AT&T today announced the availability of U-verse Voice in several Ohio markets, including Columbus and Akron. U-verse voice is an IP voice product which is bundled with U-verse broadband and video services. U-verse voice adds a suite of features to traditional voice service including, unified messaging, click to call from the TV or PC, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and a web based call management portal. AT&T offers to U-verse voice plans; 1) U-verse Voice Unlimited, which includes unlimited local and nationwide minutes for $40 a month, and 2) U-verse Voice 1000, which includes 1,000 Call Anywhere minutes to any location in the U.S. or U.S. territories for $30 a month.

AT&T today announced the availability of U-verse Voice in parts of Oklahoma City. U-verse voice is an IP voice product which is bundled with U-verse broadband and video services. U-verse voice adds a suite of features to traditional voice service including, unified messaging, click to call from the TV or PC, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and a web based call management portal. AT&T offers to U-verse voice plans; 1) U-verse Voice Unlimited, which includes unlimited local and nationwide minutes for $40 a month, and 2) U-verse Voice 1000, which includes 1,000 Call Anywhere minutes to any location in the U.S. or U.S. territories for $30 a month.

A very interesting competitive development is taking place in the Dallas, TX suburbs. Verizon is apparently preparing to overbuild AT&T U-verse territory with Verizon FiOS service. This is a first, at least that I'm aware of, where large incumbent "baby bells" enter each other's territory with competing landline services. Apparently, the rules have changed, and dramatically so. Verizon appears to be taking advantage of statewide video franchising rules (as Texas provides), and acting as a cable overbuilder, as opposed to a traditional telecom CLEC. The development was reported in this OneTrack post. I guess the gloves are slowly coming off.

This strategy does go counter to conventional wisdom. Verizon is entering the market as the third triple play provider, competing with well established brands (not to mention the DBS competition). Most business consultants would advise against such a move. What does Verizon have up their sleeve? Do they feel that strongly about FiOS and its competitive advantage/differentiation? Perhaps. It will be an interesting test case to observe. If Verizon has some success with this overbuild strategy, will we see it in more territories where Verizon is geographically positioned against AT&T and Qwest? Verizon's purchase of GTE several years ago gives them multiple territories in multiple states that are closely aligned with incumbent AT&T and Qwest territories. Qwest would seem to be more vulnerable, since they have no triple play network of their own. Of course, if Verizon aggressively moves on an overbuild strategy, AT&T certainly won't sit back and wait - they may decide to strike first. I recognize this is just speculation, seeing as the first household in AT&T territory has yet to be lit with FiOS. But this is definitely a development to keep a close eye on. We may be witnessing the first salvo of an historic competitive battle.

An important milestone was reached for the first time last quarter. Telcos like AT&T and Verizon collectively added more video subscribers than DBS providers. AT&T and Verizon collectively added 411K new video subs, while DirecTV and DISH added only 310K. DBS has historically been the leader in new net video subscriber additions for the past few years, mostly at the expense of cable companies. Expect that trend to change. TelcoTV providers will probably take that quarterly “growth crown” for the next few years, as they ramp up their triple and quad play offerings. In fact, as Investors Business Daily accurately points out, telcos haven’t even begun rolling out in the largest cities yet. As they do, their growth rates should accelerate. Verizon’s recent news about offering FiOS in New York City, should it actually materialize, will be a good indicator on the growth impact caused by extending their reach into larger cities.

Interestingly enough, DBS providers are taking a double hit from the telco’s video progress. A good portion of the new telco video adds are coming at the expense of DBS, as evidenced by DISH’s poor first quarter for net new adds. In addition, telcos are slowing down there DBS resale efforts (AT&T – DISH and Verizon – DirecTV), as they ramp up their own video efforts. Those telco resale arrangements have been a good source of growth for DBS providers. As their telco partners get distracted with their own video launches, DirecTV and DISH will have to work much harder to replace those lost resale additions. Part of DirecTV’s strategy is to try to attract higher value subscribers with advanced feature portfolios and more robust HD content packages, hoping their higher ARPU will help replace revenues lost by smaller gains in net new subscriber additions.

AT&T announced that its U-Verse platform is now available for small and medium businesses. The AT&T High Speed Internet U-verse Enabled Business Edition will feature a 10 Mbps service, serving up to 32 Internet connected devices. Additionally, business customers utilizing the U-Verse platform will gain free access to AT&T’s 17,000 nationwide Wi-Fi hotspots. The new SMB targeted service will initially be available in 40 markets, and will grow to cover their 22 state footprint in the coming months and years.

