Important developments in the cable/wire industry have taken place over the past two weeks:
1. Conducting a virtual FTTH symposium on April 4.
2. Data from Cowen conferences
3. Departure of the CFO of Verizon Wireless, one of the largest mobile operators in the United States by the number of subscribers, a new head of the consumer relations department and other management changes
4. DISH network crash
5. TMUS will cancel the discount on autopayments for credit card users.
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2nd Annual Cowen Symposium on Home Fiber. 4.04 Virtual Event
There have been many changes in the year since the symposium on fiber optic technologies for the home in 2022. Since then, there has been an obvious crisis in the labor markets, a reduction in FTTH construction in 2023 (AT&T, Altice, Consolidated, Frontier and Lumen), an increase in construction costs, the growth of FTTH joint ventures, the emergence of the idea of "open access".
Cowen announces the 2nd annual FTTH Symposium on April 4, where employees will hold virtual discussions with investors, policy experts, company executives and FTTH experts, with which it will be possible to solve the problems mentioned above and discuss the competitive environment, wireless package and potential mergers and acquisitions.
Data from the conference session
AT&T Management Comments:
■ In 2023, the growth of ARPU wireless networks is expected; continued transitions to higher-level tariff plans, international roaming
Compared to estimates at the beginning of FTTH construction, costs have increased, but there is a higher ARPU, so the overall profit is slightly higher than expected.
■ Does not expect that expanded network services in the commercial segment of 5G will be widely used in production in the next 2-3 years; still at the initial stage
■ Still dismissive of FWA
Departure of Verizon CFO; new Interim CFO
On March 3, Verizon held a conference call and announced management changes, including the departure of CFO Matt Ellis. In addition, Verizon announced that Soumyanarayan Sampat will become CEO of Verizon Consumer Group.
The company, recall, faced difficulties in the consumer segment, having suffered losses in 3 of the 4 quarters of 2022, and thus announced the departure of its previous CEO Manon Brouillet in December last year.
Kyle Malady, head of Global Networks & Technology, will become CEO of Verizon Business Group. Joe Russo, Chief Network Officer, will replace Mr. Maladi as head of Global Networks & Technology.
The company stated that there are no changes in the strategy at the moment (focus on revenue growth from consumer services, EBITDA growth, FCF growth), but recognized the need to transform the strategy, which the new management can help with.
DISH cybersecurity attack
As a result of the Dish cybersecurity attack, internal systems are disabled
Dish, an American television provider and the owner of a direct broadcast satellite provider, had a malfunction caused by a cybersecurity attack. This is evidenced by the fact that "certain data was extracted from the corporation's IT systems." The attack did not affect the operation of Dish, Sling, wireless and customer-oriented data services, but affected the company's internal systems, call centers and websites (Dish.com still not working). According to the company, private customer data may have been hacked.
T-Mobile Cancels Monthly $5 Discount on Autopayments for Subscribers Paying by Credit Card
T-Mobile group of companies working in the field of mobile communications intends to cancel the $5 discount on autopayments for those subscribers whose monthly bills are automatically paid with a credit card. The entry into force of this change is expected "as early as May 2023," after which the company will switch to the principle of "only bank accounts and debit cards" Verizon.
It is expected that in 2023 T-Mobile will have an average of ~74 million subscribers of phones with autopayments, and if we assume that 15% of them currently use credit cards for autopayments, of which 50% will switch to using debit cards, then T-Mobile can receive additional annual revenue from postpaid phones in the amount of ~ 333 million dollars.
It is also planned to have a relatively flat ARPU in 2023 with an upward trend in the second half of the year 23. This is due to the high level of acceptance of tariff plans, which are compensated by additional revenue from device promotions.
T-Mobile is catching up in the ranking according to the indicators of the 5G network
It is worth noting the most noticeable trend - the progress of T-Mobile in introducing the 5G network over the past three years. T-Mobile is well ahead of AT&T and Verizon in the 5G race, covering 265 million access points against 175 million access points from Verizon and 150 million access points from AT&T. Nevertheless, Verizon still has some reserve: it surpasses T-Mobile by 600 bp, thanks to maintaining its reputation established in the 4G era. As a result, T-Mobile will need some more time to earn the title of No. 1 in the field of perception of 5G networks.