Revenue from Hawaiian Telcom’s new television service more than doubled in the first quarter to help the state’s largest telecommunications company increase its earnings 33 percent from the year-earlier period.

Net income rose to $2.4 million, or 21 cents a share, from January through March, compared with $1.8 million, or 17 cents a share, from the same quarter a year earlier, Hawaiian Telcom reported Wednesday.

The company generated $97.1 million in revenue in the first quarter, up 1.2 percent from the first quarter of 2013. Consumer revenue increased 3.4 percent to $35.8 million.

Revenue from Hawaiian Telcom’s TV service soared to $4.8 million in the first quarter from $2.2 million a year earlier. High-speed Internet service generated $10.5 million in revenue, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

"Our first-quarter performance demonstrates a solid start to the year, highlighted by continued expansion of our next-generation fiber network and growth in Hawaiian Telcom TV subscribers," said Eric Yeaman, Hawaiian Telcom’s president and chief executive officer.

Hawaiian Telcom signed up an additional 1,900 customers for the TV service, bringing its total customer base for the service to 20,300 homes.

About 130,000 homes on Oahu have been "enabled" to receive the service as a result of Hawaiian Telcom’s effort to expand its fiber optic network on Oahu. Once a neighborhood is enabled, Hawaiian Telcom begins to offer the TV service to residents in the area.

First-quarter business revenue rose 4.9 percent year-over-year to $43.5 million, driven by growth in business data and revenue from Hawaiian Telcom’s SystemMetrics subsidiary.

Hawaiian Telcom bought SystemMetrics Corp., a local data center, for $16 million in September. SystemMetrics was founded in 2011 and provides data center services to more than 400 small- and medium-size businesses.

Hawaiian Telcom’s shares closed down 44 cents at $26.06 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.