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Other providers started years ago. XO Communications has seen the Ethernet over Copper wholesale opportunity and is marketing its mid-band services to resellers who are then targeting small businesses. This then allows XO to focus on larger clients’ up-market. XO’s footprint has grown considerably, now reaching nearly four million buildings and ten million businesses across 39 markets. For resellers, that investment improves the overall economics of provisioning these services.
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“Even for a 10% price increase, businesses are significantly less likely to switch to 100-Mbps service.” |
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business owners who are more
focused on price. With broadband
speeds mostly satisfying, price remains
a bigger concern for small businesses,
as it so often is. And it’s here that fiber
suffers a major disadvantage. The vast
majority of small businesses in SBA’s
survey (about 80%) pay less than
$100 per month for broadband service.
SMBs are largely uninterested in
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Chart 2: Small-Business Bandwidth Needs and Desires Survey
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As fiber footprints grow, will they
automatically trump EoCu? Not
necessarily in the small-business
space. In this weak economy, the
broadband speed war is failing to
capture the attention of many small
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upgrading to fiber-based service if it
means they have to pay even a little
bit more to get it. “Even for a 10%
price increase, businesses are
significantly less likely to switch to 100-
Mbps service,” the SBA noted.
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