Dish Network reported a small drop in third-quarter revenues after losing both pay-TV and mobile subscribers. Revenue dropped to USD 4.45 billion from USD 4.53 billion a year earlier, while net profit improved over the same period to USD 557 million from USD 505 million, helped by improved profitability at the mobile business following the integration of various acquisitions.
Dish said it lost 13,000 pay-TV subscribers in the quarter, compared to a net increase of 116,000 in the year-ago quarter. It ended September with a total 10.98 million TV customers, including 8.42 million Dish satellite users and 2.56 million subscribers for the streaming service Sling TV. That compares to 8.55 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.44 million Sling TV subscribers at the end of June.
At the mobile business, the company lost 121,000 retail customers in Q3, less than the drop of 212,000 in the year-ago quarter. The company blamed the decline on device shortages, ongoing integration and optimisation of operations and the pending closure of T-Mobile's CDMA network. Dish closed the quarter with 8.77 million retail wireless subscribers, down 6.8 percent from a year earlier, and Q3 wireless service revenue was down 4.1 percent to USD 1.04 billion.
Dish said the construction of its 5G mobile network is underway in 35 markets across the US and confirmed it's started a consumer beta service on the network in Las Vegas. Capex for the network build jumped to USD 281 million in the third quarter from USD 22 million a year ago, and Dish said spending will ramp up further in the rest of 2021 to support the roll-out.
