Officials at Comcast say they are not worried about the potential impact Verizon Communications could have on the company?s market share if a deal is approved that would lay the groundwork for Verizon to begin offering cable services in Baltimore County.
“Comcast competes every day for every customer,” said Jim Gordon, a Comcast spokesman. “As far as competition, we say, ?Bring it on.? ”
Verizon announced last week that it had reached a tentative agreement to begin laying miles of fiber-optic cable throughout Baltimore County. The County Council would have to approve the deal, which is scheduled for a May 15 vote.
Verizon recently added a cable franchise in Howard County and is laying fiber-optic cable in Anne Arundel, Prince George?s and Montgomery counties.
If the Baltimore County deal is approved, Verizon has said that it will apply for a cable television franchise in the county, which could take up to six months to receive. Wiring of the entire county could take up to a year. If the franchise agreement were approved, Verizon would be one of four cable providers in the market, Gordon said.
“The notion that there is a monopoly is absolutely not the case,” he said. “Consumers have had choices for close to 10 years now.”
Gordon added that Comcast expects to retain its existing customers and add new ones as it continues to expand its product offerings. He said that since Comcast introduced its residential phone service in the fourth quarter of 2005, it has added more than 20,000 customers.
“Those customers came from somewhere else, and we?re glad they chose Comcast and see the value in our product bundles, which are voice, video and data,” he said.
Gordon said any competition from Verizon is also a long way off in Baltimore County. Meanwhile, he said, Comcast has invested $39 billion to upgrade its network and offers what he said is the “most robust broadband network,” featuring video, video-on-demand, high-speed data and high-definition programming. He said that the company also has increased the speed of its high-speed Internet services by 400 percent and that speeds will continue to increase.
