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And then, of course, there are companies like Canada's Rogers, which is "unique in that not only do we offer premium cable services such as Rogers Home Phone, Rogers Hi-Speed Internet and Rogers Cable (television), and Rogers On Demand Online; but we are also Canada's largest provider of wireless voice and data communications services," said Angela Volpe of Rogers's communications department.
This is indicative of a growing expansion of cablecos into the wireless space. I chaired a panel on the future of cable at TMForum's Management World-Americas event in December, and had the chance to speak to three executives from three countries on two continents (Rogers CIO Tom Vari, Net Servicos (Brazil) CTO Rodrigo Duclos, and Cablevision Argentina COO Roberto Nobile), and all three spoke of the importance of the
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"Further buildout is possible, but we're not there yet. We are, however, moving full speed ahead." |
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I took a moment to speak to Verizon's Bill Kula, and he painted a different picture. He told me that accounts of FiOS being "axed" are exaggerations, at best. "We have reached a point where we're fulfilling our original commitment to pass 18 million households, nationwide. That hasn't changed," said Kula.
Rather, Kula described the halt as an opportunity to do more to generate subscribers in areas where the network is in place, and that the company has not ruled out continuing expansion in the future. "It stands to reason that we, as the year moves forward, will do less engineering and
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expansion of the idea of the "home" into a much more fluid concept that involves providing the subscriber with the functionality, access, and comfort of home regardless of the subscriber's physical location.
It's a sentiment that's growing in the cable sector, and a potential threat to the telco's other areas of traditional dominance.
Meanwhile, firms like Verizon have been hinging their competitive bid for the home triple/quad play customer on building a bigger, meaner network through FTTH rollouts. Verizon's FiOS was going to be that cable-killer.
Then, a few weeks ago, it was announced that the FiOS rollout was winding down. Market observers leapt into action, declaring that FiOS was dead.
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construction, and do more sales and marketing," Kula said. "Further buildout is possible, but we're not there yet. We are, however, moving full speed ahead."
In addition, Kula points to the fact that the areas where FiOS is in place have the benefit of one serious network. He pointed me in the direction of a recent "Heard on the Street" column by The Wall Street Journal's Martin Peers. Therein, Peers indicates that based on the sheer speed and capacity of the FiOS network, and the bottomless appetite for bandwidth exhibited by subscribers, that "Ivan Seidenberg may have the last laugh."
However, there are other elements at work.
Until the last week or so, I had planned to unpack, in greater detail, the competition
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