Commercial services, especially those delivered to small and medium-sized businesses are an even more critical imperative for cable operators. The revenue and margins delivered by these services will be the main growth engine for the industry over the next few years.

In order to take advantage of the long-term opportunity for growth in commercial services, MSOs must evolve a new model that is capable of delivering both traditional voice and data services and cable-modem-based broadband application services (including services such as integrated VoIP and data, storage and security). These are absolutely critical to creating a set of compelling value propositions for businesses with under 500 employees.

While we believe that cable operators of all sizes will eventually need to address demand for Ethernet and fiber-based services as well, we recommend that smaller operators maintain focus on a core set of services that can be delivered over existing coax networks.

In attacking this multibillion dollar SMB services opportunity, Tier 2 and 3 cable operators have fundamental decisions to make regarding technology solutions, the types of customers to target, channel partners they will leverage in reaching those customers, and service portfolios to market through those channels.

In our just released white paper, The Commercial Services Opportunity for Tier 2 and 3 Cable Operators, prepared for IBBS and available on the IBBS website , Pike & Fischer examines the opportunity available to Tier 2 and 3 cable operators, provides a revenue forecast for the sector, and offers recommendations regarding how best to pursue that opportunity.

Filed under: Broadband, Cable, Cable Operators, Commercial Services, Vendors by Scott Sleek | Social tagging: Ethernet > IBBS > SMBs