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| $10 More Gets 50 Meg DOCSIS, 400 Gig Cap at Shaw |
| Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:31 |
 Shaw's $99 triple play now includes 50 meg DOCSIS. Including 50-100 meg at about the same price is working wonders for cable in Britain and France, pulling Virgin and Numericable well up in net adds. This isn't an introductory teaser rate but the new standard price; slower modem service only saves $10. On the other hand, 50 meg standalone is $75, 50% higher than slower speeds. Presumably, that's because the bundle buyer is not cutting the TV cord, as Karl Bode notes. Except for Cablevision and now Shaw, U.S. and Canada cablecos and telcos charge about $100 for 50 meg, twice the price of Britain or France or their own price for 10 meg. Because of the incredible cost-efficiency of DOCSIS 3 gear, 50 meg today cost the carrier less than 5 meg did a few years ago. Where competition is not totally hobbled, 50 meg today would therefore cost no more than 5 or 10 did. Most places, the U,S. telco/cableco duopoly has a "separate peace" that keeps prices high. Shaw is rapidly losing video customers to Telus' IP TV, where the intensifying Canadian wireless battle is producing spill-over effects.
Cablevision in the U.S. charges $50 for 15/2 and $65 for 50/8, only a $15 difference. They quoted me $150 for triple play at 15/2 and $165 for 50/8, also a $15 difference. They face Verizon FiOS in most of their territory, the best U.S. network, so need to offer more.
From Japan to Germany, and all stops in between, we're finding customers are willing to pay only a modest premium for speeds faster than 10 megabits. Many will pay $5-10 more. At $50 extra, almost no one is buying. http://bit.ly/iFEIjA
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