Large cable companies added 511,757 broadband subscribers and telcos lost 151,478 in Q2, continuing cable gains that have accounted for 95 percent of the roughly 3 million net (wireline) high-speed Internet additions over the last year, Leichtman Research Group said Tuesday in a news release. LRG said the cable net gain was 38 percent higher than in Q2 2014 while the telco net loss was higher than in any previous quarter, four of the past six of which have been losses. The 10 cable companies and seven telcos reviewed have about 94 percent of the market; at the end of Q2 2015, cable had 53.5 million subscribers and telcos had 35.4 million (a 60-40 cable-telco wireline market split), said LRG. Leading cable last quarter was Time Warner Cable, which added 189,000 subscribers, followed by Comcast's 179,000 adds, Charter Communications' 86,000, Cablevision's 14,000, Mediacom's 10,000 and Cable One's 457, while Bright House Networks and Cox Communications were estimated by LRG to have added 45,000 between them. WideOpenWest lost 8,900 subscribers and Suddenlink lost 2,800, Leichtman said. Comcast had 22.5 million broadband subscribers at quarter's end followed by TWC's 12.8 million, Charter's 5.3 million, Cablevision's 2.8 million, Suddenlink's 1.2 million and Mediacom's 1.1 million, with BHN and Cox estimated to have 6.6 million between them. AT&T and Verizon added 313,000 U-verse and FiOS high-speed Internet subscribers, respectively, in Q2 2015, while losing 474,000 net DSL subscribers combined, said LRG. It said U-verse and FiOS customers now are 56 percent of telco broadband subscribers, up from 42 percent two years ago. Overall, AT&T lost 136,000 net broadband subscribers, followed by Verizon's 25,000 in losses, Windstream's 11,600, CenturyLink's 9,000 and FairPoint's 1,278, while Frontier Communications added 29,000, and Cincinnati Bell added 2,400, said the industry research firm. AT&T had almost 16 million landline broadband subscribers at quarter's end, followed by Verizon's 9.2 million, CenturyLink's 6.1 million, Frontier's 2.4 million, Windstream's 1.1 million, FairPoint's 317,100 and Cincinnati Bell's 275,100.
Nearly six in 10 smartphones sold to consumers in Q2 were 4G-enabled, GfK said Monday in a report. GfK said it forecasts 4G smartphone penetration to continue to grow at the expense of 3G, which is currently at 38 percent of smartphone units and forecast to decline by another percentage point by Q4. It cited “significant regional differences” in global 4G smartphone adoption, including “price polarization” in North America and saturation in Western European markets. “The underlying trend of consumers optimizing their digital consumption by screen size, within affordability constraints, continues in all regions,” it said. In North America, smartphone unit sales climbed 10 percent from the same quarter a year earlier in Q2, to 44.4 million, GfK said. Q2 sales of high-end smartphones in North America priced $500 and up and low-end devices priced under $250 grew at the expense of mid-ranged devices, it said. Smartphones in the high end captured 43 percent of smartphone unit share in Q2, up from 38 percent share in Q2 a year earlier. North America and China “were the only regions to see an increase in high-end smartphone unit share on a year-on-year basis,” it said. Globally, smartphone unit volume grew 5 percent in Q2 to 302.1 million from 288.3 million a year earlier, it said.
Midsized telco wireline system acquisitions have produced broadband deployment and sharpened the landline consumer focus in affected states, telcos and interested parties said. Frontier Communications' takeover of Verizon (and AT&T) systems and CenturyLink’s takeover of Qwest generally receive good marks from state regulators, consumer advocates and others for completing difficult transitions and fulfilling most service obligations. But it’s not clear if FairPoint has recovered after choking on Verizon New England systems that increased its size sixfold; there is concern about Frontier’s pending acquisition of Verizon systems in California, Florida and Texas; and the sustainability of wireline telco business plans is in question.
