https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ith-net-neutrality-rules-in-place/?comments=1
Comcast says it will increase network investment, but it was already doing that.
Jon Brodkin - 12/21/2017, 11:41 AM
Comcast yesterday claimed that it will invest more than $50 billion in infrastructure over the next five years because of the repeal of net neutrality rules and the new tax overhaul.
But the numbers show that Comcast's investments soared while the net neutrality rules were in place and would hit the "new" milestone if its investments continued increasing by a modest amount.
Big investment increases under net neutrality rules
How does $50 billion over five years compare to what Comcast already spends on infrastructure? The company's quarterly earnings reports answer that question.
In Q3 2017, the most recent quarter, Comcast's capital expenditures were $2.4 billion. Continuing to spend at that rate, even if Comcast doesn't increase spending to account for inflation, would push Comcast to $9.6 billion a year or $48 billion over the next five years.
Spending patterns can vary by quarter, however, so it may be more instructive to look at Comcast's capital investments over the past 12 months.
In the most recent four quarters combined (Q4 2016 through Q3 2017), Comcast spent $9.4 billion on capital investments. (Q4 2016 was the high point at $2.6 billion.) Continuing to spend $9.4 billion annually without any inflation-related increases would result in $47 billion over the next five years, a few billion below the "new" target.
But based on previous years, Comcast's spending likely would increase regardless of whether the net neutrality repeal and tax cut happened. In the 12 months ending September 30, 2014, Comcast's capital investments were $7.2 billion. Over the next 12 months, leading up to September 30, 2015, the spending rose to $8.1 billion.
The net neutrality rules took effect in June 2015. Though Comcast and other ISPs claim in some public statements that the rules suppressed investment, Comcast's annual capital expenditures continued to increase, hitting $9.2 billion in the four quarters ending September 30, 2016.
Thus, if Comcast continues increasing capital expenditures by the same rate as it did with net neutrality rules in place, the company would easily break the $50 billion figure that Roberts attributed to the net neutrality repeal and tax break.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcasts-50-Billion-Investment-Claim-is-Empty-Rhetoric-140936
Comcast's $50 Billion Investment Claim is Misleading Bullshit
by Karl Bode
Friday Dec 22 2017 12:41 EST
Comcast this week attempted to kiss up to the government by announcing that the company would be "expanding" network investment to the tune of $50 billion over five years. Why? Comcast claims that the "expansion" in investment was only made possible by the government's extremely unpopular repeal of net neutrality rules, and its almost as unpopular tax "reform" plan, which primarily benefits the nation's biggest corporations by lowering their standard tax rate permanently (whereas the benefits for you, the little guy, will be temporary).
"Based on the passage of tax reform and the FCC's action on broadband, Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast NBCUniversal, announced that the Company would award special $1,000 bonuses to more than one hundred thousand eligible frontline and non-executive employees," Comcast said in a statement.
"Roberts also announced that the Company expects to spend well in excess of $50 billion over the next five years investing in infrastructure to radically improve and extend our broadband plant and capacity, and our television, film and theme park offerings," the company added.
But those that take a closer look at Comcast's finances will find that's something that would have occurred anyway.
"In Q3 2017, the most recent quarter, Comcast's capital expenditures were $2.4 billion," notes John Brodkin at Ars Technica. "Continuing to spend at that rate, even if Comcast doesn't increase spending to account for inflation, would push Comcast to $9.6 billion a year or $48 billion over the next five years."
And based on current investment increases, Comcast would have already nudged that total past $50 billion regardless of the net neutrality repeal or the GOP's tax gift to American corporations, Brodkin notes.
"If Comcast continues increasing capital expenditures by the same rate as it did with net neutrality rules in place, the company would easily break the $50 billion figure that Roberts attributed to the net neutrality repeal and tax break," Brodkin notes.
This tactic of taking something they were going to do anyway -- then trying to claim that only awful, unpopular policies made it possible is a telecom industry tradition. AT&T has been utilizing this tactic for years, thanks in part to unskeptical consumers and a fact-check-phobic press. The same MO usually applies to mergers, where companies volunteer conditions they planned to do anyway, then claim it was all only possible thanks to "merger synergies."
Comcast exemplified this tactic back in 2014 when top lobbyist David Cohen actually got the company to suspend a program that delivers cheaper broadband to the poor (again, which Comcast was going to do anyway because it costs them very little), because he wanted to use it as regulator bait to secure approval of the company's NBC Universal acquisition.
And while $1,000 bonuses are nice and all (assuming they weren't planning to do those already too), they're a far cry from a raise, and obfuscate the fact that Comcast execs will be pocketing most of the windfall. Especially considering the billions upon billions that Comcast will likely glean from the gutting of net neutrality and the significantly lower tax rate.
