US cable operator Charter Communications added 486,000 mobile lines in Q1 which represented a 2.9 per cent drop from the number acquired a year ago, but wireless revenue of $685 million increased from $497 million.

It now has 8.25 million mobile lines across residential and business customers. Charter’s wireless service accounts for 5 per cent of total revenue, according to MoffettNathanson senior MD Craig Moffett, up from 4.6 per cent a year ago.

On its earnings call Charter CEO Chris Winfrey emphasised there was still had a lot of room to grow for its mobile business with less than 8 per cent of users taking its Spectrum One bundled offering of internet and mobile.

“We remain underpenetrated despite having a differentiated and superior offering with market-leading pricing at promotion and retail,” he said.

Moffett stated in a research note the US cable operators’ wireless value proposition to customers couldn’t be simpler: “Same product, lower price”.

He noted despite the deceleration of wireless subscribers in Q1, “the Spectrum One promotion will almost certainly turn out to be a home run” despite the end of introductory tariffs.  

Charter sweetened the initial Spectrum One tariff with a free mobile line for a year.