One result of lower U.S. consumer interest in buying fixed network voice services or linear video subscriptions is a waning of the value of bundled service packages and an increase in single-product subscriptions for internet access on fixed networks.
Oddly, that is something of a return to the application-specific networks of old. 50 years ago, all networks were application specific: TV and radio broadcast; cable TV networks; satellite networks, telco networks and mobile networks.
That has implications for facilities-based providers of fixed network services, as the financial upside from consumer fixed networks increasingly relies on broadband internet access, with dwindling contributions from voice or video subscriptions.
That makes the payback model harder, as in its heyday service providers could hope to sell two or three services per account. So where a triple-play account could generate $200 per line, broadband-only accounts generate $40 to $100 per line.
As difficult as the fiber-to-home decision was in the days of triple-play leadership, such decisions now must turn on other values, such as access networks supporting business customers, edge computing or cell site backhaul.
That is especially true in markets where two or three suppliers operate. In Knoxville, Tenn., for example, Xfinity covers 91 percent of locations; AT&T covers 81 percent of locations and WoW covers an additional 36 percent of locations. All three internet service providers sell gigabit speed services.
The big difference is that AT&T sells symmetrical service, an attribute that could well be the key to further gains, for AT&T as well as other telcos.
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