Zacks_Analysts' Blog : Comcast Emphasizing SMB Segment - Analyst Blog

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) is aggressively exploiting small and mid-sized (SMB) business opportunities. The largest cable MSO in the U.S. is currently offering metro Ethernet services in 20 major U.S. markets and is expected to offer the services in most of its point-of-presences by the end of 2011. Leveraging on the DOCSIS 3.0 platform, Comcast offers various tier of business-class wideband services that provide a bandwidth pool of 1 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1 Gbps.

Using its vast network of fiber optic, the metro Ethernet service of Comcast offers faster and cheaper Internet access to business enterprises than the traditional T1, ATM, and Frame Relay services offered by the telecom operators. Comcast has launched four types of metro Ethernet services (1) point-to-point Ethernet Private Line (2) point-to-multipoint Ethernet Virtual Private Line (3) multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet Network Service (4) Ethernet Dedicated Internet Access.

Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) together provide bulk of the infrastructure while deploying the metro Ethernet network of Comcast. Ciena Corp. (CIEN) has also supplied a smaller part of those infrastructure gears.

The SMB segment has become a huge growth opportunity for the cable TV industry. Significant growth of business data and video traffic resulted in an unexpected future growth catalyst. Both Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the second largest cable TV operator, have estimated more than $20 billion business opportunity from the SMB segment. In addition to metro Ethernet, managing wireless backhaul traffic for the mobile towers also opened up a multi-billion dollar market. Cable operators are now gradually offering innovative wireless broadband services to their business customers in order to keep this momentum going.

During fiscal 2010, Comcast generated more than $1 billion of revenue from the SMB segment. In the ensuing fiscal 2011, the company is targeting to generate more than $1.6 billion of revenue from this field. Management further estimated approximately $2.3 billion of annual revenue only from the SMB segment by 2012.