- Comcast lost 144,000 broadband subs in Q3 2026
- Comcast is planning layoffs and other “transformations” in its Connectivity & Platforms business in Q4 to the tune of a $1 billion restructuring charge
- At least one analyst is buying Comcast's excuse that fiber competitors are pricing their broadband too low
Even though comments from Comcast’s CFO about competitors using “irrational pricing” caused a drop in the company’s stock earlier this month, Comcast Co-CEO Michael Cavanagh kicked off the company’s third quarter 2026 earnings call last week, using the same language.
“At Comcast, we have been operating in an intensely competitive environment for some time,” said Cavanagh. “Fixed wireless remains aggressive and continues to take share, while fiber construction remains elevated with pockets of irrational pricing and promotional activity. And while satellite is not yet a material factor, we recognize the importance of anticipating emerging forms of competition and positioning our business to respond as the market evolves.”
But Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong was left to deliver the bad news that the company lost 144,000 broadband subscribers during Q3, compared to a loss of 91,000 a year earlier. Revenue in its Connectivity & Platforms business fell 2.7% to about $19.7 billion.
Comcast is planning layoffs and other “transformations” in its Connectivity & Platforms business in Q4 to the tune of a $1 billion restructuring charge.
Irrational fiber pricing
During Comcast’s earnings call, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett tried to put a positive spin on broadband pricing trends. He noted that AT&T and some others have raised some of their broadband prices recently, wondering if this would help Comcast.
But Armstrong said, “There's still pockets of it out there.” He said Comcast deploys a lot of fiber, itself, and it costs about $1,500-plus per home, and it’s getting more expensive with construction costs going up. He still doesn’t think it makes any sense to charge $30 to $40 per month for fiber broadband. But the extremely low prices of its competitors put Comcast at a disadvantage.
Steven Croney, CEO of Comcast’s Connectivity & Platforms Division, chimed in saying, “We maintain that gig pricing at $30 to $40, and in some cases even less, is going to be really hard to sustain. As we assess the overall environment, we're going to continue to compete aggressively, but we're going to compete with discipline.”
But TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams didn’t buy it. He wrote, “We'd argue that in isolation some FTTH competition is irrational. However, our illustrative math shows that a $1,500 build on a $40 ARPU delivers near break-even customer lifetime value (~$58 by our model). But a converged customer is highly positive as carriers such as AT&T are outspoken about sacrificing wireline for wireless/convergence benefits. In other words, we can expect ‘irrational’ competition to continue since it makes sense, and FTTH + 5G is a formidable threat.”
Looking ahead to Comcast’s broadband future, Wolf Research analyst Peter Supino wrote, “4Q net adds look challenging, with higher churn from a legacy post-promotional rate increase. Looking forward, we expect competition to intensify in 2027 as Starlink's capacity growth explodes and the DSL donor pool shrinks to irrelevance.”
Of the upcoming layoffs and other costs savings in the future, Supino said it would be nice if the cost-saving funds could be used for growth engines such as mobile and edge compute. “We worry competition will instead divert cost savings into lower broadband prices,” he said.
BNP Paribas analyst Sam McHugh said the research group expects broadband losses to continue into Q4, predicting about 203,000 sub losses. “Our conviction remains that expectations of big improvement in broadband losses are far too optimistic,” said McHugh. “We expect '27 to remain challenging for Comcast as price competition in broadband further intensifies, with Starlink overhang on top.”
Read more about Comcast on Fierce Network:
Comcast CFO scratches his head about ‘irrationally’ low fiber broadband prices
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