AT&T, Verizon Still behind Cable Rivals in Broadband Growth
Cable Internet
AT&T, Verizon Still behind Cable Rivals in Broadband Growth
Figures show that the biggest telephone companies in the US are growing their broadband subscriber bases but their growth rate is slower than their cable rivals as indicated by the figures of the first quarter. In broadband Internet wars, Verizon and AT&T are way behind Time Warner Cable and Comcast.
The two major telcos have suffered losses in their ADSL Internet operations however these losses have been partially offset by the gains made by their respective FiOS and U-Verse businesses.
AT&T U-Verse gained 718,000 customers in the last quarter to reach an overall subscriber base of 5.9 million. However the net subscriber gain was only 103,000 as the company lost subscribers in the wire-line broadband sector. AT&T provides satellite and DSL line broadband under its wire-line broadband services.
Verizon too suffered DSL losses which hampered its broadband growth although it posted its highest quarterly net increase since the second quarter in 2009. Verizon lost 89,000 DSL subscribers in the first quarter of 2012. In the corresponding period last year Verizon had lost 109,000 DSL subscribers. It also gained 193,000 new FiOS subscribers.
Verizon’s and AT&T’s cable rivals continued to show good performance in adding a greater number of subscribers. Time Warner added 214,000 domestic broadband subscribers whereas Comcast added another 439,000.
The numbers are indicative of an industry trend where telephone companies have lagged behind the cable companies in broadband growth. Leichtman Research Group, earlier this year reported that phone companies served about 34.3 million subscribers whereas cable companies supported 44.3 million subscribers.
However the pay TV market hasn’t been so kind to the cable industry. In the last quarter Comcast, the largest cable TV provider lost 37,000 video customers in what is believed to be its 20th consecutive quarterly loss in video customers. Time Warner too lost 94,000 subscribers in the last quarter.
Categories: At&t, Broadband, Cable Internet, Comcast, Internet News, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: At&t, Broadband, Comcast, time warner cable, Verizon
Verizon Fires Back at Critics of Deal
Verizon Fires Back at Critics of Deal
Verizon Fires Back at Critics of Deal
Last week Verizon hit out against critics of the proposed deal between Verizon and a coalition of cable companies in a representation made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The deal will clear the path for Verizon to buy spectrum from Bright House, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Comcast . These companies have also agreed to cross selling of each other’s products and services.
Consumer rights groups like Free, Press and Public Knowledge as well as communications companies like T-Mobile have objected to the deal saying it will allow Verizon to become the dominant player in the market and it is against the practice of fair competition. These groups have requested the FCC to block the deal.
In its reply to the FCC, Verizon has said that on one hand these companies were not using their spectrum and on the other hand Verizon was finding it difficult to meet the growing frequency demands of its customers.
Verizon also argued that the FCC should not consider other alternatives to the deal like the companies selling their spectrum to T-Mobile.
T-Mobile in its filing with the FCC has stated that Verizon already has the majority of spectrum owned by any carrier and the deal will allow Verizon to block other carriers from accessing this valuable resource. But Verizon has firmly denied the accusation saying that it is not interested in warehousing and the accusation against it is absolutely false. The company thinks itself as a good steward of the spectrum and it needed more spectrum to fulfill customers’ demands for 4G LTE service and cable Internet subscribers.
Consumer groups feel that the deal will push the market towards duopoly with AT&T Verizon sharing the pie amongst them. The company argued that the market is very competitive and that neither AT&T nor Verizon owned the most spectrum’s but that distinction went to Clearwire, another wireless Internet provider.
Categories: At&t, Bright House, Comcast, Cox, FCC, Internet News, T-Mobile, Time Warner Cable, Wireless Tags: FCC, Verizon
Internet Service and TV Service Providers Earn Poor Customer Experience Ratings, According to New Temkin Group Research
Internet Service
Internet Service and TV Service Providers Earn Poor Customer Experience Ratings, According to New Temkin Group Research
Temkin Group has published its latest report and Temkin Experience Ratings covering 206 big companies from 18 diverse industries. This is the second consecutive year when Temkin has come out with the ratings.
