Charter Says 2019 Should Be Bulk of Wireless Capital Spending

As Charter Communications' wireless business grows, it's tough to peg when its losses peak and it begins swinging toward profitability, said Chief Financial Officer Chris Winfrey in an analyst call Tuesday as the company announced Q1 results. CEO Tom Rutledge said Charter is testing its Spectrum Mobile wireless product to see if mobile capabilities can be increased by using Dual SIM technology along with unlicensed and potentially licensed spectrum. It said it added 176,000 mobile lines in the most recent quarter, ending with 310,000. "Mobile is ramping nicely," Winfrey said. He said the bulk of capital spending, such as setting up retail locations, should be in 2019. The company said revenue in the quarter was $11.2 billion, up 5.1 percent year over year. It said during the quarter it had residential and small and mid-sized business internet net adds of 428,000, video net losses of 145,000 and wireline voice net losses of 99,000. It ended the quarter with 15.95 residential video customers, 24 million residential broadband customers and 10 million residential voice.