In public comments by the Free State Foundation in the T-Mobile/Sprint merger proceeding, FSF President Randolph May and I explained that "recent wireless market entry by Comcast and Charter and potential entry from other entities [] provides choices for consumers as well as competitive checks against anticompetitive conduct in the market." Our comments continued:
Comcast launched its Xfinity Mobile service in April 2017. The service for mobile wireless voice calling, texting, and mobile data relies on Comcast’s network capacity – including 18 million Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots – in combination with network capacity leased from Verizon Wireless for out-of-area voice and data transmission. Xfinity Mobile enrolled 577,000 subscribers through the first quarter of 2018. Analysts have predicted new subscriber numbers will continue climbing. It is reported, for instance, that New Street Research expects Comcast’s new enrollments to sharply increase during the second half of 2018 and that Xfinity Mobile subscribership could reach 2 million connections within the near future. Meanwhile, Charter has announced the introduction of a similar hybrid Wi-Fi/cellular mobile wireless service called Spectrum Mobile.
On July 25, 2019, Comcast reported that its Xfinity Mobile service had nearly 1.6 million wireless subscriber lines at the end of the second quarter of this year. And on July 26, Charter reported significant subscriber growth during the second quarter of this year, with Charter serving 518,000 mobile lines by the quarter's end. These subscriber numbers point to both the present reality and potential for cable hybrid Wi-Fi/Cellular mobile wireless services to provide consumers with competitive service choices.
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