Cinci Bell: Telecom Innovator

There's a good article in Forbes about John Cassidy, CEO of regional fixed/mobile/broadband provider Cincinnati Bell. The article calls Mr. Cassidy "the most honest man in telecom."

It also refers to Cincinnati Bell's dual-mode handset (DMH) service called "Home Run".

In talking about the service, the author makes an interesting comment:

"Wi-Fi will nick Cassidy's traditional businesses, but the technology is too logical to ignore."

I agree that "Wi-Fi is too logical to ignore", and wish more operators considered it the same way. However, Wi-Fi doesn't actually "...nick [Cincinnati Bell's] traditional business..."

An investor pitch from Orange dated December, 2007 (slide 20) highlights how Orange has seentheir dual-mode service actually increase the lifetime value of subscribers who take the service. Rather than 'nicking' the business, Wi-Fi is actually increasing the value of a subscriber to the operator.

Cincinnati Bell gets it right!

Wow, two operator stories in one day. Cincinnati Bell, regional fixed/mobile operator here in the US, has soft-launched their UMA service called “Home Run”.

First off: Kudos for the messaging and positioning. They got it right:


The focus on (1) unlimited flat rate calling and (2) improved coverage are dead on for UMA-based services. This is about making your mobile service work better and cost less.

Second, it appears that T-Mobile’s $20/month pricing for HotSpot@Home might be a bit aggressive as Home Run is “as low as $10/month”. Clearly the value of unlimited calls from the home/office is dropping.

Finally, for those who continue to think dual mode handsets are more expensive, the Nokia 6086 offered in the plan is $50 with service contract. That’s quite reasonable for an excellent, full featured UMA device.