Cable One has announced an across-the-board, $5-a-month increase in residential broadband services.
"After nearly five years without taking a rate increase, Cable One has announced to customers that it will increase rates on residential high speed internet plans by $5.00 per month beginning with October 2015 billing statements," the company said in a brief statement.
Phoenix, Ariz.-based Cable One has been aggressively working to shift its focus onto its broadband business and away from its declining video operations. Indeed, the company said that, during the second quarter, fully 47.5 percent of its revenue came from the sale of high-speed data (HSD) services, up from 41.4 percent in the second quarter of 2014. The MSO picked up 505 residential broadband customers in the second quarter while losing another 21,400 video subscribers.
"Over the last several years, we have made significant investments to upgrade our network in order to meet customer demand and to continue to provide you with the fastest and most reliable internet service at a reasonable price," Cable One said in an FAQ on its website. "As a result of these investments and the increased cost of providing high speed internet service, we must adjust rates accordingly."
With its video base declining so rapidly and its broadband user base only increasing marginally, sustained revenue growth appears to require that prices be raised somewhere. And while Cable One professed to not touching broadband rates during the past 60 months, it has already instituted a number of recent price increases on video services. For example, the MSO instituted across-the-board $5 increases on video services in January 2014. And in September of last year, it tacked on a $2.94-a-month "sports surcharge" for pay-TV customers.
For more:
- read this Cable One press release
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