Charter Communications has hit the high-water mark of 30 million customers during the first half of this year. With its new record number of subscribers, Charter laid claim to being the nation's fastest growing internet, voice, TV, and mobile provider.
“Exceeding 30 million customers is a significant milestone in our company’s history and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees,” said Charter CEO and Chairman Tom Rutledge, in a statement. “Our continued growth at a time of rapid technological evolution in our industry underscores the soundness of our long-term business planning, the investments we have made in our advanced network, and our commitment to providing our customers the best broadband connectivity products and services, backed by high-quality customer support and craftsmanship.”
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Charter still trails Comcast for the most cable customers. Last week, Comcast said during its second quarter earnings results that it had 32.1 million customer relationships, including the addition of 217,000 in the second quarter. In the second quarter, Comcast Cable added 323,000 broadband subscribers.
While Comcast decided not to include the subscribers that are accessing its service through the FCC's Keeping America Connected program, which ended in June, Charter included them in its second quarter results.
Of Charter’s 842,000 internet subscribers in the second quarter, about 254,000 were new customers stemming from promotions and discounts related to Covid-19.
Charter's subscriber numbers were boosted by its deals to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks—who collaborated on technology initiatives—in 2016. After those deals, Charter said it has added close to 5 million customers while investing about $40 billion in network infrastructure and technology. Those investments included the move to all-digital, rolling out DOCSIS 3.1 to provision faster broadband speed and the footprint-wide launch of Spectrum Internet Gig.
After expanding its network, Charter now serves business and residential customers across the 41 states in its footprint.
Charter also touted its network during Monday's press release. At the end of its most recent second quarter, close to 57% of residential and businesses passed by Charter's network subscribed to its services, which gives it a lot of headroom for future growth. Currently, Charter's network reaches more than 52 million homes and businesses.
Based on its first quarter results, Charter said its Spectrum Mobile service was the fastest growing mobile provider in the U.S.