Comcast’s New Wireless Phone Service Might Be a Hit

Xfinity Mobile has reached a significant amount of users in just five months, reports say.

General views at the Comcast Xfinity Store Thursday, June 1, 2017, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Fusco/AP Images for Comcast)

When Comcast launched wireless service Xfinity Mobile back in May, a big question for analysts was whether the cable giant could actually gain ground in the hypercompetitive wireless market. Now new information from an unnamed source close to the matter suggests that Xfinity Mobile has in fact managed to attract a significant number of users.

The source told Bloomberg last week that Xfinity Mobile has attracted about 200,000 subscribers in less than five months. While the figure itself doesn’t represent “gangbuster sales” as Bloomberg notes, it’s a sign that Comcast’s lower prices give it an upper hand in the competitive cellular market. Comcast declined to comment on the figure to Philadelphia magazine. 

When Xfinity Mobile launched in May, the company charged $65 a month for unlimited data plans. Those who were already on one of the company’s premium plans that included land line phone service could get the unlimited data plan for $45 a month. Customers also had the option to pay for cellular data by the gig. The service is only available to Comcast customers who subscribe to Internet service.

“That [200,000] number is just a rounding error to the other carriers at this point, but what’s interesting is that Comcast might be making a profit at this,” analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics told Bloomberg.

In August, Comcast announced that Xfinity Mobile was available nationwide across its footprint. “We created a unique mobile experience that’s simple and saves customers money by connecting to our nationwide Wi-Fi network, and allows them to only pay for the data they use,” said Xfinity Mobile president Greg Butz at the time. “Now that we’re available across all of our distribution platforms, including our retail locations in all of our markets, we look forward to introducing even more customers to Xfinity Mobile.”

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