Most broadband customers would probably agree that US broadband isn't very competitive. In most markets (if they're "lucky") users usually have the choice of a phone company that isn't willing to upgrade DSL to fiber, and a local cable monopoly with a history of absolutely atrocious customer service. The combination usually leads to duopoly scenarios where both sides race to raise rates while pretending to be innovative.
According to Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus however, the U.S. broadband market is incredibly competitive.
"There continues to be this perception that it is not a competitive market; that the market is not somehow working," Marcus says in an interview with Multichannel News. "Living in the world we do every day, competing for customers, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The best governor of pricing is an effective marketplace and we live in that world every day."
Except the US pays some of the highest rates for broadband of any developed nation (OECD data), and several surveys have shown that Time Warner Cable is the least liked company in America. That's no easy feat, and it's thanks largely to the fact that Time Warner Cable has little competitive incentive to improve in most regions.
How does Marcus -- who stands to personally make $97 million from the Charter merger -- reconcile his reality with the reality of most of his customers? Via intense, sustained hallucination, apparently.
"Affordability is always going to be an issue for our products and for other products," admits Marcus. "That’s why we try to be creative about having offerings that are designed for folks who are on a tighter budget."
Except like most cable and phone companies, Time Warner Cable doesn't actually do that. They do pay lip service every six months or so to lower-cost broadband and television options, but that's not quite the same thing as actually offering them. The only pricing "creativity" found is usually in the form of new fees.
Marcus then proceeds to imply that the quality of service users receive from Time Warner Cable is so high, they price these premium services accordingly. You know, like Mercedes Benz.
"It can’t be the case that you can get for the really low price all of the great attributes in the products that you can at the higher-end prices. There is always going to be the Hyundai and the Mercedes."
Based on his other comments, one can only imagine Marcus sees his company as the latter option. One wonders: does Mercedes have what several survey firms have found to be the
worst customer service of
any company in
any US industry?