Less than half a year after its launch, Comcast’s wireless service Xfinity Mobile reportedly reached 200,000 subscribers, suggesting that its lower price entry provided it with an upper hand in a highly competitive market. Launched in May, the service was offered to Comcast customers who already had TV and internet subscriptions and offered an unlimited data plan at $65 a month, or $45 a month if the customers already had one of the premium plans that included landline phone service. At that price point, Comcast’s service is one of the most affordable in the United States and has seemingly managed to attract a significant number of users.
Originally announced in April and rolled out during the following two months, Xfinity Mobile was introduced as a new potential revenue generator for Comcast. The company was already facing strong competition with companies like AT&T bundling their services and wireless plans, and with the growing trend of consumers moving away from television to streaming services like Netflix, it was a move to keep its 29 million-strong user base from transitioning to rivaling services. 200,000 Xfinity Mobile subscribers might not sound like a significant margin for calling the new service a success, especially compared to the previously mentioned millions of potential users, but some analysts still believe Comcast has enough reasons to celebrate, noting that the firm will likely be able to record a profit with a user base of that size. The company is buying its bandwidth at wholesale prices from Verizon, paying $3 to $4 per gigabyte, which it then resells to its customers at $12 per gigabyte. On top of that, Comcast has already stated that the $12 per initiated gigabyte option proved to be the most popular among its users, suggesting that the said option could be its main revenue growth engine in the wireless segment.
Comcast will now be looking to additionally strengthen Xfinity Mobile going forward, both by expanding its coverage and smartphones offered alongside plans. While the company didn’t present its latest wireless effort as an initiative that’s guaranteed to be massively successful in the short term, the cable service provider remains adamant that Xfinity Mobile will help it lead a completely sustainable business in the future.