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It markets and sells local and long distance, voice, and data services to business customers through its competitive local exchange carrier and Internet service provider operations.

As of December 31, 2009, the company's wireless retail business had approximately 438,500 NTELOS-branded subscribers; and served customers with approximately 49,700 CLEC access line connections. It also operated approximately 23,500 broadband access connections and approximately 38,200 RLEC telephone access lines; and owned a 4,700 route-mile regional fiber optic network. The company has a strategic network alliance with Sprint Nextel. NTELOS Holdings Corp. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Waynesboro, Virginia.

Several factors are at play in the telecom market. And if you're small like NTELOS, one of them doesn't help. That's the ever increasing competition from larger firms like AT&T and Verizon as well as other smaller wireless operators that are cutting prices to get long term commitments from consumers. So profits are less as prices go down. The second is that consumers are moving more toward all mobile phones, forget the land lines, especially as mobile service improves and a landline becomes redundant. Plus many customers are using VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) or cable. Additionally there's the recession, an economic fact of life that has consumers cutting back wherever possible, even on their phone usage and services.

All of that is a way of explaining the company's first dip in earning since going public in 2006. That first public year, it had negative earnings of 76 cents but then showed profits of 77 cents, $1.12, and $1.50 in 2009. This year, 10 analysts see the number at $1.29, then moving higher again in 2011 to $1.47. Second quarter results will be out in July and should show 32 cents, compared to 41 cents in last year's second period. In the third quarter, expectations are for 34 cents (vs 34 cents last year in the third).

Management is morphing the company, following its customers from the landline to wireless offerings to faster Internet connections. The strategic plan is to better position the company for long-term growth with more Broadband services and faster connection speeds through fiber networks. The company recently bought Allegheny, a company that features fiber assets. The company will bolster its "bundled" offerings with these new features, giving it better customer retention.

As for the wireless service, NTLS is adding cell sites, looking to add more to the 64 that were added in 2009. That reduces roaming charges and provides better coverage. The company is also simplifying some of its customer plans, including an upgrade feature for those who want the latest most-apps phone models.

More numbers: Market Cap is $734 million. Trailing P/E is 12.72 while the Forward P/E Is 12.00. Price to sales ratio is 1.31 and Price to book is 3.96. Book value is $4.33. Operating margin for the last 12 months was 24.60% while Profit margin was 10.68%. Return on equity was a remarkable 33.33% and Return on assets was 8.71%. Revenues for the last 12 months were $546.6 million. Total cash is $51.89 million for $1.25 a share. Total debt is $627.71 million. Debt is 78% of capital. Current ratio is 1.37. Beta is a relatively benign .79. There are 41.59 million shares outstanding with a Float of 29.41 million. Institutions own 96.6% of the Float.

Take a closer look at NTLS, knowing that this year's earnings are going to be lower than last year's, but that management is gearing this company to be competitive with the giants in its industry. The future looks bright even with the current economic challenges.

- Company Web site: www.ntelos.com