TL;DR: AlphaSense was kind enough to sponsor an expert call with me and Tom Wheeler, the former head of the FCC. It’s a fascinating time for the telecom industry, and we discussed a whole range of issues, including fiber overbuilding, satellite internet (starlink), spectrum issues, the broadcaster cap, M&A potential, and a bunch more. If you’re interested
if the mobile+cable bundle by charter is working, then the cable business offered by an overbuilder like wow would face further subscription losses. does that worry you?
another question, $CCI seems to have their fibre assets priced at less than the cost, any thoughts on how this may apply to wow's fiber asset?
yes- i think that's one of the reasons cable / overbuilders need to scale up
i only loosely follow cci; i don't think comparing their more etnerprise / backhaul fiber to wow's FTTH makes sense but happy to be told where i'm wrong (also not sure on CCI's replacement cost)
As a Spectrum customer I have been bombarded with mobile offers. The numbers do look tempting. However, I just cannot allow myself to be sucked into Spectrum's maw any more than I already am. Spectrum treats its customers with such disdain, I cannot wait for the day that I have the ability to switch my broadband provider. It may not happen in my lifetime, but one can dream, right? Spectrum behaves like a cartoon version of a monopolist. They are awful.
I actually discuss this briefly with Tom in the call: is one of the reasons cable is not taking more share because their historical brand / customer experience has tainted them?
The cable companies offering Mobile, likely as a bundle, could face headwinds at somepoint in time as companies(like Verizon) could increases prices for lending their network. If cable companies ever become a true threat, Verizon/other carriers will likely protect their base by increases prices for network share. Thoughts?
2) so far negotiations have taken the price down, not up
3) given the huge scale of the cable companies and the fixed cost nature of a wireless network, all of the networks shoudl theoretically be tripping over themselves to onboard the cable companies if the cable companies shopepd around.
if the mobile+cable bundle by charter is working, then the cable business offered by an overbuilder like wow would face further subscription losses. does that worry you?
another question, $CCI seems to have their fibre assets priced at less than the cost, any thoughts on how this may apply to wow's fiber asset?
thanks!
yes- i think that's one of the reasons cable / overbuilders need to scale up
i only loosely follow cci; i don't think comparing their more etnerprise / backhaul fiber to wow's FTTH makes sense but happy to be told where i'm wrong (also not sure on CCI's replacement cost)
i see. no no i know nothing. i see those are backhaul/enterprise. thanks Andrew.
Is it possible that big part of cable mobile customers are just their voice customers converted to mobile? So not really taken from wireless cos?
Similar to Frontier boasting their fiber adds, while perhaps most of them are their dsl customers converted to fiber?
It's an interesting though, but I think both anecdotes and the growth show that's not the case!
As an example- in 2023 CHTR lost ~1m rezi voice lines but gained 2.4m wireless lines.
As a Spectrum customer I have been bombarded with mobile offers. The numbers do look tempting. However, I just cannot allow myself to be sucked into Spectrum's maw any more than I already am. Spectrum treats its customers with such disdain, I cannot wait for the day that I have the ability to switch my broadband provider. It may not happen in my lifetime, but one can dream, right? Spectrum behaves like a cartoon version of a monopolist. They are awful.
I actually discuss this briefly with Tom in the call: is one of the reasons cable is not taking more share because their historical brand / customer experience has tainted them?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Andrew.
The cable companies offering Mobile, likely as a bundle, could face headwinds at somepoint in time as companies(like Verizon) could increases prices for lending their network. If cable companies ever become a true threat, Verizon/other carriers will likely protect their base by increases prices for network share. Thoughts?
I don't tihnk that's the case for 3 reasons
1) my understanding is the contract is perpetual
2) so far negotiations have taken the price down, not up
3) given the huge scale of the cable companies and the fixed cost nature of a wireless network, all of the networks shoudl theoretically be tripping over themselves to onboard the cable companies if the cable companies shopepd around.