TelecomTV TelecomTV
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Events
  • Directory
  • Smart Studio
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • DSP Leaders World Forum
  • DSP Summits
  • Great Telco Debate
    • |
    • Follow
    • |
    • Subscribe
  • |
  • More
  • Webcasts
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • Great Telco Debate
  • |
  • Follow TelecomTV
  • |
    • Subscribe
    • |
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Follow TelecomTV
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Sign In Register Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
    • Register
  • Search

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

Is Comcast planning to storm the US wireless business via WiFi?

Ian Scales
By Ian Scales

May 13, 2014

Gary Knight (c) [CC BY-SA 2.0]

Gary Knight (c) [CC BY-SA 2.0]

A flurry of excitement is evident in the US with news that Comcast has agreed a WiFi deal with two Asian cellular operators - Japan's KDDI and Taiwan Mobile.

The Asian operators' roaming business (and vacationing) customers will be able to hook into Comcast's extensive WiFi coverage  as an alternative to conventional switched roaming services through Verizon and AT&T, when they travel to the US. 
 
It's being described as an aggressive challenge to wireless dominance and will result in cheaper services for the travelling Asians keen to shake off high roaming prices. 
 
It's all very fine and dandy, of course, but a little dabble in WiFi-based roaming by Comcast is hardly going to cause any immediate tectonic shift.  In fact, I doubt whether it will disturb anyone overly much in the big incumbents..  
 
Using WiFi as an alternative to cellular roaming when overseas has been a long-standing dodge by travelling businessmen and holiday makers pretty-much all over the world - it didn't need Comcast to spotlight it. Many business people use it. And many don't, since using it has multiple drawbacks.
 
Top amongst these is the intermittent service problem -  no matter how dense WiFi networks have become you're not  always within range and logged on and may have to seek out a hotspot to make or return a call. And then, depending on the country and WiFi operator concerned, the actual quality of the interaction may leave much to be desired.

Many businessmen just swallow hard and use their phones normally, no matter the cost.

True, great strides are being made with higher WiFi densities - Comcast claims to have invested in 8 million hotspots and growing fast.  It says it will able to offer its Asian roamers coverage in 19 out of 30 large US cities (which means 11 won't have it). And, despite the arrival of LTE, WiFi use is still growing strongly. 
 
Another positive is apparent through services such as Devicescape, which claims to curate a selection of the available WiFi services so that users may automatically log on - and stay on - appropriate links without having to fiddle with passwords, are becoming more prevalent. 
 
Some of the more gushing commentaries about the Comcast deal, though, are way off mark. Some observers seem to regard the WiFi move as a major challenge to the status quo should it be followed up by a successful merger of Comcast with Time Warner which would bring another 34,000 hotspots to Comcast's WiFi party. 
 
And there's the concern right there. Not only would a merger of the two cable giants give them effective dominance of the US broadband market, but those extra 34,000 hotspots would help Comcast carve out a significant chunk of the wireless market at some point up the track. But I don't think an up-tick in roaming Asians using WiFi will move the dial much.

Related Topics
  • Analysis & Opinion,
  • Asia-Pacific,
  • Business Models,
  • News,
  • OTT,
  • Transformation,
  • Wi-Fi

More Like This

Access Evolution

CommScope announces plan to spin-off its Home Networks Business into independent public company

Apr 8, 2021

Access Evolution

CommScope Expands RUCKUS Wi-Fi 6 Portfolio for Hospitality, MDUs and Smart Spaces

Apr 6, 2021

5G

Zeetta Networks launches multi-network management software

Apr 1, 2021

Access Evolution

WBA Celebrates Saudi Arabia’s Groundbreaking Designation for Unlicensed Spectrum

Mar 31, 2021

Wi-Fi

The French Group Barrière Accelerates its Digital Transformation with CommScope and Wifirst

Mar 29, 2021

Email Newsletters

Stay up to date with the latest industry developments: sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox – including our daily news briefing and weekly wrap.

Subscribe

Top Picks

Highlights of our content from across TelecomTV today

DSP Leaders World Forum 2021 Delegate Report

0:50

DSP Leaders Open Telco Summit

23:25

Extra Shot: Next Steps for DSPs

11:17

How cloud dynamics are reshaping the telecoms sector

  • TelecomTV
  • Decisive Media

TelecomTV is produced by the team at Decisive Media

Menu
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Directory
  • Smart Studio
 
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • Events
  • About Us
Our Brands
  • TelecomTV Tracker
  • TelecomTV Perspectives
  • DSP Summits
  • DSP Leaders World Forum
  • The Great Telco Debate
Get In Touch
info@telecomtv.com
+44 (0) 207 448 1070

Request a Media Pack

Follow
  • © Decisive Media Limited 2021. All rights reserved. All brands and products are the trademarks of their respective holder(s).
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Legal Notices