Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. telecom giant Comcast on Monday forecast fourth-quarter broadband subscriber losses to exceed Wall Street estimates, hurt by tough competition from wireless providers and the impact of two hurricanes that rocked Florida.
Shares of the company fell 8.3%. Its dour forecast also dragged down smaller rival Charter Communications' stock by 6.5%.
Comcast expects broadband subscriber losses to be a little over 100,000 in the last three months of 2024, Dave Watson, president and CEO of Comcast Cable, said at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 64,400 subscribers in the quarter, according to data from research firm Visible Alpha.
Comcast said about 10,000 broadband losses are tied to Hurricanes Milton and Helene that made landfall in Florida within two weeks of each other, disrupting businesses.
The company had earlier said that the potential impact could be significantly less than the hit from Hurricane Ian in 2022, which had led to losses of 26,000 broadband customers in the fourth quarter of that year.
"It remains competitively intense, that has not changed and has been pretty consistent throughout the year, in particular in the more price conscious end of the market place," Watson said.
Comcast has been losing subscribers to wireless service providers such as AT&T Verizon and T-Mobile that have been attracting customers with customizable and affordable offerings.
Comcast has also taken a hit due to the end of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which subsidized internet access for low-income households in the U.S.
That led to a loss of 87,000 broadband customers in the third quarter for Comcast. Excluding ACP's impact, the company's broadband saw net additions of 9,000 in that period.
Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Maju Samuel
Source: Reuters