broadband

Are We Witnessing Wireline’s Last Stand?

Bernie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:52:15 -0500

News is that we’ve “officially” been in a recession since December 2007. That means we are now in month twelve of a recession, with no end in sight. The longest post World War II recessions in the U.S. have historically lasted sixteen months. Some economic experts are predicting that we won’t exit the current recession until 2010, making this the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. That’s not good news for wireline telephone service. Among all the current key communications services of wireline, wireless, broadband, and video, wireline is the most vulnerable to be cutback due to economic issues. It’s safe to say that consumers will increasingly scrutinize their total communications spend, and wireline service is the most likely to get the axe. The millions of access lines that have been lost during each of the past few quarters may pale in comparison to what’s to come. If the recession intensifies, will it lead to wireline’s last stand?

Cable seems to think it’s in good shape. Some are even predicting that cable will benefit from the recession. Verizon is riding that pony too, suggesting that FiOS is an enabler of “home enterstayment.” As far as wireless, the evidence suggests that consumers are embracing it more than ever before, smack dab in the middle of potentially the worst recession on record. Telephony Online has an interesting series discussing how service providers can cope during these hard times, and a recurring message in the first installment is that carriers must enhance and emphasize broadband to at least "maintain" in these challenging times. Funny, all this recession coping commentary, yet very little, if any discussion about leveraging wireline voice. Of course I’m not suggesting that a recession will completely kill wireline service. But its continuing relevancy may be at risk and closely tied to the intensity and length of this potentially record recession. We may be witnessing the catalyst that pushes broadband into the role of “local service,” perhaps more quickly than has generally been anticipated.

Qwest Lowers DSL Pricing

Bernie — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:40:42 -0500

Qwest announced a new holiday promotion for DSL which lowers their entry level tier to $14.99/month (from $39.99/month) for up to 1.5 Mbps. Their intermediate tier, or Qwest Platinum, pricing was lowered to $24.99/month (from $49.99/month) for up to 7 Mbps. Both offers are for one year of service. Qwest is also enticing existing customers with two months of free service if they agree to a two year commitment.

Qwest is following other telcos down the DSL value path, with high profile price promotions to try to stem slowing DSL growth. Verizon recently introduced a $9.99/month DSL plan. Will it be enough to reverse the slowing DSL growth trend?

75% of Broadband Customers Willing to Try New Provider

Bernie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:37:38 -0500

New survey results from Strategy Analytics suggests that 75% of existing broadband subscribers would be willing to switch to a new service provider. According to the findings, Time Warner Cable is most vulnerable to subscriber defections, while Cox has the most secure customer base. Telcos are vulnerable to competing services that offer faster speeds. The hypothesis is worth noting since pure growth in broadband appears to be slowing, so broadband service providers (BSPs) will increasingly be eyeing each other’s customers for subscriber growth.

The findings also identified customer service as having a growing importance for customers. "The implications for BSPs are clear," noted John Lee, Analyst in the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice in a press release. "In this highly competitive and commoditizing market, companies can differentiate through customer service," he said. Survey findings also indicate that perceived installation hassles play a key role in buying decisions. Seems like consumers are sick of the “four hour” installation window, suggesting that BSPs who offer appointments and stick to them may have a window of opportunity to steal customers away from competitors. It's hard to draw firm conclusions from research findings like this. But it is a good reminder that service providers should never take existing subs for granted, especially in times where new subscribers may be harder to find.

Comcast Brings Wideband to the Northwest

Bernie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:54:33 -0500

Comcast continues its rollout of DOCSIS 3.0, or wideband as they call it. Pacific Northwest markets of Washington and Oregon will soon join the Twin Cities in Minnesota and certain Northeastern markets with the 50 Mbps capable broadband service. Approximately 1.8 million subscribers should gain access to the service in early December. Comcast has committed to wiring 20% of its footprint by the end of 2008. Comcast wideband tiers include the "Extreme 50" which offers 50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up for $139.95 per month. Next in line is the “Ultra" tier which offers 22 Mbps down/5 Mbps up for $62.95 per month. Comcast will also offer a wideband business package which includes the Extreme 50 tier and bundles firewall/anti-virus and a Microsoft powered unified communications package for $189.95/month. All tiers are best effort, and can be impacted by traffic on the network. Consumer services are also subject to Comcast’s 250 GB per month bandwidth cap. It's not quite clear how Comcast will integrate wideband into it's double and triple play bundles.

An added benefit for existing subscribers in new wideband markets is an uptick in speeds for existing cable modem subscribers at no additional cost. Existing 6 Mbps down/1 Mbps tiers are doubled to 12 Mbps down/2 Mbps up, while the 8 Mbps/1 Mbps tier is also doubled to 16 Mbps down/2 Mbps up. Their Powerboost service, which adds a quick boost during downloads, remains as well. The move to wideband creates competitive pressures on all broadband providers within and close to these new markets. As Comcast blankets a new wideband market with advertising, they create a potential “wideband itch” among consumers, raising broadband expectations for all providers, regardless of whether they actually compete with Comcast directly or not.

