- Comcast has accelerated the pace at which it builds broadband
- A Comcast executive recently said the company is mainly deploying fiber broadband for new builds
- The concern about the loss of Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) subscribers appears to be over
Comcast’s CFO Jason Armstrong said that two years ago the company used to increase its broadband footprint by passing 800,000 more homes per year, but now it’s pacing at around 1.2 million new homes passed yearly.
Speaking on the company’s third quarter 2024 earnings call, Armstrong reiterated what Comcast executives have been saying for several quarters now — that fixed wireless access (FWA) and fiber are its two key competitors in terms of technology.
During Fierce Networks’ recent Broadband Nation Expo, Jason Livingood, VP of Technology Policy, Products and Standards with Comcast, said the company has been focused on building in rural areas over the last couple of years, and Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) grants will drive even more. “Luckily, we’ve got teams that have experience with underground and aerial,” said Livingood.
Notably, Livingood said, “Most new builds today are happening over 10 gig fiber. The large majority of areas we’re absolutely building fiber.”
He said hybrid fiber coax (HFC) is only deployed in greenfield areas “in a small number of cases” where it just makes more sense with other DOCSIS infrastructure nearby.
While Comcast is dealing with fiber competitors — and deploying some fiber, itself — the company is also facing pressure from fixed wireless access (FWA) encroachers.
“Fixed wireless has obviously taken its toll,” said Armstrong. “We think that's a market that's going to continue to exist, continue to be around, but it's for the value-conscious consumer. It has carved out a niche in the market that whether it's 10%, 15%, I'm not sure we've got a crystal ball, but it is a niche.”
During the quarter, Comcast reported a loss of 87,000 broadband subs, but that number would have been about 9,000 positive net adds if not for the loss of Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) subscribers.
The analysts at MoffettNathanson wrote that “just 87,000 broadband subscriber losses” was a result “that was much less dire than expected," and they think the quarter marked the bottom for net broadband losses.
The Moffett analysts wrote, “Faster homes passed growth by itself won’t turn broadband subscribership back into a growth engine, but it is a critical factor in keeping broadband subscriber results stable.”
ACP losses
Now that ACP has been discontinued for several months and the dust has settled, we are able to see just how much ACP benefitted providers.
The analysts at New Street Research estimate that Comcast lost 14,000 ACP subs in the first quarter. And Comcast says in addition to the 32,000 subs it lost in Q3, it also counted 64,000 ACP losses that it anticipates in the fourth quarter. In all, it appears that Comcast will lose about 110,000 ACP subs in total or about 8% of its total ACP base of 1.4 million.
“That is much better than we or anyone else anticipated when fears of ACP terminating emerged,” wrote New Street.
The Moffett analysts wrote, “The whole ACP saga – or at least the vast majority of it – is behind us.”