Exhibit 99.1 May 4, 2005 John Lowber, (907) 868-5628; jlowber@gci.com Bruce Broquet, (907) 868-6660; bbroquet@gci.com David Morris, (907) 265-5396; dmorris@gci.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GCI REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2005 FINANCIAL RESULTS o Consolidated revenue of $106.5 million o Net income of $4.7 million or $0.08 per diluted share o EBITDA of $34.5 million ANCHORAGE, AK -- GCI (NASDAQ:GNCMA) today reported net income of $4.7 million, or earnings per diluted share of $0.08, for the first quarter of 2005. The company's first quarter net income compares to income of $1.9 million, or earnings per diluted share of $0.02 in the same period of 2004. GCI's first quarter 2005 revenues totaled $106.5 million, an increase of 3.1 percent over the first quarter of 2004, excluding $5.6 million of net adjustments in the first quarter of 2004. The net adjustments include $6.1 million of project revenues reported in the first quarter of 2004 and out-of-period Universal Service Fund (USF) true-ups released by the USF of $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2004 and $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2005. GCI's first quarter 2005 revenues decreased 2.2 percent from the first quarter 2004 revenues of $108.9 million before reflecting the net adjustments. First quarter 2005 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and accretion (EBITDA) totaled $34.5 million. EBITDA decreased $0.7 million or 2.0 percent from the first quarter of 2004. First quarter 2004 EBITDA totaled $35.2 million, as adjusted. Sequentially, revenues for the company increased 0.9 percent over fourth quarter 2004 revenues of $105.5 million. First quarter EBITDA of $34.5 million compares to EBITDA of $32.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. For the first quarter of 2005, GCI met its revenue and EBITDA guidance. The company expected revenues of approximately $105 million to $107 million, and EBITDA of approximately $32 million to $33 million, excluding the effects of any receivable recovery from MCI. GCI recorded $0.9 million in EBITDA relating to the use of the MCI credit during the quarter. GCI began a stock repurchase program during 2004. The company purchased 504,200 shares at an average price of $9.92 during the first quarter of 2005. GCI has purchased a total of 4.6 million shares since the inception of the program including Class A shares purchased from MCI last December. Shares repurchased to date have been at an average cost of $8.62 per share. The company received senior lender approval to repurchase stock of up to $10 million annually in November 2004. "First quarter results are in line with expectations and very satisfying," said Ron Duncan, GCI president. "We continue to add new customers and new products for existing customers. We increased our cable modem customers by more than 30 percent from one year ago and total revenue generating relationships for the cable business are up by over 16 percent from the prior year." "We added 2,400 new lines to our Digital Local Phone Service during the quarter and customer satisfaction with that new service has decreased churn for local phone customers by more than 20 percent. We expect to have 25,000 customers using DLPS technology by year end." GCI expects second quarter revenue and EBITDA to exceed those achieved in the first quarter and still anticipates revenues of $430 million to $440 million and EBITDA of $145 million for 2005, including the expected recovery of the remaining MCI receivable. Customer Highlights o GCI cable modem customers grew by almost 6 percent sequentially and 34 percent year-over-year. GCI had 101,700 statewide Internet customers at the end of the first quarter of 2005. More than 69,000 of these customers are using GCI cable modems, an increase of 3,800 over the fourth quarter of 2004. Approximately 58 percent of GCI cable customers have a cable modem. o GCI has provisioned approximately 10,400 customers on its Digital Local Phone Service (DLPS) facilities at the end of the first quarter and expects to have approximately 25,000 customers using that technology by the end of 2005. o The local services business added 1,600 consumer and business access lines during the first quarter and turned down approximately 1,100 Internet Service Provider (ISP) dial-up lines. GCI now serves 112,600 local lines, an estimated 24 percent share of the total access line market in Alaska. o GCI's cable television business grew revenue generating units by more than 16 percent year-over-year and 3.6 percent sequentially. GCI cable television services pass 209,627 homes and serve 136,100 subscribers. Subscribers increased by 1,358 subscribers from the fourth quarter of 2004. o Long-distance billable minutes increased 0.4 percent to 302.5 million minutes for the first quarter as compared to the same quarter of 2004, and increased 3.9 percent sequentially. Long Distance Results For the first quarter of 2005, long distance revenues totaled $60.0 million as compared to revenues of $59.8 million, adjusted for $6.1 million in project revenues reported in the first quarter of 2004. Long distance revenues of $60.0 million in the first quarter of 2005 were relatively unchanged from $60.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Increases in managed services and data network services revenues, along with increased minutes, offset continued decreases in rates. Long distance EBITDA decreased 13.4 percent for the first quarter of 2005 to $18.8 million as compared to $21.7 million, as adjusted, in the first quarter of the prior year. Long distance EBITDA for the first quarter of 2005 was up $1.5 million sequentially, an increase of 8.7 percent, from $17.