Comcast, Charter split mobile cost
Comcast Corp.’s Xfinity Mobile business is running big losses – a projected $1.2 billion for its first 18 months – as it launches against competitors Verizon Communications, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
But the nation’s largest cable/internet company will now be getting financial help to take some of the pain away.
Charter Communications Corp., the nation’s No. 2 cable/internet company, has agreed to a partnership to fund 50 percent of the logistics and behind-the-scenes software for the smartphone business so that Charter can use the same software platform for its soon-to-launch Spectrum service.
Charter is expected to launch the new service this summer, mostly based on Comcast’s model.
The Charter funding will help finance the Xfinity Mobile’s Philadelphia development team, company officials say. Comcast did not disclose the amount of the funding or the development team size.
Comcast and Charter will separately advertise and market their mobile services, in addition to separately negotiating with smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung. But the two companies will share the software platform that does the billing, warehouse logistics, manages the plans, and orders the phones. The software also serve as the interface between the cable/internet companies and wireless network operators. Comcast and Charter basically lease wireless spectrum from Verizon to offer the smartphone service.
Comcast has been developing the software for more than a year. Xfinity Mobile launched around mid-2017. So, Charter will make an initial payment to the partnership to cover the costs that Comcast has already put into the software. Going forward, Comcast and Charter will fund the partnership on a 50-50 basis.
According to its first-quarter earnings statement, Comcast added about 200,000 smartphone subscribers in the first quarter and lost $189 million on the business. Comcast executives say Xfinity Mobile will be profitable when the business gets larger.
Machinists strike rocket alliance
DECATUR, Ala. – Workers who build and launch rockets have gone on strike in Alabama, Florida and California.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted Sunday to reject a three-year contract offer from United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado.
The strike, which began Monday, involves about 300 workers who assemble rockets in Decatur, Alabama, and about 300 who launch them, including about 220 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and 80 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Union members cited travel requirements and a lack of job security as major sticking points, news outlets reported.
A frequently voiced complaint among picketers in Alabama on Monday was a contract provision that expands management’s authority to require employees to travel to different sites to support launches.
“That’s my biggest concern,” maintenance worker Randall Springer told the Decatur Daily . “Anybody at any time can be sent away for 30 days.”
United Launch Alliance is a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. The company said its offer was in the best interest of owners and employees and that operations would continue during the strike.
Tesla purges workers at struggling factory
FREMONT, Calif. – Tesla was set to begin scraping “barnacles” on Monday.
Barnacle is Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s word for temporary workers whose job performance is not up to snuff. Scraping and scrubbing are his words for firing them, a purge the billionaire apparently believes is crucial to getting his Model 3 sedan production back on track at its Fremont factory.
In an email sent to managers late last week, Musk told them to send a note to human resources by Monday “justifying the excellence, necessity and trustworthiness” of temporary employees. “Anyone who does not have a Tesla employee putting their reputation on the line for them will be denied access to our facilities and networks on Monday morning.”
The dictate apparently covers white collar employees as well as factory workers. “This applies worldwide,” he said. Musk’s email was forwarded or sent directly to Elektrek, a website focused on electric vehicles.
Musk also talked about unproductive contract workers on an earnings call with analysts last Wednesday. “We’ve got barnacles on barnacles,” he said. “So there’s going to be a lot of barnacle removal.”
Consumer borrowing rises during March
Americans increased their borrowing by $11.6 billion in March as a big increase in the category that covers auto and student loans offset the largest monthly drop in credit card borrowing in more than five years.
The Federal Reserve says the March increase in debt was below the $13.6 billion increase in February and was the smallest monthly gain since September.