Altice USA prioritized fiber subscriber ‘migrations’

The pace of Altice USA's fiber network upgrade has slowed

In its Q4 2023 earnings call, Altice USA's Chairman and CEO, Dennis Mathew, reiterated the company's commitment to upgrading its hybrid fiber/coax networks to fiber, particularly in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut regions. There's a greater emphasis on transitioning existing cable broadband customers to the new PON platform, which now offers symmetrical speeds up to 8 Gbit/s. Mathew stated that the company aims to drive more customers to the fiber network and is prioritizing migrations to achieve this goal. Altice USA has streamlined processes to expedite the migration of cable subscribers to fiber, resulting in notable progress.

The focus on fiber is evident in Altice USA's subscriber results, with a record addition of 46,000 fiber subscribers in Q4 and a total of 170,000 for the year, bringing the grand total to 341,400. However, the pace of new fiber location builds slowed in Q4 2023 compared to the previous year. Despite this, penetration of Altice USA's fiber network increased to 12.5% by the end of 2023 from 8% in 2022. Despite gains in fiber subscribers, Altice USA experienced a net loss of 27,000 total residential broadband customers in the quarter, totaling 4.17 million. Executives attributed the decrease in fierce competition during the festive period, as well as sluggish housing activity. The corporation is still confident about increasing broadband customer patterns over time, though no precise date was offered.