Cable Raids Independent VoIP Companies, Telcos

The flurry of news over Vonage getting a new CEO and new financing to stave off a potential bankruptcy doesn't overshadow the fact cable companies are cleaning up in the VoIP arena.

DSLreports notes that subscriber growth over the past year ending in the first quarter of 2008 has been less than 200,000 for independent VoIP providers; that's less than one-fifth of the new subs from the previous year. Compare that to cable companies 5.5 million subs picked up in the last year; Time Warner added 285,000 phone subs in 1Q08 alone, and it trailed Comcast's 711,000 subs in the same time period.

Cable companies are also picking up plenty of subs from traditional phone companies, as they leverage their triple-play offerings to snap up voice services from consumers. Cable's growth is in part leading AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Embarq to a collective loss of 2.6 million landline customers per quarter (along with a good helping from wireless services).

For more:
- DSLreports discusses how cable companies are beating independent VoIP providers

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