Comcast's Mobile Growth Soars Despite Broadband Struggles

Comcast announced mixed financial results for its fourth quarter, surpassing analyst earnings projections while narrowly missing revenue targets. The company's domestic broadband segment continued to face intense competition, reporting a loss of 181,000 subscribers. This decline was partially offset by an increase in international broadband customers. Comcast's mobile service emerged as a significant growth area, attracting 364,000 new subscribers during the quarter. This brings the total number of mobile customers to over 9.3 million. Revenue for the connectivity and platforms unit, encompassing Xfinity services, saw a slight decrease of 1%. Despite the broadband customer losses, revenue from this segment was somewhat supported by increased average rates. The company also reported a loss of 245,000 pay TV customers, now totaling 11.27 million. Meanwhile, Comcast's media division, including NBCUniversal, reported a revenue increase of 5.5%. This growth was partly driven by domestic advertising revenue, which rose 1.5%. NBC's streaming service, Peacock, experienced a substantial gain of 3 million paid customers, reaching 44 million total subscribers. However, Peacock's quarterly losses widened to $552 million from $372 million in the prior year. The Universal film studio's revenue declined by 7.4% due to lower licensing and theatrical income. Conversely, Universal theme parks revenue surged by 22%, bolstered by the recent opening of Epic Universe.