Altice USA could seek as much as $1 billion in broadband subsidies

Altice USA is jockeying to secure its fair share of broadband subsidy money as billions in federal funding flows to the states, with CEO Dexter Goei revealing it has already applied for $150 million in support and plans to chase significantly more. Goei said over the next six to 12 months Altice will likely apply for an additional $500 million in funding. Across all the territories contiguous to its coverage areas “we suspect there’s probably a billion of subsidy money to go after if we were to apply for all of the availability,” he added. “The low end of that is probably $500 million.” The CEO said it’s “very difficult” to predict how successful it will be in winning the support it has applied for. However, he noted it is pursuing funding in areas near to its head ends. “So, we tend to have a capital advantage obviously in terms of our ability to deploy more efficiently and to co-invest more aggressively alongside the subsidy money in the states,” he explained. Goei said the $150 million it applied for was for about 55,00 to 60,000 homes. The operator previously laid out plans to edge out to as many as 200,000 homes per year in 2022 and beyond.