 million.
• Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $210 million.

Use of Non-GAAP Measure

Adjusted EBITDA is presented herein and is a non-GAAP measure. See our attached financials for a reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure to the nearest GAAP measure.

Conference Call

The company will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results on Wednesday, August 3^rd, at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). To access the call, call the conference operator between 1:45-2:00 p.m. (Eastern) at 844-850-0551 (International callers should dial +1-412-902-4197) and identify your call as "GCI".

In addition to dial-up access, GCI will make available net conferencing. To access the call via net conference, log on to gci.com and follow the instructions.

A replay of the call will be available for 72-hours by dialing 877-344-7529, access code 10089273 (International callers should dial +1-412-317-0088).

Forward-Looking Statement Disclosure
The foregoing contains forward-looking statements regarding GCI's expected results that are based on management's expectations as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events. Actual results might differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside GCI's control. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in GCI's cautionary statement sections of Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About GCI

GCI is the largest Alaska-based and operated, integrated telecommunications provider, offering wireless, voice, data, and video services statewide. Learn more about GCI at www.gci.com.

Contacts:
Investors: Kyle Jones, 907.868.7105, kjones@gci.com
Media: David Morris, 907.868.5396, dmorris@gci.com

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