Dallas Clement, Cox's senior VP of strategy and development, said a recent slowdown in subscriber growth is due to the maturing nature of the business, but the slow economy and increased competition from telcos have also contributed.
Interviewed at The Cable Show this week in Washington D.C., Clement said that the company is at 60 percent penetration to its analog subscriber base, 40 percent of homes served are data customers and about 28 percent are voice subscribers.
Cox is not seeing an increase in service disconnects or people paying late on bills, both telltale signs that the economy is squeezing people. Instead, Clement said that research shows that, for the average family, video or broadband service would be one of the last things cut from the budget.
In the current economic climate, privately-held Cox is focusing on keeping existing customers and tightening up on operational expenses, rather than going Vonage-crazy on marketing to get new subs.
The company is also moving forward to spin up new revenue streams, including ramping up its wireless offering and putting more emphasis on business services. Business customers are expected to generate about $1 billion in revenue in 2010.
For more:
- Dow Jones via WSJ article.
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