Charter 2002 Annual Report Download - page 3

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Operating Summary:
Statistics
(unaudited) Approximate as of Dec. 31,
2002(a) 2001(a)
Analog Video:
Estimated homes passed(b) 11,925,000 11,502,000
Total analog video customers 6,578,800 6,936,200
Estimated penetration of analog video homes passed 55% 60%
Digital Video:
Estimated digital homes passed(b) 11,547,000 10,638,300
Digital customers 2,682,800 2,144,800
Digital percentage of analog video customers 41% 31%
High-Speed Data:
Estimated cable modem homes passed(b) 9,826,000 7,561,000
Residential cable modem customers 1,138,100 552,900
Estimated penetration of cable modem homes passed 12% 7%
Revenue Generating Units:
Analog video customers 6,578,800 6,936,200
Digital video customers 2,682,800 2,144,800
Cable modem customers 1,138,100 552,900
Telephony customers 22,800 —
Total revenue generating units 10,422,500 9,633,900
Customer relationships(c) 6,634,700 6,953,700
(a) “Customers” include all persons corporate billing records show as receiving service, regardless of their payment status, except for complimen-
tary accounts (such as our employees). Prior to publicly reporting the number of total analog video customers as of September 30, and
December 31, 2001, we deducted 46,000 and 45,000 customers, respectively, from the numbers shown on the billing records as a reserve. Of
the total customers reported for December 31, 2002, 93,000 were 60–90 days overdue, 5,000 customers were 90–120 days overdue, and 1,000
customers were more than 120 days overdue. Of the total customers reported for December 31, 2001, 160,000 customers were 60–90 days
overdue, 55,000 customers were 90–120 days overdue, and 31,000 customers were more than 120 days overdue. Such delinquent customers
represent 1.5% and 3.5% of total customers as of December 31, 2002 and 2001, respectively. For 2002 and 2001, our year-end financial state-
ments reflect a reserve for uncollectible accounts that we deemed sufficient. The adequacy of the 46,000 and 45,000 customer reductions, our
disconnect policies, the application of those policies and their effect on the customer totals reported by us during 2001 and prior periods are
currently under investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Those investigations are not complete. Upon the completion of such investigations, and depending on their outcome, we may
make additional adjustments in the 2001 or prior periods customer numbers if such adjustments are appropriate. When we publicly announced
our 2001 results on February 11, 2002, we also announced that we expected the number of customers to decline by 120,000 during the first
quarter of 2002. We ultimately reported a loss of 145,000 customers in that quarter. The customer reduction was primarily the result of elimi-
nating non-paying or delinquent customers from the customer totals.
(b) Homes passed represents the estimated number of living units, such as single family homes, apartments units and condominium units passed
by the cable distribution network in a given area to which we offer the service indicated. Homes passed excludes commercial units passed by
the cable distribution network.
(c) Customer relationships include the number of customers that receive at least one level of service encompassing video, cable modem and
telephony services, without regard to which service(s) customers purchase. This statistic is computed in accordance with the guidelines of the
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) that have been adopted by eleven publicly traded cable operators (including Charter
Communications, Inc.) as an industry standard.
See the Customer Statistics Chart in the “Our Business” section for additional information related to the above statistics.
2002 Annual Report 1.