[April 05, 2012] Comcast offers a business service Tweet Apr 05, 2012 (Star Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Cable TV company Comcast said Thursday that it has expanded its competition with telephone companies by offering private computer network services to corporations. Comcast said the networking service would be faster and cheaper than the telephone lines many corporations use now. But Comcast faces plenty of competition from phone companies that also are adopting the new networking technology The private networks allow corporations with multiple buildings in the Twin Cities metro area -- say a headquarters in one location and a computer data center in another -- to tie them together via Comcast's digital cable TV network. Comcast first dipped its toe into the local business market a year ago, when it offered Internet and phone services aimed at corporate customers. Under the new private data networking service, corporate customers can connect different locations within the metro at speeds ranging from 10 million bits per second ($750 a month) to 1 billion bits per second ($3,200 a month.) In addition, speeds could be increased, if necessary, on a day or two's notice, Comcast said. That's faster and less expensive than the traditional telephone industry method of connecting business customers, called T1 telephone lines, which offer relatively slow speeds of 1.5 million bits per second for hundreds of dollars a month. But the telephone companies haven't stood still. CenturyLink, formerly Qwest, now also offers private data networks within the Twin Cities using the same technology as Comcast. CenturyLink offers private networking speeds of 2 million bits per second to 10 billion bits per second, but declined to provide a list of its prices, saying they are customized to individual customers. As a result, it's unclear how many corporate customers Comcast will win away from telephone companies. Comcast's advantage is that it has an extensive fiber network within the metro area to serve companies with strictly local networking needs, said Rosemary Cochran, an analyst at Vertical Systems Group in Boston. The phone companies' advantage is that they have much greater networking reach across the Midwest and the nation. In the end, the competition may come down to who has the lowest prices. "The demand for these services is there, it's just a question of what you offer and the price," Cochran said. "But there are now more competitors, and prices have been dropping." Steve Alexander -- 612-673-4553 ___ (c)2012 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at www.startribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]