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.
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