Comcast in a better place than other cable companies to compete with mobile carriers’ fixed-wave products

With the major mobile carriers competing in the Internet market, Comcast has an advantage over other cable providers, according to a new report from S&P Global.

While the cable industry has generally lost customers to wireless carriers that have invested in fixed wireless access service, Philadelphia-based Comcast, as well as Connecticut-based Charter Communications, are “better positioned than other cable providers to benefited from wireless wholesaling”. deal with Verizon and its high-quality network, according to S & P.

The report, “The Cable Industry Intertwining with Wireless,” includes analysis from S&P Global Ratings analyst Chris Mooney, who notes that Comcast’s smaller cable competitors don’t have the same resources to develop a strong service wireless.

Verizon and T-Mobile have rolled out fixed wireless access (FWA) service, using the same 5G or 4G LTE technology that powers your smartphone to deliver Internet service over radio waves instead of cables. These plans can be cheaper and are more often available in rural areas where there are few, if any, other internet options.

It poses a real threat to cable companies that provide Internet: Verizon and T-Mobile have said they expect to have 11 million to 13 million FWA subscribers by the end of next year, with T-Mobile recently surpassing 5 million and Verizon passing 3 million. . In the first quarter of this year, Verizon brought in $452 million in fixed wireless revenue, an increase of $197 million over the same period last year. AT&T also jumped into the ring in August, unveiling its FWA product, AT&T Air, which added 110,000 new subscribers in the first quarter.

To keep up, cable companies like Comcast are bundling their wireless offerings with home broadband and picking up some mobile contract wireless customers, S&P noted in the report. Overall, however, the report noted, this is “an unfavorable trade-off, given the high margins of in-home broadband and the modest margins of wireless, although Comcast could be a huge game-changer in this regard.” .

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Amid a continuing trend toward cord-cutting, Comcast, which did not return a request for comment, has been shedding broadband subscribers. But it is winning in other areas. CEO Brian Roberts called last year the company’s best financially ever, as revenue grew and Xfinity Mobile, Comcast’s mobile phone service, saw a 24% increase in subscriber growth.

In the recent announcement of its new no-contract, no-fee, month-to-month NOW Mobile and NOW Internet services, Comcast directly addressed mobile carrier FWA products, saying that their NOW service – offers a more stable connection and reliable at a better price than 5G home internet from mobile companies.â€