Patience is no virtue among consumers coping with “faulty” smartphones or lousy customer care at their wireless carriers, found a Blancco Technology Group study. Blancco canvassed 1,400 smartphone-owning consumers aged 25-65 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia in early June and found that the combination of defective phones and shoddy customer service would cause 31 percent of respondents to switch to different mobile carriers and another 33 percent to change their device manufacturers, the research firm said Wednesday in a report. Though only 2 percent of consumers surveyed said they’re “bothered” by inferior camera or video quality, 38 percent cited poor battery life as their most pressing smartphone gripe, the firm said. Faulty smartphone functionality “is the norm, not the exception,” the firm said. It said 31 percent of respondents typically experience problems with their devices at least once a month and as often as several times a year.
The FCC issued a notice of inquiry launching its latest broadband deployment review, under Section 706 of the Telecom Act, which commissioners approved Thursday (see 1508060049). The 38-page item seeks comment on whether and how to include mobile terrestrial and fixed satellite services in its annual assessment of whether “advanced telecom capability” (i.e., high-speed broadband) is being deployed to all Americans on a reasonable and timely basis; previously it had just looked at fixed terrestrial broadband deployment. If the commission finds broadband isn't being deployed to all Americans fast enough, it's mandated to take immediate steps to remove barriers to deployment. The NOI included several suggestions that mobile and fixed broadband services weren't substitutes for each other. There are “a number of factors indicating that mobile and fixed broadband appear to be different services … and that each currently appears best suited to serve different consumer needs,” the FCC said. “We seek comment on whether to treat access to both fixed and mobile broadband as necessary components of advanced telecommunications capability.” The FCC also sought comment on keeping its 25/3 Mbps broadband speed definition for terrestrial fixed service -- and extending it to fixed satellite service -- while setting a lower speed definition for mobile terrestrial service. It also inquired about possible latency and service consistency benchmarks. Commissioner Ajit Pai, who partially dissented, said in his statement: “The Notice is filled with page after page of new conditions, novel tests, and nebulous qualifiers designed to give the agency plenty of ways to ensure a negative finding when the pen hits the paper.” This year, the FCC used a negative broadband deployment finding to help justify its net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The next report is expected in February.
The Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) urged YouTube in a report Thursday to stop featuring advertising on videos that promote malicious software. Hackers are increasingly using trusted sites like YouTube to learn hacking skills, with YouTube hosting thousands of videos on the use of remote access Trojans and other malware, DCA said. About 38 percent of the videos DCA found on YouTube related to malware use contained ads from major car companies and others. YouTube parent company Google and the video’s poster split ad revenue from “these malicious tutorials,” DCA said. YouTube “has clear policies that outline what content is acceptable to post, and we remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users,” the company said in a statement.
GE Healthcare is asking the FCC to “re-evaluate and strengthen” its rules for protecting medical telemetry devices that use TV Channel 37 from adjacent base stations making unlicensed use of the TV white spaces. GEHC filed a petition for reconsideration, saying the agency’s rules don't adequately protect medical use of the spectrum. Hospitals use medical telemetry to wirelessly monitor cardiac and other patients.
Verizon hasn't decided if it will be a player in the TV incentive auction, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Tuesday during the company’s Q2 earnings call, pointing out that decisions on part of the auction rules got pushed from last week’s FCC meeting to the Aug. 6 meeting. Verizon was the first of the major telecom carriers to report its earnings.
Verizon employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island "overwhelmingly" gave strike authority to union negotiators if they determine it's necessary after a current labor contract expires Aug. 1, said leaders of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers System Council T-6 in a news release. Union negotiators are frustrated with the lack of progress as contract talks enter a fifth week, said the release emailed Monday.
LightSquared is hoping the lack of opposition to its plans to transfer licenses to a reorganized version of the company, and to get a waiver of foreign ownership rules, helps speed its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The deadline for initial comments in docket 15-126 was July 1. The company needs to transfer its licenses to a reorganized entity as one of the last steps to getting Bankruptcy Court approval for ending its 38-month-old bankruptcy proceeding. The lack of opposition to the license reassignments "is a positive sign," said a lawyer working with the company. "It certainly shortens the review process."