(Bloomberg) — Charter Communications Inc., the second-largest US cable TV provider, will spend $5.5 billion on its network to bring higher-speed broadband connections to customers.
(Bloomberg) — Charter Communications Inc., the second-largest US cable TV provider, will spend $5.5 billion on its network to bring higher-speed broadband connections to customers.
The overhaul is expected to cost about $100 per home passed and be completed by the end of 2024, the company’s new chief executive officer, Chris Winfrey, said at an investor event on Tuesday.
Cable, phone and satellite companies are vying for some of the $100 billion in federal funds aimed at expanding broadband service to poorer and more rural parts of the country. As past internet building booms have shown, one of the biggest risks to any venture is the high costs involved.
Charter and Comcast Corp., the largest US cable provider, have opted to take a different path than their telecom rivals. Instead of replacing their coaxial wires with higher-capacity fiber, the two companies have opted for a technology called DOCSIS 4.0 that uses amplifiers to allow existing cable systems to give customers multigigabit speeds.
Last month, Comcast said it would spend about $200 per home passed to upgrade its systems using amplifiers. That number compares with about $1,000 per home for laying new fiber optic cable lines. Neither amount includes the cost of connecting all the way to a home.
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