Comcast targets small biz in its broadband marketing - San Francisco Business Times:

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Comcast began what it calls a "soft launch" July 1 of a cabl e modem Internet service marketinhg campaign targetedat small- and home-basexd businesses in the Bay Area. Nationally, only 5 percen t of cable modem subscribersare businesses, industryh research shows. "Our competitors are going to be disappointer that we are going to spoil the marketfor them," says Woody Faircloth, director of business services for Comcast who is baserd in Pleasanton. Competitors are skeptical. They include , of San the dominant local telephone company in the Bay Area and partsd of 12other states; and , of Santa a provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service.
Both Covax and SBC sell DSL andother business-class service (sucj as a T-1 line) to enterprises and haven'gt felt much competitive pressured from cable modem providers such as Comcast. "We rarelty run into a competitor from the cabld company inthat very-small-business space," says Pat executive vice president and general managerr of Covad's Broadband Solutions businesz in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. "I'm surprised that [business is even 5 percent.
" Cable modem's businesas presence is small because its core cablde television service has long been targetefd atresidential customers, thus giving cabld companies a stronger foothold to sell them Internett access, says Mike Paxton, a seniorr analyst at In-Stat/MDR, a technology research firm in Scottsdale, Cable's reach has not been as by comparison, into the business, or enterprise, Mr. Paxton says. "To give cable credit, certain operators, such as Cox [Communicationws Inc.
] and Comcast, have been really pushingh marketing efforts towards the business communituybut it's a steep hill to climb," he because of the lead phone network-based serviced from SBC, Covad and others Atlanta-based Comcast has been selling its business service, called Comcast Pro, in its legacy markets where it has long offereed service. It is only now rolling out Comcast Pro in such as the Bay that it acquiredfrom AT&T Broadband in November 2002. "They have to come up with a menu of servicees that makes sense and a businesse model thatmakes sense," Mr. Paxtojn says. While weak in the enterprisd market, cable modem is stronh in the U.S residential market.
Research from Yankee Group, of gives cable modem about two-thirds of the broadbancd market in theUnited States, versusx DSL's approximately one-third. Cable modem had a one-and-a-haltf year head start over phone companies in sellingf broadband toresidential customers, says Yankee researcherr Michael Goodman. Phone companies dragged their feet on DSL becausde they thought it would cut into theitr business of selling two phone lines to residentiaocustomers -- one for voice and the other for the he says. Worldwide, however, DSL leads cablde because, while the cable infrastructureis well-developedd in the United States, that is not the case in many otherr countries, Mr.
Paxton The Comcast Pro serviceoffers 3.5 megabits per secondr download speed broadband service and other features for $95 a month, says Mr. versus the typical DSL servicd on a phone network that runs at a maximu download speedof 1.5 megabits per second. Phons companies say they have an edge over cabls modems in that they can bundls a variety of telecommunications services for small businesses at a bette r rate than what a cabld companycan offer. The SBC Connectiona small-business program offers a variethy of telecommunications packages atdifferent prices, says SBC spokesmab Fletcher Cook.
By buying local, long distance and wireles s phone service along withbroadband service, a business customer can save 25 percengt to 40 percent over purchasing thosde services separately, he says. "We feel no company can matcg the end-to-end experience of Mr. Cook says. But Comcast'ds Mr. Faircloth says by bundling small businesses may be buyingv servicesthey don't need, just to get the package