Why Is Comcast Facing a Decline in Voice Customer Growth?

Comcast (CMCSA) has been losing its voice customers for more than a year, as a result of which the company has been witnessing falls in its voice revenues. 

The company’s voice business forms part of its Cable Revenues segment and has continued to hurt the segment due to the decrease in its number of voice customers.

The fall in Comcast’s voice revenue is primarily the result of the distribution of voice revenue to customers with bundled services and a fall in the number of residential voice customers. Rising competition from rival service providers and the shift in customer preferences to Internet calling over voice calling has also led to a steep fall in the number of voice customers. In the first quarter, the company lost a total of 54,000 voice customers compared to the 5,000 it lost in the first quarter of 2017 and the 13,000 it lost in the fourth quarter of 2017.

In the quarter, the media and cable giant reported voice revenue of nearly $1.01 billion, a fall of 2.7% YoY (year-over-year) from $1.03 billion. In comparison, operators AT&T (T) and Charter Communications (CHTR) also posted falls in their voice revenues in the quarter. AT&T posted a fall of 20.0% YoY in the legacy voice and data service revenues in its Business Solutions segment, while Charter’s voice revenue fell 19.8%.

Comcast, along with other operators, has been making efforts to revive its voice business and has been offering attractive bundling packages to boost its voice revenue. Comcast’s launch of the Xfinity wireless service has the potential to increase its voice revenue. The company has also launched a cloud-based phone service called VoiceEdge Select to enable both standard and advanced calls, which should enhance its voice service portfolio.