FierceIPTV

Frontier says it really does want to keep FiOS customers

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:39:40 -0500

Frontier Communications' struggles with the FiOS TV offering it inherited from Verizon when it bought the telco's landline business in Oregon, Washington and Indiana continues. The ILEC has rolled out a series of new "simplified" and "customer-friendly" pricing plans designed to convince current customers it plans to keep the service. Article

Harmonic scores win with Tennessee Tier 3 IPTV deployment

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:16:39 -0500

Video encoding specialist Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT), which earlier this year rolled out its ProMedia software suite to build on the booming video market, has been selected to power the HD and SD video for Tennessee's Ben Lomand Telephone Cooperative.

The telco offers advanced Voice, Broadband and digital video services--a 200-channel HD and SD offering--to residential and business customers in Middle Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland.

Ben Lomand will use Harmonic's widely deployed ProStream 1000 with ACE high-density, real-time transcoder to power the service, enabling "any-to-any, any-to-many" support for HD and SD, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video and audio transcoding of up to 20 HD or 60 SD channels, as well as ASI to IP multiplexing, in a one rack unit (1 RU) chassis. The platform will enables Ben Lomand to meet growing demand for digital TV services, while lowering capital and operating expenses through reduced power consumption and rack space.

The ProStream 1000 with ACE currently is supporting more than 18,000 channels worldwide. In addition to its transcoding performance, the ProStream 1000 advanced stream processing core includes enhanced multiplexing and scrambling capabilities.

For more:
- see this release

Flingo scores $7 million in Series A funding round

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:50:44 -0500

Smart TV app publisher Flingo has scored $7 million in a Series A funding round led by August Capital. The company said the money will be used to help it expand it device footprint--it's already available on smart TVs and devices from Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sanyo, Insignia, Western Digital and Netgear.

Perhaps more importantly, the funding will help Flingo refine its automatic content recognition infrastructure, which identifies thousands of broadcast network programs around the world in real-time. That means content providers and operators will be able to send contextually relevant content directly to the viewer's TV, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

As part of the funding deal, August Capital's David Marquardt, who's also a board member of Microsoft, and Howard Hartenbaum, a founding investor in Skype, will join Flingo's board of directors.

Flingo recently launched a Social TV framework that enables one-click sharing to Twitter and Facebook from broadcast TV. That feature will soon be available on a variety of A&E channels.

"Flingo has the potential to build a very large business enabling new experiences around broadcast television," said Marquardt. "The company already has gained strong traction with the top names in TV programming, consumer electronics and digital media. We're excited to be a part of the team."

For more:
- see this release

Is Verizon's Redbox deal a challenge to Netflix, or to its cable competitors?

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:26:44 -0500

Remember way back in the olden days? You know, when people wanted somewhat-current hit movies, they'd run down to the video store and rent VHS copies of them. Then, (lightbulb here) Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) launched a DVD-by-mail program, through which customers could get some of those same discs through the good old U.S. Mail. It was good, and late fees became a thing of the past.

But, something strange happened... people discovered the Internet, and so did Netflix. And that was good, too. Movies streamed, instead of arriving in the mail. Waiting for the mail-and your latest movie-became passé.

Is a Verizon (NYSE: VZ) deal to team up with Coinstar's (Nasdaq: CSTR) Redbox really a threat--or an alternative--to Netflix?

Verizon newly announced Entente Cordiale with Coinstar, which operates the king of dollar movie rental kiosks, Redbox, goes deeper.

In a press release, Verizon said the deal will "create a new choice for quality- and value-conscious consumers seeking a simple and affordable way to access the video entertainment they crave." The telco said the venture will combine the DVD rentals with "a new content-rich video on-demand streaming and download service from Verizon," set to launch in the second half of 2012.

To its credit, Verizon isn't limiting the offering to its subscribers, but will make it available across the U.S. as a subscription service "and more," available on multiple screens and devices.

"When you consider the core elements the parties bring to this venture-- our powerful brands; our national rental kiosk footprint; our anytime, anywhere network presence; and our mutual commitment to customer-focused innovation-- it's clear that Verizon and Redbox are a powerful entertainment team," said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon consumer and mass business markets, in the release.

During a surprisingly brief conference call, more notable for its lack on information than for the amount it revealed, Mudge pointed out that Redbox is the U.S. market share leader in disc rentals "through its footprint of 35,000 kiosks nationwide," a dubious achievement since its biggest competitor, Netflix, has been doing its best to dump that side of its business for months.