Several blogs including EngadgetHD and UverseUsers.com are reporting on AT&T launching two streams of HD for U-verse subscribers in the St. Louis market. These U-verse customers can receive 2 HD and 2 SD streams, for a total of four streams. Most people who follow DSL powered IPTV recognize that HD is a challenge because of its bandwidth intensity. Most of us also realize that offering HD is a competitive necessity. IPTV providers who utilize DSL as their access technology are at somewhat of a competitive disadvantage against cable and DBS over HD.

Never mind the costs associated with encoding HD content (which, for everyone further down the food chain than AT&T, is a challenge), the challenge with delivering a single HD stream over ADSL2+ (or even VDSL) is significant enough. But in order to compete with cable and DBS, who currently have multi-stream HD capability, delivering two streams (and some would argue even more in the future) is ideal. We are progressing towards HD ubiquity. We’re certainly not there yet, but we will be soon. The concept of multiple HDTV’s in the home, or the desire to watch one HD program while recording another, will become commonplace, and sooner than DSL IPTV providers wish it to. AT&T’s move into two stream HD over their FTTN/VDSL architecture provides a glimmer of hope, It’s too early to tell if they can scale that solution and match their competitors offer. But for them, and for those who look to them for guidance, it’s a start.

AT&T is making another assault on the “me too” scenario faced by telcoTV providers in the U.S. TelcoTV providers are constantly trying to create some differentiation between their video service and that of their cable and DBS competitors. Otherwise, all you have is a “me too” video service, with very little distinction from what’s already available in the marketplace. With that in mind, AT&T announced the launch of AT&T Online Photos from Flickr, which allows the viewing of Flickr based photos and slideshows on the AT&T U-verse platform.

According to AT&T, they are “the only video service provider to offer an integrated online photos channel... at no extra charge." The photo service channel is located on channel 91 of U-verse’s channel line-up. AT&T also offers a variety of other differentiating applications, including AT&T U-bar, which provides customizable weather, stock, sports and traffic information; YELLOWPAGES.COM TV, which lets customers search for local businesses and other information via their TV screen; and AT&T Yahoo! Games. Of course AT&T is not alone with this strategy. DirecTV has offered differentiated programming offers with interesting applications, particularly with sports programming. Their NFL Sunday Ticket and NASCAR Hot Pass programming and feature packages create considerable differentiation, and thus competitive advantage with select audiences. Cable has their fair share of differentiation attempts as well. It all adds up to an interesting experiment in trying to create the right mix of features/applications, pricing, and customer service that creates a compelling experience. The right experience drives positive retention, expanding growth, and growing ARPU – a winning proposition for any competitor.

AT&T announced the availability of AT&T U-verse Voice in Sacramento, a primary line VoIP service. U-Verse voice offers a variety of "next generation" features including an online call management portal, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and click to call from the PC or television. U-verse voice offers an unlimited calling plan for $40/month and a 1000 minute plan for $30/month.

One of the interesting debates among telecom industry analysts is focused on who has the right long term strategy – Verizon or AT&T. Verizon is moving forward with its well publicized FiOS initiative which is a true FTTH architecture. AT&T has decided that taking fiber all the way to the home is not necessary, and they’ve selected a fiber to the node (FTTN) strategy for U-verse. Or have they? Light Reading reports that AT&T is also committing to a GPON based FTTH architecture for many “greenfield” developments. For the time being AT&T’s FTTN deployments will far outnumber their FTTH deployments, with FTTH lines numbering in the “hundreds of thousands” versus millions for FTTN. It begs the question though, what if AT&T finds that their FTTH deployments create better ARPU or compete more effectively with cable? Will they then be forced to roll it out beyond just greenfield developments? And if so, will the current FTTN strategy be a waste of time and money?

Cable competitors will have options to increase their capability and competitive prowess with technologies like DOCSIS 3.0 and tru2way. How well they execute on those opportunities will go a long way in determining which telecom competitive position makes the most sense – FTTH or FTTN. It appears as if AT&T may be hedging their bets somewhat, by deploying technologies like GPON along with their core FTTN architecture. Perhaps we will find that AT&T’s and Verizon’s strategies are more closely aligned than we first thought.

AT&T announced that the University of Houston will be installing 1,000 U-Verse connections at a new student housing facility being built near their campus. The new facility, Calhoun Lofts, is part of a major expansion by the university and will contain more than 700 one- and two-bedroom apartments. While not a huge deployment in the context of AT&T’s national rollout plans, this development has to be seen as positive by AT&T in the light of competitive positioning. The multi-dwelling unit (MDU) market has historically been the domain of cable MSOs, and more recently DBS providers. It represents a great business development opportunity for any service provider, even with the regulatory scrutiny it has been receiving of late. Acceptance by a high profile customer like the University of Houston will help AT&T make headway into the competitive and lucrative MDU sector.