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Small Business Services - U.S.
Small Business Telecom Services - U.S.
Overview
   





COMPANIES WE COVER

Small Business Telecom Services - U.S.

The dynamic market for Small Business Telecom Services in the U.S. features multiple national and regional companies competing in different metro markets with different technology solutions to small businesses - including cable, DSL, or fiber - and multiple pricing and feature portfolios.

Company Profiles provide an overview of the main small business telecom services competitors in the U.S. Used in association with the Product Portfolios, the Company Profiles highlight the strengths, weaknesses and sales strategy for a given company. Spider charts rate company's market momentum, vision, market leadership and degree of innovation.
Product Portfolio Reviews look at the standard small business deliverables for each company tracked and provides an overview of the portfolio strengths and weaknesses, as well as the lead marketing message used by the company and how the portfolio has evolved in the past six months. Side-by-side listings help compare competitive offerings.
Subscription clients can access full company profile and product portfolio reports on our CurrentCOMPETE™ Intelligence Portal (See Client Access links below). Click here to request more information

KEY COMPETITORS COVERED

Company Profiles | Portfolio Reviews

AT&T (Company Profile)
AT&T is the largest carrier in the U.S. and the inheritor of a powerful brand. It astutely recognizes the importance of a mobile device to the SMB, and it is aggressive in marketing wireless solutions as part of its small business bundles. (11/8/2011)
| Client Access |

Bright House Networks (Company Profile)
Bright House Networks is a privately owned cable operator that offers small business subscribers across its six markets a standardized portfolio of digital cable TV, broadband and voice products. (2/2/2012)
| Client Access |

Cablevision (Company Profile)
Cablevision has a well-established cable footprint in New York, one of the most lucrative metro areas in the country. In addition, it purchased markets in the Western U.S. via the Bresnan acquisition back in late 2010. (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

Cbeyond (Company Profile)
Cbeyond is competitive in business network services because the CLEC keeps a tight business focus, founded on a set of core integrated voice/data services using a few key platforms. Yet the carrier has a scattered footprint in only 14 markets. (2/24/2012)
| Client Access |

CenturyLink (Company Profile)
CenturyLink has shown staggering growth in the past few years, although it is primarily artificial, stemming from the acquisitions of Qwest and Embarq. Next in its shopping spree was the purchase of Savvis, a provider of cloud-based services. (12/13/2011)
| Client Access |

CenturyLink (Qwest) (Company Profile)
CenturyLink has shown staggering growth in the past few years, although it is primarily artificial, stemming from the acquisitions of Qwest and Embarq. Next in its shopping spree was the purchase of Savvis, a provider of cloud-based services. (12/13/2011)
| Client Access |

Charter Business (Company Profile)
Charter’s more keen focus on business service is paying off. The cable operator took in record revenues with its commercial services yielding 20% annual growth in 2011. (4/12/2012)
| Client Access |

Cincinnati Bell (Company Profile)
Cincinnati Bell is a regional service provider of both wireline and wireless services for customers in the following midwestern markets: southwestern Ohio (Cincinnati and Dayton), southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky. The carrier’s stature as a telecom company is greatly limited by its small service footprint. (3/30/2012)
| Client Access |

Comcast Business Class (Company Profile)
Comcast’s large cable network spanning 39 states has made solid progress in just the last couple of years with its Business Services division. (3/20/2012)
| Client Access |

Cox Communications (Company Profile)
The private cable operator, Cox, offers commercial customers an array of competitive services via its Cox Business division. This segment of the company brings in approximately a billion dollars annually. (2/22/2012)
| Client Access |

Earthlink Business (Company Profile)
EarthLink with a dominate consumer focused past has successfully transformed itself to offer primarily commercial services. Through numerous acquisitions it is a service provider with three fourths of revenues now coming from business services. (4/12/2012)
| Client Access |

FairPoint Communications (Company Profile)
FairPoint came out of bankruptcy in early 2011 with reduced debt and a better focus on winning new business. Yet, it is still hurting from the bungled acquisition and transition of the northern New England Verizon properties. (11/21/2011)
| Client Access |

Frontier Communications (Company Profile)
Frontier was significantly transformed into a far bigger service provider by acquiring Verizon wireline properties in small markets across 14 states. Yet, it will see a limited uptake in business customers given its mostly in rural footprints. (2/2/2012)
| Client Access |

