Charter looks forward to a ‘higher unsubscribe environment’

The churn rate is good. Well, that requires some further explanation: An environment in which customers are actively looking to switch providers can be good, if not very good, for opportunistic carriers.

That’s essentially what Tom Rutledge, chief executive officer of Charter Communications, put it Thursday in a webcast at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. He acknowledged that the churn rate has reached historically low levels for Charter, and that this fact, combined with the associated savings in operational costs, means that Charter has weathered the last year and a half of the Covid-19 pandemic well. .

“The pandemic has created a very unusual operating environment for us,” said Rutledge. “Lower levels of customer activity mean fewer sales opportunities, but it also means a lower cost structure. “

He added that it is difficult to predict how soon the market environment will become more active, but a return to conditions characterized by ‘mobile attrition’ will mean that Charter can take full advantage of its ability to sell. new services for customers looking for change.

“In fact, we’re looking forward to a higher churn environment,” he said. “We do well with prospects who are looking to change their services. “

Rutledge will likely soon have the chance to prove how much he loves churn as Charter looks to ramp up its wireless efforts while dealing with growing competitive pressure from fiber manufacturers in the broadband market.

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“If you look at the average mobile bill, it’s much higher than the average broadband bill,” Rutledge said. Although the costs of acquiring these clients are starting to add up, “we can bundle more services together, save them more while giving them more and creating more revenue opportunities for our business.”

As customers start shopping again and competition in different service segments intensifies, Charter will also be able to capitalize on the investment it has made in retail stores and other marketing efforts. . “We spent some capital expenditure in these stores, but this part of the sales machine is now on the market, ready for use. “