INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Comcast executives apparently realized something that customers have known and complained about for years: The Internet provider's prices
aren't transparent enough and rise too frequently.This might not have mattered much to cable executives as long as the total number of
subscribers met their targets
But after reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't
"winning in the marketplace" during an earnings call today
The Q1 2025 customer loss was over three times larger than the net loss in Q1 2024.While customers often have few viable options for
broadband and the availability of alternatives varies widely by location, Comcast faces competition from fiber and fixed wireless ISPs."In
this intensely competitive environment, we are not winning in the marketplace in a way that is commensurate with the strength of the network
and connectivity products that I just described," Cavanagh said
"[Cable division CEO] Dave [Watson] and his team have worked hard to understand the reasons for this disconnect and have identified two
One is price transparency and predictability and the other is the level of ease of doing business with us
The good news is that both are fixable and we are already underway with execution plans to address these challenges."The 183,000-subscriber
loss lowered Comcast's residential Internet subscribers to 29.19 million
Comcast also reported a first-quarter drop of 17,000 business broadband subscribers, lowering that category's total to 2.45
million.Comcast's stock price fell 3.7 percent today even though its overall profit beat analyst expectations and domestic broadband revenue
"Analysts peppered Comcast executives with questions on Thursday regarding its Xfinity-branded broadband and mobile, and how the company
will pivot the business," CNBC wrote.Cavanagh said that Comcast plans to make changes in marketing and operations "with the highest
urgency." This means that "we are simplifying our pricing construct to make our price-to-value proposition clearer to consumers across all
broadband segments," he said.Comcast last week announced a five-year price guarantee for broadband customers who sign up for a new package
Comcast said customers will get a "simple monthly price starting as low as $55 per month," without having to enter a contract, giving them
"freedom and flexibility to cancel at any time without penalty." The five-year guarantee also comes with one year of Xfinity Mobile at no
