SureWest gets a lot of attention from its industry leading IPTV and FTTH deployments. But it also passes approximately 75,000 homes with DSL. They announced a bonded pair strategy to increase the bandwidth capability of those copper fed homes. The bonded copper pair solution will allow SureWest to increase its 6 Mbps service to 10 Mbps and its 3 Mbps service to 6 Mbps. SureWest will offer the 10 Mbps service for $31.99/month and the 6 Mbps service for $27.99/month. "Bonded DSL allows us to provide faster Internet speeds deeper into our copper network, and now over 50 percent of potential DSL subscribers have access to 10 Mbps,” said Bill DeMuth, SureWest CTO, in a company statement. The move is illustrative of the telecom industry reality. FTTH gets all the hype and attention these days, but the majority of telecom broadband customers will be fed by DSL for some time to come.

Read more about SureWest and it's leading telecom strategies.

ROSEVILLE, Calif., Oct 14, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Leading independent communications holding company SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW) announced today that during the third quarter of 2008 it reached the 100,000 broadband customer milestone. In celebration of this significant occasion in the company's history, SureWest is awarding a free year of triple-play service to two customers: one in its Sacramento market and one in its Kansas City region. Read More ...

SureWest announced their quarterly earnings today and revealed interesting insight into the future of the telecom business. Of the 3,900 traditional access lines they lost in 2Q08, 1,400 of them chose to stay with SureWest and selected a VoIP product. They converted 36% of their access line losses into VoIP customers – customers who may have been lost if not for their VoIP product. Additionally, SureWest reports that VoIP is a “…potentially higher-margin product when compared with SureWest’s traditional land line service due to its bundling requirements for SureWest data and long-distance…” As usual, SureWest is demonstrating leadership in the telecom space. By introducing a VoIP product or “Digital Phone” as they call it, they are creating a reason for customers to stay with them, not leave them. By bundling digital voice with their broadband product, they are meeting their cable and VoIP providers head on, with similar features, including unlimited LD and other feature rich packages. AT&T is following a similar strategy with their U-Verse voice product.

I recognize all telcos don’t have the flexibility of a SureWest, due to regulatory and settlement obligations. In some regards, many telcos have one hand tied behind their back when it comes to offering flexible IP based packages in their incumbent territories. But as the initial SureWest numbers suggest, providing IP based services can create flexibility and options. Options that allow telcos to adjust to the marketplace and possibly help stem the tide of growing traditional access line loss.

SureWest announced that its recently acquired property in the Kansas City market, Everest Broadband, will take the SureWest name and brand. SureWest completed the acquisition of Everest, a broadband triple play provider, on February 13, 2008. In conjunction with the rebranding of Everest, SureWest will also add 18 new HDTV channels to its network. SureWest announced several other enhancements, which can be read here.

SureWest announced the launch of SureWest Remote Monitoring, a service that allows customers to control and monitor devices in their home from anywhere in the world, provided they have Internet access. The service provides live or recorded video and still images, as well as sensor notifications for things such as motion, door and window activity, water leakage and temperature change, and control of appliances. A starter package of equipment used with the service features an IP camera, door/window sensor, wireless gateway and software/instructions and is available for a one-time cost of $199.99. The service is provided for $9.99 a month or a one-time annual payment of $105.99. SureWest plans to market the service both inside and outside of its territory, even suggesting anyone in the nation can subscribe to it.

This is a great example of a telco leveraging the power and utility of Internet protocol (IP) to try to expand their options (and revenue) beyond their core telephony products and create competitive advantage. They are certainly not the first to do so, but you have to admire SureWest’s approach of looking at this opportunity on a grander scale than just with their local customer base. That’s what many a PowerPoint presentation at many an industry conference has suggested that IP can do for a “local telephone” company. I’ll be the first to admit that we can’t draw any conclusions about the potential success of this venture. It may very well flop. But I do admire SureWest for rolling the dice on it, and getting valuable experience with what the future of the business will indeed look like. That is, utilizing IP to develop and implement a series of revenue generating applications and services, well beyond just telephony, that positions a service provider to effectively compete against all comers.

SureWest announced the launch of a VoIP primary line product, branded as SureWest Digital Voice. The VoIP powered service offers packages ranging from a nationwide unlimited plan for $39.99/month to a “Digital Basic” plan for $12.99/month that offers 300 “anytime” minutes. The similarities to wireless package explanations are no coincidence. Unlike bring your own broadband (BYOB) VoIP services like Vonage, SureWest requires customers to subscribe to their high speed Internet service. They are marketing voice and data bundles that range from $71.98/month for 10 Mbps broadband and unlimited voice to $45.98 for 3 Mbps broadband and 500 “anytime” minutes for voice. SureWest Digital Voice can also be included in a triple play package. For plans that aren’t unlimited, incoming calls and outbound calls to other SureWest customers do no count against the minute allotment. SureWest Digital Voice adds unique features not available on their traditional voice product including simultaneous ring and a “Digital Phone Manager,” which is an online phone portal manager.

SureWest joins other traditional telecom service providers, including AT&T, who are embracing VoIP powered primary line service. These services are being marketed as cutting edge “digital” services to counter cable and other VoIP competitors who position their voice product as ahead of the “stodgy, old local phone company.” But telcos have something else up their sleeve as well. VoIP’s promise is that of a more efficient and less costly way to deliver voice. So while in the short term, products like Digital Voice hope to appeal to customers who are vulnerable to switching to the local cable company’s competing voice product, the long term prospects include migrating all voice service to IP, and the lower cost of network advantages it provides.

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.