Spectrum Mobile Shows Power of Charter’s Network Backbone
By Sara Winegardner
Charter’s broadband division may continue to be the core of its business, but Spectrum Mobile has proven to be another shining jewel in its collection of products.
The product soft-launched through an MVNO deal with Verizon in June 2018, but its grand opening came with a full market launch in September of the same year. Now, nearly six years later, the brand has exploded. At the end of 2Q24, Charter served a total of 8.8 million mobile lines, adding 557,000 residential and SMB mobile lines during the quarter. In a note after the earnings call, MoffettNathanson called the wireless product an “underappreciated growth engine” not only because of its strong rise in subscribers, but also because ARPU growth is only accelerating. The wins of Spectrum Mobile, along with Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile, have inspired a new wave of cable operators big and small to launch their own wireless services.
“Our vision and creativity with a principle of simplicity is really the hallmark because we had a vision of a reimagined mobile service, of a trilogy of internet, WiFi and mobile together,” Charter EVP, Product Danny Bowman says.
Fundamentally, Bowman sees mobile and other offerings built off of Charter’s network as extensions of the internet on different types of devices. The provider knew it had an incredible WiFi network and there was a drive to keep building on it that ultimately culminated in the introduction of Spectrum Mobile as another way to connect in and out of the home.
“If you think of convergence from connectivity, WiFi is the center of gravity and it allowed us to create a very unique, reimagined mobile service because most of those bits, 87% in our case, are actually on WiFi,” Bowman says.
Over the years, the team behind Spectrum Mobile has innovated to find ways to improve the customer experience and take advantage of that converged network to differentiate itself. But it has also focused on giving as much value to customers as possible, introducing Spectrum One in 2022. Customers receive broadband speeds of 300 Mbps, Advanced WiFi and one free line of Unlimited Spectrum Mobile for $49.99/month for 12 months.
“When we first launched Spectrum One, some of the earlier feedback from sales teams was that we have customers saying this is too good to be true,” Bowman says. “The offer blew customers away, and we’ve had tremendous sales success… to me, it’s another great example of how we reinvented ourselves as an industry.”
Importantly, when the customers that signed up in 1Q23 reached their 12-month anniversary earlier this year, those promotional roll-offs didn’t drive incremental internet churn. Internet churn rates fell YOY and Spectrum One drove mobile sales and longer customer lifetimes. It also gave Charter a strong product marketing plat form. When Xumo began its rollout in October, Charter began offering a Xumo Stream Box for 6 months when customers add Spectrum TV to their Spectrum One plan.
Charter refuses to rest on its laurels. In May, the company began offering mobile contract buyouts up to $2,500 when a customer switches and purchases at least three lines with at least one ported line. And in April, an “Anytime Upgrade” feature was introduced to allow Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Plus customers the opportunity to upgrade their phones as much as they want, at no cost. For customers concerned about broken screens, loss or theft, Spectrum unveiled a Repair and Replacement plan for just $5/month per device.
“We do things very differently than the industry does,” Bowman says. “What are more things we can do in the marketplace that are different but create a tremendous amount of value for our customers?”