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Jun. 30, 2009

U.S. cable operator Comcast has begun reselling Clearwire’s mobile Wi-MAX service in Portland, Ore., under the brandname High-Speed 2go.

Comcast is now the first Clearwire investor to resell mobile Wi-Max service.

The mobile WiMAX services will be sold in a bundle with at least one of the Comcast’s Internet, phone or TV products.

High-Speed 2go will be available in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago by early December.

Overall, cable operators are under increased competitive pressure from wireless carriers offering similar bundles comprised of wireline, mobile service and Internet access.

AT&T and Verizon Communications recently upped the ante with their respective fiber-optic services, U-Verse and Fios.

Those bundles are nearly identical to those offered by cable companies and feature a package of digital television, phone, high-speed Internet and wireless.

Overall, 4G has the potential to keep cable companies relevant and competitive as teleco’s encroach into their territory.

Telco industry analyst Jeff Kagan says “Comcast doesn't want to get into the wireless space, but it has to simply because its major competition is. If it dosen't, it will lose quite a bit of new business. It’s just that simple.”

Clearwire recently launched its 4G Clear service in Atlanta, Ga.

And although there have been some negative reviews of the service, Kagan found that new connections in Atlanta are fast and seem to work very well.

But Kagan predicts that the company’s existing customers likely will choose either wireless or wireline Internet, but not both, and that this will have the effect of minimizing the positive impact of the service on Comcast’s bottom line.

Kagan also expects that wireless users currently using mobile carrier’s nationwide Internet cards will stay with them for the simple reason that the arrangements reportedly work reliably.

“In a nutshell, this is going to compete with the telco's DSL services and the cable company service. It’s not really going to compete with the wireless Internet service that you buy from your cell phone company,” Kagan said.

He was also quick to point out that “it’s not like this is going to mean more business for the cable companies.”

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    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: Comcast.