Altice Usa — Business Overview

What does Optimum Communications do?

Optimum Communications is a broadband and cable TV company serving roughly 4.3 million customers across 21 U.S. states. Formerly known as Altice USA, the company rebranded in November 2025 and trades on the NYSE under the ticker "OPTU." It delivers internet (broadband), video (cable TV), home phone (telephony), and mobile service to homes and businesses, primarily under the Optimum brand. Its network reaches approximately 10 million total passings (homes and businesses it can serve), anchored heavily in the New York metropolitan area.

The company's revenue and customer base break down across several service lines:

Total revenue was $8.59 billion in 2025, down from $8.95 billion in 2024, reflecting ongoing customer losses. Adjusted EBITDA (a measure of operating profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation) was $3.34 billion, representing a 38.8% margin.

How does Optimum Communications make money?

The core business is selling monthly subscription packages to households and businesses. Customers pay a recurring monthly fee for broadband, video, phone, and/or mobile service, often bundled together. Pricing varies by service tier, package, and any promotional offers. Broadband is the largest and most stable revenue stream at $3.54 billion in 2025, while video at $2.59 billion is shrinking as customers cut the cord. Mobile, at $165 million, is the fastest-growing line, up from $77 million in 2023.

Business services add a meaningful second revenue pillar. The company serves roughly 370,000 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with broadband, phone, and managed IT services. Its enterprise fiber subsidiary, Cablevision Lightpath LLC (50.01% owned), provides high-capacity fiber connectivity, managed networking, and data transport services to large corporations, hospitals, financial firms, and hyperscaler (large cloud computing company) customers, mainly in the New York, Boston, and Miami metro areas.

Advertising rounds out the revenue mix. Through Optimum Media, the company sells targeted TV and digital advertising to local, regional, and national advertisers. It also operates News 12 Networks, seven 24-hour local news channels in the New York tri-state area, and Juice Media, a data-driven media buying agency. Advertising faces intense competition from digital platforms but benefits from Optimum's proprietary viewership data and household-level targeting capabilities.

What market does Optimum Communications operate in?

Optimum operates in the U.S. broadband and pay-TV market, which is large but structurally shifting. The company's customer count has fallen steadily — from 4.74 million relationships in 2023 to 4.33 million in 2025 — reflecting two powerful secular trends: consumers dropping traditional cable TV (cord-cutting) and intensifying broadband competition from fiber and fixed wireless providers.

Broadband remains the growth anchor of the cable industry, but competition is rising fast. Demand for high-speed internet continues to grow, driven by streaming, remote work, and connected devices. However, rivals are aggressively building fiber networks into Optimum's territory. The filing estimates that fiber-based competitors can already reach over two-thirds of households in Optimum's New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut footprint, and approximately half of its south-central U.S. markets.

Video is a declining business across the entire industry. Optimum's video subscribers fell from 2.17 million in 2023 to 1.63 million in 2025, a drop of roughly 25% in two years. Streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, YouTube TV, and others continue to pull customers away from traditional cable bundles. The company is responding with more flexible video packages and a next-generation set-top box called Stream, but the overall trend is structural and unlikely to reverse.

Who are Optimum Communications' main competitors?

The company faces a different set of rivals in each of its service lines. The broadband and cable industry is dominated by a handful of large national players, making it moderately consolidated at the top, though new fiber builders and fixed wireless providers are fragmenting competition further.

Optimum claims several competitive advantages. Its ongoing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network build — already passing 3.1 million locations — allows it to offer symmetrical speeds up to 8 Gbps, matching or exceeding what most fiber rivals offer. Its infrastructure MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) agreement with T-Mobile gives it more control over its mobile network than typical resellers, including control over its own core network and SIM cards. And its existing customer base gives it a built-in audience to market mobile and business services to at lower acquisition cost.

Where does Optimum Communications operate?

Optimum is essentially a U.S.-only business, concentrated in two main regions. Its network footprint spans 21 states with approximately 10 million total passings, but the vast majority of its operations are concentrated in: (1) the New York metropolitan area, including New Jersey and Connecticut, and (2) south-central U.S. markets, primarily Texas and surrounding states, inherited from its 2015 acquisition of Cequel Corporation (formerly Suddenlink).

There is meaningful international exposure through its ownership structure, but not through operations. The company is controlled by Patrick Drahi through Next Alt S.à.r.l., a Luxembourg-based holding entity that also controls Altice Europe. Optimum sources some equipment and technology from Altice Labs, Altice Europe's R&D arm. However, Optimum's revenues are generated entirely within the United States. The company's advertising subsidiary, Optimum Media, has limited compliance obligations related to EU and UK privacy laws (GDPR) due to some advertisers operating in those markets.

Approximately 89% of Optimum's roughly 9,500 employees are U.S.-based, consistent with its domestic operational focus.