WideOpenWest (WOW!) lopped several million dollars off its full year guidance for high speed data (HSD) broadband and consolidated revenue, citing the impacts of inflation and a slower move environment. It also slashed its broadband net addition forecast and warned it could now end up with an overall loss in 2022.
The company previously predicted it would achieve full year HSD revenue of $415 million to $419 million, consolidated revenue of $704 million to $708 million and broadband gains of between 12,000 and 15,000 subscribers. During Q3 earnings, however, CFO John Rego said it now expects HSD revenue of $411 million to $414 million and consolidated revenue of $702 million to $705 million this year. Broadband net additions are now expected to fall within a range of 2,000 to negative 2,000, he added.
CEO Teresa Elder said the primary cause of the change is not competition, but a slower move environment and economic impacts on consumer budgets which have resulted in involuntary churn. She reiterated it is not seeing any material impact from fixed wireless access players.
“We have been working with a number of customers to help them stay connected despite customers’ competing financial priorities. To this end, we extended customer terms to help them stay on our platform rather than disconnecting their service,” she stated. “Although a portion of these customers did remain on the platform, unfortunately many ultimately had to be disconnected. We are seeing the impact of these disconnects flow through our net adds in the fourth quarter.”
Forecast aside, though, the executives said the company remains bullish about its greenfield fiber builds in Florida and South Carolina and a recently announced fiber edge out project in Alabama. Elder stated “in terms of the ROI, our business case looks as solid as it ever has.”
She added the operator is also working toward additional updates of its cable network with an eye toward offering multi-gigabit speeds. Specifically, she said it is looking to roll out high split architecture on the road to eventually deploying DOCSIS 4.0.
“Our technology organization is currently laying the groundwork for this in our lab, and field activity will begin early next year,” she said.
Metrics
In Q3 2022, consolidated revenue fell 6% year on year to $173.7 million, while net income plunged to $500,000 compared to $517.9 million in the year-ago quarter. HSD revenue specifically dipped 1% to $102.3 million.
The operator added 1,400 HSD subscribers, bringing its total to 519,000.
WOW! also noted its Board of Directors approved a $50 million share repurchase program, which the company will implement over the next 18 months.