Why are 80% of channel partners “routinely quoting cable services”? How did one channel program—Time Warner Cable Business Class—post a more than 20% revenue growth each quarter for the last three years? Exemplary customer service, cost-effective bundled services, and state-of-the-art infrastructure all have converged to help propel the success of cablecos as formidable telecom service providers. Offering advanced data services and big bandwidth, cablecos like TWC are providing telcos with powerful competition—competition that is sure to only increase the quality and cost of services within the telecom sector. Perhaps, as was predicted, cablecos are “the new telco.”

1. CablecosEmerge as Promising Contenders in the Telecom Industry
In this year’s J.D. Power Business Wireline Customer Survey, cablecos received top marks from
the majorityofcustomers surveyed, based on high levels of overall satisfaction and the best ability
to bundle voice and data services. In particular, Time Warner Cable (TWC) secured the top spot
among large businesses for customer satisfaction. TWC’s outpacing of other carriers makes this
much clear: Cablecos like TWC are causing an upset in the telecom industry—and that upset has
been met with a satisfying buzz among customers and channel partners.
This disruptive forcewas forecasted in May 2011 by Pipeline editors who investigatedwhether
cablecos were, as the magazine termed it, “the new telco.” That issue’s cover featured battleridden verbiage that pitted cablecos against telcos and two sword-fighters who, presumably, were
trying to cut out the biggest piece of thetelecom market. “While cableco and telco operators
originally served completely separate markets,” author Russ Green says, “the introduction of IP
broadband services has led to a lot of similarity in the communications products and services
they now provide.” Two years later, it is apparent that cablecos have emerged as a
fiercecompetitor in the telecom market.
Consider, for instance, the growth and success of Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC),
which has recorded more than a 20% revenue growth each quarter for the last three years. That
continuous revenue posting perhaps helped propel TWCBC’s program to be twice-named a Top
50 Channel Program by Channel Partners.
As the proprietary owner and operator of an extensive fiber network infrastructure in over
30U.S.markets, TWCBC uses that network to build business with its partners, telecom agents,
and VARs—all of whom then are able to offer IP-based data and voice communications
solutions at competitive pricing points to SMBs and large businesses alike. TWCBC’s
experience might be an indication of what’s on the horizon: According to the 2013 Channel
Partners’ State of the Market study, “Four in five channel partners said they were routinely
quoting cable services, up from three in four last year.’’
In addition to promising new business growth, cablecos in the telecom market offer additional
subtle, yet significant advantages; their use of big data and bundled services are two of them.
FierceBigData’sTim McElligottsaid that cablecos “are using big data to make them better
companies with more innovative products and better performance.”TWCBC uses afiber-rich
network infrastructure; that, in turn, allows the cableco to offer advanced data services—
delivered over metro and long-haul fiber networks—withbig bandwidth that satisfies the needs of
larger businesses. This ability has allowed TWCBC to rank higher than its peers in the large
enterprise segment, according to the J.D. Power Business Wireline Customer Survey: “Time
Warner Cable ranks highest in overall satisfaction and performs particularly well in five of the

2. six factors: performance and reliability; billing; sales representatives and account executives;
cost of service; and customer service.”
What, then, can the industry expect from cablecos and telcos in the years ahead?If competition
breeds excellence, we can be sure of this: Cablecos will drive the quintessential push that takes
the telecom industry over the edge of par excellence.
If you'd like to learn more about partnering with Time Warner Cable Business Class,
please visit us at business.twc.com/partner.