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Long distance EBITDA included MCI bad debt recoveries of $0.9 million in the first quarter of 2005, $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2004 and $0.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. The decrease in EBITDA from the first quarter of 2004 is a result of decreased rates and increased costs. Total minutes-of-use were up 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2005 when compared to the first quarter of 2004. Minutes-of-use are up 3.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2004. The number of billed long distance customers totaled 91,800 at the end of the first quarter of 2005, an increase of 6.6 percent from 86,100 at the end of the first quarter of 2004 and 0.5 percent sequentially. Cable Television Results Cable television revenues for the first quarter increased 4.0 percent to $25.9 million from $24.9 million in the first quarter of 2004, and decreased 1.1 percent from $26.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. EBITDA of $11.6 million for the first quarter of 2005 increased 5.5 percent over $11.0 million in the first quarter of 2004, and decreased 5.7 percent when compared to $12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. The year-over-year increase in revenues and EBITDA is due primarily to the sales of new video and cable modem services. The sequential decrease in EBITDA is primarily attributable to advertising revenues that were significantly higher in the previous quarter due to the November elections. Gross margins, as a percentage of revenues, increased by 135 basis points year-over-year and decreased 169 basis points sequentially. The sequential decrease in gross margins in the first quarter of 2005 is primarily due to the election ad revenues. Increased sales of higher value products such as the Ultimate Package, new programming tiers and cable modem services continue to mitigate the effects of increasing programming and copyright costs. As of December 31, 2004, the company's cable television operations passed 209,627 homes and served 136,100 subscribers (108,900 equivalent basic subscribers). For the first quarter, average revenue per equivalent basic subscriber was $79.64, an increase of 4.0 percent when compared to first quarter 2004 average revenue of $76.58. Average revenue decreased 2.1 percent, from $81.33, from the fourth quarter of 2004. The sequential decrease in average revenue reflects the higher advertising revenues reported in the fourth quarter of 2004. The company experienced an increase of 1,358 subscribers during the first quarter of 2005. The increase in subscribers is partly due to the acquisition of the Barrow Cable assets, including approximately 950 subscribers. The increase in subscribers for the first quarter of 2005 compares to a decrease of 369 subscribers in the first quarter of 2004. GCI's packaged offering of long distance, local, Internet and cable television service is mitigating the impact of DBS competition. The company offers digital programming tiers in all of its major markets. The Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley and Fairbanks systems have been fully converted to digital. GCI has 80 percent of its basic cable subscribers receiving service through a digital set-top box. More than 97 percent of the set top boxes deployed in GCI's systems are digital and 47,970 customers purchase additional programming through a digital tier. GCI offers 10 channels of HDTV to customers in the Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley area. GCI cable modem service is available to more than 90 percent of the homes in Alaska. Thirty-five percent of homes passed and more than 57 percent of GCI residential subscribers have cable modem service. The operating statistics below include capital expenditures and customer information from cable services and the components of our local services and Internet services utilizing our cable services' facilities. GCI's capital expenditures by standard reporting category for the three-month periods ending March 31, 2005 and 2004 follow (amounts in thousands): 2005 2004 -------------- ------------- Customer premise equipment $ 3,558 3,438 Commercial 97 47 Scalable infrastructure 552 1,755 Line extensions 45 44 Upgrade/rebuild 4,057 1,770 Support capital 69 181 -------------- ------------- Sub-total 8,378 7,235 Remaining capital expenditures 16,036 17,966 -------------- ------------- $ 24,414 25,201 ============== ============= At March 31, 2005 and 2004, GCI's cable business had 124,200 and 122,100 customer relationships, respectively. The standard definition of a customer relationship is the number of customers who receive at least one level of service, encompassing voice, video, and data services, without regard to which services customers purchase. These relationships do not include local telephone customers except those receiving phone services through the cable television plant. At March 31, 2005 and 2004, GCI's cable business had 215,800 and 185,800 revenue generating units, respectively. The increase in the revenue generating units of 7,500 and 30,000 from December 31, 2004 and March 31, 2004, respectively, is due to an increase in the number of cable modem and DLPS customers. The standard definition of a revenue-generating unit is the sum of all primary analog video, digital video, high-speed data and telephony customers, not counting additional outlets. Local Telephone Results For the first quarter of 2005, local telephone service revenues totaled $13.3 million, an increase of 12.7 percent, when compared to $11.8 million in the first quarter of 2004. Revenue was up $0.9 million or 7.3 percent from $12.