Comcast President Mike Cavanagh did not coat with sugar loss of wide -band subscribers in the last quarter, but he came without hesitation in the opening remarks on a call for results of the first quarter on Thursday. “We do not win the market in a way that is proportionate to the strength of the network and connectivity products,” he said.
The fixes are underway but will take several quarters, he said, because high-speed residential customers have dropped from 183,000 to 29.2 million for the March quarter. Actions are down more than 7% in the middle of the morning.
Dave Watson, responsible for connectivity and platforms, and his team “worked hard to understand the reasons for this disconnection and identified two main causes. One is the transparency and predictability of prices and the other is the level of ease of doing business with us. The good news is that the two are repairable and we are already underway with execution plans to meet these challenges, “said Cavanagh.
Managers have cited intense competition from wireless suppliers who offer high speed and, by involvement, can also offer more attractive price plans and better customer service than Comcast. “The team has a feeling of emergency … so that customer pain points are resolved,” said CEO Brian Roberts on the call. “Although it can take a little time … once we are in motion, we do it extremely well.”
Comcast recently promoted Steve Croney to COO from Connectivity & Platforms, and hired the former director of Apple and Expedia, Jon Gieselman
The company has “simplified our price construction to make our price proposal for consumers in all wide -band segments,” said Cavanagh, noting a very first national high speed price guarantee which includes Xfinity and unlimited data for five years without required annual contract and an XFINITY wireless plan without primitive predict.
“Offering more value to our customers with less complexity and friction is an absolute priority, and you will see our basic approach to the market continue to evolve in the coming months,” he said. “And although we are happy to be underway with a refreshing approach to the market, we plan that it will take several quarters for a new approach to gain ground and have an impact on the company significantly.”