He went on to describe Verizon as "an insurgent provider in the interactive video space" that's "embracing streaming, a platform many view as a disruptive force in our industry as a great opportunity for innovation."

The deal, he said, was a "great opportunity for innovation and leadership."

Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said the company had been "looking for a partner to launch a digital strategy." The deal with Verizon, which will have a 65 percent stake in the JV, allows Coinstar to add a streaming component and to "invest prudently" while it is better positioned to "take advantage of the changing media landscape."

At last year's NAB, Verizon conducted briefings about its Verizon Digital Media Services, which would allow it to easily step outside of its service footprint to deliver OTT content. At the time, visions of streaming movies and TV services over the top were dancing in everyone's head.

It's pretty obvious that more is at stake here than a simple Verizon vs. Netflix battle.

A Coinstar 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission cast the deal in a little clearer light:

The JV is being formed "for the primary purpose of developing, launching, marketing and operating nationwide ‘over-the-top' video distribution services providing consumers with access to video programming content, including linear content, delivered via broadband networks to video-enabled viewing devices and offering rental of physical DVDs and Blu-ray Discs from DVD rental kiosks (together with all activities, services and assets directly and reasonably related thereto...)."

Can you say virtual MSO? I knew you could.--Jim

Consolidated will evaluate Mediaroom, Myrio IPTV middleware after SureWest purchase

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:46:00 -0500

SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW) rolled up a 45 percent surge in its share price Monday after it agreed to be acquired by Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL) for $340.9 million in cash and stock, closing at $22.67. The deal should close in the third or fourth quarter after customary review.

The deal will give Consolidated a presence in the suburbs of Kansas City, Kan., and in the Sacramento, Calif. area.

The deal brings together two Tier 2 companies with different IPTV middleware solutions. Consolidated is using Siemens Communications subsidiary Myrio for its IPTV delivery-which includes features like client personal video recording, pause live TV, video on demand, on-screen caller ID, favorites and reminders, and Web portal capabilities, SureWest, meanwhile, currently uses Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Mediaroom to deliver its product.

Consolidated chief executive Bob Currey, during an investor call following the announcement, said the two platforms would eventually be evaluated.

"SureWest is very happy with the results of their move to Microsoft Mediaroom," he said. "We're in the process of analyzing that; like a lot of integrating opportunities it's a little too early to make that call today. But those will be evaluated."

Currey also said Consolidated has "made some progress with our vendor," adding that those would be "fully vetted before we make changes."

Currey also was asked about the potentially disruptive entry of Goolge (Nasdaq: GOOG), and its planned 1 Gigabit fiber deployment in Kansas City.

"Obviously, we're very aware of the Google announcement and the rumors in the market," he said. "But that's been out there for 18 months to two years and Google has done nothing." Even so, he said, "with what they've announced, there's no overlap to the SureWest territory."

In fact, Currey said, Consolidated sees the potential Google deployment as "an opportunity for us to provide some services to Google if and when they start to move on that territory."

"They've announced some of these things in the past and not done anything," he said. "We see it more as an opportunity."

California-based SureWest operates a mixture of copper and FTTH networks in Sacramento, Calif., and in and around Kansas City, and brings some 130,000 customers, including about 64,900 IPTV subscribers, to Consolidated.

Consolidated's Customer base is in rural Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, where it also delivers IPTV to some 33,000 subscribers.

Currey called the deal a "significant step forward to better position the company for growth that "creates a diverse set of revenues and cash flows," and allows Consolidated to further its aggressive broadband penetration plans.

"It gives (us) greater scale," he said, adding that SureWest's larger IPTV initiative will help Consolidated "exploit video capabilities to drive ARPU."

This isn't the first time Consolidated has looked to acquisitions to help it grow. Its 2004 acquisition of Texas-based TXU Communications tripled its size, and it also purchased North Pittsburgh Systems in 2007.

Currey said Consolidated would continue to look at other M&A opportunities.

"We will look for additional acquisitions in the future, hopefully near areas in which we already operate," said Currey.

Consolidated generated $92.5 million in revenue last quarter, and increased its IPTV subscriber numbers of 18 percent. It currently passes some 211,495 IPTV homes and has a penetration rate of homes passed of 16 percent.

