Charter Communications kept up the pace of Q1 broadband and wireless customers additions set by Comcast, reporting 355,000 high-speed data and 300,000 mobile subscriber adds in the period.
Both Comcast and Charter had cautioned investors not to expect the same growth the companies experienced in 2020, when pandemic-fueled stay at home orders drew record broadband growth. Better to compare this year to 2019, they said, and so far, that has proven to be a prudent choice.
Charter’s 355,000 data additions were behind the 582,000 it added in Q1 2020, but were closer to the 428,000 additions in the same period in 2019. Wireless customer adds of 300,000 were higher than the 298,000 customers added in Q1 2020, and nearly double the 176,000 additions in Q1 2019. Video subscribers declined by 138,000, more than the 70,000 lost in Q12020, but inline with the 145,000 shed in 2019.
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Charter’s 355,000 data additions were behind the 582,000 it added in Q1 2020, but were closer to the 428,000 additions in the same period in 2019. Wireless customer adds of 300,000 were higher than the 298,000 customers added in Q1 2020, and nearly double the 176,000 additions in Q1 2019. Video subscribers declined by 138,000, more than the 70,000 lost in Q12020, but inline with the 145,000 shed in 2019.
The broadband and wireless gains drove a 6.7% increase in total revenue to $12.5 billion, and a 12.5% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $4.9 billion.
“We continue to execute well in a market environment that has not yet returned to normal,” Charter chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said in a press release. “We added 355,000 Internet customers in the first quarter, and 2 million over the last year, for year-over-year growth of 7.3%. "Our value-driven operating strategy of providing multiple high-quality products at lower prices than sold individually continues to drive our growth.”
