Legacy challenges, opportunities
WOW! is one of the original cable overbuilders founded in the mid-1990s. Continues to face aggressive challenges in its legacy markets from Tier 1 cable operators and fixed wireless providers.
The service provider lost 4,900 high-speed revenue-generating units (RGUs) for the quarter.
Regardless of the losses, WOW! continues to find ways to enhance its ARPU and reduce customer churn.
“We really challenged the cable companies, Comcast and Charter are our primary competitors in our legacy markets, and we certainly also have competition from fixed wireless,” Elder said. “What we have seen, though, in this last quarter is that we've been able to have strong HSD ARPU growth and our churn is near record lows.”
Another factor that’s helping WOW! in its legacy market is its ongoing expansion efforts in its edge-out markets. The provider continues to extend its fiber network into areas adjacent to its existing footprint (edge-outs) and develop entirely new fiber zones (greenfields) to drive subscriber growth.
“In Legacy, we have long had an Edge-out strategy, and we added another 3,700 homes in our legacy markets, and the '25 vintage is already near 30%, and the former vintages also continued to perform exceptionally well,” Elder said, adding that “our no contract, no data caps, reliable network, high-speed, very best value with our simplified pricing resonates with customers.”
Subscriber dips ding revenues
Despite its fiber expansion efforts, it wasn’t enough to stem the service provider’s subscriber losses, which affected subscription and total revenue for the quarter.
Total subscription revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, was $133.0 million, down $13.0 million, or 8.9%, as compared to the corresponding period in 2024.
The service provider said the decrease was driven by a $10.6 million shift in service mix, as it experienced a reduction across all revenue-generating units (RGUs) and a $7.3 million decrease in volume across all services.
WOW! lost 5,000 broadband RGUs, ending the quarter with 457,000 subscribers. Likewise, it saw video and telephony losses of 2,500 and 1,700, ending the quarter with total RGUs of 40,000 and 65,300.
The company said, “these decreases were partially offset by a $4.9 million increase in ARPU, due to rate increases issued in the first and second quarters of 2025.”
However, the service provider reported that it added 20,900 new homes passed, ending the quarter with a total of 2.02 million.
Business services again remained a bright spot. WOW!’s business services line did see a slight uptick in the quarter. Business Services Revenue totaled $4.9 million for the quarter, up $0.4 million, or 8.9%, compared with the corresponding period in 2024, driven by an increase in wholesale revenue, the company said.
WOW!’s $144 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, down $14.0 million, or 8.9%, as compared to the same period last year.
For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.
For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.
