Comcast misplaced one other batch of broadband subscribers in Q3 2026 within the face of ongoing competitors from mounted wi-fi entry (FWA) alongside pockets of current, aggressive pricing from fiber rivals. In the meantime, the operator is shifting forward with a serious working and price transformation initiative that may lead to a large layoff.
Layoffs have been anticipated ever since Comcast final month shared a number of particulars a few main restructuring of the enterprise that is anticipated to save lots of the corporate billions. It is nonetheless not clear how huge the layoff wave will probably be, however Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the corporate is planning to make “important job cuts” that would come to full gentle in “a matter of weeks.”
Comcast, which ended 2025 with 179,000 workers, hasn’t commented on the report of a coming layoff and the way important of a reduce it is going to be. A number of trade sources inform Gentle Studying {that a} sizable portion of the approaching layoffs will hit Connectivity & Platforms, the phase that features Comcast’s cable enterprise.
A part of the monetary influence of the reorg will probably be felt within the present quarter. “We count on to have a major cost within the fourth quarter associated largely to our transformation efforts, and I might quantify that at over $1 billion,” Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong mentioned on at the moment’s earnings name.
As described by Armstrong final month, the restructuring will consequence within the elimination of layers and a extra normal overhaul aimed to assist the corporate turn out to be extra agile, make faster choices and to allow it to put money into progress areas reminiscent of AI.
“We’re basically redesigning our group,” Armstrong mentioned.
A few of that effort consists of new management. For instance, Mike Angelakis, Comcast’s former CFO, is on board now as a strategic advisor and is about to turn out to be CEO of Comcast after NBCU and Sky are spun out by mid-2027. Former Apple, Expedia and DirecTV exec Jon Gieselman joined Comcast final 12 months as chief progress officer.
Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh reiterated on at the moment’s name that the working and price transformation initiative underway would be the largest within the firm’s historical past. However he confused that it “goes nicely past value financial savings” as the corporate reallocates sources to progress areas.
Better AI emphasis
Comcast shed some gentle on how it’s turning to AI to enhance its working and customer support mannequin, citing comparatively new partnerships with Sierra AI and Cresta (Comcast Ventures invested in Cresta’s $125 million Sequence D spherical).
Comcast has teamed with Cresta on an agentic entrance finish for bot-to-human interactions, with Sierra serving to with bot-to-bot interactions, Steve Croney, CEO of Comcast’s Connectivity & Platforms phase, mentioned. He famous that Comcast just lately joined the Private Agent Protocol initiative (which counts Meta and Sierra amongst its leads) that is centered on growing requirements for a way brokers work together with companies. “We’re actually leaning into this,” Croney mentioned.
With the assistance of AI, Comcast has diminished customer support contact charges by 20% and eradicated greater than 30 million service interactions year-to-date versus 2025, Armstrong mentioned.
Comcast can be pursuing AI-focused enterprise progress drivers, together with investing in its edge infrastructure, which includes about 1,400 headends, to produce compute, house and energy and cooling to companions. Whereas that is not thought of a serious near-term enterprise driver for Comcast, “we predict it is a huge alternative,” Armstrong mentioned.
Comcast sheds extra broadband subs amid ‘irrational pricing’ from fiber
Comcast misplaced 144,000 residential broadband subs versus a lack of 91,000 subs within the year-ago quarter, decreasing its complete to twenty-eight.34 million (with 45% of them on speeds of 1 Gbit/s or extra). These losses had been higher than the -136,000 anticipated by analysts.
These Q3 losses had been partly fueled by what Comcast has referred to as “irrational pricing” from sure fiber opponents it first noticed in Q2 and continued into Q3. Analysts have recognized AT&T as the first offender, although AT&T has been elevating broadband costs in current weeks.
Alongside aggressive stress, Armstrong mentioned Comcast additionally noticed an “unusually excessive quantity” of present clients rolling off of promotions. “That is been a ache level for us,” he added, noting that Comcast is making efforts to retain these clients and not using a huge step-up in pricing.
“Subscriber losses weren’t the worst ever. However they had been the worst ever for a 3rd quarter, which traditionally has been the seasonally strongest,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett mentioned in a analysis be aware (registration required).
70% of free cellular strains changing to pay
Comcast added 368,000 cellular strains in Q3, down from a year-ago acquire of 414,000 and beneath the 399,000 anticipated by analysts. The corporate estimated that about 50% of postpaid connects within the quarter comprised free strains, and that 40% of its cellular connects are on the corporate’s Premium Limitless plan. Comcast famous that about 70% of its free cellular strains (sometimes provided for a interval of 12 months) are changing to paid.
Comcast ended Q3 with 10.55 million cellular strains, which means that about 18% of its broadband base now attaches Xfinity Cell.
That additionally equates to 7% of the whole addressable wi-fi strains in Comcast’s footprint, Armstrong mentioned. He mentioned Comcast is beginning to put an even bigger concentrate on premium cellular tiers and on cellular clients who require a number of strains.
Comcast’s video technique ‘leaving so much on the desk’ – analyst
Comcast misplaced 274,000 video subscribers, widened from a year-ago lack of 257,000 subs, dropping its complete to 10.39 million. Notably, Comcast had extra wi-fi strains than video subscribers on the finish of Q3.
Comcast “is leaving so much on the desk by not have a video providing like Constitution’s,” Moffett mentioned, referring to Constitution’s technique to offer pay-TV subs with entry to an array of ad-supported premium streaming companies, together with Peacock, Disney+ and HBO Max, for no further value. Comcast is taking a special method with its discounted “StreamSaver” bundles.
Monetary snapshot
Comcast posted consolidated revenues of $29.3 billion, down 1.5% year-over-year, matching analyst expectations.
Q3 revenues for Connectivity and Platforms dropped 2.7% to $19.66 billion, with home broadband revenues dipping 4.7% to $6.55 billion.
Home wi-fi revenues climbed 14.7% to $1.05 billion, marking the second-consecutive quarter through which class revenues eclipsed $1 billion.
Video revenues dropped 8.7% to $5.91 billion.
Enterprise companies revenues rose 2.7% to $2.64 billion as Comcast continues to push into the enterprise companies market.
Comcast posted Q3 capex of $2.4 billion, up from $2.32 billion within the year-ago interval. That complete included $716 million for buyer premises tools, $894 million for scalable infrastructure (together with community upgrades and rebuilds), and $653 million for line extensions (builds to new areas through hybrid fiber/coax and PON).
Comcast shares had been up 84 cents (3.78%) to $22.92 every in early afternoon buying and selling.
