It’s not official from the company yet, but Verizon is rumored to be getting ready to launch a 7 Mbps residential DSL tier. According to BroadbandReports, several of their forum members are already experiencing the new tier. Verizon is tight lipped, but tells BroadbandReports, “we’ll be making an announcement about this at some point.” Some would argue that Verizon is moving too slow on the DSL front, and most of their attention is on FiOS. Could that come back to haunt them?
FiOS probably represents the best broadband and triple play package offered by any large provider, cable or telco. But the reality is its availability is fairly limited. Good for the lucky ones who can get it, but what about everyone else? Is Verizon’s existing top tier of 3 Mpbs DSL going to cut it against their broadband competitors? With cable seizing on the speed advantage offered by cable modem, it would appear as if Verizon (and all DSL providers) is compelled to address this speed disparity. Of course, historical telco DSL strategies have been to target the “value” broadband customer with slower speeds, but much lower prices than cable modem. With that strategy, speed was deemed as less important than price. But you have to wonder if the “value” broadband market is approaching saturation. In order to compete in the “premium” broadband market, DSL providers will have to address their comparative broadband “deficiency.” Time will tell if this latest 7 Mbps offering will be enough.
Telecom is in bad shape when 7 Mbps is a newsworthy story.