Cable TV and telephone broadband challenged by new technology
Traditional broadband is being threatened by new competitors and changing technology. It’s out with the old, and in with the new. This is both a real challenge and a new growth opportunity. FWA and satellite technologies are impacting the marketplace. Let’s take a look at who this threatens, who this empowers and what we can expect.
Broadband leaders for the past few decades have been cable TV and telephone companies. As the change-wave transforms this sector, and as we usher in new technology, we watch older technology fade away. This is what always happens over time.
So, who and what will lead going forward?
FWA, 5G Home Internet, Satellite are transforming broadband industry
Over the past couple decades, broadband leaders have been the cable television and telephone companies. Today, new technology and new competition is coming from satellite and wireless carriers.
New technologies like Fixed Wireless Access and satellite as well as new competitors are imposing a real threat to the traditional broadband marketplace.
Cable TV and telephone companies must embrace these changes if they hope to remain a leader in the broadband space. Customers always seem to want new technology.
Satellite broadband from Starlink, Project Kuiper, SpaceX, Globalstar
Satellite Internet from new competitors like Starlink from Elon Musk, Amazon with Project Kuiper and SpaceX from Jeff Bezos, Globalstar with Paul Jacobs who was originally from Qualcomm, and more.
Fixed Wireless Access bringing 5G Home Internet from wireless competitors have the potential to fundamentally transforming the broadband space. This is wireless technology being offered by wireless carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
With this enormous change wave in motion, are at an inflection point in the development of the technology we all use every day in our personal and business lives.
Which companies and technologies will lead changing broadband?
Whether we are an investor, a customer or a competitor, we wonder which technologies and competitors will lead going forward.
Will it be existing competitors like cable TV and telephone companies, or will it be new competitors, or will it be a vibrant competitive marketplace letting all competitors carve out a slice of the pie for themselves?
The threat is real. The challenge is real. The opportunity is real.
That being said, it all depends on what each competitor does next. It depends whether they aggressively move into this space with new technology or try to slow progress and stretch out their time of leadership.
Will broadband leadership come from new or existing competitors?
Leadership could continue from incumbent wireless carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, US Cellular, C-Spire and others. It could also come from the cable TV industry with leaders like Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Altice or Cox.
However, leadership could also come from new competitors like Amazon, Starlink, SpaceX and Globalstar.
Suddenly, broadband is waking up and becoming a hot, new competitive battleground with new technology and new competitors.
I am expecting this to continue to develop into a new and vibrant market segment. That being said, I do not know who the long-term winners and losers will be. Will it be from a sector or from individual players within each sector?
The more I think about it, the marketplace could be vibrant enough for both new and old competitors to carve out their own niche, at least for a while.
New technology always wins
So, is that what will happen? Perhaps. But any way we slice it, new technology always wins. The path of progress is like a change wave that sweeps across the marketplace, forever changing everything, over and over again.
Sometimes, companies like those in the cable TV space can slow the movement of the change wave for a while, but they cannot stop it.
Even in that case, when they can no longer slow progress, it bursts forward changing everything, virtually overnight.
While we do not know what the marketplace will look like one year from today, five years or ten years, we can assume technological advancements will continue to advance. Regulatory restrictions will continue to evaporate. New competitors will continue the race to change our world with new technology and new offerings.
These advancements in broadband technology tell me to expect vibrant change in the marketplace going forward. Change in technology, competitors, competition and so much more.
Going forward, wireless and satellite may prove to be the beginning of a real and vigorous transformation of our communications landscape.
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