Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company – You already know that competition for home broadband is sorely lacking in the United States, but a new report released today sheds more light on Americans who have only one option for high-speed Internet.

According to the report, Comcast is the only choice for 30 million Americans when it comes to broadband speeds of at least 25 Mbps. Charter Communications is the only choice for 38 million Americans. Together, Comcast and Charter serve most of the United States with almost no overlap.

Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company

Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company

Even worse, many Americans live in areas where DSL is the best option. AT&T, Verizon, and other telecommunications companies still provide sub-broadband speeds over copper in most of their territories. Telecom operators have largely avoided upgrading their copper networks to fiber – except in areas where they have to compete with cable companies.

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Details can be found in Profiles of Monopolies: Big Cable and Telecom, a report by the Institute for Local Self-Sufficiency (ILSR). The full report will be available today at this link.

“The broadband market has collapsed,” the report concludes. “Comcast and Charter monopolize 68 million people. About 48 million households (about 122 million people) subscribe to these cable companies, but the big four telecom companies have the fewest total subscribers – only 31.6 million households (about 80.3 (million people). The big telecom companies Rural America — where DSL networks largely do not support broadband speeds — has largely been left out, despite years of federal subsidies and several state subsidy programs.

The ILSR report is based on Federal Communications Commission Form 477 data; ISPs must define the census blocks in which they provide residential or business Internet service and the maximum speeds offered in each block.

The Form 477 data “overstates actual broadband availability and ISP service areas because the entire census block is considered, even if the ISP serves a single resident of the block,” the report said. However, the ILSR said it could find nothing better. They resisted efforts by alternatives and ISPs to make the data more accurate

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The report includes cable, fiber, DSL and wireless broadband deployment data. The report ruled out satellite Internet “because the technology is highly dependent on terrain and weather, has very poor latency, and is often more expensive than terrestrial Internet providers.” Mobile broadband is also not included, as the report focuses on home (or “fixed”) internet service rather than smartphone coverage.

The most recent data for Form 477 is from December 2016, so the numbers in this article are not completely up-to-date. As we reported, the data showed that 30 percent of developed census tracts have speeds as low as the FCC’s broadband standard of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload offered by a single ISP. In 13 percent of developed census tracts, zero service providers offer fast speeds.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable and broadband provider, serves nearly 110 million people in 39 states and Washington, D.C.

Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company

“All of these people have access to broadband service through Comcast Xfinity, but nearly 30 million of these people have no other broadband service choice,” ILSR wrote.

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Comcast’s broadband subscribers included 25.5 million households, or about 64.8 million people, based on the average U.S. household size of 2.54 people.

Charter, the second largest cable company behind Comcast, serves 101 million people in 45 states. According to data provided by ILSR, 22.5 million households, comprising approximately 57.2 million people, subscribe to Charter Internet.

Like Comcast, Charter offers broadband throughout the area. “Approximately 38 million [people living in the charter area] have no other choice for broadband service,” the report said.

Comcast and Charter generally do not compete with each other. Their combined territories cover about 210 million people, although the companies’ overlapping service areas cover only 1.5 million people, according to Form 477 data cited by ILSR. The overlap is primarily in Florida, where Charter bought Bright House Networks, and an entire census block is considered service even if the ISP serves only one resident in the block.

Charter’s Time Warner Bid Could Create A True Comcast Rival

The numbers look different if you switch from cable to DSL and fiber. AT&T is the largest such provider, offering Internet service to 122.5 million people in 21 states. But almost everyone has DSL or fiber, and AT&T offered fiber to just 7.8 million people in December 2016, according to the ILSR report.

About 53.7 percent (65.8 million) of the total service area has access to broadband service through AT&T. 745,000 of them have no other means of broadband service. The data shows that AT&T has upgraded its networks almost exclusively to offer broadband service only in areas where it faces competition.

In other words, AT&T has installed fiber or at least broadband speeds in many areas where it competes with cable companies, but has not bothered to do so in areas where it generally has no competition.

Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company

And Verizon offers Internet service to 55.2 million people. “The DSL service area covers 47.7 million people, while the FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) service area covers 33.3 million people,” the report said.

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About 33.5 million people have access to Verizon broadband. Among them, “about 185,000 people have no other choice for broadband service,” the report said. “This means that FiOS is used almost exclusively in areas where cable TV is competitive.” Verizon had 7 million homes subscribe to its Internet service.

The report also includes CenturyLink and Frontier. CenturyLink provides Internet service to 49.1 million people, but its fiber-to-the-home service is available to only 3.8 million people.

“About 47.9 percent (23.5 million) of the total service area has access to broadband through CenturyLink, and about 1 million people have no other access to broadband,” the report said.

“Approximately 38.7 percent (12.6 million) of people in the service area have access to broadband service through Frontier,” the report said. “About 59,000 people have no other choice for broadband service. These figures indicate that Frontier has invested in faster service in areas with the most competition, rather than in rural areas.”

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Disclosure: The Advance/Newhouse Partnership, which owns 13 percent of Charter, is part of Advance Publications. Advance Publications is owned by Condé Nast, which owns Ars Technica.

John Brodkin John has been a reporter for Ars Technica since 2011 and covers a wide range of telecommunications and technology policy topics. John graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism and has been a full-time journalist for over 20 years. Comcast and Charter Communications, two of the nation’s largest cable television and Internet providers, are teaming up to launch new wireless ventures.

The wireless phone market in the United States could get even more complicated. Comcast and Charter Communications, the nation’s first and second largest cable television operators, have announced a joint deal to launch a new wireless phone business for the two rivals.

Are Charter And Comcast The Same Company

The news comes just weeks after Comcast announced that it will launch its Xfinity mobile wireless service this summer in areas of the United States that already offer cable, Internet and landline phone service. It uses Verizon Wireless for its cellular network, while other connections are handled by Comcast’s own Wi-Fi hotspots.

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Under the new agreement, Comcast and Charter will offer wireless services to customers separately. In fact, Charter plans to launch its own MVNO wireless phone service in 2018, using Verizon’s network. However, according to their press release, the two companies will now “work together to develop joint operating platforms; development and harmonization of technical standards; Front and back logistics of the device; and emerging wireless technology platforms. The deal will help both companies accelerate their entry into the wireless phone business and reduce the overall cost of such a move.

An interesting wrinkle in the deal is that Comcast and Charter have agreed not to make any major wireless acquisitions or mergers without the other’s approval for a year. Some analysts have already speculated that the partnership could see the two companies combine to acquire T-Mobile or Sprint. That would allow Comcast and Charter to better compete with Verizon and AT&T, which already offer national wireless services in addition to TV, Internet and landline deals.

Either way, it’s clear that Comcast and Charter don’t want their biggest TV and Internet rivals, AT&T and Verizon, to grab a bigger slice of the wireless pie. We should hear more about how this all plays out over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, do you think Comcast and Charter’s move is the start of a new wireless war? Let us know what you think in the comments! On February 13, 2014, Comcast Corporation announced that it would acquire Time Warner Cable. As expected at the time of the announcement, the transaction will be implemented in the form of an exchange of shares

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📅 Born: May 15, 1985 📍 Location: New York City 🖋️ Writer | Financial Enthusiast Welcome to my corner of the web! I'm John Pablo—a finance enthusiast and writer passionate about making money matters simple and accessible.

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