Wired broadband -- meaning anything over 200/200 Kbps -- is available to 93.7% of residential units in the U.S., or probably around 120 million occupied housing units, MoffettNathanson wrote investors Wednesday, citing FCC broadband map data. With an estimated 104.9 million residential wired broadband subscriptions in the U.S. in Q2, that means a penetration of 87.4% into broadband-available homes, it said. That penetration rate seems to point to cable broadband being largely saturated and its growth likely to flatline going forward, it said. Due to poverty, illiteracy and lack of relevance among homes not subscribing, that saturation rate could be close to a ceiling, it said. Cable operators are likely to be particularly aggressive bidders in NTIA's broadband equity, access, and deployment program, it said.
Pointing toward looming 10G cable broadband deployment, NCTA blogged Tuesday that FCC data shows cable ISPs have a history "of deploying their fastest services ubiquitously to communities they serve regardless of income level or race." It said the new FCC broadband map shows that as of June, cable providers are offering gigabit-level service to 96% of locations they serve. It said there's "virtually no difference" in gigabit-level availability based on the racial composition or household income of a given area.
The competitive threats to cable's broadband business are overstated, and cable's wireless growth opportunities remain undervalued, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Monday. Rather than market share loss, the big driver of the recent slowdown in cable broadband net adds is likely due to market saturation, he said. Rather than the recent competition from fixed wireless, the big longer-term competitive threat to cable is from fiber, he said. Labor shortages and rising installation costs will moderate some fiber overbuilding, he said. Pessimism about the profitability of cable-offered wireless service ignores the opportunity cable has via offloading data traffic onto its own network, he said. Offloading onto Wi-fi "is but a warm-up for the coming main event, which is offload on CBRS small cells," he said.
Wall Street wasn't enamored with Charter Communications' plans for $5.5 billion in network investments over the next three years, with Charter shares closing Wednesday at $328.34, down 16.4%, after a Tuesday investor presentation following that day's market close at which it unveiled the spending plan. New CEO Chris Winfrey (see 2209210008) said the spending would give it a network of 2 Gbps/1 Gbps speeds and capacity using DOCSIS 4.0 technology of 10 Gbps. In the context of Charter's overall size "and what we get for [the spending], we think it's worth it," Winfrey said. He said Charter will expand its Spectrum Mobile 1 Gbps offering across more of its footprint. He said Charter sees big growth opportunities in selling converged mobile and wireline service, with only 3 million subscribers today taking that although its network passes 55 million locations. Video’s problem has been affordability, and the Charter/Comcast joint venture Xumo will let Charter sell streaming video packages and applications, aggregate consumer streaming applications, and deploy a lower-cost IP set-top box, Winfrey said.
Big milestones in 10G technology development this year such as reaching 9 Gbps downstream and 6 Gbps upstream capacity with DOCSIS 4.0 technology "support the key tenets of 10G," CableLabs said Tuesday. Other notable steps toward 10G include Comcast's testing of a 10G modem prototype (see 2201130053) and its announcement it will roll out symmetrical multigig speeds next year (see 2209200048), CableLabs said.
Charter Communications joined the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative established by Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Charter said Tuesday. The task force launched last year (see 2108050035).
Altice, which had been looking at possibly selling its Suddenlink business (see 2208040037), will keep it after all. Altice's board unanimously decided continuing to operate Suddenlink "represents the best path forward for Altice USA and its stockholders," it said Thursday. "They obviously didn’t get an offer at a price they considered adequate," New Street Research's Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors, noting the move was "widely anticipated."
Cox Communications advertisements claiming it can provide "gig speeds everywhere" and implying AT&T can't have a reasonable basis, though other Cox ad claims should be modified, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division (NAD) said Wednesday. It said AT&T challenged the Cox ad claims. NAD recommended Cox make clear its claims about gig speeds are available only for downloads and that Cox avoid conveying the "unsupported implied message" AT&T doesn't offer comparable speeds to 5G providers in markets where Cox and AT&T compete. NAD said Cox indicated it will comply with the recommendations.
Cable operators' online inspection files will move in mid-November from using a cable operation and licensing system (COALS) ID for login to commission registration system (CORES) logins, FCC Media Bureau Chief Engineer Jeff Neumann said Wednesday. In a bureau webinar about the agency's updated COALS system, Neumann said incentive auction reimbursement program logins that use COALS ID won't transition to CORES because that program is near completion and should wrap up within a couple of months. The retirement of COALS ID log-ins for CORES is probably the biggest of the various key changes in the COALS update, he said. The system dates back about 20 years and was in need of update, bureau Deputy Chief Hillary DeNigro said. The move to the updated system, made earlier this month, should mean better security and reliability and also brings cable antenna relay service filings online, she said. Neumann said the updated COALS improves its public search capabilities and makes most external filings easily printable. He said users now will get emailed updates after acceptance of filings and payment of fees, improving communication. He said a user guide and an FAQ section are being prepared.
About 66% of U.S. TV households have some form of live pay-TV service, with the percentage of TV households with cable, satellite, telco or virtual MVPD service down from 79% in 2017, said a Friday Leichtman Research Group report. Some 73% of adults 45 and older have a pay-TV service vs. 57% of ages 18-44, said LRG, and 46% of households that moved in the past year don’t currently have one. “The decline in pay-TV subscribers is not solely a function of those disconnecting services, but is also related to a slowdown in those entering or reentering the category,” said LRG President Bruce Leichtman. “Overall, about 10.5% of TV households last subscribed to a pay-TV service in the past three years, 12% last subscribed over three years ago, and 11.5% never subscribed,” he said. Households with more TVs have more pay-TV services: 73% with three or more TVs have pay TV vs. 65% with two TVs and 52% with one, said the report.