Integra Telecom (Company Profile)
Integra is a regional CLEC in 35 Western markets with an excellent reputation for its customer service and support that specializes in selling communication services to medium-sized business customers. (4/2/2012)
| Client Access |

Megapath (Company Profile)
MegaPath has repositioned itself in the market as a stronger competitor via its 2010 acquisitions of Speakeasy and Covad. Its expansive nationwide broadband network is a big component to the success of the carrier moving forward. (12/27/2011)
| Client Access |

RCN (Company Profile)
RCN Business Services provides data, voice and video services to small business customers in five East coast metro areas. However, only a small segment of a large city’s population are within RCN’s network footprint. (3/20/2012)
| Client Access |

TDS (Company Profile)
TDS Telecom’s main objective is to provide “full-service” telecommunication services. Yet, its small size is a detriment in marketing its wireline business services to the wide variety of businesses residing in its scattered territories. (11/14/2011)
| Client Access |

TelePacific Communications (Company Profile)
Since its founding in 1998, TelePacific has established itself as one of the largest competitive carriers in California and Nevada. Now, it plans to take on Texas through its acquisition of Tel West Network. (4/24/2012)
| Client Access |

Time Warner Cable Business Class (Company Profile)
TWCBC is gaining a bigger piece of the business market with its large nationwide footprint - 2011 commercial subscription revenue yielded 32.7% annual growth. (3/30/2012)
| Client Access |

tw telecom (Company Profile)
tw telecom is a nationwide CLEC supplying business services in 75 metros across 30 states including California, Texas, and New York. Yet, with under 28,000 business customers, it is a small-scale provider compared to its larger competitors. (11/14/2011)
| Client Access |

Verizon (Company Profile)
Verizon provides small business customers with superb voice, video, and data services. Recently, the carrier announced its intentions to bolster its channel partner program. (4/30/2012)
| Client Access |

Windstream (Company Profile)
Windstream via its late 2011 acquisition of PAETEC gained a stronger position to service business customers, and also a means to attract larger business customers. (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

Windstream (PAETEC) (Company Profile)
Windstream via its late 2011 acquisition of PAETEC gained a stronger position to service business customers, and also a means to attract larger business customers. (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

XO Business Services (Company Profile)
XO offers a full suite of VoIP services, including network-hosted and premises-based options and managed VoIP. This is on top of traditional voice, Internet access and hosting. In 2012, it wants to tackle fixed mobile convergence via Sprint. (4/24/2012)
| Client Access |

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| Portfolio Reviews | Company Profiles

AT&T (Portfolio Review)
AT&T offers a good selection of very price-competitive small business bundles including wireless, wireline voice, and wireline data. “All for Less” bundles are priced as low as $70 a month with 6 Mbps DSL and an unlimited phone line. (11/8/2011)
| Client Access |

Bright House Networks (Portfolio Review)
Bright House has a competitive selection of product options for an office’s voice, Internet and cable TV needs. Yet it is limited to selling business services within its fragmented footprint of just six metros scattered throughout the country. (2/2/2012)
| Client Access |

Cablevision (Portfolio Review)
In its messaging to small businesses, Cablevision highlights its substantial savings on voice and data services over the “phone company,” as well as the advantage of its bundle discounts not requiring a term contract (unlike chief rival Verizon). (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

Cbeyond (Portfolio Review)
Cbeyond has solid core products to address the communication and data needs of a business. The flagship product is called BeyondVoice Office Edition with data and voice. It is next making a big push with cloud-based services. (2/24/2012)
| Client Access |

CenturyLink (Portfolio Review)
The products in CenturyLink’s legacy markets have remained relatively the same after the spring 2011 Qwest merger. Changes are happening slowly, starting with its customers being able to bundle in Verizon Wireless (like former Qwest customers). (12/13/2011)
| Client Access |

CenturyLink (Qwest) (Portfolio Review)
CenturyLink officially acquired Qwest markets in April 2011; since then, it has transitioned Qwest customers to the CenturyLink brand. So far, the existing Qwest product portfolio and pricing remain relatively intact. (12/13/2011)
| Client Access |

Charter Business (Portfolio Review)
Charter has an attractive set of business services that has been enhanced by its DOCSIS 3.0 broadband upgrades to most of its cable footprint. Although it is still missing a mobile strategy. (4/12/2012)
| Client Access |

