It was a bit surprising to hear Qwest Communications’ (NYSE: Q) chief financial officer, Joe Euteneuer, assert at an investor conference this week (in relation to residential broadband), “Speed is almost a non-issue for the consumer.”
“The consumer just wants what they want when they want it, and they want it seamlessly delivered,” he said, adding that Qwest is “empowering” its workforce to “perfect the customer experience” and that “we’ll see the benefits of that, and speed will be a non-issue.”
Set aside the obvious, which you already know just from being a broadband consumer — that speed is SO NOT a non-issue.
Qwest in particular has made it plain in the past year that high-speed Internet service is the core of its entire corporate strategy, Qwest being the only regional Bell carrier without an in-house wireless or terrestrial video offering.
“We’re moving the high-speed Internet product to be the anchor of what we’re trying to do here,” Ed Mueller, Qwest’s chief executive officer, said last fall.
So high-speed Internet is the key, but speed is a non-issue?
Euteneuer’s comments, which came in response to a question about the threat of DOCSIS 3.0 offerings from cable providers, make more sense when one sees increasing rumors about Qwest launching a 40-Mb/s offering over VDSL2 technology. Qwest has made no secret of the fact that it’s been trialing VDSL2 –used in AT&T’s FTTN network — as a means to offer faster services than the 20 Mb/s it currently delivers over ADSL2+. But it’s been tight-lipped about wider deployment or service launches.
Speed is not a non-issue, of course, but the difference between 40 Mb/s and a 50-Mb/s DOCSIS offering could be narrow enough to move the conversation with customers to other topics, like customer service (a particular focus of Qwest’s) or perhaps a wireless bundle (which Qwest offers through its partner, Verizon Wireless). If Qwest can pull that off, then Euteneuer will be right eventually, even if he isn’t now.
