Altice USA looks to BYOD in wireless launch
Dec. 5, 2018 10:07 AM ET|About: Altice USA (ATUS)|By: Jason Aycock, SA News Editor
As Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) prepares to throw its hat in with cablecos launching wireless service, the company expects to rely heavily on the "bring your own device" approach rather than taking a heavy hand in equipment sales.
"We're going to be BYOD-heavy," says CEO Dexter Goei, rather than taking on the "inventory risk" that would go with involvement in device financing (except for customers with excellent credit scores). (h/t Light Reading)
Details are still in flux but the company's service, via an MVNO deal with Sprint, is still expected in the first half of 2019.
As for the wireless inroads made by rivals Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Charter (NASDAQ:CHTR), they're seeing solid volume but unspectacular penetration, Goei says.
And competitive impact from 5G is a ways off: "This is going to be a slow burn for quite some time."
He added the company expects to have about 200,000 homes ready for fiber-to-the-premises by year-end, most in its Northeast Optimum footprint, and as for M&A: "Buyer or seller, we're open to everything ... If somebody comes and approaches us and wants to acquire us at an attractive number, definitely we would look at that."
Gaat lekker met ATUS:)