The competitive battle between Verizon and its cable competitors now includes multiple fronts. Verizon introduced a new FiOS campaign last week which includes aggressive pricing, much faster broadband speeds, and contract flexibility. It’s an aggressive offer and illustrates the competitive dynamics for double and triple play customers.
The deal is priced at $89.95/month, if ordered online, and includes a 50/25 Mbps broadband tier, the FiOS Prime HD channel lineup (215 channels, 55 HD), and home phone service. The price rises to $99.95 if completed through a customer service rep. Additional fees may apply, including mandatory equipment rental and regional sports network fees that add up to close to $10, not including regulatory fees and taxes.
Customers don’t have to sign a contract to get the promotion, but if they choose to sign a 24-month contract, they’ll also receive a $250 Visa gift card. Savings are achieved through a $45/month bill credit for the first 24 months.
Verizon is targeting cable customers primarily and makes no secret about it. “We’re making it even easier for cable users to confidently switch to FiOS. Specifically, we’re responding to feedback from prospective customers who told us they want to switch to FiOS for the faster speed, greater reliability and clearer images, but they struggle with the notion of signing up for a multi-year contract,” writes Verizon spokesman Bill Kula in a Verizon article.
Previous competitive dynamics between Verizon and cable focused on price or speed. But they are now adding contract flexibility combined with faster broadband tiers as well. The emphasis of the campaign is clearly on contract flexibility and faster broadband, with TV and phone services hardly mentioned.
Both Verizon and AT&T continue to have success taking market share from cable with FiOS and U-verse, respectively. Collectively, they now count 10.8 million TV subscribers and 16.5 million broadband subs on their next-generation broadband platforms. Verizon’s latest campaign looks to continue this momentum.
Image courtesy of flickr user CJ Woodworking & Design.
