Comcast has introduced a new home broadband/mobile bundle that shares some similarities with Spectrum One, a service convergence promo that Charter Communications recently introduced to new and existing customers.

As first spotted by BestMVNO, Comcast's new limited-time promotion offers one unlimited mobile line and a 200 Mbit/s home broadband service (with the Wi-Fi gateway included) for $50 per month – for a period of 24 months.

Figure 1: Click here for a larger version of this image.
(Source: Comcast website touting the operator's latest mobile and broadband service promotions.)

Comcast launched that mobile/home broadband bundle alongside a new offer for standalone 200 Mbit/s home broadband. The home broadband deal, viewed as competitive with current plans being marketed by fixed wireless access (FWA) providers, sells for $25 per month for a period of 24 months and includes the cost of the gateway.

Both Comcast's converged and standalone Internet promos, which will run through March 21, 2023, do not require a contract.

Comcast launched both promos in tandem with a new "Xfinity 10G Network" campaign that kicked off with an ad that debuted in local Comcast markets during Sunday's Super Bowl.

Comcast's convergence promotion does come with a few caveats – it's limited to new residential customers and the $50 starting price requires customers to opt for paperless billing and autopay (with a connected bank account). Otherwise, the monthly charge rises to $60 (or $55 if a customer enrolls with a credit or debit card), Comcast's mobile deal page notes.

Comcast's new convergence promo arrives a few months after Charter introduced Spectrum One, a bundle that Charter expects to accelerate mobile line growth. Charter's baseline Spectrum One offer features home broadband speeds of 300 Mbit/s (downstream), home Wi-Fi (with a modem for no added cost) and an unlimited line of mobile service for $49.99 per month – for 12 months.

Charter added a record 615,000 mobile lines in the fourth quarter of 2022, for a grand total of 5.29 million. Spectrum One contributed to those mobile gains in Q4, but Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said most (75% to 80%) of new mobile lines in Q4 came from existing home broadband customers upgrading to Spectrum Mobile. He suggested that Spectrum One could become a more significant driver as the operator further educates the market about the new bundle.

Not quite on par with Spectrum One

Comcast's approach here is to promote both a new standalone home broadband offering that matches up with FWA along with a new converged offer that combines that with an unlimited line of mobile service.

Comcast's new convergence bundle/promotion should be profitable and facilitate home broadband subscriber growth, but the offer "isn't quite as good as Spectrum One," New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin explained in a research note.

Comcast, he points out, is currently limiting the convergence offer to new customers while Charter offers Spectrum One to new and existing customers. And Comcast is also limiting the offer to home broadband speeds of 200 Mbit/s compared to a range of 300 Mbit/s to 500 Mbit/s available with Spectrum One.

Comcast also offers 200 Mbit/s service for $25 on a standalone basis, "so this isn't quite the same as a free mobile line for a year," the analyst points out.

"Given these limits, we expect less of a benefit to broadband subs for Comcast than Charter, but this is still a step in the right direction," Chaplin added.

Comcast's Xfinity Mobile, a service that relies on millions of Wi-Fi hotspots and an MVNO pact with Verizon, added a record 365,000 lines in Q4 2022, extending Comcast's total to 5.31 million lines. Comcast also lost 26,000 broadband subscribers (23,000 residential and 3,000 business) in the quarter. Without the impact from Hurricane Ian, Comcast said it would've added 4,000 broadband subs in Q4.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading