USTelecom: Cable Is BDS Alternative

USTelecom has been talking up cable as a strong competitor in the business data services (BDS) market.

In a supplemental filing at the Federal Communications Commission on its BDS revamp proposal -- potentially regulating, including rates, new entrants like cable as they have historically regulated incumbent telecoms like those represented by USTelecom -- the telecom trade group said small and medium-sized businesses (with between 5 and 100 employees) using business data service see cable as a competitive alternative. It said its survey found that among data networking customers who did not currently use cable, 70 percent of decisionmakers said they were willing to consider cable, and only 12 percent said they would be unwilling.