FairPoint Communications Inc., Maine’s leading provider of wired telephone service, suffered a net loss in the second quarter and saw a decline in revenue compared with the same period a year earlier.

Company officials said Monday evening in a news release that FairPoint continued to lose telephone customers, who comprise the vast majority of its business, in the second quarter. Revenue from voice services declined by $6.8 million compared with a year earlier, they said.

However, revenue from its data and Internet services increased by $4 million.

The company’s total revenue of $225.6 million was down $5.7 million, about 3.8 percent, compared with the second quarter of 2013. Fairpoint experienced a net loss of $22.7 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with a $43.1 million net loss a year earlier.

The earnings report comes amid stalled contract negotiations with the telecommunications company’s workers. Two of the company’s collective bargaining agreements, which cover the majority of employees in northern New England, expired Aug. 2.

So far, its workers have remained on the job under an expired contract after negotiations broke down over the weekend.

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Mike Spillane from Local 2326 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Vermont told The Associated Press on Saturday that talks will resume in the coming days, although no specific date has been set. On Sunday, a FairPoint spokeswoman said the two sides remain far apart, and that the company is considering its options.

Union workers are dissatisfied with proposed changes to health and retirement benefits, as well as changes aimed at allowing greater use of nonunion workers.

The company, which bought Verizon’s landline telephone operations for $2.4 billion in 2007, has argued that its employee benefits are better than the industry standard.

In a news release Monday, FairPoint said customers would not lose service even if union employees go on strike.

“Should a work stoppage occur, the company has contingency plans in place to ensure services to our customers,” it said. “We cannot predict the outcome of these negotiations at this time.”

Based in North Carolina, FairPoint has struggled to become profitable since emerging from bankruptcy in 2011. If the company’s workers decide to walk off the job, things could get considerably worse, the company said.

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“Employees could engage in strikes or other concerted activities, which could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and/or the market price of our outstanding securities,” the release said.

FairPoint released its earnings report after markets closed Monday. Its stock price fell $1.74 per share, or 10.7 percent, in trading Tuesday to close at $14.51.

FairPoint trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol FRP.

The company has about 3,160 employees in 17 states, including 700 in Maine.


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