WASHINGTON, July 25, 2025 \u2013 Charter Communications reported 117,000 lost broadband subscribers in the second quarter of 2025, worse than the 74,000 Wall Street had been expecting but better than the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said on the company\u2019s earnings call the drop was the result of continued competition from fixed wireless and fiber, plus higher levels of non-pay churn \u2013 people disconnecting after failing to pay their internet bill \u2013 in the wake of the Affordable Connectivity Program\u2019s cancellation last year.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s both from customers who used to receive the subsidy and now have difficulty making payments and from new customers who would have qualified not receiving the subsidy and also struggling to make payments consistently, Winfrey said.<\/p>\n
He said the broadband market generally was plagued by slow builds and customers reverting back to mobile-only subscriptions after the end of the ACP.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou put all of those market movements, or in this case lack of market movements, together with a new competitor, even if it\u2019s inferior, and it puts pressure,\u201d he said, referring to the fixed wireless from the 5G carriers he has often bashed. \u201cIt\u2019s not ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, with the ACP shut down in the rear view, Charter\u2019s broadband numbers should improve year-over-year, MoffettNathanson Senior Managing Director Craig Moffett wrote in an investor note. He pointed to fiber and fixed wireless net additions remaining relatively stable in recent quarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too early to say what happened in the quarter for [fiber] \u2013 only Verizon and AT&T have reported thus far \u2013 but the results from fixed wireless access (FWA) certainly fit this pattern,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat fact pattern continues to suggest that the change in the market over the past year has not been heightened competitive intensity but instead has been the end of the ACP program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charter added 123,000 subsidized rural passings in the quarter, which accounted for 47,000 new broadband subscribers. Executives said the company was still expecting a total of 450,000 new rural passings in 2025. The company has a total of more than 1 million such passings.<\/p>\n
The cable operator added 500,000 new mobile lines, fewer than analysts had expected and fewer than the second quarter of last year. That brings the company to 10.8 million wireless customers, a number Charter will be looking to expand after its planned acquisition<\/a> of Cox, which has a much smaller mobile service in its footprint. <\/p>\n Winfrey added the company was deploying its CBRS spectrum in 23 markets and had completed its first round of network upgrades in eight markets, allowing Charter to offer 2 * 1 gigabit per second plans in about 15 percent of its footprint. He said an upgrade to 5 * 1 Gbps was underway in another 50 percent of the footprint.<\/p>\n