Will Frontier’s Broadband Customer Losses Continue?
Nov. 9 2018, Updated 4:35 p.m. ET
Frontier’s broadband customers
In the third quarter, Frontier Communications’ (FTR) subscriber losses continued as the company lost broadband customers. On a net basis, the wireline player lost 61,000 broadband customers, compared to a loss of 63,000 broadband customers in Q3 2017. Frontier’s broadband subscribers fell ~5.0% year-over-year or YoY to 3.8 million at the end of September 30.
This reduction is mostly due to the migration of Frontier’s broadband subscribers to top US cable players like Charter Communications (CHTR) and Comcast (CMCSA). Charter gained 266,000 residential broadband subscribers in the third quarter while Comcast gained 334,000.
Frontier’s broadband net additions in CTF and Legacy markets
Frontier lost 11,000 CTF (California, Texas, Florida) copper broadband customers and 2,000 CTF Fios broadband customers in the third quarter, compared to losses of 19,000 and 11,000, respectively, in Q3 2017. Meanwhile, in the legacy markets, the company lost 48,000 broadband subscribers, compared to 33,000 in Q3 2017. This increase was mainly due to seasonality and lower gross additions.
