Comcast reported consolidated Q1 revenue of $5.52 billion as compared to $2.667 billion reported in the first quarter of 2002 while consolidated EBITDA more than doubled to $1.638 billion from the $808 million reported in the first quarter of 2002. Changes in EBITDA, depreciation and amortization and interest expense primarily reflect the acquisition of AT&T Broadband in November 2002. Some highlights of the quarter:
- Comcast added 417,000 high-speed Internet customers in Q1, ending the quarter with over 4 million cable modem subscribers, up by over 50% compared to this point last year. Comcast has been adding subscribers at an average weekly rate of over 32,000, double the rate of a year ago. The company now projects 1.6 million net cable modem subscriber additions for the year, which would give it approximately 5.2 million cable modem subscribers by year’s end. ARPU for the service is $42. Penetration is 13% compared to 10% a year ago. To date, Comcast has been capturing over 75% of new broadband subscribers in its markets. Regarding recent DSL price cuts, Comcast said it takes the competition seriously and that will continue to be aggressive with introductory pricing, while leaving its ARPU target in tact. Secondly, Comcast believes its network is inherently lower cost than its RBOC peers, giving it wider availability and efficiency.
Comcast Cable added 56,900 basic cable subscribers during Q1, a significant improvement over the combined loss of 139,000 subscribers in 2002. Comcast ended the quarter with 21.3 million basic subscribers. The company said it is extremely pleased to have reversed the basic cable TV subscriber loss trend of last year. It credited various advertising and customer relations programs with the turnaround.
Comcast Cable added 168,500 Digital Cable subscribers to end the first quarter with 6.787 million Digital Cable subscribers, a pro forma increase of 23.4% over the same prior year period, representing a penetration rate of nearly 32%.
VOD is now available to 6 million subscribers and HDTV is now available to more than 9 million subscribers. VOD is expected to be available to 11 million by the end of the year.
Comcast had 1.4 million cable telephony customers at the end of Q1, down by 20,000 compared to the previous quarter and up 22% compared to a year ago. Pro forma cable phone revenue totaled $224 million, a 27.9% increase from Q1 2002, reflecting higher customer levels compared to the prior year and a 1.4% decline in average revenue per subscriber. The company said it is attacking the inefficiency of its cable telephony operations and addressing customers with poor credit.
CAPEX for Q1 totaled $953 million as Comcast Cable upgraded over 12,200 miles of plant to end the quarter with more than 86% of its footprint upgraded to provide two-way digital and high-speed Internet services. The company is ahead of schedule in its effort to rebuild 46,000 miles of plant this year. The rebuild currently costs about $31,000 per mile — compared to costs of $40,000 per mile spent last year for rebuilding the network. Digital set-top boxes and cable modems are also significantly cheaper this year.
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