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Faster Upstream Speeds for Cable Broadband

Om Malik — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:10:14 +0000

By now we are quite aware of cable companies’ plans to offer 100 Mbps connections to their customers, thanks to DOCSIS 3.0 technologies. Our friend Dave Burstein of DSL Prime reports that cable companies are considering drastically boosting upstream speeds in coming years. Comcast, Cox and Liberty Global have all done trials that have produced shared upstream speeds of about 75 Mbps.

U.S. cable companies expect that by 2015, nearly 100 million of the nation’s homes will be able to send data upstream at speeds of around 20 Mbps. This will eventually be followed by further upgrades to 50 Mbps, by way of enhancements to DOCSIS 3.0 tech. That compares to current upstream speeds of 6-28 Mbps (shared).

While we all tend to focus on the downstream speeds, which have hit 100 Mbps in some regions, we need upstream speed in order for a new generation of Internet services to thrive. From online back-ups to video uploads to television sharing (via Slingbox) to sharing photos and files via devices like Pogoplug — many of these services are dependent on upstream bandwidth. Same goes for video conferencing and other two-way applications.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): When It Comes to Pain at the Pipe, Upstream Is the New Downstream.

Voice Is Cable's Secret Weapon for Growth

Om Malik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:41 +0000

Earlier this decade, when cable companies started their foray into the phone business, not many gave them much of a chance to succeed. Sure, they could sell a lot of broadband connections, but no one thought they would be players in telecom services such as voice. Fast-forward to today, and the situation is entirely different. During the first half of 2009, cable companies across the globe generated about $30 billion in telecom service revenues, according to Telegeography, a market research company. Voice, in fact, has become the secret weapon for cable companies around the world.

Those revenues come from 49 million voice subscribers and 82 million broadband customers worldwide. Cable companies’ revenues have grown 28 percent every year since 2003 vs. overall wireline business growth of 4 percent. CableCos now account for 29 percent of broadband subscribers and 9 percent of voice subscribers in countries where they are allowed to compete with the phone companies. That works out to about 15 percent of residential telecom revenues in countries where cable and telecoms are allowed to compete.

The reason we are seeing this growth is primarily because of North America. The presence of highly competitive players such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast is a major reason why telecoms are on weak footing in the U.S. And there is no sign that U.S. CableCos are easing up the pressure on phone companies.

For instance, during the third quarter (ending Sept. 30), Time Warner added 117,000 new residential high-speed Internet customers (up 32 percent from second-quarter net additions of 88,000 subscribers) and 62,000 voice subscribers (down 39 percent from 103,000 new voice customers added during the second quarter). Comcast, on the other hand, added another 361,000 broadband subscribers (up 455 percent from 65,000 new additions during the second quarter) and 375,000 voice customers, up 61 percent from 233,000 subscribers added during the second quarter.

Even in the highly competitive and mature markets of North America and Western Europe, the leading cablecos have grown their telecoms revenue by almost 10 percent relative to the third quarter of 2008. Despite the added pressure of a deep recession, these leading cablecos have seen their broadband Internet subscriber bases grow by 7 percent and their telephony subscriber bases by 13 percent over the last 12 months. “Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global all now feature in the top 15 ranking of broadband Internet service providers, and telecoms remains an engine for growth for many cablecos around the world,” added TeleGeography’s John Dinsdalee.(Telegeography)

CableCos are likely to have a major impact in Eastern Europe and Latin America. In Asia, the role of cable is being viewed as limited. In places like China and India, cable is not allowed to compete with phone companies.

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FCC Makes Phone Number Portability Even Faster

Om Malik — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:17:57 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission issued an order today that makes number portability faster. Carriers now have one day instead of four to switch phone numbers when requested by a customer’s new carrier. Large carriers have nine months to comply with this rule. The new order impacts the U.S. phone companies more, for they are the ones losing wireline customers at a rapid clip. With many of them going completely wireless, cable companies are picking up customers for their broadband phone service just as fast. This ruling is going only to exacerbate phone companies’ problems, but the cable companies are understandably thrilled. (Related posts: Area Codes Are Dead )

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After a Shaky 2008, U.S. Broadband Growth Picks Up

Om Malik — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:35:01 +0000

Nearly 1.6 million new Net users signed up for broadband from top 10 providers in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2009. That is about 600,000 more than 1.01 million net additions in the fourth quarter of 2008, reports Bruce Leichtman’s research company, Leichtman Research. In comparison, we had 2.2 million additions during the first quarter of 2008, followed by 887,000 new users in the second quarter of 2008 and 1.3 million in the third quarter. 2008 was the first year we saw some serious slowdown in broadband growth. According to Pike & Fisher, a research firm, broadband growth will decline 12 percent in the U.S. but subscriptions will rise about 8 percent.

Some Q1 2009 Broadband Facts

Total Broadband Subscribers: 69.27 million
Top phone companies have 31.52 subscribers, while cable companies have 37.76 million
Top cable companies added over 835,000 subscribers, representing 52% of the net broadband additions
AT&T has 15.44 million broadband subscribers, while Comcast has 15.26 million
During the quarter, AT&T added 359,000 subscribers, while Comcast added 329,000. Time Warner, the second-largest cable company added 225,000 subscribers, while second ranked phone company Verizon added 252,000.

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Now Verizon Wants Cable TV Portability. No Really!

Om Malik — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:05:58 +0000

With the clock ticking on FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure, his special friends in the phone business are asking him to give them the moon, the stars and the sun: In other words, a cable TV version of number portability.

Verizon today asked the Federal Communications Commission to require the cable industry to make it as easy for consumers to choose a new video provider as it already is for them to switch voice providers. The process to switch video providers is more cumbersome for consumers…Cable incumbents do not accept disconnect orders from the new provider; instead, they require the customer to contact them directly to cancel service after choosing a new video provider and to return equipment. (press release)

Verizon’s arguments and press release may seem consumer-friendly, but one has to take all of it with a barrel of salt. Now, as you well know, I am no fan of cable companies — who apparently want to watch what you are doing inside your living room — but it’s hard to believe Verizon.

Even despite all the legal and other hassles, the satellite guys have been competing with cable companies for video customers — and they didn’t need a sugar daddy (aka the FCC) to help them out. Verizon should learn to compete in the open market.

Must I remind you that Verizon is the same company that rips out copper cables in favor of its own fiber, thereby taking away your ability to switch your broadband or voice service to another provider? Verizon itself delayed the switching of “broadband” service when customers wanted to buy DSL from another company, thus driving many of them out of business. In fact, incumbent phone companies indulge in such delays even now.

I think both incumbents — the cable and phone operators — are waging a war of words, and none of them, including the newly “open” Verizon, have consumers’ best interests in mind.

The P2P arguments, open networks, and now video portability all seem to be part of a calculated image makeover for Verizon. But as my granddaddy used to say: Just because you paint stripes on a donkey, it doesn’t make it a zebra.

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