Comcast Building Inroads to Business Community

publication date: Jun 16, 2008

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author/source: Tim Altork / STAFF

By Tim Altork / STAFF

Nipper

The scope of cable television has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. It has gone from roughly 30 basic channels to a profusion of specialized programming that basically allows you to watch whatever you want whenever you want from the comfort of your own couch.

Now Comcast, the cable provider for Roswell, is offering a service that allows subscribers to experience all that viewing pleasure from their workplace as well.

And you thought the Internet was a drain on everyday office productivity.

“One of our biggest initiatives at Comcast is to get into the business services sector with our products. Although we’ve had it for awhile, this year is really our big year to launch it and roll it out,” said Taylor Nipper, Comcast’s Director of Marketing for north Atlanta.

Most people don’t normally associate cable TV with the workplace, but think about it. What would office lobbies and employee break rooms be without it? And with 24-hour news and financial networks broadcasting constant information, it behooves businesses in the financial sector to be able to tune in and keep tabs on the day’s events from their offices.

But in the cutthroat world of telecommunications, Comcast wouldn’t be the heavy hitter that it is if cable TV was all that they offered their business clients.

“The exciting thing in the business world is our new phone products and our high-speed Internet products,” Nipper said.

It used to be that phone and fax were the lifeblood of remote communications for any office, but those two have taken a backseat to the business world’s need to be online. Comcast has obliged that need by providing high-speed Internet access at a very competitive cost. And they have recently increased their Internet speed without increasing the price of the service.

The reason they can do things like that is because they are the proprietors of their own broadband network.

“Our company is facility based, meaning our network is on the poles and in the ground,” Nipper said. “We’re not re-selling Bellsouth or AT&T, which a lot of the competition is doing. Ours is a totally separate, totally unique network.”

The network also supports their digital voice service, which has also been packaged for the business sector.

“Traditionally small businesses were pretty much stuck going with the phone company if they wanted to get phone services,” Nipper said. “Now they have a choice where Comcast can provide them phone service with all the same features. It’s a true business class phone product, and it’s a much better value for the customer.”

The key point of the phone service is that it features a set rate for all of a business’s local and long distance calls.

“So depending on what your long distance use is, you could save a ton of money because it’s all included,” Nipper said.

The cable, phone and Internet trifecta is not the final frontier for Comcast. Although they have allowed the call of the wireless phone business to go to voice mail, they are in the exploratory stages of creating a wireless broadband service to offer to their clients.

And the benefit of Comcast goes beyond the services that they provide. While it is a national corporation, they have programs like Comcast Cares that get their employees involved in volunteer efforts in the local community.

“We’re creating jobs and increasing our staff as far as technicians that service the accounts, as far as sales people, as far as back office people. It’s a good thing for Comcast and the community. As we grow the community benefits,” Nipper said.