The research was based on a survey covering 10,000 consumers in the US in January 2012. The survey covered 11 Internet service providers including Verizon, Road Runner Internet, Qwest, MSN, EarthLink, Cox Communications, Comcast, Charter Communications, Cablevision, AT&T and AOL and 10 Television service providers including Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Optimum/ Cablevision, Dish TV, DirecTV, Cox Communications, Comcast, Charter Communications, Bright House Networks and AT&T
The study compared 21 organizations from both Internet and cable space only three of them received OK rating. Cablevision (Internet), Dish Network (TV) and Bright House Networks (TV). Fifteen received poor and three were rated very poor.
The TV and Internet services were rated 16th and 17th respectively from amongst 18 industries covered in the study on customer experience. Only health plans scored lower than these two. EarthLink and Charter communications were the lowest rated companies out of the 206 surveyed by Temkin. Eight out of the lowest 19 were from these two industries.
Bruce Temkin, the report’s author and Temkin group’s managing partner said that terrible customer service is an epidemic with cable and internet service providers. As per the analysis of the Temkin group, TV services had a modest increase in customer service experience while Internet services scored slightly less as compared to 2011.
Seven companies had an increase of more than five percentage points over the last year. They are Comcast (TV and Internet), DirecTV, Bright House Networks, Dish TV, AOL, Comcast and Cablevision. Cox Communications was the only one showing more than five percentage points decline.
The Temkin Experience rating taps three dimensions of customer satisfaction- functional, accessible and emotional.
Categories: CenturyLink, Comcast, Cox, EarthLink, Internet News, Internet Providers, Qwest, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: AOL, AT&T, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, EarthLink, MSN, Qwest, Road Runner Internet, Verizon
More Telecoms Look to the Cloud
More Telecoms Look to the Cloud
More Telecoms Look to the Cloud
Telecom giants CenturyLink and Verizon have partnered with Time Warner Cable in on what is turning to be a very competitive market for cloud computing. The popular telecoms have quickly taken over cloud services and infrastructure as a service providers like NaviSite and Terremark with dreams of taking on competition from companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon. In fact many companies like Qwest Internet are already moving away from their loss making traditional services.
Experts doubt why would a business which is already happy with its cloud service provider switch to a different carrier. The answer is security, infrastructure and the possibility of a single communication platform. Bob Rosenberg and independent analyst predicts that telecommunications companies have an advantage over other cloud service providers as they have a reliable wired network. Businesses have trusted these companies for decades with their telecommunication and Internet needs. This gives them an advantage. Having trust in a provider can work in their favor. Businesses are also nervous about security when it comes to cloud computing.
Dan Bieler, an industry expert with Forrester believes that telecommunication companies have the potential to provide entire communication systems to businesses including hosting their software. This can include ERP and CRM. Plus it can offer software management, data security and other complimentary services. They can be a one stop shop for all their communications needs.
The big players have already sensed the competition in an increasingly competitive market. On one hand they have drastically reduced their prices and on the other they are expanding their services to become more appealing. Microsoft recently declared that it will expand its Team Foundation Service to provide developers the opportunity to build apps in the Windows Azure public cloud. Microsoft’s Silverlight users and Apple iO devices can now receive live content streamed from Amazon’s CloudFront.
Categories: CenturyLink, Qwest, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: cloud computing, cloud services, the cloud
Verizon, Time Warner Offering Internet, Cable Bundles Despite Concerns
Internet Bundles
Verizon, Time Warner Offering Internet, Cable Bundles Despite Concerns
Time Warner Cable and Verizon Wireless announced last week that users in some parts of North Carolina, Kansas and Ohio can now sign up for their bundled offerings including Time Warner Internet, video and voice services and Verizon tablets and Smartphones. This announcement from the two companies comes even as federal regulators are deciding whether deals like this or even such partnerships are ethical or legal.
In December 2011, Verizon had announced that it has signed a deal with SpectrumCo a combination of BrightHouse Networks, Comcast and Time Warner. As part of the deal Verizon would purchase wireless spectrum from these companies and sell some SpectrumCo products and in return the other companies would market Verizon’s mobile products and services. The marketing aspect of the deal had raised issues in the industry with U.S. Senator Al Franken expressing concern that consumers would suffer if major competitors became allies. On March 21, members of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights questioned officials from Comcast and Verizon as well as officials from their rival companies opposing the deal.
Senator Amy Klobuchar though that such Internet bundles would bind consumers to pay more or result in less competition ultimately giving very few options for the consumers to choose from. On the contrary, Randall Milch, Verizon’s Executive Vice President and general counsel told her that nobody is constrained to buying in bundles. The consumers will not lose on anything except choose from a sort of discount which they might or might not choose.
