The results of a survey released this week indicate that Comcast’s wireless service helped the cable giant become a major player in the “quadruple play” market in less than a year, analysts said.
The study by Market Strategies International sought to evaluate the impact of cable companies’ mobile offerings on the wireless market. The firm in late March conducted online interviews of 1,044 consumers recruited from an opt-in online panel of U.S. adults.
Invitations for the interviews were sent in proportion to U.S. Census populations and data was weighted to match the market share of wireless providers. The findings, according to MSI analysts, showed that Xfinity Mobile’s price structure lured customers away from all four major carriers.
Comcast and other major cable operators previously offered TV, internet and landline telephone services, but the launch of the company’s wireless service last year sought to use its low-price plans to maintain cable customers in the era of cord-cutting.
Comcast said last week that it enrolled 577,000 wireless subscribers through the first quarter of 2018. Verizon and AT&T boast 150 million and 142 million wireless subscribers, respectively, but New Street Research has suggested Xfinity Mobile could eventually begin adding 2 million wireless customers annually.
Among the survey respondents with Xfinity Mobile as their primary carrier, 27 percent previously used Verizon and 20 percent previously used AT&T. The two smaller major carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile, accounted for 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
In addition, nearly 60 percent of the Xfinity Mobile customers said they switched due to cost, while another 27 percent cited cost and “dissatisfaction with their previous provider.” Those respondents were also more likely to recommend Xfinity Mobile’s service to others than the participants who used other carriers.
“Consumers that sign up for multiple services are more valuable for the company,” study author Jeffrey Johnson said in a statement. “Our research shows that Comcast is now firmly rooted in quad play — a space that only AT&T and Verizon have successfully dominated in the past.”
