Motorola Mobility Slides; Set Tops to be Replaced by Gateways?
Motorola Mobility announced recently that revenue from its home division dropped 11% to $897 million in the Q4 2011. The technology vendor, which supplies digital set-tops and other equipment to Comcast, Verizon and several other cable MSOs, said fourth-quarter shipments decreased by 3 percent compared to the same period in 2010. Motorola faces increased competition in the set-top space from consumer electronics manufacturers, which are supplying gaming consoles, connected TVs and other devices capable of delivering pay TV programming. The company said it is fighting back by the planned deployment of video gateways, which would replace traditional DVRs and allow cable subscribers to access programming on multiple devices, including tablets, computers and thin client IP set-tops.
For more, see http://www.fiercecable.com/story/set-top-revenue-motorola-mobility-dips-q4-2011/2012-01-27?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Content on Multiple Screens to Become Routine
According to new research from IMS Research, the number of IP-enabled consumer electronics shipped will near 2.5 billion in 2012, and rise to 3.5 billion in 2015. The sheer number of devices suggests that multi-screen content consumption is set to become a mainstream activity. IMS notes that the increasing adoption of fixed broadband connectivity in homes, along with the high popularity of wired and wireless home networking, will also play a large part in driving this transition forward, along with the growing installed base of IP-enabled CE devices.
For more coverage, go to http://www.fierceiptv.com/story/research-2012-tipping-point-multi-screen-content-consumption/2012-02-02?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Verizon Tops J.D. Power Again
The latest J.D. Power and Associates customer care survey ranks Verizon no. 1 in customer care performance. Second, third and fourth place among the four largest carriers went to Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively. Virgin Mobile emerged victorious for customer care among non-contract providers. Interestingly, owners of 4G-enabled handsets contact their carrier considerably more than owners of less sophisticated devices, and each of these support calls takes five minutes longer than support calls involving the older phones.
For more information, see http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Wireless-Again-Wins-JD-Power-Customer-Survey-118191
Frontier Posts 2011 Financial Results
Frontier Communications Corporation unleashed its Q4 financials, announcing a fourth-quarter revenue of over $1.2 billion, operating income of $230.5 million, and a net income of $42.2 million, which represented their strongest quarterly revenue performance since acquiring Verizon. Other notable numbers:
- The company notched 1,764,200 high-speed Internet subscribers as of 31 December 2011, a gain of over 50,000 for the year
- On that same date, Frontier could also boast of 557,500 video customers
- Reached 415,000 new households with broadband availability during the year
For more information, see http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=66508&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1662192&highlight=
East Asia Leads in Fastest Advertised Broadband Speeds
According to an informal survey of advertised global broadband speeds conducted by IDG, East Asian countries boast some of the fastest advertised connections around, with four countries featuring at least one carrier claiming average download speeds of 100Mbps or higher. Hong Kong emerges as the leader, with advertised broadband upload/download speeds of 300Mbps. Other East Asian countries to feature 100Mbps download speeds are Taiwan, South Korea and Japan (Poland, Germany and Canada are also in this club). Even more impressive, Hong Kong’s 300Mbps service costs just $40 a month and includes television service. In the United States, by contrast, 25Mbps Internet access runs around $75 per month, and doesn’t include television.
For more coverage, see http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/020612-global-broadband-255760.html?
