Comcast is pushing for a major workforce shift as customer churn at its Xfinity broadband and cable TV businesses continues to rise.
The media giant revealed in its latest earnings report that it lost 144,000 U.S. broadband customers and 274,000 U.S. cable customers in the third quarter of this year. At the same time, its domestic broadband revenue fell 4.7% from the same period last year, and cable TV revenue fell 8.7%.
After Bloomberg reported on Oct. 21 that Comcast was planning “significant layoffs” across its broadband, cable and wireless businesses, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh addressed the upcoming operational changes during an earnings call a day later.
“The competitive environment requires us to perform at a higher level, move faster and operate more efficiently,” Kavanagh said. “…We are taking decisive steps to change the way we operate, structurally improve our cost base and create greater capacity to invest in growth.”
Comcast continues layoffs
Amid the shift, Comcast has begun layoffs in several states, affecting hundreds of employees.
According to a WARN notice Comcast filed with the Washington State Department of Employment Security on October 29, the company said it will lay off 159 employees at multiple regional offices in Washington state starting on December 31.
“Comcast is fundamentally redesigning our organization to build a more agile company and better serve our customers,” the company wrote in the warning notice. “These changes will help us accelerate innovation and compete more effectively in a rapidly changing industry.”
The company also said it will create “more than 1,100 new positions across the company” and will work with each affected employee to “consider them for these and any other open positions.”
Read more: Comcast makes big shift as customer churn rises
In another warning notice recently filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, Comcast said it would lay off 634 employees starting Dec. 31 at the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia.
Comcast is allowing affected employees in Philadelphia to keep their eliminated positions until Dec. 31, 2027, under certain circumstances, according to a recent report from Philadelphia Voice. Additionally, the company said it will try to place affected Philadelphia employees into vacant positions or one of about 500 new positions planned at two corporate buildings in the city.
Comcast also recently submitted a warning notice to the New Jersey Department of Labor, revealing that it will lay off 119 employees at multiple locations in New Jersey. This change will take effect on January 27, 2027.
Additionally, the media giant is reportedly laying off 82 employees in California, according to a recent report by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Comcast layoffs reflect broader telecom workforce shift
The layoffs come after Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said on an Oct. 22 earnings call that the company expects to take more than $1 billion in expenses in the fourth quarter of this year due to cost cuts and operational transformation actions.
As Comcast reshapes its workforce, it will also increase its use of artificial intelligence.
“We are introducing new technology leadership to accelerate the pace of innovation,” Armstrong said. “Artificial intelligence is already embedded into our network to optimize performance, and we are expanding its use in customer experience through our partnerships with Sierra and Cresta.”
The layoffs also come as Comcast prepares for a major leadership transition. Michael Angelakis will take over as CEO of the company’s remaining broadband, cable and wireless businesses following the planned 2027 split between NBCUniversal and Sky.
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Comcast isn’t the only telecom company to make layoffs this year. Spectrum, for example, laid off 313 employees in March after closing its call center facility in Wisconsin. The company then laid off 107 more employees in September after halting operations at its network operations center in Missouri.
T-Mobile also recently made layoffs. T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom revealed in its second quarter 2026 financial report that as of December 31, 2025, the operator had 70,036 employees in the United States. As of June 30, this number dropped to 65,365, “mainly due to the impact of the workforce transformation in 2025-2026.”
Verizon, meanwhile, cut hundreds of jobs nationwide in May and laid off more than 3,000 employees in August. In June, AT&T reportedly laid off employees in multiple departments.
The latest data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that from January to September 2026, the United States has announced 573,195 layoffs, of which the telecommunications industry announced 7,446 layoffs.
Matt Walker, principal analyst at MTN Consulting, revealed in a recent analysis that the number of global telecom employees has been shrinking for years due to “layoffs, retirements and attrition.”
He also said the “workforce profile” of the telecom industry is changing, with “demand shifting towards software, cloud, artificial intelligence and quantum computing skills.”
“Global telco headcount fell 2.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026,” Walker said. “This is not new – it has fallen every quarter since 2019, which is consistent with historical declines. What has changed is the reason: Operators now directly cite artificial intelligence and automation deployments when explaining cuts, rather than just cost discipline.”
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