Altice USA said capital expenditures rose 48.6 percent to $582.9 million in Q1 2023, representing capital intensity of 25.4 percent.
The growth in Capex was mainly driven by accelerated fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout and new builds (14.1 percent of revenue excluding FTTH and new builds).
Altice is planning Capex of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion in 2023.
Altice’s capital spending touched $200 million in FTTH, $59 million in new builds, $73 million in Business Services, $86 million in CPE and $89 million in Network Infrastructure in Q1.
Altice said growth Capex represents 72 percent of capital spend. Growth Capex includes FTTH, new build, business services, and CPE categories. Capex for FTTH / New Build rose 60 percent in Q1 2023.
Altice has completed DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade: 100 percent of Optimum East footprint and 86 percent of Optimum West footprint with 52,000 upgrades in Q1.
Fiber network expansion covered 214000 passings, reaching total 2.4 million. New build activity reached 48,000. Altice added 38,000 fiber customers, ending Q1 at 210,000 fiber customers.
Altice USA said its revenue fell 5.3 percent in Q1 2023 to $2.29 billion as it faced drop in sales from residential, business and advertising clients.
Residential revenue declined 5.6 percent, Business Services revenue declined 1.1 percent and News & Advertising revenue declined 13.9 percent.
Altice reported net income of $25.9 million in Q1 2023 compared to $196.6 million in Q1 2022.
“Altice USA’s first quarter results reflect a continuation of the strategy we introduced in February centered on growing our broadband and mobile businesses to set a path to return to sustainable customer, revenue, and cash flow growth,” Dennis Mathew, Altice USA Chief Executive Officer, said, in its earnings report.
Altice made significant progress in driving key initiatives to increase the reliability and performance of our networks and enhance our products and customer experience, which contributed to an exceptional quarter in terms of broadband network construction as well as the best ever fiber net additions.
