Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported an 11 percent decrease in energy consumption for its cable network and business operations from 2019 to 2024, relying on new technologies designed to process increased customer traffic with reduced electricity use. During this period, Comcast’s network traffic rose by 76 percent, attributed to higher demand for data related to streaming, gaming, sports, and business activities. At the same time, electricity usage per byte consumed has declined by 49 percent since 2019, approaching Comcast’s stated goal of a 50 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2030.
Comcast reduced its electricity consumption per terabyte from 18.4 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2019 to 9.3 kWh/TB in 2024. These changes are attributed to the company’s transition to virtualized, cloud-based technologies, which use less equipment, space, and energy per byte while delivering higher broadband speeds and reliability.
According to Inside Towers Intelligence, Comcast operates the largest cable network in the U.S. By the end of 1Q25, Comcast’s domestic hybrid fiber-coaxial cable network reached 64 million homes and businesses, and connected to 31.6 million residential and commercial broadband customers. In 2024, the company invested $8.3 billion in its Connectivity & Platforms business unit, which oversees the cable network, an increase of nearly one percent year-over-year. While Comcast has not issued guidance for 2025, Inside Towers Intelligence estimates that capital expenditures for the year will likely remain at comparable levels.
“We’ve known for a long time that the future of connectivity is more – more gaming, more streaming, more video conferencing, and, in recent years, more AI,” said Elad Nafshi, Comcast EVP and Chief Network Officer. “We’re delivering dramatically more data at faster speeds and greater reliability at the highest quality for our customers, all while conserving the amount of energy needed to power our network.”
Comcast is embedding AI and machine learning throughout the network to improve diagnostics and to assist network managers in making better informed network performance decisions. This includes enhanced network monitoring and fault detection using bandwidth-efficient telemetry data as well as improved network maintenance using real-time issue localization plus predictive and self-healing network intelligence – actions that increase efficiency and improve the customer experience.
At the same time, Comcast is also driving improvement through accelerated decommissioning of legacy equipment and enhancement of technical facilities such as temperature set point optimization and improved air flow at data centers.
“Driving energy efficiency is a natural evolution of how we meet growing customer demand and makes great business sense, especially as we make significant investments into our network and collaborate with suppliers to deploy the latest technologies,” said Ryan Capone, Comcast VP of Network Facilities & Energy. “We’ve now laid the technological groundwork to deliver a fast, efficient, and reliable customer experience, while preparing to leverage AI to further drive efficiency in the future.”
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