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BY JONATHAN BLUM, KAGAN
Deep inside Comcast's Q4 earnings release was a capex tidbit of note: Rare guidance on maintenance capital levels. Though so-called ?recurring investment? sounds obscure, it is critical in measuring how much money Comcast has to spend on new projects that (hopefully) create new profits. We estimate that discretionary capital was just under $1.3 billion for the period, far more than the $62 million in free cash lost by the company. Definitely not chump change.
COMCAST CAPEX ANALYSIS
EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN & DISCRETIONARY ESTIMATE
|
Year-End 2002 |
Estimated Recurring Investment |
Estimated Discretionary Investment |
| Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) |
$723 |
$145 |
$578 |
| Scalable Infrastructure |
185 |
11 |
174 |
| Line Extensions |
209 |
0 |
209 |
| Upgrade/Rebuild |
526 |
132 |
395 |
| Support Capital |
171 |
171 |
0 |
| Total Capex |
$1,814 |
$458 |
$1,356 |
| Reported EBITDA |
$1,190 |
|
|
| Reported Free Cash |
$(62) |
|
|
| Total Estimated Discretionary Capital |
$1,294 |
|
|
| NOTE: ALL DOLLAR VALUES IN MILLIONS |
| SOURCE: KAGAN WORLD MEDIA COMPILATION OF COMCAST DATA |
For all the good news at Comcast, see ?Kagan Media Money? at www.kagan.com/cw. www.kagan.com/cw www.kagan.com/cw.
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