Cable One, Inc. (CABO)

Cable One, Inc. is a broadband communications provider that operates under the Sparklight brand. It delivers data, video and voice services over fiber-based infrastructure and describes itself as a fully integrated provider with a primary focus on residential data and business data services. The company became an independent public company in 2015 through a spin-off from Graham Holdings Company and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CABO. It has grown through acquisitions including NewWave, Clearwave, Fidelity, Valu-Net, Hargray and CableAmerica. It has also made strategic equity investments in other broadband-centric providers serving non-urban markets.

Substantially all revenue comes from three product lines. In 2025, residential data was 60.1% of total revenues, business data 15.3% and residential video 12.5%. Residential data and business data carry Adjusted EBITDA margins roughly three and four times that of residential video, because programming costs and retransmission fees consume 59% to 63% of video revenue. The company therefore emphasizes data growth and de-emphasizes video, which it delivers through Sparklight TV, an IPTV service. Residential data offerings include speeds up to 1 Gbps across all passings and up to 2 Gbps in 53% of markets, plus advanced Wi-Fi, technology support and network security solutions. Business offerings include up to 1 Gbps over HFC, up to 5 Gbps over shared fiber and up to 100 Gbps over dedicated enterprise fiber. In late 2025 the company began a pilot mobile service with a mobile virtual network enabler.

At December 31, 2025, Cable One served approximately 1.0 million residential and business customers out of about 2.9 million passings. About 999,000 customers subscribed to data, 88,000 to video and 94,000 to voice. Its customers are concentrated in non-metropolitan, secondary and tertiary markets across 24 Western, Midwestern and Southern states, with about 75% located in Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. In over 40% of its footprint there is no wired competitor offering residential download speeds of 100 Mbps or higher.

The company runs a fiber or hybrid fiber-coaxial network with DOCSIS 3.1 capability throughout and is deploying DOCSIS 4.0. It combines local operating offices and virtual call centers with centralized corporate support, and it uses AI tools in call routing, field service and churn prediction. It completed a company-wide unified billing platform in 2025. Competitors include telephone companies, fiber, municipal and cooperative overbuilders, fixed wireless providers and over-the-top video providers. The business operates under non-exclusive franchises or telecommunications licenses and is subject to extensive federal and state regulation, including FCC oversight and state net neutrality laws. In January 2026 it agreed to acquire the remaining equity interests in MBI. The text does not state the headquarters location.