Starting next year, there will be another player in the wireless market.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has revealed that his company plans to launch a wireless service by mid-2017. The service will use a combination of Comcast’s 15 million Wi-Fi hotspots and Verizon’s cellular network. Comcast struck a deal with Verizon back in 2011 that allows Comcast to sell service using Verizon’s network.
Comcast’s wireless service will be offered where it already sells services like internet and cable television, with the goal of getting its customers to add wireless to their existing bundle of services. So if you don’t live in a market where Comcast already exists, you likely won’t see Comcast’s wireless service, either.
Many consumers are cutting back on TV or cutting their cable altogether, and so Comcast is likely looking at wireless service as a way to counter that change. The US wireless market is already pretty competitive, so it’ll be interesting to see what Comcast’s wireless service looks like and how Comcast plans to compete with the existing carriers.