October 2015

2015 marked a turning point for Comcast: It now has more Internet than TV customers. And it's trying out how to charge you for the amount of data you use, much the way Verizon and AT&T do for wireless customers. Why risk doing something that upsets customers? Most large cable companies -- AT&T and some smaller providers are the main exceptions -- offer unlimited data plans. The reason is simple. Comcast currently takes in more revenue from video customers than from Internet customers, but that's not likely to be true forever. A small but growing number of consumers are skipping cable subscriptions as hours spent watching video shifts online. So finding a way to charge for heavier Internet use could bolster Comcast's revenue as the ranks of its cable customers shrink.

In Oct, Comcast added a tweak as it expanded the cap into Florida: Customers can now pay an additional $30 a month for unlimited data. (In Atlanta (GA), it's $35 a month.) At this point, roughly 12 percent of Comcast territory is subject to "usage-based pricing," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett estimates. The average household watches 240 hours of TV a month, Moffett says; using current streaming technology, it would likely exceed the Comcast cap by watching the same amount of online video. (Comcast says the 300 GB cap would let you stream 230 to 575 hours of video a month, depending on if you watch it in standard definition or HD, or on your phone, computer or tablet versus a TV.)

The Telecom Act of 1996 turns 20 in February, and while the more open path for competition that the Act accomplished has resulted in a breathtaking expansion of communications options for many, the Digital Divide still persists. The Federal Communications Commission and private industry are looking to modernize their approaches to rural and underserved communities in order to address this. While the FCC has worked on many policies that have real effects on the market -- notably the Open Internet Order -- the Commission is now focused on crafting a broadband-led policy that translates into real benefits for consumers and for the economy, according to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

A first area of focus for broadband expansion is in schools and libraries. When it comes to the Lifeline program, Commissioner Rosenworcel noted that this too is a legacy policy. It was first implemented in 1985 under President Ronald Reagan. “Washington is not a normal place, and you can get lost in policy discussions and get into pitched battles about specific word choices in a regulation,” she said. “But it’s so important to remember what those words mean on the ground. It is incredibly valuable when you can remind everyone in Washington on every issue that there are real people at the end of the line. Hearing from consumers directly is critically important.”