Comcast exceeded the financial targets it set for itself in 2003, delivering $6.35 billion of operating cash flow for the year. For the year 2003, Comcast’s cable operations generated revenue of $17.491 billion, a 9.1% pro forma increase from 2002. Pro forma video revenue increased 5.5% to $12.096 billion for the year 2003 compared with the prior year driven by additions in the number of basic subscribers of more than 140,000, increases in average monthly revenue per basic subscriber and growth in digital cable subscribers. High-Speed Internet service revenue for 2003 increased 51.7% over the prior year to reach $2.255 billion, reflecting a 45.9% increase in the customer base and average monthly revenue per subscriber of $42.44 for the year.
For Q4, Comcast cable revenue was $4.507 billion, representing an 8.6% increase over the $4.149 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002. Revenue growth was driven by a 6.1% increase in video revenue as both the number of digital subscribers and average monthly revenue per subscriber increased. Comcast Cable added 70,000 basic cable subscribers and over 383,000 digital cable subscribers during the quarter.
Comcast ended the year with 5.3 million cable modem customers, compared to 4.9 million at the preceding quarter. In Q3, Comcast added 472,000 new cable modem customers. The high-speed Internet penetration rate is now 15.2%.
Comcast issued the followed financial guidance for 2004:
- Basic subscriber growth of approximately 0.5%.
- High-Speed Internet subscriber net additions between 1.5 and 1.6 million and High-Speed Internet service revenue growth of more than 30% while generating average monthly revenue per subscriber above $40.
- Digital Cable subscriber net additions between 700,000 and 1 million.
- Net additions of up to 50,000 Cable Phone subscribers.
- Capital expenditures between $3.3 and $3.4 billion in 2004, an approximate $750 million decline from the $4.1 billion in cable capital expenditures in 2003. The reduction in cable capital expenditures reflects the substantial completion of Comcast Cable’s upgrade plan.
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