Cincinnati Bell (Portfolio Review)
Cincinnati Bell has a expansive small business product portfolio despite serving just a few midwestern markets. Data services range from DSL to Ethernet. And business voice are both traditional wireline and mobile services with competitive plans. (3/30/2012)
| Client Access |

Comcast Business Class (Portfolio Review)
Comcast Business Services began targeting business customers in earnest in 2007, repackaging its residential voice, Internet and television services. The company also provides Ethernet solutions to larger customers. (3/20/2012)
| Client Access |

Cox Communications (Portfolio Review)
Cox Business offers office workers a powerful selection of voice and broadband services including Internet speeds up to 50 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. Yet the company currently lacks business mobile services. (2/22/2012)
| Client Access |

Earthlink Business (Portfolio Review)
EarthLink Business is a national commercial service provider thanks to the integrated product portfolios of the acquired regional CLECs, Deltacom and One Communications. (4/12/2012)
| Client Access |

FairPoint Communications (Company Profile)
FairPoint offers a combination of its services in discounted bundle packages. For example, it offers up to a 30% discount on broadband services when bundled with select business voice calling packages. (11/21/2011)
| Client Access |

Frontier Communications (Portfolio Review)
Frontier provides affordable solutions for small business customers. Also, company executives view business growth areas to be Frontier’s advanced network products including Ethernet over copper and soon a AT&T wireless resale deal. (2/2/2012)
| Client Access |

Integra Telecom (Portfolio Review)
Integra has built its reputation on superior customer service and support. A new cloud partnership with Microsoft enables it to offer the hosted Microsoft Communications Services package, however the CLEC is void of wireless and video services. (4/2/2012)
| Client Access |

MegaPath (Portfolio Review)
By close of 2011, MegaPath has fully integrated the product portfolios of Covad and Speakeasy into the single brand of MegaPath. Recent advancements have included improved security of its networks and Ethernet over copper (EoC) market launches. (12/27/2011)
| Client Access |

RCN (Portfolio Review)
RCN Business Services offers a host of data services for several types of small businesses. The company’s data portfolio includes cable modem service up to 60 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream. (3/20/2012)
| Client Access |

TDS (Portfolio Review)
TDS offers typical wireline voice and data bundles for business customers as an alternative to the incumbent phone company and cable operators. Sadly, there appears to be no synergy between TDS Telecom and the U.S. Cellular wireless division. (11/14/2011)
| Client Access |

TelePacific Communications (Portfolio Review)
TelePacific’s voice and data packages include multiple voice lines combined with data services. It also offers mobile services (by reselling Verizon Wireless) and prides itself on offering its business subscribers excellent customer service. (4/24/2012)
| Client Access |

Time Warner Cable Business Class (Portfolio Review)
TWCBC offers a solid selection of services for small business customers. Its broadband speeds are improving thanks to upgrades to DOCSIS 3.0. Yet AT&T and Verizon have an advantage in offering mobile voice services on top of wireline solutions. (3/30/2012)
| Client Access |

tw telecom (Portfolio Review)
tw telecom has a sound product portfolio for various business sizes including integrated voice/data access. However, it does not offer the entry-level business customer much choice. (11/14/2011)
| Client Access |

Verizon (Portfolio Review)
Verizon’s voice, video, and data double and triple plays are very price-competitive when including DSL or FiOS for broadband. FiOS Internet boasts extremely fast speeds of up to 150 Mbps downstream and 35 Mbps upstream. (4/30/2012)
| Client Access |

Windstream (Portfolio Review)
Windstream via its late 2011 acquisition of PAETEC gained a stronger position to service business customers, and also a means to attract larger business customers. (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

Windstram (PAETEC) (Portfolio Review)
PAETEC offers an array of voice/ data solutions including a suite of dedicated Internet access services including sub-T-1 speeds for small businesses, and speeds from 1.5 Mbps to OC-n or GigE for those with higher bandwidth demands (3/1/2012)
| Client Access |

XO Business Services (Portfolio Review)
XO Communications improved its network and service portfolio to offer business customers a full suite of communications services. However, its recent privatization prompts questions about future investment and its long-term strategy. (4/24/2012)
| Client Access |

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