"Both Consolidated and SureWest have a long history of delivering the highest quality products and services to its customers," said Steve Oldham, SureWest's president and CEO. "From a customer perspective, the transaction creates scale by combining our proven capabilities in delivering leading edge digital TV and broadband services as a stronger, more competitive communications company. We believe the transaction is in the best interests of our company, our customers, our communities and our shareholders."

This transaction is not subject to any financing conditions. Morgan Stanley Senior Funding provided Consolidated with $350 million of committed debt financing in conjunction with the acquisition. The funds will be used to refinance the debt of SureWest and pay for the cash portion of the purchase price.

For more:
- see this release
- see this Reuters article

Blonder Tongue Laboratories acquires R.L. Drake for $6.5M

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:36:32 -0500

Blonder Tongue Laboratories has acquired R.L. Drake for $6.5 million is an all-cash deal. The two companies make signal processing and distribution equipment for the pay-TV industry. Certain adjustments based upon a post-closing audit of the balance sheet of R.L. Drake and other payments over the next three years could add an additional $1.5 million to the price.

R.L. Drake, which had net sales of $10 million in 2011, delivers electronic communications solutions for cable television systems, digital television reception, video signal distribution and digital video encoding.

Blonder Tongue said companies will continue to operate separate entities in two locations, Blonder Tongue in Old Bridge, N.J., and R.L. Drake in Franklin, Ohio.

Blonder Tongue provides system operators and integrators serving the cable, broadcast, satellite, IPTV, institutional and professional video markets with solutions for the provision of content contribution, distribution and video delivery to homes and businesses.

Blonder Tongue Chief Executive James Luksch said the deal would allow the companies to "maximizing synergies" in its engineering, manufacturing and marketing teams, giving customers "new and innovative products delivered to market faster and more affordably."

"A void has developed in the CATV industry leaving even the largest cable MSO's searching for companies capable of developing and delivering innovative new products," he said. "Blonder Tongue and Drake plan to fill that void by shortening the development and manufacturing cycle to deliver the most complete compliment of business and product solutions in our industry."

Blonder Tongue in November reported its Q3 sales were about $7 million, down from $9.2 million a year earlier. It reported losses of $50,000 for the quarter, 1 cent per share, compared to profits of $721,000, or 12 cents per share a year earlier. The company at the time blamed a stuttering U.S. economy, but said it's high-definition encoder business has increased substantially, adding that it likely would grow with the roll out of additional versions with alternative feature sets in the coming months.

The company also has a strong position through its Edge QAM product in the digital-free-to-guest segment of the hospitality market.

For more:
- see this release

Research: 2012 is tipping point for multi-screen content consumption

Jim O'Neill — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:45:50 -0500

Multi-screen content consumption is hitting the mainstream and CE manufacturers are fully on board, according to new research that forecasts the number of IP-enabled consumer electronics devices shipped will approach 2.5 billion this year and rise to 3.5 billion in 2015.

IMS Research also said shipments of residential data modems and gateways will reach 135 million in 2012, as the "concept of convergence within the home is gaining momentum in terms of deployment of actual solutions and consumers' usage of these solutions."

"For example, the multi-room DVR deployments enabled by the DLNA Premium Video protocol suite, demonstrate one of the first converged home media architectures where a primary server device distributes content to thin clients around the home," said Anna Hunt, principal analyst at IMS Research.

IMS said the increasing adoption of fixed broadband connectivity into homes, along with the proliferation of wired and wireless home networking, also was driving the transition forward.

Other key factors include a growing installed base of IP-enabled CE devices, increased understanding of how to secure content distribution in iOS and Android applications, open-standard encryption protocols such as DLNA Premium Video (DTCP-IP) and new content distribution contracts that specifically allow for multi-screen distribution.

IMS also highlighted hardware innovations, such as adaptive transcoding and ultra-high-bandwidth modems.

Previous attempts to implement (multi-screen ecosystems) have provided a sub-par user experience," says Stephen Froehlich, senior analyst at IMS Research. "However, 2012 will be the year that this all changes. Numerous vendors at this year's CES, for instance, demonstrated products which showed real, highly complex, incredibly powerful and scalable solutions to the incredibly difficult problem of delivering a converged, multi-screen television experience."

Froehlich said smartphones and tablets will become increasingly important in the ecosystem as wireless technologies evolve to seamlessly share content.