IBM Revives BPL From the Dead

Bernie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:55:48 -0500

Just when you thought broadband over powerline was officially dead, here comes IBM to revive it. IBM is partnering with International Broadband Electric Communications Inc. (IBEC) to target the 900 or so rural electric cooperatives with a BPL solution. IBEC is a BPL solution provider, and under the terms of the IBM agreement, IBM will “install Broadband over Power Line (BPL) networks at electric cooperatives throughout the eastern US.” IBEC provides the equipment, as well as acts as the ISP for the electric cooperatives who select the solution. IBEC currently currently has 1,400 BPL customers.

According to an Associated Press article, the first IBEC identified buildout will cost $70 million to complete and covers 340,000 homes in Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Eighty-six percent of the population in the identified markets does not currently have access to cable or DSL broadband. IBEC expects the project to take two years to complete. They plan to offer a basic broadband service for about $30/month. Apparently BPL lives on. What are the odds that this latest BPL attempt will become reality?

NFL and Verizon Continue Broadband Partnership

Bernie — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:54:28 -0500

Verizon and the NFL announced the continuation of their broadband partnership, which brings NFL Network games to Verizon’s broadband customers. Verizon initially offered this service during the NFL pre-season. The games are available online to customers who subscribe to both Verizon broadband service (FiOS or DSL) and Verizon TV service (FiOS or DirecTV). NFL Network Game Extra features include the ability to choose from multiple camera angles, chat features, a game statistics feed, and on demand video highlights. I would imagine that many users of this service will probably watch both – watch the game on TV, while simultaneously interacting with the broadband version to take advantage of the features it provides. Recent research from Nielsen Media reveals that online video viewing often occurs simultaneously with television viewing (check out my Light Reading blog post on this issue). This service seems ideal for that scenario.

NFL Network Game Extra is a great example of a value added differentiated service. It’s exclusive to Verizon customers, creating an element of competitive advantage. One problem though. I’m a Verizon FiOS customer, with both TV and Internet service. I’m the ideal customer for this type of feature, and would value it greatly. Yet I haven’t received any communication from Verizon notifying me of it. The only reason I know about it is because of my role as an industry analyst and blogger. I called two friends who also are huge sports fans and subscribe to Verizon Internet and TV – neither knew about this service, which started today. What good is a value add service if you can’t even communicate its existence to the very customers who would probably value it the most?

Bright House Launches Powerboost

Bernie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:54:35 -0400

ORLANDO (October 28, 2008) – Bright House Networks announced today the launch of PowerBoostTM. PowerBoost is a new technology that allows Turbo customers to temporarily experience download speeds significantly faster than their current speed at no additional charge. With PowerBoost, Turbo customers will see download speeds increase while downloading large files from the Internet pending available network capacity. Road Runner Turbo with PowerBoost is available exclusively from Bright House Networks. Read More ...

AT&T Priming an 18 Mbps Broadband Tier

Bernie — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:58:11 -0400

Several rumors are floating across multiple blogs and user groups about an upcoming 18 Mbps tier for AT&T U-verse, sans a video component. The service is supposedly code named “Max 18” and will be priced at $65/month. The service is expected to debut sometime in November. AT&T does need to address their broadband offerings on a market by market basis, as cable competitors begin to roll out wideband. Comcast is prepping wideband services that will initially offer a 22 Mbps tier for $62.95/month, as well as a high end tier of 50 Mbps for $139.95. They have publicly stated they intend to reach 20% of their markets by year end 2008. Next year will be an interesting one to watch, as wideband goes head up with both FiOS and U-verse. What will be even more interesting to watch in the years that follow is cable’s integration of WiMAX into their product portfolio to counter telco’s ace in the hole competitive advantage – broadband wireless.

SureWest Addresses DSL With Bonded Pairs

Bernie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:46:59 -0400

SureWest gets a lot of attention from its industry leading IPTV and FTTH deployments. But it also passes approximately 75,000 homes with DSL. They announced a bonded pair strategy to increase the bandwidth capability of those copper fed homes. The bonded copper pair solution will allow SureWest to increase its 6 Mbps service to 10 Mbps and its 3 Mbps service to 6 Mbps. SureWest will offer the 10 Mbps service for $31.99/month and the 6 Mbps service for $27.99/month. "Bonded DSL allows us to provide faster Internet speeds deeper into our copper network, and now over 50 percent of potential DSL subscribers have access to 10 Mbps,” said Bill DeMuth, SureWest CTO, in a company statement. The move is illustrative of the telecom industry reality. FTTH gets all the hype and attention these days, but the majority of telecom broadband customers will be fed by DSL for some time to come.

Read more about SureWest and it's leading telecom strategies.

Cox Launches Online Media Back-Up Service

Bernie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:04:30 -0400

Cox will begin offering a free online storage product to its premium high speed Internet customers in its Northern Virginia/suburban Washington D.C. markets. The service, branded as “Media Store and Share,” will provide 5 GB of storage for media and other computer files. The service also allows customers to share the files with friends and families. “Customers can back-up their files in their own secure, online vault -- and if they choose, they can share those files with friends and family," said Chris Pantoya, Cox Vice President-Sales and Marketing in a company statement.

The move is another example of service providers offering value added services to premium customers in order to differentiate themselves from competitors. Verizon competes with Cox in these markets, and offers a similar service to its broadband customers, but charges $4.99/month. Verizon does offer a free backup and storage service as well, but limits the space to 250 MB.