As Comcast reported strong third-quarter financial results this week, the company also revealed its Xfinity Mobile wireless service now has more than 1 million subscribers.
Comcast launched its MVNO service (which leans on Verizon’s network) in May of 2017 and reported adding 228,000 new customer lines in the latest quarter, compared to 204,000 additions in Q2.
Still, the operator continues to post losses related to its mobile offering, recording a $178 million loss from Xfinity Mobile during the quarter, compared to a $161 million loss a year ago.
On an earnings call this week, CFO Michael Cavanagh said Comcast is pleased with the company’s wireless progress so far.
“While it’s still relatively early, the results we see are supportive of our key objectives when we entered the wireless business, including deepening the relationship with and improving the retention of broadband customers, attracting new broadband customers, and generating positive standalone economics once we reach scale,” Cavanagh said, according to a transcript.
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk wrote in a Thursday blog post that Comcast’s net additions are still below early expectations for this segment and less than the firm’s estimate of 250,000 additions.
“Churn is up at AT&T and Verizon after years of decline, but this level of growth by Comcast does not likely concern the wireless industry,” Piecyk wrote.
Comcast reported strong broadband subscriber metrics, adding 334,000 residential subscribers, beating analysts’ estimates, and up from last year’s gain of 214,000. Total high-speed internet customer net additions were 363,000, bringing Comcast’s total broadband customer base to 26.87 million.
Broadband revenues were up 9.6 percent to $4.32 billion. Residential broadband ARPU is now growing by 4.5 percent year over year, according to MoffetNathanson analysts, who pointed out that this segment now accounts for almost a third of the company’s cable revenues.
Comcast recently announced its DOCSIS 3.1-powered gigabit internet service is now available across most of the operator’s footprint, and 75 percent of Xfinity residential customers are opting for speeds of 100 Mbps or higher.
Video losses were also less than anticipated, with the operator shedding 106,000 video subscribers in the third quarter, better than the 169,000 loss forecast by MoffettNathanson analysts.
Comcast saw cable revenues grow 3.4 percent to $13.78 billion at the end of the period, including revenues from business services, which rose 10.6 percent to $1.8 billion.
Its security and automation unit added 42,000 customers, bringing the total to 1.27 million.
Overall, the company reported net income of $2.88 billion and revenue of $22.13 billion
“This is an exciting and important time in Comcast’s history. To highlight a few of the achievements in our businesses this quarter, Comcast Cable’s EBITDA growth was the fastest in six years, and customer relationship growth accelerated, driven by the best broadband net additions for a third quarter in ten years,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement.