"Service providers are focusing on evolving their strategies to encompass the multiple devices and screens used by consumers in the consumption of advanced broadband services," he said.

For more:
- see this release

SeaChange executive shuffle continues as Kanouff leaves presidency

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:29:50 -0500

SeaChange International (Nasdaq: SEAC), which earlier this week announced job cuts as part of a $5 million cost-reduction plan, today announced its president, longtime SeaChange exec Yvette Kanouff, was leaving the company. SeaChange said it had no plans to replace her, part of an ongoing drive to cut costs.

"Over the past few months, Yvette has been discussing her desire to pursue other interests, and we support that and wish her well," said CEO Raghu Rau in a statement. "We sincerely thank Yvette for her years of dedication to SeaChange, her technical knowledge and her contributions toward building the Company's video-on-demand business."

Kanouff joined SeaChange in 1997. She was named president in March 2010, stepping up from her role as chief strategy officer.

Kanouff, in a statement, said she was "proud that I played a significant role in establishing SeaChange as a leader in video-on-demand worldwide and in transitioning from a hardware-centric to a software-centric company."

"I think SeaChange is well positioned for the future, however, it is the right time for me to move on, and I look forward to my next endeavor," she said.

Kanouff is the latest in a series of executive changes at the Acton, Massachusetts-based company.

In November, founder Bill Styslinger, who also was chairman of the board and chief executive, retired. Rau, a board member at the time, was named interim CEO, and Thomas Olson, former CEO of Katz Media Group and of National Cable Media--and a former SeaChange lead director--was named chairman of the board.

In January, meanwhile, CFO, Kevin M. Bisson resigned. He was replaced by Tollgrade Communications veteran Michael Bornak.

Last spring, the company reportedly was in talks to be acquired by Arris Group, but SeaChange decided to remain a standalone company.

"After an extensive review of strategic alternatives, the board has decided that it is in the best interest of shareholders to continue as a standalone publicly traded company," the company said in a statement then, adding that it was "focused on significantly improving and streamlining operations."

For more:
- see this release

OTT outpacing AT&T, Verizon and cable subscriber gains

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:38:48 -0500

If you're keeping score (and who isn't?) the first three earnings reports of the quarter have telcos in the lead--once again--in terms of video subscribers added. There's still a long way to go, but here's how it's shaping up so far:

Verizon (NYSE: VZ), said it added 194,000 new subs to its FiOS TV service, ending the year with 4.2 million subscribers. During the earnings call, the company said customers were likely to see higher subscription rates in 2012.

Of course, Verizon, as detailed in the Wall Street Journal, could see its FiOS subscriber numbers slip in coming quarters as it faces new competition in the space- -from itself. Verizon Wireless stores in several markets this month began pitching services from Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), as part of the deal with the devil, er, joint marketing deal with Comcast and several cable companies, it made for spectrum. You have to wonder what Verizon Wireless' marketing folks were thinking when they, as the WSJ points out, crowed about Comcast having the "fastest Internet service in the nation," on a webpage at the same time Verizon was crowing about how FiOS "beats every other cable provider in speed reliability."

Perhaps we'll see yet another lawsuit arguing about Internet speed, a la Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Verizon, only this time between Verizon and Verizon Wireless. But, I digress.

The nation's second-largest IPTV player, AT&T (NYSE: T), meanwhile, added 208,000 customers to its U-verse TV service, leaving it with 3.8 million customers who are, almost to a one (actually more than 90 percent) also using the telco's high-speed Internet as well. Of course, many of them are keeping at least one eye peeled to see when the other shoe will drop and the dreaded usage caps that the company has talked about for months actually will go into effect.

On the flip side (meaning leaking customers like my drive leaks to the right on every tee shot), was Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC). The nation's second-biggest cable company saw 129,000 of its 12.1 million video customers take a hike, most, probably, headed to Verizon or AT&T which overlap between 12 percent and 25 percent of TWC's territory (and in some areas actually offer MSG Network, which TWC hasn't had since Dec. 31 because of a retransmission fee brouhaha). The 1 percent loss isn't really that big a deal for the quarter--as in, it's better than the 155,000 the company lost in the previous quarter--but, like an intermittent slice, it's not a healthy thing to have happening.

There are a slew of earnings reports yet to come in, but the reality is that telcos are likely to see some additional gains and cable are not.

