Altice reported its ‘best ever’ fiber net additions in Q1 2023, said company CEO
Altice USA ended the first quarter of 2023 with a total revenue of $2.29 billion, which represents a 5.3% year-over-year (YoY) decline. Further, the company noted a 2.8% decline in total unique residential and SMB customer relationship and a quarterly unique customer net loss of 26,000 for the quarter, compared to a 20,000 in Q1 2022.
In the face of a financially disappointing quarter, Altice CEO Dennis Mathew remained optimistic, focusing instead on the importance of sticking to the company’s strategy of growing its broadband and mobile business. He pointed specifically to progress made around broadband network construction, citing the additional 48,000 passings added in Q1 2023. This number represents about one-third of the targeted new build network extensions for 2023, said Altice, adding that the company remains on track to reach more than 150,000 passings for the full year.
According to Mathew, Altice also reported its “best ever” fiber net additions in Q1 2023, adding 214,000 new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) passings, bringing its total FTTH passings to 2.37 million.
“As we move through 2023, we will continue to build on our go-to-market strategies to provide customers with seamless connections, flexibility and simplicity as evidenced by this week’s introduction of Optimum Complete, which combines our powerful internet and mobile products into one bundle to deliver the full portfolio of Optimum connectivity solutions at a great value,” Mathew said.
At the end of 2022, Mathew shared that wireless remained an untapped market for Altice. Optimum Complete, announced last week, is the company’s attempt to change that. The MNVO offering rides on T-Mobile’s network and includes bundles at various service levels and price points.
“Optimum Complete is our first true convergent offering, combining our most powerful connectivity products – internet and mobile – in a way that finally makes sense for consumers, who have told us that they want reliable products from one provider at a great price,” said Leroy Williams, chief growth officer at Optimum said at the time of the announcement. “Not only are we making life easier for our customers, but with Optimum Complete, we’re unlocking massive savings each month. Over the last several years, we’ve made network investments to offer the fastest fiber internet and enhance our services and support channels, and we are now proud to bring these superior experiences to our customers through Optimum Complete.”
Altice’s net income for the quarter was $25.9 million, compared to $196.6 million in Q1 2022 and it reported cash capital expenditures of $582.9 million, which represented 25.4% of revenue and were up 48.6% YoY mainly driven by accelerated fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout and new builds.
