Charter Network Expansion Plans Send Stock Dipping

Wall Street wasn't enamored with Charter Communications' plans for $5.5 billion in network investments over the next three years, with Charter shares closing Wednesday at $328.34, down 16.4%, after a Tuesday investor presentation following that day's market close at which it unveiled the spending plan. New CEO Chris Winfrey (see 2209210008) said the spending would give it a network of 2 Gbps/1 Gbps speeds and capacity using DOCSIS 4.0 technology of 10 Gbps. In the context of Charter's overall size "and what we get for [the spending], we think it's worth it," Winfrey said. He said Charter will expand its Spectrum Mobile 1 Gbps offering across more of its footprint. He said Charter sees big growth opportunities in selling converged mobile and wireline service, with only 3 million subscribers today taking that although its network passes 55 million locations. Video’s problem has been affordability, and the Charter/Comcast joint venture Xumo will let Charter sell streaming video packages and applications, aggregate consumer streaming applications, and deploy a lower-cost IP set-top box, Winfrey said.