Hawaiian Telcom Inc. narrowed its losses during its second month of operating under federal bankruptcy protection.

In filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this month, the local phone company said it lost $9.4 million in January, which was down sharply from December's $27 million net loss.

The comparison is skewed by $16.2 million in one-time, noncash writedowns that Hawaiian Telcom took in December.

Excluding the writedowns, the company lowered its losses in January by $1.8 million.

Hawaiian Telcom, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Dec. 1, is required to file detailed monthly financial statements with the Bankruptcy Court.

The latest filings show that the company generated revenues of $40.1 million in January, which compares with $41.6 million in the previous month.

Hawaiian Telcom said it paid $9.4 million in salaries and wages and about $2.5 million in bankruptcy-related fees and other costs in January.

The documents also show that the company has about $90 million in cash available to finance its operations.

The January results do not include debt payments that Hawaiian Telcom had been paying to its bondholders.

Those payments, which averaged about $4.2 million a month, were suspended after Hawaiian Telcom filed for bankruptcy protection.

Founded in 1883, Hawaiian Telcom is the state's largest phone company, with 1,400 employees and annual revenues of more than $400 million.

Hawaiian Telcom is owned by Washington, D.C.-based The Carlyle Group, which acquired the company in 2005 for more than $1.6 billion.