Key Points:
- Altice U.S. lost 35,000 total broadband subscribers in Q2, an improvement from 51,000 a year earlier, as broadband churn fell to its lowest second-quarter level in three years.
- Video subscriber losses continued, with 56,000 customers dropping the service in Q2, though migration to new video tiers helped improve gross margins.
- Fiber broadband customers grew 53% to 663,000, with Altice adding 56,000 net fiber subscribers during the quarter.
Optimum parent company Altice USA reported a smaller broadband subscriber decline in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, a sign of stabilization in its core connectivity business amid ongoing churn in its pay television unit.
The company said it lost 35,000 broadband customers during the quarter, a marked improvement over the 51,000 lost in the year-ago period and better than its 37,000 subscriber loss logged during Q1. Altice USA ended the quarter with approximately 4.3 million broadband subscribers, the company said.
Dennis Mathew, the CEO of Altice USA, framed the results as a sign of positive momentum, highlighting “year-over-year and sequential improvement in broadband subscriber trends” as well as growth in broadband average revenue per user (ARPU), which rose to $74.77 from $74.13 a year earlier.
Altice USA attributed the broadband stabilization to targeted localized offers, improved sales channel execution and lower churn, which fell to its lowest second-quarter level in three years. Despite the subscriber losses, broadband remains the company’s largest revenue driver, generating $885.1 million in the quarter, though that figure was down slightly from $915.0 million in Q2 2024.
In contrast, video subscriber losses continued to mount. The company shed 56,000 video customers in Q2, following a loss of 72,800 subscribers in the same quarter last year and 87,700 customers in Q1. Its pay TV customer count now stands at approximately 1.7 million residential subscribers. Video revenue fell sharply to $660.5 million, down from $739.4 million a year earlier.
To help offset video declines, Altice has been migrating customers to its new video tier offerings, which now represent 10 percent of its residential video base. It also launched a new promotion that unlocks an extended free trial of two Disney-owned streaming services, part of a broader subscription marketplace powered by tech firm Bango. Those moves, along with improved product margins and service call reductions, contributed to better video gross margins, which improved by roughly 300 basis points compared to Q2 2024.
Altice USA is also leaning into fiber-based broadband as a growth engine. The company added 56,000 fiber broadband customers during the quarter, up from 40,000 in the same period last year, bringing its total to 663,000, a 53 percent year-over-year increase. Fiber customer penetration rose to 21.9 percent of homes passed, up from 15.3 percent a year earlier.
On the mobile side, Altice USA reported 38,000 net additions in Q2, bringing total lines to 546,000, a 42 percent jump from last year. Mobile now reaches 6.8 percent of the company’s broadband base.
Overall, Altice USA generated $2.15 billion in total revenue, a 4.2 percent year-over-year decline. Net loss attributable to shareholders was $96.3 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared with a $15.4 million profit in the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $803.8 million, down 7.3 percent year over year.
Capital expenditures grew 10.3 percent to $383.5 million as the company continued expanding its fiber footprint and investing in network upgrades, including mid-split enhancements to its DOCSIS 3.1 platform.
Looking ahead, Altice reiterated its goal of delivering approximately $3.4 billion in Adjusted EBITDA for the full year, while continuing to reduce operating expenses and drive efficiencies across its network, workforce and support operations.
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