Results from a new survey indicate that the nation’s cable companies may enjoy a significant amount of interest from consumers looking for good wireless deals from their current cable providers.
Specifically, a new survey from Barclays found that fully 40% of respondents would consider dumping their existing wireless provider and switching to wireless service offered by their cable supplier.
That’s likely welcome news to Comcast, Charter and Altice. Those three cable giants each currently offer or are planning to offer wireless services in a bid to compete directly against wireless giants like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Comcast launched its Xfinity Mobile MVNO service, which runs on Verizon’s wireless network, last year, and the operation currently counts around half a million subscribers. Meantime, Charter is reportedly planning to launch its own Spectrum Mobile MVNO, also running on Verizon’s network, by the end of June, with pricing similar to Comcast’s mobile offering. Altice though has said it won’t launch its wireless offering, which will run on Sprint’s network, until next year.
The survey from Barclays, a Wall Street research firm, was conducted in April and included responses from 250 people in the United States with ages ranging from 18 to over 65 years old, with an even mix between men and women. Barclays said the survey's sample size “was constructed by-invitation-only panel recruitment” by a third-party data research firm.
Of those respondents who said they would consider switching to wireless service from their cable provider, the majority (63%) cited attractive pricing as the primary reason, Barclays said. And of those that responded that they would not consider switching to a cable provider, 44% responded that they would reconsider if pricing for wireless monthly service were lower, while 25% cited lower pricing on new smartphone devices and network quality.
And in another noteworthy data point from Barclays’ results, only 21% of respondents said they plan to purchase extra services (such as broadband internet access) from their current wireless carrier. Of those respondents that plan to purchase extra services, 50% cited attractive pricing as the primary reason, followed by attractive additional services at 35%.
Those findings are particularly important as telecom giants ranging from Comcast to AT&T to Verizon work to bundle various telecom services together to entice customers to sign up for more offerings. AT&T, for example, has hung much of its wireless strategy on enticing its wireless customers to also sign up for its DirecTV-branded video services. Meanwhile, Verizon is working to expand its broadband internet service footprint through the deployment of fixed wireless offerings. And Comcast only sells its Xfinity Mobile service to customers who already subscribe to its wired internet service.