How Comcast is beating Verizon
"The U.S. video business is now growing roughly 50% faster than the U.S. wireless business," notes Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett
Cable-company revenues per subscriber are up 5.3% over the last year, vs just 3.6% for wireless, notes Craig Mofett, telecom analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Research.
That's because wireless is competitive : Verizon vs AT&T Mobility vs T-Mobile vs Sprint vs MetroPCS or Leap (and both, uniquely, in Philadelphia), vs resellers like Virgin Mobile and Tracfone and regionals like US Cellular and Cox...
While cable is still local-monopolistic: You get Comcast or TimeWarner Cable or Cablevision or Cox...
So wireless prices are dropping, while cable prices are going up. "Five years ago, when cable broadband was introduced at around $40, consensus expectations projected that prices would fall by as much as a third by now. Instead, they've risen."
And wireless, Moffett notes, is only likely to Internet 40% of America, leaving cable with the rest.