In a case of apple to oranges, meanwhile, both Hulu and Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) reported substantial subscriber gains. Hulu now says it has more than 1.5 million subscribers to its premium service, Hulu Plus. Netflix, meanwhile, which has had more struggles than Job in the past half of the year, gained 610,000 overall subscribers in the U.S. for the quarter, about 220,000 of them streaming only customers.

From a subscriber number only perspective, OTT is winning... but this course plays long.--Jim

AT&T shuffles execs, names first chief strategy officer

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:44:00 -0500

AT&T (NYSE: T) Monday reshuffled its executive lineup, for the first time naming a chief strategy officer and appointing a new senior executive VP for its business and home solutions division.

John Stankey will be the company's first CSO, and also was anointed to the newly created position of group president. The telco said Stankey has led nearly every major AT&T business unit during his 27-year career. He'll develop the roadmap for corporate development, address long-term wireless-capacity needs, capital allocation strategies and identify the best strategic paths for low-growth and non-strategic assets.

Ralph de la Vega will continue to lead AT&T Mobility, now as president and CEO. He'll focus on expanding the company's smartphone position.

Andy Geisse, who has more than three decades of experience in AT&T's business and consumers segments, becomes the new SEVP for AT&T's Business and Home Solutions. He'll lead the Home Solutions team focused on U-verse, broadband and voice services for AT&T's 22-state local wireline operations, as well as being responsible for serving the business segment--from global enterprise customers to small businesses.

John Donovan was named SEVP for the telco's Technology and Network Operations.

All four will report to AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson.

For more:
- see this release

An AT&T deal for Dish spectrum may require the telco to buy company, too

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:13:13 -0500

There's new speculation that AT&T (NYSE: T) is eyeing Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) as a takeover target, this time fueled by the telco's about face on whether the FCC should waive restrictions on the sale or transfer of the satellite TV provider's spectrum--spectrum AT&T sorely needs.

Credit Suisse analyst Stefan Anninger, in a note to clients, said AT&T's new attitude-- the telco had submitted comments in November to the FCC backing a transfer of spectrum "through rulemaking, rather than an ad hoc waiver process"--showed again just how much it needed more spectrum. Dish acquired its extra spectrum when it bought DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks out of bankruptcy. The spectrum could be worth more than $8.6 billion.

Another Credit Suisse analyst, Jonathan Chaplin, said that while AT&T may be interested in just the satellite TV company's spectrum, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergon may only be willing to sell if the telco takes the satellite TV business as part of the deal, a business the telco likely would look to sell.

A Dish/AT&T merger has been taked about for years. The latest speculation began when AT&T's dropped its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this FierceWireless story

Synacor amends S-1 form; seeks up to $94M in IPO

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:46:12 -0500

TV Everywhere vendor Synacor, which had been expected to register some 5.45 million shares priced between $10 and $12 in its initial public offering, is now planning to sell 7.84 million shares, possibly bringing the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company up to $94 million in cash.

The company, which counts CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and cable company Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR )among its clients, filed an amended S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission with the new total on Monday. Synacor in November announced its plans for an IPO and, at the time, indicating it would look to raise $75 million. This filing is Synacor's second shot. In August 2007 it launched an ill-timed IPO effort that a languishing stock market caused it to kill after 15 months and $3.4 million in expenses.

The company has yet to set a date for its latest attempt, but the new filing is an indication that it's picking up pace.

Synacor's latest S-1 filing shows it expects net income in 2011 of up to $4.2 million, after a $3.3 million loss a year ago. Revenue this year could be as high as $91 million, an increase of 37 percent from the $66.2 million it recorded a year ago.

It listed 49 ISPs as customers in the filing, although CenturyLink and Charter accounted for about 60 percent of the company's revenue in 2010.

Synacor has plans to expand into Europe and Latin America, according to the Buffalo News.

Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Stifel Nicolaus, BMO Capital Markets, Needham & Co. and Oppenheimer & Co. are underwriting the IPO.

For more:
- see this Light Reading report

CenturyLink Prism TV debuts new Mediaroom IPTV features

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:46:01 -0500

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is rolling out some new features for its IPTV customers in several of its service areas, including the ability to pause live TV from any room and to quickly flip through the last five channels the user was watching.

