SBC-Yahoo! Fires Up Competition

Joseph Laszlo | February 02, 2004, 06:57 PM

SBC's taken the covers off a new 3Mbps tier of service, priced at $44.99 to compete with the cable modem providers. This is pretty cool, as it paves the way for real competition between cable and DSL (see this DSL Reports thread).

Last year saw an increasing amount of choice for consumers (cable=faster, more expensive, DSL=slower, cheaper), but although that variety is good, it's unlikely to force much competitive response. Now, prospective DSL customers (who live within a certain distance from their CO, yadda yadda) have a real choice in terms of speed and price. This is either going to force the price down, or force the cable guys to compete on the basis of content and features, which could get very interesting. Or, third scenario, the cable guys again ratchet up their speeds. Any way you slice it, subscribers stand to gain.

We wrote a research piece [Jupiter report, client access only] last year that called on this kind of competition to maintain consumer interest in broadband in the States. Also did a press release on it, just recently.