Hi Mike:
Just came across this on the MF Covad piece.
"But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the deal is that BlueStar will get Covad back into the retail DSL scene from which it first began. Eventually, Covad abandoned the retail area for its current wholesaling model. While hard to read at this stage of the broadband game, moving back into retail and, in essence, "owning the customer" again may be an early attempt by Covad to hedge against the day that the last mile of bandwidth ceases to be major the bottleneck problem that it is today.
When such a day arrives, add-on services and brand-based reliability may become more important to business and household customers than the form the pipe takes, whether it be DSL or cable or even broadband satellite. Investors looking at the best places in the broadband sector to park their money for the next few years need to keep these changing dynamics in mind."
See biz.yahoo.com
What does the author imply by "add-on services?" IMHO, this will include, but not be limited to, proprietary content based upon deals the major ISPs of the future strike with various forms of content providers whose content the consumer seeks.
"Brand-based reliability"? IMHO, this is important today, & will be the underpinning upon which ISPs going forward will live or die. IOW, brand-based reliability is going to be a prerequisite to survival & the maintenance of a solid customer base. But to further build upon a successful subscriber base, to lure a customer from one successful ISP to another, its going to take these "add-on services," & IMHO, content will be one of the important ones.
Have a good weekend, gentlemen. |