The Monroe, La.-based company said the new features for Prism TV are available through its Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Mediaroom IPTV platform to customers in La Crosse, Wis., Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo., Orlando, Tallahassee and southwest Fla., Las Vegas and central North Carolina.

The upgrade also allows subscribers with whole-home DVR service to pause live TV from any room in the house, rewind and fast-forward up to the live broadcast point and add the channel they're watching to their 'Favorites' list with one-touch.

CenturyLink said Mediaroom soon will give users access to content and programming online, as well as allow users access to social media sites such as Facebook. Also on tap, an enhanced on-demand library and additional HD channels.

Earlier this month, CenturyLink confirmed plans to bring its IPTV service into some of the Qwest markets it acquired when it bought the telco last year. It said it initially would launch in just one or two markets in 2012.

CenturyLink is the third-largest telecom company in the U.S., but it hasn't been very aggressive with its IPTV rollout; to date, it has collected just more than 50,000 subscribers from the 1 million homes it passes.

Forecasts say IPTV will gradually grow its share in the market, doubling in size by the end of 2016, when it likely will control 16 percent of pay-TV subscriptions.

For more:
- see this release

After bounce back in 2011, telecoms to see slower growth

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:12:20 -0500

The telecom industry bounced back in 2011, with capex growing an estimated 12 percent to $314 billion, and revenues increasing 7 percent to $1.96 tillion, but continued global economic woes are likely to dramatically slow both through 2017, a new report says.

Service provider revenues are likely to move forward at a CAGR of 2.9 percent over the 2010-2017 period, less than half the historic CAGR of 6.3 percent achieved in 2004-2010, said research firm Ovum. Capex, too, is likely to see a similar moderations, slowing to 3.1 percent from 2010 to 2017, down from the 6.5 percent CAGR the industry saw in 2004-2010.

"2011 represents a good bounce-back for the industry," said report author and Ovum principal analyst Matt Walker, adding that "macroeconomic weakness is constraining top-line SP revenue growth. Service providers are coping with this reality by aggressively attacking their cost structures, both capex and opex."

Service providers, he said, are likely to focus on a number of tools to control costs, including network sharing, software-based network elements and features, pay-as-you-grow contractual terms, joint procurement and M&A.

To contain opex, the report said, carriers will continue to grow outsourcing options, which has helped expand the telco infrastructure services market to $71 billion.

For more:
- see this release

AT&T adds 208,000 U-verse subs, sees strong sales in 4Q

Jim O'Neill — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:41:03 -0500

AT&T (NYSE: T) today said it added 208,000 U-verse customers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 3.8 million and topping the 194,000 net adds rival Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reported yesterday for its FiOS TV service.

The telco had slightly less rosy news to report on the earnings front, where it reported a loss of $6.68 billion, or $1.12 a share, compared with a profit of $1.09 billion, or 18 cents, a year earlier, as large charges from actuarial loss on benefit plans, asset impairments and its merger-termination fee from its failed $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, took their toll. Excluding those charges, the company reported earnings of 42 cents per share, down from 55 cents a year ago and in line with analyst expectations.

The telco reported $32.5 billion in revenues for the quarter, up 3.6 percent from a year ago, beating Wall Street's estimates of $32 billion.

AT&T said its wireline consumer revenues were improved and that it was buoyed further by strong wireless network performance.

U-verse continued to change the revenue mix in wireline, where consumer IP revenues grew to 53.2 percent of wireline consumer revenues, up from 45 percent in the year-earlier quarter.

AT&T said U-verse penetration and a significant number of subscribers on triple or quad-play options pushed revenue from U-verse services up 43.7 percent compared with the year-ago fourth quarter and were up 8.6 percent versus the third quarter of 2011.

About three-fourths of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers have a triple or quad-play option from AT&T. ARPU for U-verse triple-play customers was almost $170, up 2.5 percent year-over-year.

The company said its U-verse deployment has reached its goal of passing 30 million living units, adding that its total video subscribers, which combine the company's U-verse and bundled satellite customers, reached 5.6 million at the end of the quarter.

"Looking ahead, we start 2012 with the best visibility we've had in some time, and we're well positioned to deliver solid results--including continued revenue growth with margin expansion, solid earnings per share growth and strong cash flow," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. "In short order, we will begin share repurchases to deliver significant value to our owners."

For more:
- see this release

Special Report: IPTV earnings in the fourth quarter 2011