US operator Charter Communications more than doubled its network in the third quarter,

by strong customer additions, and helped by gains at internet, mobile and advertising.  

Revenues for the quarter rose 5.1 percent from the year before to USD 120 million, driven by residential revenue growth of 4.0 percent, mobile revenue advances of 91.8 percent and advertising revenue increases of 16.8 percent. The adjusted EBITDA advanced 13.6 percent to USD 4.6 billion while the net profit jumped to USD 814 million from 387 million. Capex amounted to USD 2.0 billion, including USD 139 million worth of mobile-related expenses, against 1.9 billion in the previous quarter. The free cash flow lifted to USD 1.8 billion from 1.9 billion quarter-on-quarter and 1.3 billion year-on-year. 

The number of customer relationships went up by 6.8 percent from the year before to 30.933 million, from 30.476 in the previous quarter. Net additions for the quarter went to 416,000, from 751,000 in Q2 and 282,000 the year before. For SMBs, additions went to 41,000 from 4,000 sequentially and 28,000 year-on-year. This put total customer relationship additions at 457,000, from 310,000 the year earlier.

For Video, net additions went to 67,000, down from 102,000 quarter-on-quarter but better than year earlier’s loss of 75,000. For Internet, total gains amounted to 537,000, slowing from Q2’s 842,000 but improved from the 380,000 posted the year before. For voice, losses went to 25,000 from a loss of 190,000 the year before, but a gain of 38,000 in Q2. 

Single play penetration increased on a year-on-year basis to 44.2 percent from 42.7 percent while double play rose to 32.3 percent from 29.9 percent. Triple play penetration slid to 23.5 percent from 27.3 percent. This compares to 44 percent, 31.7 percent and 24.3 percent, respectively, in the second quarter. 

The number of mobile lines added went to 363,000, from 270,000 in Q2 and 276,000 in 2019.