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. The increase in year-over-year and sequential revenues is primarily attributable to a true-up adjustment released by USF during the quarter. Approximately $1.2 million of a total $1.6 million adjustment is out-of-period. In the first quarter, local services generated EBITDA of $1.1 million, an improvement of $0.5 million over the $0.6 million of EBITDA in the first quarter of 2004. The first quarter EBITDA of $1.1 million compares to an EBITDA loss of $0.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. The sequential increase in EBITDA is due primarily to an increase in revenues from the Universal Service Fund and lower direct costs of good sold. The rates paid by GCI to lease loops and UNE access elements from ACS were approximately 20 percent higher during the first quarter of 2005 as compared to 2004. This resulted primarily from a rate increase granted to ACS by state regulators in the second half of 2004. GCI estimates that conversion of customers from leased ACS facilities to its own network offset more than half of the impact of this rate increase in the first quarter of 2005. GCI began converting customers to its own network using its DLPS technology in 2004. The roll out of DLPS enables GCI to avoid wholesale and loop rental costs from local phone lines leased from the incumbent local exchange carrier. GCI has provisioned approximately 10,400 customers completely on its DLPS facilities at the end of the first quarter of 2005 and expects to have approximately 25,000 customers similarly provisioned by the end of 2005. Churn for customers receiving service through DLPS is materially lower than for customers served using facilities leased from ACS. At the end of the first quarter of 2005, GCI provided local service to approximately 112,600 access lines statewide. GCI added 1,600 voice access lines during the quarter and turned down approximately 1,100 Internet Service Provider dial-up lines. This represents a net increase of 500 access lines when compared to the 112,100 access lines reported at the end of the fourth quarter of 2004. The company estimates it has attained a 24 percent share of the total access line market in Alaska. Approximately 85 percent of GCI's access lines are provisioned on its own facilities or on resold local loops. Internet Access Results Internet access revenues for the first quarter of 2005 totaled $7.3 million, an increase of 14.1 percent year-over-year and sequentially. Revenues for both the first and fourth quarter of 2004 were $6.4 million. EBITDA for the first quarter of 2005 totaled $3.0 million, an improvement of $1.1 million year-over-year and relatively unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2004. First quarter 2004 EBITDA was $1.9 million and fourth quarter 2004 EBITDA was $3.1 million. The increase in Internet access revenues and EBITDA results from the migration of existing customers to cable modem access, customers adding more features and services and increasing economies of scale. At the end of the first quarter of 2005, GCI had 101,700 statewide Internet customers, an increase of 100 customers sequentially and an increase of 1,100 year-over-year. GCI's statewide Internet customers included 69,300 subscribers using cable modem access, an increase of 3,800 subscribers, or 5.8 percent, over the prior quarter's subscriber count of 65,500. On a year-over-year basis, GCI experienced a 34.0 percent increase in cable modem subscribers, from 51,700 at the end of the first quarter of 2004. Total cable modem revenues for the first quarter of 2005 increased 3.1 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2004 and increased 6.1 percent year-over-year. At the end of the first quarter of 2005 GCI's average revenue per cable modem (ARPM) was $30.97 as compared to $31.94 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2004 and $40.20 at the end of the first quarter of 2004. The increase in sequential and year-over-year revenues is due to the increase in the number of modem customers. The decline in ARPM is due to an increase in the percentage of total customers taking GCI's discounted cable modem products. More than 57 percent of GCI's 120,000 residential cable subscribers were using a cable modem for their Internet service at the end of the first quarter of 2005. Other Items During the first quarter of 2005 GCI's capital expenditures totaled $24.4 million as compared to $29.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. GCI will hold a conference call to discuss the quarter's results on Thursday, May 5, 2005 beginning at 2 p.m. (Eastern). To access the briefing on May 5, dial 888-843-6162 (international callers should dial 630-395-0017) and identify your call as "GCI." In addition to the conference call, GCI will make available net conferencing. To access the call via net conference, log on to www.gci.com and follow the instructions. A replay of the call will be available for 72-hours by dialing 888-473-0137, access code 7461 (international callers should dial 402-998-1358.) GCI is the largest telecommunications company in Alaska. A pioneer in bundled services, GCI provides local, wireless, and long distance telephone, cable television, Internet and data communication services throughout Alaska. More information about the company can be found at www.gci.com. The foregoing contains forward-looking statements regarding the company'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 Form 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. # # #