Friday, April 14, 2017

Comcast Enters the Wireless Broadband Market with Xfinity Mobile

On April 6, 2017, Comcast announced that it will launch a wireless phone and broadband service called Xfinity Mobile. Xfinity Mobile will be available to Comcast’s existing consumers with the goal of building a bigger base of pay-TV, landline, and Internet subscribers.
Xfinity Mobile will offer unlimited data for $65 per month per line and $45 per month per line for customers who subscribe to Comcast’s X1 TV plan. Xfinity Mobile also will offer a mobile service for $12 per gigabyte.
With the support of Apple and Samsung’s latest smartphone models, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile will have nationwide coverage by renting Verizon’s mobile network. In addition to nationwide coverage, Xfinity Mobile customers also will have access to Comcast’s network of 16 million Wi-Fi hotspots.
Comcast’s entry into mobile market is product of dynamic competition and permissionless innovation. Since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai took office in January 2017, the Commission has pursued a free market-oriented approach to communications policy and this has led to the emergence of unlimited data plans and new entrants in the mobile broadband market.