Charter Communications CEO Christopher Winfrey spoke out against wireline’s rapidly emerging competition for fixed wireless access at a Morgan Stanley investor conference on Wednesday, repeatedly calling the technology an “inferior product” and saying several times Label it “Mobile Internet.”
“This is the Internet for mobile phones,” Winfrey repeatedly declared, noting that the cable industry “needs to do a better job of marketing” to rapidly emerging wireless competitors. (You can access the replay Winfrey’s Morgan Stanley appears here.)
“We need to make it clear to customers why you’re getting lower and lower price points [on FWA] It’s because you’re paying too much on the wireless line,” he explained.
T-Mobile and Verizon have dominated customer growth for home internet services after launching their respective FWA platforms in 2021.
“We’re in a lull right now from a network ramp-up perspective,” Winfrey said, noting that consumer activity is decreasing and there are still hangovers from heavy use of high-speed internet services during the pandemic.
FWA also brings new competition.
“Whenever there’s a new competitor in the market, you’re going to see disruption,” Winfrey said.
Meanwhile, the Charter CEO was also asked about the so-called “Spulo” streaming joint venture recently announced by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
“We don’t have a lot of details, and I’m not sure if the deal is final, but whether it’s 60 percent or 65 percent sports content, I’m not sure it’s going to satisfy the thirst of sports fanatics,” Winfrey said.
Regardless, he added, “Three of the biggest programmers have decided that type-based packaging is the way to go. I agree with that. We’ve been saying this for decades. When you step back, this is what programmers admit It’s the right path…I fully expect us to be able to distribute content the same way.”