Igor Golovniov | Lightroket | Getty images
Cable giant Comcast turns to wireless business for growth.
Comcast leaders said Thursday that the company will focus on its mobile activities after statement A loss of 139,000 residential broadband customers during the fourth quarter.
High speed has long been the growth engine of the cable industry, especially after the exodus of cable television customers. Although income from the broadband segment remain stable, Comcast, like its peers cables, was in the middle of a to slow down in customer growth, which has concerned Investors in recent years.
Comcast actions fell 11% on Thursday.
The company's managers declared during the call for Thursday with investors that the company will transfer its strategy to pack mobile with Broadband in an offer for more customers.
Stagnation comes from a certain number of factors, mainly the rise of wireless suppliers such as Verizon And Mobile Offering high -speed home options.
“In short, competitive conditions remain intense, dynamic and varied in our fingerprint and customer segments,” said Comcast president Mike Cavanagh, the call for investors on Thursday. “And we see no sign of this short -term change.”
Mobile movements
In 2022, Comcast and his giant cable colleague Charter communications Everyone pointed out their first quarterly decrease in the growth of wide -band subscribers.
The leaders have cited reasons such as the slowdown in the purchase and the sale of houses – noting that there are fewer people who register for the cable when they get a new house – as well as a department of additions following robust growth at the height of the cocovid pandemic, when locking sent Americans to the house to work and learn.
But the rise in fixed wireless offers from Verizon and T-Mobile has considerably increased competition. In December, the CEO of Comcast Cable, Dave Watson, called the dynamics and warned against a loss of 100,000 customers in the fourth quarter. Thursday's announcement is equivalent to loss of deeper than projected subscribers.
The so-called internet fiber prodigy has contributed to competition, just like Fixed wirelessA broadband 5g broadband offer which is an alternative to cable high speed. Comcast in the past has rejected the fixed wireless as “a lower product”.
On Thursday, the financial director, Jason Armstrong, said that the expectation is that the fixed wireless and probably satellite companies would occur a permanent part of the market “. He also noted that the increase in wide strip speeds as an advantage.
In response, Comcast seeks to mobilize both to grow and maintain its customers.
“Although we are holders on the US residential high speed market of $ 80 billion, we are the Challenger on the US wireless market of 200 billion dollars much larger,” said Armstrong. “Wireless is an integral part of our wide -band strategy.”
Comcast now has more than 7.8 million mobile lines, or a penetration of 12% of its large residential strip customers, which gives it a “long track in front”.
Comcast launched Xfinity Mobile in 2017, while Charter began to offer Mobile in 2018. The two largest cable companies in the United States have presented quarterly gains coherent movable lines since then. Small operators such as Altice USA and Cox also have added The offer.
Comcast and the mobile offers of its cable peers depend on the wireless network of Verizon, as well as the large-scale domestic networks and the Wi-Fi hotspots of customers. Only COMCAST wide -band customers can register for the mobile service via the company.
Cablistributors said their mobile businesses reduce the so-called unsubscribe or customer loss, and were essential to gain new subscribers and stimulate income growth.
Cavanagh said Thursday that the company would push to simplify its packages, following the example of mobile offers and wide strip of charter. In September, Charter unveiled a series of modifications to his plans, including packages with Mobile, with CEO Chris Winfrey developer CNBC the company “wanted to make a daring declaration”.
Disclosure: Comcast has the parent company of CNBC NBCUNIVERSAL.
