Comcast Business has set up a new Enterprise Services unit that will pose challenges to U.S. wireless majors AT&T and Verizon Communications.
The new business will target Fortune 1000 companies and other large enterprises in the U.S.
The new Enterprise Services unit of Comcast Business will offer managed enterprise solutions that includes Broadband, Ethernet, Voice, Router, Security, Business Continuity and Wi-Fi.
The company also acquired a managed services company and has signed wholesale network deals with other cable operators deals such as Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cablevision and more to support national accounts.
The focus areas of Comcast Business will be financial services firms, banks, hospitality chains and retailers. Glenn Katz, formerly the CEO of SpaceNet, will lead the group within Comcast Business.
According to IDC, a Framingham, MA-based IT industry analyst firm, the U.S. market for managed services is expected to increase from $29 billion in 2014 to $52 billion in 2019.
Comcast Business is one of the fastest growing divisions of Comcast, with an annual run-rate of more than $4.5 billion.
Comcast’s Enterprise Services unit will be posing challenges to AT&T and Verizon. While Comcast operates in 39 states, it does have a foothold in New York or Los Angeles.
Comcast dropped its merger deal with Time Warner Cable earlier this year amid heavy regulator opposition. Charter Communications is now buying TWC.
Over the last six to nine months, Comcast has signed up 25 to 30 customers with $45 million in contracts, Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business, said in an interview.
“We have that $1 billion mark in our mind” for the new enterprise services unit, Stemper said. “In five to six years (the unit) should be starting to get to that level.”
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, reported business services revenue, which includes sales to companies of broadband Internet, voice lines and network services, of $4 billion in 2014, up 22 percent from a year earlier. Its cable business revenue rose 1.2 percent last year to $20.8 billion.
Baburajan K
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