HickoryTech, a Mankato, MN based telecom service provider, announced the launch of a home monitoring service that will enable customers to receive digital video, real-time data and alerts from their homes any time and anywhere. Utilizing a broadband Internet connection and wireless phones, the service sends customers real-time alerts allowing them to stay connected to their homes and families while they are away and manage certain aspects of the home environment, such as temperature and lighting. An integrated web-based portal controls all monitoring equipment. Users can access live video feeds and reports from the portal, and establish customized instructions for the service to provide alerts or take action under specific conditions. HickoryTech's home monitoring service costs under $10 per month. The set-up includes a self-installation starter package of equipment for a one-time cost of $199.

Horizon Chillicothe Telephone, based in Chillicothe, OH, announced the launch of a series of wireless Wi-Fi hotspots throughout their southern Ohio community. The new service, branded as Horizon View, will add wireless broadband service to Chillicothe’s bundling strategy, and will be available as a free value add feature for Chillicothe Internet subscribers. “We want our Horizon customers to be able to take their Internet service with them around town,” said Bill McKell, Horizon CEO. “As portable computers get smaller and more handheld devices, like the iPhone, prefer the fast speeds of WiFi access points, Horizon is committed to providing high-speed wireless Internet service in the places our customers visit the most." Chillicothe hopes to have 100 wireless hotspots operating throughout their service territory by then end of the year.

This Chillicothe example illustrates the growing trend of smaller service providers, both telecom and cable, leveraging broadband wireless services to extend their value and brand. As WiMAX and other wireless broadband technologies come to market, service providers of all sizes will be pressured to include a broadband wireless option for their subscribers. The future will see further convergence of wireless and broadband, with most devices including laptops, portable media players, and cell phones (not just smartphones) having wireless broadband connectivity built directly into them. As consumers begin to become familiar with these features, demand for wireless broadband connectivity will increase dramatically.

Brian Dipert, an editor with Electronics Design, Strategy, News (EDN) blogs about his experience with SureWest and their FTTH service. It’s a two part blog, where he talks about the speed he achieves when downloading music and movies, as well as his experience with SureWest’s IPTV service, including their HD feeds. It offers great insight into SureWest’s offering and their mindset of the competitive landscape.

SureWest is seen as a model among independent carriers, often referred to as IOCs, for their progressive nature and apparent success. They have embraced the triple and quad play future and are aggressively building a long term competitive strategy.

ViewNow announced today that Western Illinois Video Networks (WIV), a statewide consortium of eight rural telephone service providers, has licensed its video-on-demand (VOD) programming and usage tracking software for their IPTV networks. No longer is an ancillary service, VOD now a requirement to compete in today’s triple play landscape. The reality is that VOD and the VOD experience may come to represent the future of television as we know it.

VOD has been a challenge to more rural operators because of its additional cost and immature business model factors - factors that make it difficult for systems with subscriber counts in the low hundreds or thousands to justify a suspect ROI. But rural operators are increasingly viewing VOD as necessary to compete, or even differentiate. Rural IPTV operators often face cable competitors who have yet to upgrade their rural cable infrastructure to two-way digital, thus preventing them from offering VOD. By being the first to offer VOD in their markets, some rural operators are in a position to use it to their own competitive advantage.

Much of the discussion around triple play competition centers on large national carriers including Verizon and Comcast. But the competitive landscape stretches well beyond “NFL” cities. Suddenlink’s recent announcement of triple play service in eastern North Carolina demonstrates the vibrant competitive landscape in tier two, three, and beyond markets. Suddenlink is the eighth largest MSO in the country with a subscriber base of 1.4 million. Its triple play strategy is fairly aggressive, with a goal of reaching 80% of its customer base by year end 2007. Suddenlink will compete with a variety of telecom carriers in many of the small town markets of eastern North Carolina including Embarq and TriCounty Telecom, an independent operating carrier (IOC).

Check out this revealing article on The Daily Reflector website.