Phone, cable companies to battle in 2007 (Competition is good Alert)

Associated Press ^ | December 15, 2006 | Bruce Meyerson

[Zakeet]

NEW YORK - Vonage tanked after its IPO. It's not entirely clear anymore why eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype. And the long-awaited rollout of advanced TV services based on Internet technologies has resembled the drip of a faucet.

It wasn't a banner year for some of the biggest names in Internet Protocol, the technical standard that makes the Web hum. But the technology itself continued to blossom, with newer innovations picking away at every corner of the telecommunications business, from voice to video to wireless.

No doubt the main event for 2007 will be the impending smack-down between the traditional phone and cable TV industries. The regional Bell companies, after losing millions of customers to rival phone services from cable providers in 2006, are just starting to ramp up their risky push into TV.

Verizon Communications Inc. expects its FiOS TV service will be available to 1.8 million homes by January. AT&T Inc. finally appears to be pushing past technological holdups with U-verse, maintaining the IP-based service will be offered in parts of 15 markets by the close of December.

[Zakeet]

This is a pretty good article. It does a decent job of summarizing the current competitive battles between telecom and cable companies, and extols the virtues of free enterprise.

[garyhope]

I dearly wish the cable / broadband companies in the DFW area would get some competition. I'd love to dump Charter. If I had any alternative to Charter for broadband, they'd be gone in a NY second.

[goldstategop]

Verizon offers $100 a month for one-stop phone, broadband, wireless and high definition TV service. With competition, that price might be driven down to a $50 a month. Then people will really switch just for the convenience of having one bill for ALL their home communication and entertainment related services.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[cva66snipe]

The next real big winner will be the company who develops affordable technology to get TV, Phone, and high speed Internet, all in the same package into rural homes. Actually the one who develops affordable high speed rural high speed Internet access will likely make a fortune. Many users are still stuck in dial up land too far from the Telco Office for DSL and no cable tv lines.