Commercial services continued to gain
momentum last week, with two major MSOs announcing
they have crossed the $1 billion revenue milestone.
Last week, Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO
Glenn Britt said the New York-based MSO crossed the $1
billion revenue plateau in November. Also last week, Cox
Communications said it expected to cross the $1 billion
revenue mark on Dec. 10.
It was the first time that Time Warner Cable Business
Class crossed the $1 billion milestone, Britt said at the
UBS Global Media & Entertainment conference Dec. 8.
He wouldn’t estimate where commercial revenue would
finish at year-end, but TWC has said in the past that it expects
the commercial business to grow about 20% in 2010.
“It’s already getting pretty big,” Britt said of the commercial
business.
Also at the conference, Comcast Cable president Neil
Smit said the commercial-services business has been
growing at a 40% to 50% clip and is on a $1.3 billion revenue
run rate this year.
For Cox — which is about half the size of Time Warner
Cable, with 6 million customers — crossing $1 billion in
sales was a year-long goal. In 2009, Cox Business reported
about $960 million in sales.
Cox first entered the business-services market about
17 years ago, in Hampton Roads, Va. The service is now
available throughout most of its footprint.
“Cox recognized an opportunity to meet the needs of
business customers that were underserved by the nation’s
incumbent telephone companies, and built a strong
team to pursue that goal,” Cox president Pat Esser said in
a statement. “We have effectively followed our customers
from the living room to the office, investing in our network
to deliver reliable and highly competitive offerings
for small business and larger enterprises such as healthcare,
education and government.”
REVVING UP
Commercial services are on the rise,
with three major MSOs crossing the
$1 billion-revenue threshold this year:
2010E
Comcast $1.3 billion
Time Warner Cable $1 billion +
Cox Communications $1 billion
SOURCE: Company estimates
