More video subscribers and revenues that topped expectations are the headlines coming from Comcast’s Q1 2016 earnings report. Video customers increased by 53,000 for the quarter, which the operator reports as the best Q1 result in nine years for that measure. As a comparison, it shed 8,000 in the same period a year ago.
High-speed Internet customers increased by 438,000. Comcast also notes that as the best first quarter result in four years. Business services revenue increased 17.5 percent, which the operator says is driven by small business.
Consolidated revenue grew 5.3 percent to $18.8 billion, according to the report, and earnings per share for the first quarter was 87 cents, a 7.4 percent increase compared to the Q1 2015. Those numbers topped analysts’ estimates, including Thomson Reuters that had projected adjusted earnings of 79 cents a share on $18.6 billion in revenue.
Nearly 35 percent of all video customers now have X1, according to Comcast. Cable Communications’ capital expenditures increased 9 percent to $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2016, which Comcast says reflects “a higher level of investment in scalable infrastructure to increase network capacity and increased investment in line extensions, as well as our continued spending on customer premise equipment related to the deployment of the X1 platform and wireless gateways.”