When Verizon first entered the Washington market last year with expanded cable, Internet and telephone services, the head-to-head competition with existing providers Comcast and Cox Communications brought with it the promise of lowered prices. But a year later, after winning franchise rights across much of Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland and launching an aggressive marketing campaign, Verizon’s entry into the marketplace has yet to bring down prices for consumers.
In fact, it appears Verizon has done little more than kick off a marketing war between providers with each trying to one-up the other in their service offerings. Each company offers “bundles” to its customers, which is a package of telephone, cable and Internet services on one bill. The quality of those offerings, said Cox spokesman Alex Horwitz, is more important than price to consumers.
“It’s more about creating more products and services and more flexibility in pricing, rather than worrying about trying to undercut Verizon by $1 or $2,” Horwitz said.
Customers aren’t going to leave over $2, he said, but they will if they get bad service. Offerings at each company vary, with extras such as on-demand video libraries setting them apart. Comcast and Cox both said their strongest selling point is they can provide all three services today, whereas Verizon, which has spent millions laying fiber-optic cable for its broadband connection, is still working to bring their services to Washington-area consumers.
“For us, the phone company is really just trying to catch up to where we’ve been for years,” said Lisa Altman, a spokeswoman for Comcast. “We’re very confident in the products and services that we have today.”
Prices for packages vary depending on what services are purchased but are generally in the same range at all three companies. Customers shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that they haven’t seen their bills come down, said Blair Levin, a regulatory analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. in an interview with The Examiner, when Verizon first launched FiOS last year.
“This really is about new competition in the multichannel market,” Levin said. But because the offerings are essentially the same, he said, the differences will come out in the packaging, not the pricing.
