cableco

Consumer Telecom Dropping

February 21, 2011

With the latest quarterly financial reporting in, one item stands out: CenturyLink, Qwest, Windstream and EarthLink are all experiencing consumer decline.

"CenturyLink Inc and Qwest Communications International Inc both posted quarterly revenue declines in what is expected to be their last reports as independent telephone operators, as customers disconnected their home phones in favor of cellphones." [Reuters]

In the case of Windstream, Morningstar reports that "Consumer revenue, which accounts for about 35% of the business directly, dropped 3% versus a year ago, in line with the prior quarter and a significant improvement versus the first half of 2010. Demand trends weakened, however, with phone customer losses increasing sharply versus both the prior year and quarter. Internet access and television customer growth also slowed to a trickle during the quarter."

Posted in cableco, telco, wireline

The Future of Bell DSL

January 27, 2011

AT&T announced that they "nearly" hit 3 million U-Verse TV customers. In comparison, Bell added 2.8M new wireless customers in the 4th quarter and sold 4.1 million iPhones. Bell has 95M wireless subscribers. [see PDF].

Posted in Internet, apps, broadband, cableco, cellular, cloud computing, duopoly, email, fiber, telco, wireless, wireline

Not So Shocking News

January 20, 2011

The FCC approved the merger of Comcast and NBCU (announcement pdf here) "with conditions and enforceable commitments", whatever that means, since its enforcement history has been simply laughable in fostering any competition at all.

"As part of the merger, Comcast-NBCU will be required to take affirmative steps to foster competition in the video marketplace. In addition, Comcast-NBCU will increase local news coverage to viewers; expand children's programming; enhance the diversity of programming available to Spanish-speaking viewers; offer broadband services to low-income Americans at reduced monthly prices; and provide high-speed broadband to schools, libraries and underserved communities, among other public benefits."

I agree with FCC Commish Copps, "But all the majority's efforts--diligent though they were--to ameliorate these harms cannot mask the truth that this Comcast-NBCU joint venture grievously fails the public interest. I searched in vain for the benefits." Haven't we seen enough Too-Big-To-Fail??

Posted in FCC, cableco, cellular, mergers, politics, spectrum, wireless

Cox Business on Hosted PBX Roll Out

January 20, 2011

I recently interviewed Mike Bolognini, vice president of Cox Business and Hospitality Network in Las Vegas, about the planned rollout of Hosted PBX in Southern Nevada. Below are Mr. Bolognini's responses.

RAD: What is the biggest challenge you will face as you plan the rollout of Hosted PBX in Southern Nevada?

COX: The introduction of any new technology brings with it a learning curve.

Posted in PBX, broadsoft, cableco, hosted uc, technology, telecommunications, voip

Merger Conditions for Comcast

December 28, 2010

TMC has the Comcast-NBC merger fully covered - here, here, here, here and the story of Congresswoman Waters. Waters wants a written plan for diversity included in the merger paperwork. Without teeth, Comcast could write anything down. Where's the enforcement coming from?

Posted in FCC, cableco, mergers, politics

Comcast-NBC Merger is Failure Two

December 27, 2010

This will be a far reaching rant but I think that it's time the FCC (and other F-Agencies) close their doors. Really. We have a huge deficit and really you just aren't honoring your duties or worth the expense any longer.

The Net Neutrality issue went on for months - and you had plenty of time to talk to the bazillion lobbyists, but couldn't find time to consider the consumer in all of this?

Posted in FCC, ISP, Internet, broadband, cableco, cellular, mergers, politics, spectrum, telco

Chat With JCurve About 2011

December 15, 2010

Eli Johnson, Business Development Manager at J-Curve Technologies, chats with me for about 13 minutes about Broadsoft Connections 2010, Hosted UC and the obstacles that Cloud Communications providers face in the new year.

J-Curve offers Hosted PBX providers an outsourced customer service and tech support option.

Posted in broadsoft, cableco, cloud computing, communications, tele-presence, telecommunications, unified communications, video, voip

What's It Take to be a VoIP Winner?

December 13, 2010

What does it take to run a successful VoIP services company? According to Report Linker, "the biggest VoIP providers are ostensibly run-of-the-mill telecom companies. This means smaller providers must innovate and take the role of pioneers whose marketing strategy doesn't rely only on offering the lowest price, since that's a game they can't win."

Lowest price is about scale.

Posted in CLEC, Marketing, PBX, cableco, cloud computing, communications, duopoly, hosted uc, saas, smb, technology, telecommunications, unified communications, voip

Broadband Numbers Fall

December 13, 2010

Broadband deployment numbers will fall. Why? The FCC has re-defined broadband as 4MB x 1MB and most DSL and 2.5G/3G do not provide that kind of real bandwidth. In the FCC report titled "Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2009," 68% of connections in the US advertised as "broadband" can't really be considered as such because they fall below the agency's most recent minimum requirements." Oops!

Posted in FCC, Internet, bandwidth, broadband, cableco, duopoly

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