Comcast is really pulling out all the stops at CES this year. On top of its big announcement regarding its Project Infinity, the top cable operator is also touting the fact that it's now the fourth biggest residential phone service provider in the U.S.
It's an impressive feat given Comcast's relatively late start in launching digital voice services -- the big push on VoIP began about three years ago, although Comcast acquired AT&T Broadband which had been offering circuit-switched telephony services since 2000 or so. Comcast doesn't offer any numbers in its press release to indicate who the top three providers are, but look at these charts.
Comcast is the fourth largest residential telephony provider, following AT&T, Verizon and Qwest. But the drop off from Qwest to Comcast is substantial -- Comcast has less than half the home phone customers that the smallest of the former Baby Bells serves. Maybe that's why the press release is curiously absent on statistics.
When it comes to total telephone lines, Comcast is arguably the nation's fifth largest phone company, if you look at only facilities-based, regional network-oriented voice providers, right behind AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Embarq.
One thing Comcast doesn't tout is the fact that with Vonage's growth slow-down and its own rapid gains in the voice sector, it's also the nation's number one VoIP provider.
Cynthia Brumfield at 10:13 AM|Comments(0)
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