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April 28, 2008
Qwest Connect Quantum's Ultimate Play
By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor
Qwest’s (News - Alert) new 20 Mbps and 12 Mbps broadband access services are getting a lukewarm reaction in some quarters. “It is only appealing to consumers who desire ultra fast download speeds and want an alternative to cable companies’ similar offerings,” says Bruce McGregor, Current Analysis (News - Alert) senior analyst.
Qwest Connect Titanium offers up to 12 Mbps downstream and 896 kbps upstream with a bundled price as low as $46.99 a month, and Qwest Connect Quantum comes with up to 20 Mbps downstream and 896 kbps upstream with a bundled price as low as $99.99 a month.
These faster speeds will help Qwest better match cable’s offers. “The trouble for these new ultra fast broadband speeds is the hefty price tag that comes with them,” says McGregor.
In the Phoenix market, Cox (News - Alert) Communications offers speeds up 15 Mbps at cheaper rates, he notes. Cox High Speed Internet Preferred with 9 Mbps downstream and 512 kbps upstream costs $44.95 a month, which is $20 cheaper than the Qwest Connect Titanium 12 Mbps standard rate.
Cox sells 15 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream service for $59.95 month, while Qwest’s Quantum 20 Mbps service costs $99.99 to $114.99 a month. So some will argue Qwest can’t compete, given to price differences.
Qwest Connect Titanium offers up to 12 Mbps downstream and 896 kbps upstream with a bundled price as low as $46.99 a month, and Qwest Connect Quantum comes with up to 20 Mbps downstream and 896 kbps upstream with a bundled price as low as $99.99 a month.
These faster speeds will help Qwest better match cable’s offers. “The trouble for these new ultra fast broadband speeds is the hefty price tag that comes with them,” says McGregor.
In the Phoenix market, Cox (News - Alert) Communications offers speeds up 15 Mbps at cheaper rates, he notes. Cox High Speed Internet Preferred with 9 Mbps downstream and 512 kbps upstream costs $44.95 a month, which is $20 cheaper than the Qwest Connect Titanium 12 Mbps standard rate.
Cox sells 15 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream service for $59.95 month, while Qwest’s Quantum 20 Mbps service costs $99.99 to $114.99 a month. So some will argue Qwest can’t compete, given to price differences.
That might be true if some additional changes aren’t forthcoming. But a reasonable person can argue that Qwest already is working on services that make use of that amount of bandwidth, such as on-demand video services, either standalone or interworking with DirecTV (News - Alert), which needs a better VOD capability.
Qwest hasn’t said anything about the matter, but one would assume it already has figured out how it can tweak any such future video services so they preserve the image quality users will want, and content owners and packagers demand.
Once users start spending more time watching browser-based or net-delivered video, and if providers remind them of the fact, they are going to begin valuing the quality of bandwidth, not simply the quantity.
One has to believe Qwest had that all factored in when pricing at the current levels. It might not be trying to compete head-to-head with cable providers. It might be gearing up for some other video-optimized service that will create incremental revenue above the basic access service, and that will require lots of quality bandwidth.
Qwest executives have been quite clear about their strategy of partnering to create new services, and DirecTV needs a terrestrial partner to help it offer on-demand programming. Does it all make sense now?
Qwest hasn’t said anything about the matter, but one would assume it already has figured out how it can tweak any such future video services so they preserve the image quality users will want, and content owners and packagers demand.
Once users start spending more time watching browser-based or net-delivered video, and if providers remind them of the fact, they are going to begin valuing the quality of bandwidth, not simply the quantity.
One has to believe Qwest had that all factored in when pricing at the current levels. It might not be trying to compete head-to-head with cable providers. It might be gearing up for some other video-optimized service that will create incremental revenue above the basic access service, and that will require lots of quality bandwidth.
Qwest executives have been quite clear about their strategy of partnering to create new services, and DirecTV needs a terrestrial partner to help it offer on-demand programming. Does it all make sense now?
Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
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