American cable giant Comcast has drafted its strategy to make investment for launching wireless service roughly in the middle of next year in some areas of the US where it’s a cable provider.
AP reported that the strategy of Comcast, which has just over 28 million customers, could offer real competition to telecom network operators such as Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T for a subset of the country.
Yesterday, T-Mobile claimed that it added several hundred wireless customers from rival networks such as Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. The tough competition in the U.S. wireless market with cost effective data plans can make the wireless business non-viable for telecom network operators.
The cable giant plans to create a service that would run on its 15 million Wi-Fi hotspots and use Verizon’s wireless network, which it has a deal to resell.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts confirmed the cable company’s plans at an investment conference Tuesday in New York.
He suggested that Comcast was looking at the mobile service as an add-on to customer bundles, and combining wireless service with Comcast cable or internet would likely make customers stick with Comcast longer.
The company has long looked at mobile service as another potential way to grow its business. Consumers are increasingly watching video on their phones. Adding wireless service on to a cable bill could also mean some savings for Comcast customers.
“If Comcast is to make this a compelling offer, especially given their lack of history in wireless, they’re going to have to offer some steep discounts in their bundles,” said telecom analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.
Comcast spokeswoman Jenn Khoury declined to answer questions about the mobile service’s pricing and whether people who didn’t subscribe to Comcast cable or internet could sign up for it.
Several attempts by big cable companies to offer wireless service have foundered, like the Wi-Fi-only phone launched by New York-area cable company Cablevision in early 2015. Cablevision is owned by European telecom Altice.
Cox Communications, one of the biggest cable companies, pulled the plug on its short-lived mobile phone service in 2011, saying it didn’t have the heft necessary to compete, including the ability to sell certain popular smartphones.
editor@telecomlead.com
