RCN Corp. is speeding toward its first DOCSIS 3.0 broadband service rollout, but that first product may not be aimed at the residential customer, President and CEO Peter Aquino told a group of analysts and investors at the Deutsche Bank Securities Media and Telecommunications Conference Tuesday.
Aquino echoed gave a quick update on the DOCSIS 3.0 rollout, saying that with systems now being tested in New York and Boston, a DOCSIS 3.0 rollout was coming within a couple of months, “if not weeks.”
But at launch RCN may be focusing the service marketing on small to medium business customers rather than residential.
Aquino said less than 20% of RCN’s data customer base takes its top-tier 20 Mbps service “and applications for 20 Meg – it’s not mass market yet. So now you’ve got 50. So what are you going to do with 50 if you are not using 20?”
Instead, Aquino said RCN might be better off aiming its initial DOCSIS 3.0 rollout at the small business segment.
“I think that’s where we can get our bang for the buck,” he said. “I think from the consumer perspective, it’s going to catch up. But I think in 2009 DOCSIS 3.0 I’m not going to see a big migration from 10, 15, 20 Meg product to 50 just because we have it.”
“I don’t think the demand is there, personally,” he said. “But the technology is there, and we are aiming for the future. I think we aim for small biz, and to the extent there are certain consumers who want that type of power, we’re going to have it.”
During the session, Aquino also was asked about merger and acquisition possibilities, and for the first time opened the door – if slightly – to the idea of selling off the cabler’s network and franchises in the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The valley, which includes the cities of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa. and Easton, N.J. is the third highest concentration of population in Pennsylvania behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with about 790,000 residents.
The Lehigh Valley is the only one of RCN’s markets that is not a high-density urban market. While it has a fully built-out 860 MHz cable plant, it is the only RCN market that has not as yet seen rollout of the cabler’s Analog Crush all-digital TV service.
When asked what RCN’s plans were for the market, Aquino said all options were on the table.
“Monetizing is an option, but it is not high up on my list,” Aquino said. “If it happens it will be opportunistic and we will see. But Lehigh Valley is real engine for us. It’s a great market for us and the employees are really strong, and it has a great opportunity for expansion, whether you go into south Jersey or north of Lehigh.”
source: onetrak.com
HERNDON, VA, Feb 10, 2009 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) — RCN Corporation (NASDAQ: RCNI), a leading provider of all-digital and high definition video, high-speed internet, and premium voice services to residential and small-medium business customers, as well as high-capacity transport services to carrier and large enterprise customers, announced today that it has begun deployment of DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) 3.0. This deployment will enable the company to offer residential and business customers Internet download speeds of 50mbps and faster.
With the completion of its conversion to all-digital cable TV in its major metropolitan markets, RCN now turns its focus to deploying DOCSIS 3.0, starting with testing and subsequent initial deployments in its Boston and New York City markets. DOCSIS 3.0 is designed to help cable providers, like RCN, to dramatically boost speeds using channel bonding technology.
“Once we have completed our initial testing and trials, we intend to move quickly, similar to our industry leading efforts to deploy an all-digital video platform, to roll this product upgrade out to our data customers,” said RCN President & CEO Peter Aquino. “We’re taking the time now to test the platform to ensure that when we fully deploy this upgrade, it is done in the most efficient and effective manner for our customers.”
Aquino added that on the small business side, DOCSIS 3.0 will enable customers to leverage 2-Megabit and higher symmetrical data services for increased productivity, in-house/on-site hosting and VoIP adoption, all at more attractive prices than the slower T1 service offered by incumbent providers.
source: investor.rcn.com