Comcast executives focused on VoIP plans during a conference call...

about a million VoIP customers this year, said Co-CFO John Alchin. VoIP is a “key initiative for 2006 and beyond,” said COO Stephen Burke. He spoke at length about preparations to roll out the service, which Comcast is doing later than some cable peers. Spending on the product will reduce cash-flow growth in 2006, said Alchin. Comcast expects cable cash flow to rise as much as 11% this year, less than the 12.6% prediction of Banc of America Securities analyst Douglas Shapiro and slightly below the forecast of Janco’s Matthew Harrigan. Last quarter was “slightly disappointing,” wrote UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff: “Guidance for 2006 EBITDA growth was lower versus estimates due to VoIP rollout expenses, which should wane beyond 2006.” He said Comcast’s $5 billion stock buyback plan was “encouraging.” Broadband sales rose the most of any product in the 4th quarter, 24% from a year earlier to $1.06 billion. The firm added 22% broadband customers, for 8.52 million total. Asked about prospects for net neutrality regulations, CEO Brian Roberts lashed out. “We continue to believe that proponents of so called net neutrality are pursuing a solution in search of a problem,” he said, adding Comcast has never blocked access to websites. “We're certainly going to try to fight anything like that.” The firm will “try to advocate for our right as a network manager, to manage the network, to make sure that the customer experience does not get degraded,” said Roberts.