Rural Telecommunications Group (RTG), Sprint and T-Mobile are more upset regarding the spectrum trading aspect of the deal. Carri Bennet, RTG’s general counsel said that Verizon Wireless is trying to capture the market of the commercial wireless spectrum and stripping existing competitors of their spectrum holdings. This practice in against competition and in violation of anti- trust laws and it should be denied by the FCC.
Categories: Cable Internet, Comcast, Internet News, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: Cable Bundles, FCC, Internet, Time Warner, Verizon
Time Warner Cable Promises Android Live TV App By Memorial Day
Time Warner Cable Promises Android Live TV App By Memorial Day
Time Warner Cable Promises Android Live TV App By Memorial Day
Internet provider Time Warner Cable is expecting to launch an app for Android tablets and phones in the next couple of weeks enabling subscribers to watch live TV on their phones. However many Android devices that are currently in the market would be able run it.
The Time Warner Cable TV app would run on devices supported by Google’s Android 4.0. aka Ice Cream sandwich. As of now very few devices support this version.
Jeff Simmermon, director of digital communications at Time Warner Cable said that it is the only version that currently that provides the stability and security to distribute video on our private network. He however left it up to the device manufacturers and data carriers to decide when ICS is deployed in a particular device.
Time Warner’s TV app was first for Apple’s iPad in April 2010 which was followed by similar launches for iPod touch and iPhone. The TV apps provide in excess of 100 channels currently depending on the user’s video package. However TWC could not arrive at an understanding with Viacom for providing its network on the apps which is currently used only on certain home Wi-Fi networks for compliance to rights restrictions.
Simmermon observed that developing live TV app for Android is unlike tweezing one’s eyebrows in front of a disco ball as live TV apps for Apple devices is relatively easy as the hardware and the OS are controlled by same manufacturer. He further added that live TV Android apps would be certainly available by Memorial Day. Initially launched last fall, TWC’s Android apps currently allow digital TV users program their DVR, add preferred channels and use their device like a remote control. The app can be used by all subscribers who have a set top box or DVRs using TWC’s interactive “Navigator” program guide.
Categories: Internet News, Time Warner Cable, TV Tags: android, time warner cable, tv, twc
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns, According to Public Knowledge
The debate about Verizon’s bid to purchase spectrum from its competitors is still not over even after last week’s hearing which tried to throw some light on the issue. Verizon Wireless had announced in December 2011 a deal to buy unused spectrum from Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Comcast and Bright House Communications for over 3.6 billion dollars.
However public opposition to the deal seems to be growing. Numbers of public interest groups and other wireless carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint have been arguing their cases quite vocally. They even filed a petition in court to stall the deal. The groups argued in the petition that the proposed deal would change the fundamental nature of telecommunications in the US in a manner which contradicts the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
In the first place companies have agreed to sell more spectrum to the largest spectrum holder in the country further aggravating the anti-competitive spectrum problem and secondly these companies have critical side agreements which give rise to serious concerns when these companies actively collude with each other and further decline to compete.
During last week’s hearing the antitrust committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to find out if the group of cable companies had tried to reach other companies before Verizon. But that question remained unanswered.
Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the antitrust subcommittee questioned Verizon and other cable companies if they had called a truce and are standing down as rivals. He feared that the deal would undo all the hard work done in maintaining healthy competition over the years. He noted that Verizon has no incentive in the deal as its affiliates would be selling Time Warner or Bright House or Comcast. Verizon would not be able to build or improve its product. He also added that there would be a decrease in competition for FiOS and since most places do not have Verizon FiOS they would have to endure with slow DSL Internet or cable options.
Categories: Bright House, Cable Internet, Comcast, DSL, FiOS, Internet News, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: bright house, cox, DSL, fios, Time Warner, Verizon
America Ranks # 16 in Broadband
USA Broadband Internet
America Ranks # 16 in Broadband
According to a latest survey published by the Huffington post America ranked number 16th in a list of countries based on broadband penetration, price and Internet speed. This puts America behind countries like Denmark, Portugal and Belgium where residents enjoy cheap Internet, faster downloads and better access to broadband services.
