Comcast Execs Quiet On Verizon Partnership Details Amid Mobile Offering Launches

Comcast Corporation CMCSA announced the launch of Xfinity Mobile via the Verizon Communications Inc. VZ network. It’s unclear “whether Comcast can further benefit from its WiFi network while not compromising brand perception or QoS on a best efforts network,” Wunderlich’s Matthew Harrigan said in a report.

Comcast's chief financial officer, Michael Cavanagh, has not provided any details of the Verizon-related financials or of further development, Harrigan mentioned. He reiterates a Buy rating on Comcast, with a price target of $45.

Xfinity Mobile is currently available only to broadband homes, and the best customers being offered the most attractive pricing of $45 for an unlimited mobile data plan. Other customers pay $65 for the unlimited plan.

Lack Of Details

“The long-term end game is migrating traffic away from Verizon to contain MVNO agreement costs. A risk to Comcast is that consumer frustration with overloaded WiFi hotspots could cause a spike in expensive LTE network traffic,” the analyst wrote.

Comcast has not provided any details of the Verizon MVNO economics. Details of the eventual 5G offerings were also held back. It is unclear whether Comcast would benefit from “deploying small cell topologies other than its current WiFi product,” Harrigan noted. He added that the CFO specifically refused to comment on “whether the agreement would allow Comcast to divert traffic onto an inhouse cellular network.”

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