4G LTE does not compete with high speed wireline broadband, says Verizon chief

With its eye toward a merger with Time Warner, Comcast lately has been claiming that combining the two biggest cable companies won’t be a monopoly. The reason, says Comcast, is that high-speed wireless would provide an Internet alternative in Comcast/TW dominated areas.

That argument, though, was contradicted by an unlikely authority – Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead. In an interview with reporters, Mead said that Comcast’s claim is “…little bit of a stretch.”

Mead said he understood why Comcast is making this argument, “They're trying to get deals approved, right, and I understand that...”

But upon close examination, Comcast is simply not being forthright. "LTE certainly can compete with broadband,” said Mead, “but if you look at the physics and the engineering of it, we don't see LTE being as efficient as fiber coming into the home."

Chris Ziegler in The Verge put it more pointedly. Anyone who uses both knows that it's a ridiculous argument — LTE service is usually slower, less consistent, and comes with deeply restrictive data caps,” he wrote.

As Speed Matters has long said, everyone needs a choice of wired broadband in order to fully function in the Internet society.

Comcast's claim that LTE competes with cable modems is 'a little bit of a stretch,' says Verizon Wireless CEO (The Verge, Aug. 4, 2014)
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/4/5968545/comcasts-claim-that-lte-competes-with-cable-modems-is-a-little-bit-of-a-stretch