The main reason for America’s poor performance is the virtually nonexistent competition in the broadband market which means millions of Americans live without high speed Internet access and those who do have Internet access have to manage with higher prices and lowers speeds as compared to their European counterparts. Most US Internet subscribers often have a choice of only one service provider leading to quasi monopolies in the US broadband market.
Whatever semblance of competition was visible looks to vanish with a proposed deal between Verizon and other Internet service providers. Verizon has proposed a deal to buy a major chunk of the broadband spectrum from other companies like Time Warner and Comcast and resell those companies’ broadband services to its customers. If this proposed deal goes through then Verizon and AT&T would be the two biggest players in the US broadband market controlling two thirds of the total subscriber base and 80% of the revenue in the US domestic broadband market. Verizon and Comcast executives defended joint marketing and spectrum deals as a way for handling spectrum crunch for the carriers.
Verizon has reportedly agreed to pay $3.6 billion to Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications for spectrum and marketing deals. However before the deal is finalized it has to be approved by the FCC and the Justice Department. For subscribers the only hope now is the FCC or the Justice Department blocks this deal. A few days ago the Justice Department blocked a similar deal between AT&T and T-Mobile for addressing spectrum crunch.
Categories: At&t, Broadband, Comcast, FCC, Internet News, Time Warner Cable Tags: america, Broadband, Internet, rank
AT&T to Introduce Data Caps on DSL
AT&T DSL Data Caps
AT&T to Introduce Data Caps on DSL
Unlimited data download plans will soon be history for all AT&T DSL and U-verse customers as the company is planning to introduce a data cap on its broadband Internet services. AT&T plans to introduce the data cap over the weekend.
According to the new plan Internet customers exceeding monthly limit of 150 GB data in three different months will have to pay $10 extra for every additional 50 GB data they use. U-Verse customers have a limit of 250 GB. The company said that the policy will come into effect from May2 onwards.
The new policy is expected to rein heavy data users. Users who exceed the usage cap in three different months will be charged overage fees. The company will alert customers multiple times as soon as they near the usage limits or exceed the usage limits. These notifications will come when users use 65, 90 and 100 percent of their total usage. AT&T also plans to introduce online tools to help customers in tracking their usage. The company claims that this will affect only about 2 percent of its total subscribers. Last year AT&T had already capped the data usage for its wireless service. It revised the Smartphone data pricing, removing the unlimited plan and in its place offering consumers a choice of 250 MB service for $15 per month or 2 GB service for $25 per month. Customers exceeding these limits were charged additionally.
AT&T’s strategy of deciding caps on its broadband wired service is in line with similar action taken by other broadband providers. Comcast had imposed caps on data usage on its broadband service in the past. The company restricts residential customers to 250 GB data per month. Comcast claims that average data usage by residential customers is about 2 GB to 3 GB per month.
Analysts predict that other companies like Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cox communications might follow suit.
Categories: At&t, Charter, Comcast, Internet Caps, Time Warner Cable, U-Verse Tags: AT&T DSL Cap, AT&T U-Verse Cap
Time Warner TV App Now Available on Android Market.
Time Warner TV App
Time Warner TV App Now Available on Android Market.
Recently Time Warner Cable released a new app available on the Android Market for free. This new app called TWC TV is a cable television package for Android devices such as smart phones and tablets.
This new TV app also lets the user control their DVR from virtually anywhere as well as control the TV channels and settings from other rooms in the home.
TWC TV has other features including:
- Programming search
- An interactive program guide (listings up to a week in adv
- Set and view favorites
- Adjust DVR recording times
Requirements
- Compatible Android smartphone or tablet (see below)
- Time Warner Cable video package at the Standard (Expanded Basic) level or higher
- Compatible set-top box or DVR (Motorola iGuide equipment is currently unsupported)
- Internet connection (WiFi or 3G)
- Time Warner Cable user name and password
The video lineup has yet to be released.
“Once manufacturers and cellular carriers begin to upgrade their phones to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), we will release an update to offer in-home live TV on these devices,” Jeff Simmermon, Time Warner Cable’s director of digital communications wrote on the company’s blog. “We expect to see those upgrades early next year.”
TWC also said that” Apple iPhone owners will be able to obtain the app sometime in January. For now, only Apple iPad owners can view streamed video content.”
Categories: Android, Internet News, Time Warner Cable Tags: android, Time Warner, TV App
