Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Charter
Letter From CEO Chris Winfrey
This is a unique and exciting time for Charter. We have made great progress on our three strategic initiatives that we announced in December 2022. Today, we are well underway with the largest network expansion since the 1980’s, the largest network capacity upgrade since the 1990’s, and we are seeing the benefit of our digital platform and workforce investments that both support our employees and lead to a better experience for our customers.
Our proven operating strategy to grow the business by offering products and services that deliver superior value to our customers remains unchanged. And our ESG efforts continue to be structured in a comprehensive three-pillar framework reflecting how our business drives sustained value in a virtuous cycle. By investing in a highly skilled workforce, we are able to deliver a superior network that connects our communities. The transformative investments we are making today support our operating strategy, align with our ESG framework and position Charter for continued growth.
We are executing a network evolution plan that is multifaceted and leverages our existing infrastructure, which is less disruptive for our customers and more environmentally friendly than building a network. In 2023, Charter began its fixed wireline network evolution to expand capacity and make symmetrical gigabit and multi-gigabit speeds available across our footprint. We completed this work in two markets in 2023, with more planned in 2024.
We continue to converge our wireline and wireless networks to bring seamless connectivity to our customers. Spectrum Mobile is the fastest growing mobile provider in the country and offers the fastest mobile service as a result of our converged network, with our wireless speeds only getting faster as we expect to launch WiFi7 in late 2024. In addition, we continue to evolve our video product with the introduction of Xumo Stream Boxes (“Xumo”). Xumo is streaming simplified, bringing a live TV experience together with all the top applications, aggregated search, curated content and an award-winning voice remote. Xumo is more energy efficient than traditional set-top boxes (“STBs”) and is now Charter’s preferred go-to-market platform for new video sales.
Our network expansion is well underway. We are investing in substantial buildout in rural areas and participating in both federal and state broadband grant programs to help close the digital divide. We activated approximately 295,000 subsidized rural passings in 2023 and, based on our accelerating pace of build, we expect to activate 450,000 in 2024. Charter is already the largest and fastest growing rural Internet provider in the country and our ongoing expansion will bring gigabit connectivity to over 1.6 million unserved and underserved rural homes and businesses by 2027.
Charter’s ESG Framework
As a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator, we create long-term value for our stakeholders through the efficient delivery of our services across our footprint. We recognize that by investing in a highly skilled workforce, we are able to deliver superior products and services over an advanced network to bring sustainable connectivity to our customers and their communities. A Highly Skilled Workforce, a Superior Network and Connected Communities underpinned by strong governance constitute our ESG framework. These three-pillars define our ESG priorities, set a foundation for our ESG goals and reflect important aspects of our overall business strategy.
