Survey: 40 percent of US consumers willing to avail of mobile service from a cable company

According to the results of a recent survey conducted by Barclays, it seems that 40 percent of consumers based in the United States would consider switching from their current mobile operator to a similar wireless service offered instead by a cable TV service provider. 

These results should no doubt be music to the ears of the cable industry’s Big Three, namely Comcast, Charter, and Altice. Each of these brands happen to offer (or has plans to introduce) mobile plans to their respective customers, partly in an effort to convince existing subscribers that they do not need to avail of a carrier’s plan because they can just get a mobile subscription from their current cable company.

More than a year ago, Comcast had officially confirmed the existence of its Xfinity Mobile wireless brand (operating as a mobile virtual network operator leasing capacity from Verizon Wireless), which offers unlimited data options at $65 per month for each line of service. Since its debut, Xfinity Mobile has already managed to amass about 500,000 customers. Not to be outdone is fierce rival Charter, who also has plans to introduce its own MVNO (like Comcast’s, it uses Verizon’s network) called Spectrum Mobile. The cable giant is looking to start providing wireless service by the end of next month, with a pricing structure that should compete with Xfinity’s. As for Altice, it was back in November of last year when the national cable TV provider has struck an MVNO agreement with major US wireless carrier Sprint. Under this partnership, the number four mobile operator in the country will be leveraging Altice’s vast broadband infrastructure in order to improve the density of its coverage, while Altice in turn will run its wireless service on Sprint’s nationwide network.

Going back to the survey, the research firm had polled 250 respondents from the United States some time last month, specifically consumers who are between 18 to 65 years old. According to Barclays, it made sure that the sample population of the survey was created by way of an invitation only panel recruitment process facilitated by a third party research firm.

Of the consumers who expressed interest in signing up for mobile service from cable TV service providers, a 63 percent majority stated that the main reason was the affordable prices. As for those who were not willing to make the switch, 44 percent of them admitted that they would likely reconsider if the cable company’s wireless plan was less expensive than their current plans, while 25 percent of them said reduced prices on new mobile devices and dependable network quality would make them reconsider.