Charter Tops 10 Million Mobile Lines, as CEO Says It's Fastest-Growing Mobile Provider
Charter Communications crossed the 10 million mobile lines mark in Q1 with its Xfinity Mobile service, ending the quarter with 10.4 million, it said Friday as it announced its latest financial results. With 2.1 million mobile lines added in the past year, Charter is the nation’s fastest-growing mobile provider, CEO Chris Winfrey said in a call with analysts.
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Charter ended Q1 with 28 million residential broadband subscribers, compared with 28.5 million the same quarter a year earlier; 12.2 million residential video subscribers, compared with 13.1 million; and 5.4 million residential wireline voice subscribers, down from 6.4 million. It said it added 514,000 mobile lines in Q1. Revenue, at $13.7 billion, was relatively flat. Charter said Q1 advertising revenue was down 13%, mostly due to fewer political ads. Without counting those, ad revenue would have been off 5.1%, due to what the company called “a more challenged” advertising market locally and nationally.
MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett wrote investors that Charter’s mobile-centric strategy, nearly 2 years old, is paying off in terms of growth and improved broadband subscriber losses. Comcast, which has now started following a similar strategy, saw bigger broadband subscriber losses in Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024, while Charter experienced the opposite, Moffett said.
Winfrey said that while Charter continues to see fiber overbuild activity in its footprint, those new builds “are destined for poor financial returns.” The growth of fixed wireless access competition looks to have plateaued, he said.
CFO Jessica Fischer said that as of the end of the quarter, Charter had 902,000 subsidized rural passings, up more than 400,000 over the past 12 months. Rural passings growth in 2025 will be roughly 450,000, she added.